A Japanese company has patented something close to George Orwell's vision of Big Brother - a television that watches its viewers. The company, Kabushikigaisha Shoga-kuikueisha Kyoikukenkyusho, has filed a British patent application (2 250 117) on a system, designed to log viewing habits for market research.
Viewing figures are gathered at the moment either through interviews or by logging electronically the times when a TV set is switched on and off. The Japanese wanted something much more accurate.
The new TV set has an ultrasonic sensor and four infrared heat sensors. The ultrasonic sensor works like the sonar an-glers use to spot shoals of fish. It sends out an audio signal at a frequency of 24 kilohertz and detects signals reflected off objects in the room to build up a coarse picture of all objects.
The infrared sensors work like radiation thermometers and measure the temperature of all objects in ...
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