An eagle-eyed NeoGAF user has noticed that some Nintendo patent applications were recently published, and they make for quite fascinating reading as they are related to the mysterious QOL (Quality Of Life) project. We know that an early project in this new range of products will be a sleep sensor, but beyond that little has been shared so far.

In terms of the patent applications only the abstracts are in English but just by looking at the diagrams you can get the general feel for what the patent application is all about.

From what we can tell looking at the patent applications, it appears various sensors and inputs would be used such as a camera, microphone and Balance Board in order to get information about the user such as their weight and pulse, in addition to environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. This combined information would be used to generate an overall QOL score.

Here are some interesting snippets from the applications:

WIPO Patent Application WO/2015/107747

This information processing system comprises a portable terminal. The portable terminal detects sensor information for assessing a user's emotions. It would be permissible, as an example, for the sensor information to be sound information which is detected by a microphone, or image information which is captured by a camera. The information processing system assesses the user's emotions on the basis of the sensor information. The portable terminal detects the sensor information in a period when the said portable terminal is in a standby state. As an example, the said standby state is a state wherein a display of the portable terminal is off.

Pictured below is a docking station which appears to have a projector, an interesting inclusion in the unit.

WIPO Patent Application WO/2015/107746

This display system is provided with a sensor, a projector, and a control means. The sensor detects user information for calculating a state relating to sleep of a user. The user information is, for instance, biological information, such as pulse rate. The projector displays, by means of projection, a predetermined image. For instance, the projector displays, by means of projection, an image on a ceiling by projecting the image upward. The control means controls the projector corresponding to the sleep-related state calculated on the basis of the user information.

WIPO Patent Application WO/2015/107681

A terminal system acquires physiological information from a user and transmits transmission information to a server system, said transmission information including the physiological information and/or health information relating to the health or the body of the user, obtained from said physiological information. The server system associates the transmission information received from each terminal system, and/or information obtained from said transmission information, with the user, and stores these as stored information. The server system also stores conditions relating to the generation of provided information, to be provided to the user in order to improve metrics obtained from the stored information, or metrics included in the stored information. The provided information is generated on the basis of the stored information and the conditions, and is transmitted to the user's terminal. The server system performs an analysis of transmission information acquired after the provided information has been provided, for a plurality of users that have received the provided information, and updates the conditions on the basis of the analysis results.

The rest of the applications can be found here:

Of course it is important to remember that patent applications only try to protect the intended functionality of a device, and the end result that hits the shops one day in the future is likely to be radically different due to cost factors, focus groups etc. But it still gives us a really interesting insight into where Nintendo is going with the QOL platform, which should be revealed formally in the next 12 months.

What do you think of these revelations? Are you looking forward to this majestic sleep tracking device, or are you comfortable with your quality of life as it currently stands?