Popular belief is that the operating system on a smartphone is what makes is “smart”. However, as great as the software is, it requires hardware, specifically many sensors, to talk to the software to make your smartphone do the things that people now expect. Accelerometers, ambient light sensors, and proximity sensors control behaviors like screen rotation, automatic screen brightness, and automatic screen shut off. Modern digital cameras rely on sensors instead of mirrors, where a digital imaging sensor replicates your favorite memories in the palm of your hand.
A new technology from Fraden Corporation, makers of the ThermoScan Ear Thermometer, can now turn your smartphone camera into an infrared thermometer instantly. The newly patented system uses an infrared sensor with existing digital camera sensors, allowing users to be able to take the temperature of any surface or object by simply pointing the camera at it. No contact with the surface is required. No more making sure your thermometer is exactly in the right place for the right amount time. Instead, Fraden’s new sensor is able to take the temperature in less than one second, priceless for any parent who has ever had to try and take their young child’s temperature.
Parents can take their child’s temperature by simply pointing their camera at them, or check the temperature of the bath water with a simply look through their smartphone’s camera. With the ability to capture temperatures from -22 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, essentially anything, save liquid nitrogen, can have its temperature measured with Fraden’s new IR sensor. Checking the temperature of cooked foods, or frozen treats, becomes a cinch. Other features of Fraden’s new sensor is UV exposure to skin, preventing sunburns, as well as being able to turn your smartphone into a true thermal imaging system.
Before throwing out your mercury thermometers, it’s important to know that this new sensor is currently not in any smartphones on the market at this time. However, Fraden Corporation is now licensing this new technology to smartphone manufacturers, so consumers could very well see this new technology in their smartphones within the next 12 months.
Would you use this technology if it was in your smartphone? Parents, are you ready to ditch the rectal thermometer, saving you and your infant the discomfort, for your smartphone becoming your thermometer? Let us know in the comments below, and check out the full press release from Fraden Corporation below:
Fraden Corp announces NEW INFRARED THERMOMETER INVENTION FOR SMARTPHONES
New Infrared Module Built into Smartphones Takes Body Temperature without Any Contact in Less than One Second – Works with Phone’s Digital Camera
Measures Surface Temperature of Any Object in Kitchen, Bathroom, Construction, Automotive & Industry
U.S. Patent Granted – Created by Inventor of Popular ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
Also Measures UV Sun Exposure & Electro-Magnetic Fields (EMF) Pollution – Future Expansion to Include Night Vision Camera
November 13, 2012, San Diego, CA – Fraden Corporation www.fraden.com and President Dr. Jacob Fraden, inventor of the popular ThermoScan Ear Thermometer and the holder of over 50 patents, with clients including Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Braun, and Gillette, announced today the grant of a U.S. patent for “Wireless Communication Device with Integrated Electromagnetic Radiation Sensors” for its new Infrared (IR) Thermometer Technology with built-in module for smartphones to remotely take temperatures without any contact with a person or object.
Clinically Accurate Smartphone Thermometer for Parents with Small Children, Nurses, Doctors, & Caregivers
Now available for licensing to qualified companies with a significant presence in the mobile phone market, the Fraden Smartphone Sensing patented technology and IP (Intellectual Property) employs a non-contact infrared sensor built into a smartphone or tablet to instantly and accurately measure patient temperature in less than one second with absolutely no contact with the human body. A priceless feature for parents with small children, nurses, doctors, caregivers or anyone that has ever had trouble taking a temperature, the sensor accurately detects infrared signals that naturally emanate from any surface. Just aim the smartphone at the face and it automatically takes the internal body temperature. A small infrared lens is positioned near the camera lens, with no protruding parts, making the device appear identical to existing smartphones.
The sensor’s wide range, from -22 ºF to +400ºF, offers broad applications in taking temperatures of not only humans, but also of inanimate objects in the home environment, such as kitchen (cooking and refrigeration), bathroom (baby bath water temperature), school (science class), and industry (automotive and production machinery, chemical processes, energy management, and construction).
“Most smartphone models differ little from one another, with only small evolutionary changes. The vendor with breakthrough functions for real world everyday use, like reading a child’s temperature, can distance themselves from their competitors. We believe this new patent can be a significant competitive differentiator for a smartphone manufacturer,” said Dr. Jacob Fraden, President of Fraden Corporation, a co-inventor of the technology and expert in non-contact temperature measurements, a holder of over 50 patents and the inventor of the popular Thermoscan ear thermometer.
“We believe that major conveniences afforded by built-in sensors, particularly thermal infrared sensors and their low incremental cost in smartphones, represent a compelling proposition for the manufacturers,” added co-inventor, Dr. David Pintsov.
Fraden Infrared Thermometer for Smartphone Technology Features:
- · Patented technology – U.S. issued and world pending patents.
- · No comparable products on the market – a great differentiator for the smartphone industry.
- · Minimal incremental cost.
- · Non-protruding, works with digital camera in smartphone.
- · Quick time to market.
- · Very easy to use.
- · Instant response, less than 1 second.
- · Computes the body’s inner temperature (medical mode).
- · Clinical accuracy meets ISO standards.
- · Measures temperatures of inanimate objects (food, water, buildings, machinery, circuit boards, etc.).
- · Small (2.5 mm) infrared (IR) lens is located next to the digital camera lens.
- · Technology is expandable to thermal imaging, UV and EMF pollution exposure and others.
Technology Now Available for Licensing
The Fraden Smartphone Sensing Technology and IP are now available for licensing to qualified companies with a significant presence in the mobile phone market. For more information, see the website: http://fraden.com/ourclients.
