Smart necklace for social awareness: People with impaired vision or on the autism spectrum may not be able to interpret the facial expression of others. An image from a new patent granted to Toyota shows the front view of a “smart necklace” device that could help. It's designed to capture an image and provide feedback based on identified characteristics and facial expressions. [Background: Studio_3321/istockphoto, Illustration: Fig. 1B, Patent No. 10431107/USPTO]
Dallas-Fort Worth ranked No. 11 for patents out of 250 metros. Patents granted include: Toyota's smart necklace for social awareness, Apple's adaptive multiplexing and transmit/receive diversity for wireless devices, Arch Holdings' method for media destruction using a kiosk, AT&T's system for grouping users to different speed tiers for wireless communication, Bank of America's electronic security keys for data security based on quantum particle states, Capital One's vehicle location system, SMU's method for privacy preserving disclosure of a shared, identity-linked secret, and Wells Fargo Bank's biometric electronic signature tokens.