TiVo Files Patent For RFID-Based Video Recorder

The patent is for a personal video recorder that recognizes viewer preferences through an RFID chip embedded in clothing, jewelry, or somewhere in "the user's body."

By Laurie Sullivan
TechWeb News
November 23, 2005 10:22 AM
NOTE:GOOGLE ACTING FUNNY HIGHLIGHT ABOVE

TiVo Inc. has filed a patent application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month that suggests company inventors believe radio frequency identification (RFID) technology will become inserted into clothing, jewelry, key chains, and even under the skin in the body.

Whether TiVo actually decides to build in the feature, the patent is for a personal video recorder (PVR) that recognizes viewer preferences through an RFID chip embedded in clothing, jewelry or "inserted somewhere [in] the user's body."

The multimedia mobile personalization system would have a remote control that recognizes the viewer's RFID tag closest to the PVR. The remote control identifies and notifies the multimedia device through the RFID chip in the person's clothing or body to tailor the media content to their preferences.

The remote control device would identify and link the viewer to the system using an "RFID tag that is attached to a key ring, necklace, watch, in his wallet, or even a sub dermal tag inserted somewhere in the user's body." The remote control would detect the RFID tag in a limited radius so it wouldn't get confused by signals from others, the patent said.

Either broadcast or recorded television programs and music play lists stored on a local hard drive could be sorted, displayed or restricted, depending on the user identifier. Other methods of identifying the user are stated, too, such as computer vision recognition, biometric identification, and voice analysis.

TiVo's watching you. But who's watching TiVo?