| XVII. | Human Microchip Implant: Technology |
| Posted: January 21, 2004 |
| A. | General: Batteries, GPS-Mobile Phone Communications, Technological/Medical Ethics, Etc. |
| 1. | "Kidnap Chip 'Untested' and May Not Work": England: Sunday Herald September 8, 2002 |
| Stephen Naysmith, Science Correspondent for the Sunday Herald reported that the technology for implanting a tracking implant in a child may not work. |
| The scientist [cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick] who gained worldwide publicity for his plan to implant a tracking device in a schoolgirl's arm in the wake of the Soham killings has admitted he has not tried the technology and cannot guarantee it works. |
| Other experts in mobile telecommunication do not believe any such tracking device exists. |
| Controversial cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick...has admitted to the Sunday Herald that the implant may never go ahead. |
| Worldwide headlines last week trumpeted Warwick's announcement that he was poised to implant a microchip in the arm of 11-year-old Danielle Duval. Details were sketchy, but Warwick said the chip would let parents track a child even if he or she had been abducted. |
| He conceded yesterday, however, that he does not have ethical approval to proceed, but denied that the announcement was a publicity stunt. |
| ...[H]e wants to fit a 'tracker' implant to Danielle, implanting it in her arm or her stomach. |
| Warwick suggested there were 'several options', including the mobile phone network and the global positioning satellite (GPS) system, for locating the girl were she to go missing. |
| The story was enthusiastically reported around the world. Sceptics, however, have queried whether the technology exists to miniaturise the transmitter while giving it enough power to work with the mobile phone or GPS system. |
| Mobiles and GPS devices need batteries for computing and signalling power. They also need aerials. The device could not simply replicate the chips used to tag domestic pets, as these are usually inert -- enabling identification only once an animal is located. Other devices used for tracking animals are not small enough to be implanted. |
| Warwick says his one-inch-long transmitter would stay largely in 'sleep' mode and send a signal only when activated. 'It could be switched off when it wasn't needed,' he says. |
| Dr James Irvine, an expert in mobile telecommunications at Strathclyde University's electrical and electronic engineering department, said it was theoretically possible to locate someone using mobile phone base stations or the GPS system. |
| He said: 'The difficulty is, you would need to upgrade the mobile phone network to allow that to happen. It is not there at the moment. |
| 'The GPS system can have very good accuracy but doesn't work well indoors. |
| 'Companies are now promoting a device the size of a large wristwatch which can do this, but you would have problems getting power to an implant.' |
| Even a passive system would need power and battery life would limit its usefulness. 'You are talking about tens of hours rather than years,' Dr Irvine said... |
| I wouldn't say this is impossible, but I do doubt whether it is practical... |
| At the sea mammals research unit of the University of St Andrews, senior research scientist Bernie McConnell is developing a system for tracking the movements of seals using GPS. His device has a volume of five cubic inches -- small but not implantable. |
| 'I'm not aware of any implantable systems,' said McConnell, 'especially not ones which would last for months at a time. Such a transmitter would be incredibly useful and exciting, but I doubt it can be done'... |
| Critics also say research data could be gathered without subjecting a child to surgery with no medical benefit. |
| Dr Andrew Herxheimer, an expert on medical ethics and fellow at the Cochrane Centre for interventions in health care, said: 'This is linked to the fear of abduction which is a very small risk, and could be seen as exploiting a distorted and unreal fear. It should be tried out on animals. This is not a case of women and children first.' |
| Reading University's guidelines require any experimental procedure on a human subject to be approved by its ethical committees. Professor Warwick has not sought such approval. |
| The implant story was promoted not by the university, but by INS News Group of Reading... |
| A Reading University spokeswoman initially referred calls to INS, but later admitted: 'We didn't know anything about this. Our understanding is he has not yet put in for ethical approval because he isn't ready to do it.' |
| Warwick has pledged to perform the implant on Danielle before Christmas if he can get ethical approval. He said part of his goal was to 'provoke debate' on a technology which 'raised enormous ethical questions'. |
| He declined to elaborate on the technical details... |
| 'I'm not going to tell you whether we have a prototype. There are commercial interests involved. 'Until Danielle is implanted we are not going to have a test case. When that happens we will see how it works.'286 |
| B. | Batteries |
| 1. | "Natural Body Energy": Gen-Etics' Sky-Eye Human Microchips Implants: Sunday Times: October 11, 1998 |
| The Sunday Times of London reported that Gen-Etics' Sky-Eye Human Microchips Implants are powered by "natural body energy." |
| A microchip under the skin that can help to locate hostages is being marketed to combat one of the world's biggest growth industries—there were a record 1,407 abductions for ransom worldwide last year, up 60% since 1990. |
| The victim's "little helper" uses natural body energy with James Bond-style technology devised by scientists working for Israeli intelligence. |
| Space satellites will follow the bleep to detect a victim's movements or hiding place. The information will then be related to a control centre to be used for a rescue operation... |
| Every chip is made of synthetic and organic fibres and measures 4 mm by 4 mm. It does not need a battery and runs instead on four milliamperes of neurophysiological energy. |
| Only a small scar is visible and the chip escapes detection by x-rays. It is inserted under the skin but not on areas that can be amputated, including the hands, nose and ears... |
| The whereabouts of the carrier are followed by six satellites through the global positioning system, which has a 150-metre margin of error and has previously been used to track the movements of stolen luxury cars. The absence of a signal suggests that the victim has been killed because the body no longer supplies the energy to make the chip function.287 |
| 2. | British Scientist Kevin Warwick: Anticipates Battery with Sleep Mode: BBC News: September 2, 2002 |
| Reading University academic Kevin Warwick discusses a device that could be switched to sleep mode in order to conserve its battery. |
| Parents afraid that their daughters could be abducted are asking a British scientist to implant a tracking microchip under their skin, so that they can be found quickly. |
| Mr Warwick said the system could work by using a mobile phone network or global positioning system, to pinpoint the person on an electronic map via a signal from the implant... |
| The procedure would involve putting a small transmitter about one inch long into a child's arm or stomach. |
| Kevin Warwick "A potential abductor wouldn't know the child had the device and it could be switched off to sleep mode when it wasn't needed to conserve its battery," the Reading University academic said.288 |
| 3. | Technological Problem: How Recharge Human Implant Chip's Battery: The Guardian: September 3, 2002 |
| Professor Kevin Warwick of the cybernetics department at Reading University comments on the technological problem of recharging the battery of a human chip implant. |
| The parents of an 11-year-old girl are to take the extraordinary step of having her fitted with a microchip so that her movements can be traced if she is abducted. |
| Danielle Duval will have the device implanted in her arm in the next few months, the scientist [Professor Kevin Warwick of the cybernetics department at Reading University] assisting the plan claimed yesterday. The miniature chip will apparently send a signal via a mobile phone network to a computer, which will be able to pinpoint her location on an electronic map. |
| Professor Warwick said there were a few technological problems to be ironed out, including exactly how to recharge the chip's battery, but he expected Danielle to be fitted with the device, under local anaesthetic by a doctor, in the next few months. "Her parents want me to proceed as quickly as possible, and I wouldn't waste their time if I thought it wasn't capable of working," he said. |
| Among the technical questions to be addressed is whether the chip should remain dormant in the limb until an emergency arose, or whether it should emit a signal 24 hours a day. |
| C. | Patents |
| Following is U.S. patent information related to microchip implants. |
| 1. | United States Patent Number: 5,211,129: May 18, 1993 |
| a. | United States Patent and Trademark Office |
| Patent number 5,211,129 is for a "Syringe-implantable identification transponder." |
| 1) | Assignee |
| The Assignee for the May 18, 1993 patent was "Destron/IDI, Inc. (Boulder, CO); Hughes Aircraft Co. (Boulder, CO)." |
| 2) | Abstract |
| The Abstract for the May 18, 1993 patent provides a summary of the patent. |
| An improved transponder for transmitting an identification of an animal or the like is described which is sufficiently miniaturized to be syringe-implantable, thus avoiding the necessity of surgical procedures. The transponder comprises a coil which receives an interrogation signal and transmits an identification signal in response thereto. The transponder receives the energy required for transmission by inductive coupling to an interrogator. A single integrated circuit chip is provided which detects the interrogation signal, rectifies it to generate power needed for transmission, stores an identification of the transponder and hence of the animal in which it is implanted, and generates a frequency-shift-keyed, Manchester encoded identification signal in response to the interrogation signal. The device transmits the identification signal in real time, that is, immediately upon commencement of the interrogation signal, such that no discrete elements for energy storage are required. The transmission frequency and the bit rate are both determined by integer division of the interrogation signal such that no discrete elements such as crystal oscillators are required for signal generation.291 |
| 3) | Claims |
| The May 18, 1993 patent has 27 claims. Following is the initial portion of "What is claimed" for the first claim |
| A transponder for syringe implantation in a host animal including fish or other living creatures for responding to an interrogation signal from a remote signal generator over a monitoring period extending at least over a plurality of months...292 |
| 4) | Description: Field of the Invention |
| The May 18, 1993 patent "Field of the Invention" noted that the identification transponder is passive. |
| This invention relates to identification transponders for implantation into animals for their identification, useful in monitoring migratory patterns and for other purposes. More particularly, this invention relates to an identification transponder which is passive, meaning that it receives all its operating power from an interrogator device, which is...durable and reliable over a period of years.293 |
| b. | Applied Digital Solutions and Patent #5,211,129 |
| In addition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office material, various other documents provided information regarding patent #5,211,129, Applied Digital Solutions, and Digital Angel. |
| 1) | Patent #5,211,129 a "Keystone" Patent of Digital Angel Corporation/Applied Digital Solutions |
| Patent #5,211,129 was considered a "keystone" patent of Digital Angel Corporation in an Applied Digital Solutions announcement about a different patent. |
| As previously announced by Digital Angel Corporation, the new patent builds on Digital Angel Corporation's underlying "keystone" patent (#5,211,129) for its implantable RFID microchip... |
| Applied Digital Solutions is the beneficial owner of a majority position in Digital Angel Corporation...294 |
| 2) | History: Digital Angel Corporation, Destron Fearing, and Destron/IDI |
| Destron/IDI, the Assignee of the May 18, 1993 patent #5,211,129 merged with Fearing Manufacturing in November 1993 to form Destron Fearing. Destron Fearing became a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Angel Corporation. |
| a) | Destron/IDI Merged with Fearing Manufacturing |
| Destron/IDI merged with Fearing Manufacturing in November 1993. |
| Destron Fearing Corporation has been in the animal identification business since 1945É As the animal identification industry expanded, the Company realized tremendous growth, and with the merger of Fearing Manufacturing and Destron/IDI in November 1993, Destron Fearing emerged as the innovative world leader in visible and electronic animal identification... |
| Destron Fearing Corporation owns patents worldwide in microchip technology and is a leader in the world evolution of radio frequency animal identification. The products of the future are here for the world today, and Destron Fearing Corporation is ready to move into the 21st century as the world leader in animal identification.295 |
| b) | Destron Fearing a Subsidiary of Digital Angel Corporation. |
| Destron Fearing became a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Angel Corporation. |
| (1) | "DigitalAngel.net Merged with Destron Fearing": Business 2.0 |
| Rick Overton reported in Business 2.0 on the relation between Digital Angel and Destron Fearing. |
| In September, DigitalAngel.net merged with Destron Fearing, a maker of embedded devices for tracking animals. And Destron Fearing already has a partnership with Schering-Plough, the maker of allergy drug Claritin.296 |
| (2) | Destron Fearing a Subsidiary of Digital Angel Corporation |
| The Destron Fearing Web site stated the relation between Digital Angel and Destron Fearing. |
| Welcome to the Destron Fearing Corporation Web Site. Destron Fearing is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Angel Corporation.297 |
| (3) | "About Digital Angel.net Inc." |
| The "Press Releases" section of the Digital Angel Web site stated the relation between Digital Angel and Destron Fearing. |
| In September of 2000, Applied Digital Solutions acquired Destron Fearing Corporation and merged it into its Digital Angel subsidiary. Destron Fearing, based in South St. Paul, Minnesota, has been in the animal identification business since 1945 and manufactures a broad line of electronic and visual identification devices and information systems for companion animals, livestock, laboratory animals, fish and wildlife. The company owns patents worldwide in microchip technology and is a leader in the world evolution of radio frequency animal identification.298 |
| 2. | United States Patent Number: 5,629,678: May 13, 1997"About Digital Angel.net Inc." |
| a. | United States Patent and Trademark Office |
| Patent number 5,629,678 is for a "Personal tracking and recovery system." |
| 1) | Assignee |
| The Assignee for the May 13, 1997 patent was "Gargano; Paul A. (Belmont, MA)."299 |
| 2) | Abstract |
| The Abstract for the May 13, 1997 patent provides a summary of the patent. |
| Apparatus for tracking and recovering humans utilizes an implantable transceiver incorporating a power supply and actuation system allowing the unit to remain implanted and functional for years without maintenance. The implanted transmitter may be remotely actuated, or actuated by the implantee. Power for the remote-activated receiver is generated electromechanically through the movement of body muscle. The device is small enough to be implanted in a child, facilitating use as a safeguard against kidnapping, and has a transmission range which also makes it suitable for wilderness sporting activities. A novel biological monitoring feature allows the device to be used to facilitate prompt medical dispatch in the event of heart attack or similar medical emergency. A novel sensation-feedback feature allows the implantee to control and actuate the device with certainty.300 |
| b. | Applied Digital Solutions and Patent #5,629,678 |
| In addition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office material, various other documents provided information regarding patent #5,629,678, Applied Digital Solutions, and Digital Angel. |
| 1) | Applied Digital Solutions Acquired Patent Rights to Patent #5,629,678 Technology, Referred to as "Digital AngelTM": "Special Report: Background and Technical Abstract: Digital AngelTM: E-Business Security, Emergency Location and Medical Monitoring" |
| A "Special Report: Background and Technical Abstract: Digital AngelTM: E-Business Security, Emergency Location and Medical Monitoring" document noted that, on December 10, 1999, Applied Digital Solutions acquired patent rights to patent #5,629,678 technology, referred to as "Digital AngelTM." |
| On May 13, 1997, United States Patent Number 5,629,678 was granted for a "personal tracking and recovery system," consisting of a miniature digital transceiver -- implantable in humans -- with a built-in, electromechanical power supply and actuation system. These features enable the device to remain implanted and functional for years without maintenance. This transceiver sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology. |
| On December 10, 1999, Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. (ADS) acquired the patent rights to this technology, which the company refers to as "Digital AngelTM." The agreement gives ADS the right to develop this unique product for all of its applications or to sublicense the development of specific applications to other entities. ADS is actively seeking joint venture partners to develop and market this technology. We expect to produce a prototype of the device by the end of 2000. We believe the potential global market for this device - in all of its applications -- could exceed $100 billion... |
| The Digital AngelTM transceiver can be implanted just under the skin or hidden inconspicuously on or within valuable personal belongings and priceless works of art... |
| Although still in the early developmental stage, we believe Digital AngelTM could have an array of beneficial potential applications: provide a tamper-proof means of locating and identifying individuals for e-business and e-commerce security; locate individuals, including children, who are lost or who have been abducted; monitor the medical conditions of at-risk patients; track and locate military, diplomatic and other essential government personnel; determine the location or the authenticity of valuable property; track the whereabouts of wilderness sports enthusiasts (mountain climbers, hikers, skiers, etc.).301 |
| 2) | Applied Digital Solutions Acquired Patent Rights to Patent #5,629,678 Technology, Referred to as "Digital Angel": "Patents / Proprietary: Background and Technical Abstract: Financial and Security Identification Applications" |
| A "Patents / Proprietary: Background and Technical Abstract: Financial and Security Identification Applications" Applied Digital Solutions document noted that, on December 10, 1999, Applied Digital Solutions acquired patent rights to patent #5,629,678 technology, referred to as "Digital Angel." |
| On May 13, 1997, United States Patent Number 5,629,678 was granted for a "personal tracking and recovery system," consisting of a miniature digital transceiver. |
| On December 10, 1999, Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. (ADS) acquired the patent rights to this technology, which the company refers to as "Digital Angel." The agreement gives ADS the right to develop this unique product for all of its applications or to sublicense the development of specific applications to other entities. ADS is actively seeking joint venture partners to develop and market this technology. We believe the potential global market for this device -- in all of its applications -- could exceed $100 billion.302 |
| 3) | Applied Digital Solutions Acquired Patent Rights to Miniature Digital Transceiver, Referred to as "Digital Angel": "Patents / Proprietary: Background and Technical Abstract: Financial and Security Identification Applications" |
| The "Press Releases" section of the Digital Angel Web site announced in December 1999 that Applied Digital Solutions "had acquired patent rights to a miniature digital transceiver—which it has named Digital Angel." |
| In December of 1999, Applied Digital Solutions announced that it had acquired the patent rights to a miniature digital transceiver -- which it has named Digital Angel. Digital Angel will be able to send and receive data and be located by GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. The company believes this technology will enable it to tap into a multi-billion dollar marketplace with a number of applications that will prove to be extremely popular. These potential applications include: monitoring the medical condition of at-risk patients; tracking endangered wildlife or household pets; managing livestock and other farm-related animals; pinpointing the location of valuable stolen property; finding lost airline baggage and postal packages; managing the commodity supply chain; preventing the unauthorized use of firearms; and providing a tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-commerce security.303 |
| 4) | "Applied Digital Solutions Paid Inventor Paul Gargano for Patent Rights": Business 2.0 |
| Rick Overton reported in Business 2.0 on the relation between Applied Digital Solutions, Digital Angel, inventor Paul Gargano, and "patent rights to a 'personal tracking and recovery system' ". |
| The force behind Digital Angel is Applied Digital Solutions (ADS), an Internet telephony company in Palm Beach, Fla. In late 1999 ADS paid Massachusetts inventor Paul Gargano for the patent rights to a "personal tracking and recovery system." The patent described the combination of GPS and wireless, but lacked a biosensor. ADS set up Digital Angel.net as a wholly owned subsidiary in Hauppauge, N.Y., and within a month hired engineer Peter Zhou to oversee the research. In late October, DigitalAngel.net was set to unveil a prototype and hoping to attract press attention and investors.304 |