JAWARHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A Technical Report
On
DIGITAL JEWELLERY

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award the

Degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
By

G.SAI PUJA 07E51A0462

Under Esteemed guidance of

Ms.Nazma
Assistant Professor
INTERNAL GUIDE

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

HYDERABAD INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(Affiliated to JNTU, Hyderabad,AP)
Gowdavelly,Medchal Mandal,R.R.District.
2007-2011

1
 ACKNOWLEGEMENT

Keeping up with the tradition of torch bearer of the nation, I would like to highly
acknowledge and pay respect to one and all associates with seminar report at
different stages.I owe my sincere gratitude and humbleness to our respected Head of
the Department E&C/Principal Dr. Sameru Sharma, Seminar Incharge Dr.
Harinder Dhingra and Er. Manoj Kumar Deptt. of ECE for being a guiding light,
and whose pursuits and confidence in me were an instant booster during this
endeavor. They also helped me in understanding basic aspects of the seminar, My
parents also hold a special mention here for believing in me and Supporting me

I am also very much thankful to my Clasmmates who helped me in understanding

the basic concepts regarding the Seminar topic

Mandeep Singh GCET/233/18

University enrollment number:181101034

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION

GOVT COLLEGE OF ENGG. & TECHNOLOGY, JAMMU

2
 Mobile computing is beginning to break the chains that tie us to our desks, but many of
today's mobile devices can still be a bit awkward to carry around. In the next age of
computing, there will be an explosion of computer parts across our bodies, rather than
across our desktops.

Basically, jewellery adorns the body, and has very little practical purpose. However,
researchers are looking to change the way we think about the beads and bobbles we wear.
The combination of microcomputer devices and increasing computer power has allowed
several companies to begin producing fashion jewellery with embedded intelligence i.e.,
Digital jewellery. Digital jewellery can best be defined as wireless, wearable computers
that allow you to communicate by ways of e-mail, voicemail, and voice communication.
This paper enlightens on how various computerized jewellery (like ear-rings, necklace,
ring, bracelet, etc.,) will work with mobile embedded intelligence.

It seems that everything we access today is under lock and key. Even the devices we
use are protected by passwords. It can be frustrating trying to keep with all of the passwords
and keys needed to access any door or computer program. This paper discusses about a
new Java-based, computerized ring that will automatically unlock doors and log on to
computers.

By the end of the decade, we could be wearing our computers instead of sitting in
front of them.

3
CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 5

2. WHAT IS DIGITAL JEWELLERY? 6

2.1 Historical context 6
2.2. Digital jewellery and its components 7
2.3. Technical specifications of digital jewellery 9
2.4. Display technologies 9

3. ELECTROMAGNETIC BEADS 11

4. PROTOTYPES OF DIGITAL JEWELLERY 12

4.1 HIOX Necklace 12
4.2 HIOX Ring 12
4.3 IBM’s Bracelet Display 13

5. JAVA RING 14
5.1 Introduction 14
5.2 Working 14
5.3 Features 15

6. CURRENT AND ONGOING ACHIEVEMENTS 16

6.1 CharmBadge 16
6.2 Intelligent Spectacles 16
6.3 Smart Wristwatch 17
6.4 Magic Decoder Ring 17
6.5 Charmed Communicator Eyepiece 18
6.6 Mouse-Ring 19

7. SOME DEVICES AVAILABLE TODAY 21

Nubia alpha
Motiv ring

8. CONCLUSION 23

9. REFERENCES 24

4
 1. INTRODUCTION

Recent technological advancements have resulted in a climate where technology is

too intrusive the increased miniaturisation and mobility of digital technologies has led to a
number of proposals for digital objects which use jewellery as a way to locate
communication and information devices on the body. However, these developments are
emerging from outside the field of contemporary jewellery. Consequently digital jewellery
is significantly under-explored within contemporary jewellery practice and the emerging
developments from other fields present a narrow interpretation of both jewellery and digital
technologies. In terms of aesthetics there is a distinct naivety regarding the form, material,
connection with the body and scope of interaction of a digital jewellery object. Moreover
there is a paucity of approaches that consider emotional and intimate attachments people
form with and around objects. These limitations are evident in both physical and conceptual
constraints. Beyond this, the qualities that we have come to associate with the digital are
born from a predominantly consumer electronics field and are both narrow and hindering
if we wish to consider digital technologies having wider, more emotional scope in our lives.
Therefore an exploration of digital jewellery that addresses these issues and seeks to escape
the limiting assumptions we have of the digital is needed.

The latest computer craze has been to be able to wear wireless computers. The
Computer Fashion Wave, "Digital Jewellery" looks to be the next sizzling fashion trend of
the technological wave. The combination of shrinking computer devices and increasing
computer power has allowed several companies to begin producing fashion jewellery with
embedded intelligence. Today’s, manufacturers place millions of transistors on a
microchip, which can be used to make small devices that store tons of digital data.. The
whole concept behind this is to be able to communicate to others by means of wireless

5
appliances. The other key factor of this concept market is to stay fashionable at the same
time. Researchers have already created an array of digital-jewellery prototypes.

2. WHAT IS DIGITAL JEWELLERY?

Digital jewellery is the fashion jewellery with embedded intelligence. “Digital

jewellery” can help you solve problems like forgotten passwords and security badges.
“Digital jewellery” is a nascent catchphrase for wearable ID devices that contain personal
information like passwords, identification, and account information. They have the
potential to be all-in-one replacements for your driver’s license, key chain, business cards,
credit cards, health insurance card, corporate security badge, and loose cash. They can also
solve a common dilemma of today’s wired world – the forgotten password.

Digital jewellery can come in other forms as well. Innovators at IBM and the MIT
Media Laboratory have developed “personal area networks” (PANs) that transfer simple
information via human touch, by “capacitively coupling picoamp currents through the
body.” A low-level electric current carries the information from transmitter to receiver,
passing simple identifying information like name, title, and phone number. As digital
jewellery matures, this kind of function is a natural inclusion to the feature set. Other
possible inclusions are memory aids, PDA functions, and environmental augmentation.

2.1. OVERVIEW

The phenomenon of the wearable computer has arisen from the desire to create a
mobile, personal computer system. The makers of wearables aim to house the personal
computer on the body maintaining the convention of screen, keyboard and mouse.
Wearables have been worn (by their originators) despite their bulky size and weight, and

6
it is readily apparent that considerations of the aesthetic possibilities or the intimate nature
of the relationship between the body and the object remains under-explored. Technological
innovation has to date been the dominant concern for wearables research. Thad Starner
(2001) outlined the challenges facing the development of wearables as power use, heat
dissipation, networking, interface design and privacy; with no mention of the user’s
emotional experiences of such devices.

Bubblebadge (Fig 2.1.1) and Body Coupled FingeRing (Fig 2.1.2) are examples of
early human-computer interaction outputs. Each example posits jewellery as a vehicle for
digital communication, and the body as a mobile location for such devices.

Fig 2.1.1: The Bubblebadge: A wearable Fig 2.1.2: Body Coupled FingeRing:
Public Display Wireless Wearable Keyboard

The Bubblebadge houses a digital display, to display text generated by the wearer,
by a specific environment or by the viewer. In one scenario the brooch could show the
viewer if they had received any new emails, at which point the viewer may end the
conversation with the wearer and go and check her or his emails. FingeRing similarly
focuses on usability and treats the body as a convenient location to situate an electronic
device. Sensors are attached to each finger in the form of rings to facilitate the input of data
into a portable or wearable personal digital assistant (PDA).

IBM Research has been exploring digital jewellery through the work of Denise Chan,
a mechanical engineering graduate. Chan’s concept was a set of jewellery objects, which
together functioned as a wearable mobile phone.

2.2. DIGITAL JEWELLERY AND ITS COMPONENTS

7
 Soon, cell phones will take a totally new form, appearing to have no form at all.
Instead of one single device, cell phones will be broken up into their basic components and
packaged as various pieces of digital jewellery. Each piece of jewellery will contain a
fraction of the components found in a conventional mobile phone. Together, the digital-
jewellery cell phone should work just like a conventional cell phone.

The various components that are inside a cell phone: Microphone, Receiver, Touch
pad, Display, Circuit board, Antenna, and Battery. IBM has developed a prototype of a cell
phone that consists of several pieces of digital jewellery that will work together wirelessly,
possibly with Blue tooth wireless technology, to perform the functions of the above
components.

Fig 2.2: Cell phones may one day be comprised of digital accessories that
work together through wireless connections.

Here are the pieces of computerized-jewellery phone (Fig 2.2) and their functions:

• Earrings: Speakers embedded into these earrings will be the phone's receiver.
• Necklace: Users will talk into the necklace's embedded microphone.
• Ring: Perhaps the most interesting piece of the phone, this "magic decoder ring” is
equipped with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that flash to indicate an incoming call. It
can also be programmed to flash different colors to identify a particular caller or
indicate the importance of a call.

8
• Bracelet: Equipped with a video graphics array (VGA) display, this wrist display could
also be used as a caller identifier that flashes the name and phone number of the caller.

With a jewellery phone, the keypad and dialing function could be integrated into the
bracelet, or else dumped altogether ; it's likely that voice-recognition software will be used
to make calls, a capability that is already commonplace in many of today's cell phones.
Simply say the name of the person you want to call and the phone will dial that person.
IBM is also working on a miniature rechargeable battery to power these components.

2.3. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF DIGITAL JEWELLERY

Digital jewellery devices consist of a screen or display for information, most likely
consisting of 7-16-segment, or dot matrix LEDs, LCDs, or other technologies such as
electroluminescent material (EL) or others, which could become an optional display . So
too, an audiovisual or other 'display' could consist of a speaker, a single flashing light, a
sensor of some kind (such as a temperature driven EL display), or other informational
aesthetic. The display layer sits on a face of the device, which is enclosed in some material
such as plastic, metal, crystal, or other material. It has external switches and buttons on its
side and a data-port for accessing the programmable electronic circuit inside. A micro
controller that is a surface mounted device (SMD) on a printed circuit board (PCB) with
resistors (R) and capacitors (C) are the internal 'guts' of the jewellery.

2.4. DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES

The digital jewellery display, for instance, every alphabet and number system has
found representation within the electronics realm and 'dot-matrix' (a matrix of single LEDs)
is used to display Chinese and Japanese and other character sets, as can the alternative
display for LCDs (liquid-crystal-displays) also be used, as often found in watches.

9
 Fig 2.4: Alphanumeric or Graphic Display types

Digital Jewellery can be made in many different sizes and shapes with a variety of
materials ranging from plastic and metal to rubber and glass. They utilize electromagnetic
properties and electronics to display information through a screen or display of some kind.
This could range from LED 7-segment, 16-segment, dot matrix, and other programmable
LEDs devices to LCDs, OLEDs, and other displays (Fig 2.3 ), which are all driven by the
self-contained jewellery devices themselves.

10
 3. ELECTROMAGNETIC BEADS

The closest comparison to Electromagnetic Beads (Fig 3) is that of 'beads' which are
strung together to make a custom necklace or bracelet, with interchangeable
electromagnetic component systems or devices. One bead may be a capacitor on the inside,
and a solar panel on the outside. Another bead may have an internal resistor which feed
power into a programmed microcontroller bead which drives an external screen, with other
options available in a variety of bead configurations which compose a circuit, including
beads with a piezo element, voltage regulator, crystal, or rechargeable battery as part of the
modular jewel circuit. The number of data pins on the microcontroller needs to be enough
to easily program the display layer plus the switches without overly complex and advanced
coding methods

Fig 3: Electromagnetic Beads

11
 The key to the device's ability to work effectively is a balancing of electronic
components within the circuit with a light-duty processing and limited power consumption
required for the display layer.

12
 4. PROTOTYPES OF DIGITAL JEWELLERY

4.1. HIOX NECKLACE

Fig 4.1: HIOX Necklace

Complete HIOX necklace showing all 26 letters of the Roman alphabet extended
in 4-dimensional space-time. Metal with leather cord.

4.2. HIOX RING

Fig 4.2. HIOX Ring

It is a programmable HIOX ring with 16-segment LED display.

13
4.3. IBM’s BRACELET DISPLAY

Fig 4.3. IBM’s Bracelet Display

Prototype bracelet display developed by IBM

14
 5. THE JAVA RING

5.1. INTRODUCTION

It seems that everything we access today is under lock and key. Even the devices
we use are protected by passwords. It can be frustrating trying to keep with all of the
passwords and keys needed to access any door or computer program. Dallas Semiconductor
is developing a new Java-based, computerized ring that will automatically unlock doors
and log on to computers.

Fig 5.1: Java ring

5.2. WORKING

The Java Ring can be programmed to give you access to every door and device. It
is snapped into a reader, called a blue dot receptor, to allow communication between a
receptor and the java ring.

Fig 5.2: Blue Dot receptor

15
 The Java Ring is a stainless-steel ring, 16-millimeters (0.6 inches) in diameter,
which houses a 1-million-transistor processor, called an iButton. The ring has 134 KB of
RAM, 32 KB of ROM, a real-time clock and a Java virtual machine, which is a piece of
software that recognizes the Java language and translates it for the user's computer system.
Digital jewelry, (designed to supplement the personal computer,) will be the evolution in
digital technology that makes computer elements entirely compatible with the human form.

5.3. Features of Java Ring:

• Runs Java better (plus portions enhance Java Card 2.0)

• Careful attention to physical security (rapid zeroization)
• Durability to stand up to everyday use
• High memory capacity (up to 134K bytes NV SRAM)
• Retail connectivity to 250 million existing computers (less if designed-in before
manufacturing)

16
 6. CURRENT AND ONGOING ACHIEVEMENTS

6.1. CHARMBADGE

Fig 6.1: CharmBadge

CharmBadge was developed by Charmed Technologies. Fig 6.1 shows the

CharmBadge placed in front of an IR transmitter/receiver dongle connected to one of THE
laptops. CharmBadge management software allowed to change many of the CharmBadge
settings using the IR dongle such as: activate, deactivate, assignment to attendees, affinity
score, download interactions, etc.

6.2. INTELLIGENT SPECTACLES

Fig 6.2: Intelligent Spectacles

This could be the shape of designer glasses to come. These intelligent spectacles (Fig
6.2) let you surf the web or check your e-mail, whenever and wherever you want. Your eye

17
would serve as a mouse, with menu items selected by focusing your attention on an item
on screen.

6.3. SMART WRIST WATCH

Fig 6.3: Smart Wrist Watch

Having the power of a computer on your wrist may sound like science fiction. But
this is the idea behind the wristwatch PDA (Fig 6.3). It would have a widescreen display
to watch video, and voice recognition technology so that you can use it by simply talking
to your wrist. And of course, it also tells you the time.

6.4. MAGIC DECODER RING

Fig 6.4: IBM's magic decoder rings will flash when you get a call.

18
 IBM’s magic decoder ring (Fig 6.4) that flashes for phone calls could also inform
you that e-mail is piling up in your inbox. This flashing alert could also indicate the urgency
of the e-mail.

6.5. CHARMED COMMUNICATOR EYEPIECE

Fig 6.5: Charmed Communicator Eyepiece

Charmed Technology is already marketing its digital jewellery, including a

futuristic-looking eyepiece display (Fig 6.5). The eyepiece is the display component of the
company's Charmed Communicator, a wearable, wireless, broadband-Internet device that
can be controlled by voice, pen or handheld keypad. The Communicator can be used as an
MP3 player, video player and cell phone. The Communicator runs on the company's Linux-
based Nanix operating system. The eyepiece above displays images and data received
wirelessly from the Communicator's belt module.

6.6. MOUSE-RING

The mouse-ring that IBM is developing will use the company's Track Point
technology to wirelessly move the cursor on a computer-monitor display. (Track Point is
the little button embedded in the keyboard of some laptops). IBM Researchers have
transferred TrackPoint technology to a ring, which looks something like a black-pearl ring.
On top of the ring is a little black ball that users will swivel to move the cursor, in the same
way that the TrackPoint button on a laptop is used.

19
 This Track Point ring will be very valuable when monitors shrink to the size of
watch face. In the coming age of ubiquitous computing, displays will no longer be tied to
desktops or wall screens. Instead, you'll wear the display like a pair of sunglasses or a
bracelet. Researchers are overcoming several obstacles facing these new wearable displays,
the most important of which is the readability of information displayed on these tiny
devices.

20
 7.Some devices available today

7.1:-Nubia alpha:-

It is a Bracelet or a smart watch type digital jewellery,the basic

difference between this device and other smartwatches like those
of apple iWatch, samsung galaxy watch is smartwatches acts as an
extension or an accessory for smartphones but this device (ie nubia
alpha) completely eliminated the need for smartphone,It can make
calls with help of a Bluetooth speaker as it doesn’t have any
speaker,user can make video calls using inbuilt selfie camera,
listen to music, browse social media and had specifications of
RAM 1 gb and ROM of 8gb, it’s only disadvantages were it had
very low specifications as compared to our smartphones,and a
Bluetooth audio connectivity (e.g speaker, earphones, headphones

21
etc) are always needed to talk while on a call or listen to music, but
the company is working towards overcoming these limitations and
soon we will be able to have a simple bracelet type device which
can completely eliminate smartphone from our pocket.

7.2:-Motiv ring

Motiv introduced this ring around 1-2 years ago,it serves as a

fitness tracker,user has to install its app on his/hers smartphone and
it shows various activity like Sleep and Heart Rate Tracker -
Waterproof Activity and HR Monitor - Calorie and Step Counter –
Pedometer,pulse rate,steps, body temperature etc. A pendrive like
charger is given in box with this ring amd hence no cable is
required to charge it,the ring is waterproof and if a user forgets to
take it off before taking a shower or diving into a pool,then there is
no problem at all,it is of 8mm in and came in three colours
(silver,rose gold and black),the reviews of this ring were very poor
onlime as it loses it battery life only after 2-3 months of
usage,hence this ring wasn’t very popular

22
 8. CONCLUSION

The basic idea behind the digital jewellery concept is to have the convenience of
wireless, wearable computers while remaining fashionably sound. It is hoped to be
marketable soon, however, several bugs remain such as charging capabilities and cost.

By the end of the decade, we could be wearing our computers instead of sitting in
front of them.

23
 9. REFERENCES

[1]. www.IBM.com

[2]. www.howstuffworks.com

[3]. www.infoworld.com

[4]. www.ibutton.com

24
25