Patent application reveals Nintendo’s “Quality of Life” initiative

Japanese digital video gaming products developer Nintendo is seeking to branch out to another tech arena with the "Quality of Life" initiative it announced last year in a financial briefing.

Japan's video game giant had been secretive about it, and no further revelations had been made since then. However, in a recent patent application, ithe company offered a peek into what it had in store for the future.

According to commentators, from the application, it seemed, Nintendo might be shifting its business to smart home technology. The patent application that forum members of NeoGAF found (via Engadget) reveals a kind of an alarm clock equipped with a projector and sleep sensors.

Rather than wearing one or two devices to bed, this monitor relied solely on images and sounds the subject made throughout the night. The system would use a microphone and a camera to capture the information it needed.

There was no confirmation on whether the device itself would have its own cameras and microphone, but the patent illustrations suggested that a smartphone would be docked to do the monitoring.

The device would then send the information it had gathered directly to Nintendo's servers, and from there, the data would be scored and analysed before being sent back to the user.

However, commentators point out that this was only a patent and Nintendo, just like a lot of companies would have patents registered that were not necessarily planned to be made into actual products or services.

According to the patent, the sleep monitor seemed to work together with a smartphone  docked into some kind of device, which appeared to have a set of speakers and a built-in projector.

It was not clear as to what the projector would be used for, but it had been suggested that the users' sleep score would be projected onto the ceiling so that when they woke up, they would know whether or not they had had a good night's sleep.

The monitor was also expected to come packed with sensors to measure pulse rate, temperature, and other biometrics.