Feeling blue? Let your phone say that to the world. Nokia has filed a patent for a system that would allow a phone to transmit the user’s basics emotions along a text or voice message and have the receiver’s device flash the appropriate light to indicate the emotion.
“Light messaging allows a user to express a mood while having an ongoing call or while sending a text message,” said Nokia in its patent filing. “The light messaging may set the tone of the communication. People react to lights and colors very deeply and emotionally.”
That means when a user sends a text message, they can choose an appropriate mood from the phone’s software options. A color corresponding to that emotion is embedded with the message and sent. The receiver’s phone then lights up displaying that color along with the message.
Here’s how the system would work, says the filing. It would consist of a transmitter, a light indicating signal such as an LED and firmware to select the mood. When, for instance, a text message is to be sent, the user would select a color to go with it, such as red for high priority messages. When the message is received, the red color is displayed either through a special LED element or on the entire keypad or as a backlight of the appropriate color to the message.
It seems like a rather simple and easy system, one that Nokia doesn’t need to really patent. So the question is, is there really any value to a user from this? Does this improve the phone’s usability? We think not. But its a nice gimmick to have on a phone.
Nokia’s Patent Application [via NewScientist]
Photo: (turbojoe/Flickr)
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