Nintendo files patent for ‘quality of life’ invention
Technology would measure and gamify health information
A Nintendo patent seemingly related to the company’s ‘quality of life’ initiative has been published in Japan.
Filed in September 2019 and published on Thursday, the patent (via Japanese Nintendo) is for an “information processing system” designed to “provide a user with motivation for continuously performing measurement of health information”.
It describes a base device capable of storing and charging a mobile device, which it can also transmit data to wirelessly.
The base device includes a Doppler sensor which monitors body movement and detects biological information including respiration and pulse.
It also includes a camera and a speaker, which can be used to monitor the user’s emotions, and a control unit. It may also be capable of projecting images onto wall surfaces and generating odours.
The mobile device monitors the user’s activity when awake and out of the house, and gamifies health information, with activities potentially taking the form of quizzes, puzzles and calculations.
Nintendo’s quality of life initiative was first announced in 2014 by former president Satoru Iwata, who described it as a 10-year plan to expand the company’s output with health improvement-related products.
The project followed the 2009 announcement of Wii’s heart-tracking Vitality Sensor, which was never released.
The objective was to “extend the definition of entertainment” with a health-focused venture that would be “independent from our video game platform business”, Iwata said at the time.
To date, Nintendo hasn’t released any quality of life products. In 2015, following Iwata’s passing, then-president Tatsumi Kimishima announced that plans to release a sleep sensor had been shelved.
In June 2019, current Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa revealed the company was still developing health-related products.
