Google-owned smartphone maker Motorola has applied for a patent for an "electronic tattoo" on people's necks that doubles as a mobile microphone, lie detector and digital display.

The tattoo would capture vibrations, or sound, directly from a user's throat, thus eliminating background noise that so often mars conversations over mobile phones.

mc10's flexible digital tattoo. Credit:mc10inc.com

The sound would then be transmitted from the electronic tattoo, which has its own power supply built-in, to a nearby smartphone via Bluetooth, near-field communication, also known as NFC, or the wireless technology ZigBee.

"Mobile communication devices are often operated in noisy environments ... Communication can reasonably be improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic noise in such environments and contexts," reads the patent.