Digital Jewelry

Chapter-1

INTRODUCTION

The latest computer craze has been to be able to wear wireless computers. The Computer

Fashion Wave, "Digital Jewelry" looks to be the next sizzling fashion trend of the technological

wave. The combination of shrinking computer devices and increasing computer power has

allowed several companies to begin producing fashion jewelry with embedded intelligence.

Today’s manufacturers place millions of transistors on a microchip, which can be used to make

small devices that store tons of digital data. The whole concept behind this is to be able to

communicate to others by means of wireless appliances. The other key factor of this concept

market is to stay fashionable at the same time.

As computing and technology become more ubiquitous in their conception, there is

evidence that designers are looking for methods of bridging technology with the human form

(corporate examples include IBM, Philips and Nike). The technology of the large corporate

companies is about mass-produced changes in our personal experience of the world. Mass-

production is by its nature detrimental to intimacy and the sense of individual experience.

Jewellery is about an intimate relationship between an individual and an object, and often forms

a link in the relationship between one person and another. This paper illuminates the contribution

that contemporary jewellery design can make to the design and conception of digital

communication devices, illustrating a creative methodology for creating new objects embodying

technology. The method acts to bridge the areas of HCI, contemporary jewelery and other design

disciplines. This research is not about inventing new mobile phones or PDAs, which are worn in

a novel way on the body, but is about the design and application of wearable digital technology

using the methods and perspective of a Contemporary Jeweler. The results include a new model

and perspective for viewing objects, in particular wearable objects involving computer

technologies. This paper has significance both directly within design and craft as well as wider

implications outside of this field.

By the end of the decade, we could be wearing our computers instead of sitting in front of

them.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 1

Digital Jewelry

1.1 Scope

This seminar is about the design and application of digital jewelry which will be

implemented very soon in the real world. Through developing the pieces and critiquing existing

forms of information and communication devices I became aware that the issues raised by the

potential integration of digital technologies and jewelry were considerable. There has been a

radical shift in our relationships with, and experiences of, digital technologies during the last

sixty years. Developments of body-focused digital objects have fundamentally altered our

relationship with digital technologies, both physically and emotionally.

1.2 Purpose

The advent of digital jewelry has revolutionized the jewelry business by making it more

than just a fashion accessory, and in the near future we could all be wearing it as a vital means of

communication. Mobile phones may have reduced in size over the years, due to shrinking

computer devices and a major increase in computer power, but digital jewelry will enable you to

go one step further by adorning your body with a selection of compatible mobile components

that will work together as well as any mobile phone, and look stylish at the same time.

1.3 What Is Digital Jewelry?

Digital jewelry is the fashion jewelry with embedded intelligence.“Digital jewelry” can

help you solve problems like forgotten passwords and security badges.“Digital jewelry” is a

nascent catchphrase for wearable ID devices that contain personal information like passwords,

identification, and account information. They have the potential to be all-in-one replacements for

your driver’s license, key chain, business cards, credit cards, health insurance card, corporate

security badge, and loose cash. They can also solve a common dilemma of today’s wired world –

the forgotten password.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 2

Digital Jewelry

1.4 Digital Jewelry and Its Components

Soon, cell phones will take a totally new form, appearing to have no form at all. Instead

of one single device, cell phones will be broken up into their basic components and packaged as

various pieces of digital jewelry. Each piece of jewelry will contain a fraction of the components

found in a conventional mobile phone. Together, the digital-jewelry cell phone should work just

like a conventional cell phone.

The various components that are inside a cell phone: -

Microphone, Receiver, Touch pad, Display, Circuit board, Antenna, and Battery.

IBM has developed a prototype of a cell phone that consists of several pieces of digital

jewelry that will work together wirelessly, possibly with Blue tooth wireless technology, to

perform the functions of the above components{1}.

FIG 1.1:Cell phones may one day be comprised of digital accessories thatWork together through wireless connections.

Here are the pieces of computerized-jewelry phone and their functions:

Earrings - Speakers embedded into these earrings will be the phone's receiver.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 3

Digital Jewelry

FIG 1.2: Speakers Embedded Into Earnings

These days many manufacturers are developing things like Bluetooth devices in the form

of pendants or earrings that people can wear that help enhance their mobile phones, computers

PDAs, basically anything that uses similar Technology.

Necklace - Users will talk into the necklace's embedded microphone

FIG 1.3: Microphone Embedded Necklace

Necklace transfer the information in the forms of signals. It works with the help of

sensors which is embedded in it. It is mainly by blue tooth technology.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 4

Digital Jewelry

Ring - Perhaps the most interesting piece of the phone, this "magic decoder ring” is equipped

with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that flash to indicate an incoming call. It can also be

programmed to flash different colors to identify a particular caller or indicate the importance

of a call.

Two of the most identifiable components of a personal computer are the mouse and

monitor. These devices are as familiar to us today as a television set. However, in the next

decade, we could witness the disappearance of these devices, at least in their current form.

Several companies, including IBM and Charmed Technology, are working on ways to

create a head-mounted display. IBM is also working to shrink the computer mouse to the size of

a ring and create a wrist-worn display.

FIG 1.4: IBM's magic decoder rings will flash when you get a call.

The same ring that flashes for phone calls could also inform you that e-mail is piling up

in your inbox. This flashing alert could also indicate the urgency of the e-mail.

The mouse-ring that IBM is developing will use the company's Track Point technology to

wirelessly move the cursor on a computer-monitor display. (Track Point is the little button

embedded in the keyboard of some laptops). IBM Researchers have transferred TrackPoint

technology to a ring, which looks something like a black-pearl ring. On top of the ring is a little

black ball that users will swivel to move the cursor, in the same way that the TrackPoint button

on a laptop is used.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 5

Digital Jewelry

This Track Point ring will be very valuable when monitors shrink to the size of watch

face. In the coming age of ubiquitous computing, displays will no longer be tied to desktops or

wall screens. Instead, you'll wear the display like a pair of sunglasses or a bracelet. Researchers

are overcoming several obstacles facing these new wearable displays, the most important of

which is the readability of information displayed on these tiny devices.

Bracelet - Equipped with a video graphics array (VGA) display, this wrist display could also

be used as a caller identifier that flashes the name and phone number of the caller.

FIG 1.5: (a)Bluetooth Bracelet built in rechargeable battery, when a call is coming the bracelet will vibrate

and lamp flash (b) Prototype bracelet display developed by IBM[1]

With a jewelry phone, the keypad and dialing function could be integrated into the

bracelet, or else dumped altogether -- it's likely that voice-recognition software will be used to

make calls, a capability that is already commonplace in many of today's cell phones. Simply say

the name of the person you want to call and the phone will dial that person. IBM is also working

on a miniature rechargeable battery to power these components.

1.5 Charmed Communicator’s Eyepiece

Charmed Technology is already marketing its digital jewelry, including a futuristic-

looking eyepiece display.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 6

Digital Jewelry

FIG 1.6: The eyepiece above displays images and data received wirelessly from the communicator’s belt

module[4]

The eyepiece is the display component of the company's Charmed Communicator, a

wearable, wireless, broadband-Internet device that can be controlled by voice, pen or handheld

keypad. The Communicator can be used as an MP3 player, video player and cell phone. The

Communicator runs on the company's Linux-based Nanix operating system.

This would be the shape of designer glasses. These intelligent spectacles let you surf the

web or check e-mail, whenever and wherever you want. Your eye would serve as a mouse, with

menu items selected by focusing your attention on an item on screen.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 7

Digital Jewelry

Chapter-2

LITERATURE SURVEY

Wireless communications is, by any measure, the fastest growing segment of the

communications industry. As such, it has captured the attention of the media and the imagination

of the public. Cellular systems have experienced exponential growth over the last decade and

there are currently around two billion users worldwide. Indeed, cellular phones have become a

critical business tool and part of everyday life in most developed countries, and are rapidly

supplanting antiquated wire line systems in many developing countries. In addition, wireless

local area networks currently supplement or replace wired networks in many homes, businesses,

and campuses. Many new applications, including wireless sensor networks, automated highways

and factories, smart homes and appliances, and remote telemedicine, are emerging from research

ideas to concrete systems.

2.1 History of Wireless Communications

The first wireless networks were developed in the Pre-industrial age. These systems

transmitted information over line-of-sight distances (later extended by telescopes) using smoke

signals, torch signaling, flashing mirrors, signal flares, or semaphore flags. An elaborate set of

signal combinations was developed to convey complex messages with these rudimentary signals.

Observation stations were built on hilltops and along roads to relay these messages over large

distances. These early communication networks were replaced first by the telegraph network

(invented by Samuel Morse in 1838) and later by the telephone. In 1895, a few decades after the

telephone was invented, Marconi demonstrated the first radio transmission from the Isle of

Wight to a tugboat 18 miles away, and radio communications was born. The first network based

on packet radio, ALOHANET, was developed at the University of Hawaii in 1971. This network

enabled computer sites at seven campuses spread out over four islands to communicate with a

central computer on Oahu via radio transmission. The network architecture used a star topology

with the central computer at its hub. The U.S. military was extremely interested in the

combination of packet data and broadcast radio inherent to ALOHANET. Throughout the 1970’s

and early 1980’s the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invested

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 8

Digital Jewelry

significant resources to develop networks using packet radios for tactical communications in the

battlefield. Packet radio networks also found commercial application in supporting wide-area

wireless data services. These services, first introduced in the early 1990’s, enable wireless data

access (including email, file transfer, and web browsing) at fairly low speeds, on the order of 20

Kbps. A strong market for these wide-area wireless data services never really materialized, due

mainly to their low data rates, high cost, and lack of ―killer applications. These services mostly

disappeared in the 1990s, supplanted by the wireless data capabilities of cellular telephones and

wireless local area networks (LANs). The introduction of wired Ethernet technology in the

1970’s steered many commercial companies away from radio-based networking.

2.2 Wireless Vision

The vision of wireless communications supporting information exchange between people

or devices is the communications frontier of the next few decades, and much of it already exists

in some form. This vision will allow multimedia communication from anywhere in the world

using a small handheld device or laptop. Wireless networks will connect palmtop, laptop, and

desktop computers anywhere within an office building or campus, as well as from the corner

cafe. In the home these networks will enable a new class of intelligent electronic devices that can

interact with each other and with the Internet in addition to providing connectivity between

computers, phones, and security/monitoring systems. Such smart homes can also help the elderly

and disabled with assisted living, patient monitoring, and emergency response. Wireless

entertainment will permeate the home and any place that people congregate. Video

teleconferencing will take place between buildings that are blocks or continents apart, and these

conferences can include travelers as well, from the salesperson who missed his plane connection

to the CEO off sailing in the Caribbean. Wireless video will enable remote classrooms, remote

training facilities, and remote hospitals anywhere in the world. Wireless sensors have an

enormous range of both commercial and military applications.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 9

Digital Jewelry

2.3 Low-Cost Low-Power Radios: Bluetooth and Zigbee

As radios decrease their cost and power consumption, it becomes feasible to embed them

in more types of electronic devices, which can be used to create smart homes, sensor networks,

and other compelling applications. Two radios have emerged to support this trend: Bluetooth and

Zigbee. Bluetooth radios provide short range connections between wireless devices along with

rudimentary networking capabilities. The Bluetooth standard is based on a tiny microchip

incorporating a radio transceiver that is built into digital devices. The transceiver takes the place

of a connecting cable for devices such as cell phones, laptop and palmtop computers, portable

printers and projectors, and network access points. Bluetooth is mainly for short range

communications, e.g. from a laptop to a nearby printer or from a cell phone to a wireless headset.

Its normal range of operation is 10 m (at 1 mW transmit power), and this range can be increased

to 100 m by increasing the transmit power to 100 mW. The system operates in the unlicensed 2.4

GHz frequency band. The Bluetooth standard is named after Harald I Bluetooth, the king of

Denmark between 940 and 985 AD who united Denmark and Norway.

2.4 Jewelry as Communication

When designing devices that enable communication between individuals using

technology, the significance of how the device relates to the user as an individual, rather than a

member of a collective, is of great importance. This paper draws on practice centered research

into the integration of digital technologies within contemporary jewellery and focuses on

opposing notions of jewelry and the gadget within the conception and design of wearable digital

communication devices.

The desire to make the human form the locus for digital devices is increasingly evident in

the proposals and developments of digital device designers. This motivation is often technology

led as a result of the increasing ubiquitous and miniaturized nature of computing and technology.

However, the body, as a site for interactive devices, has much wider possibilities. This paper

explores the contribution and perspective of Contemporary Jewelry in the design and conception

of wearable digital devices, reflecting the awareness of jewelers to the person/object relationship

and notions of personal significance.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 10

Digital Jewelry

Randall White, professor of anthropology at New York University suggests that any

discovery of collective human coexistence can be described as a society if there is evidence of

jewellery in that collective. He states that "What people wear, and what they do to and with their

bodies in general, forms an important part of the flow of information - establishing, modifying,

and commenting on major social categories. This perspective provides a view of jewellery,

which establishes it as a defining signifier of society and the power relationships within it{1}.

There is evidence throughout history that objects have been worn or attached to the body

to symbolize status, difference and a way of asserting individualism. These first connections

between purpose and self-adornment form the precursors of what we now know as jewellery.

Traditionally jewellery has followed in these footsteps. It has been used to symbolize wealth,

social status and cultural positioning. However the power an object has, particularly one worn on

the body, to exemplify and express many broader concepts has advanced the medium of jewelry

from this traditional role [1].

IBM’s design approach can be characterized as a 'problem solving' one, and has led to

solutions of equivalent quality to high street, commercial accessories, with a predictability of

form and function. Turning to jewellery because "if you have something with you all the time,

you might as well be able to wear it." shows a narrow interpretation of what jewellery is and a

naivety in this case of the problems which are in need of solving. In allowing function to lead the

concept the perceived issues or problems are potentially shallow and the resulting designs will

only echo this. The more important, significant problems of why such devices should be made,

or how such devices can enhance communication between people are not evident in these pieces.

Research and Development at Philips has produced concepts for the integration of

technology in our communities, homes and clothing. Philips is an example of a company with a

number of approaches to the design of digital devices. They take a user centered approach stating

"The traditional design disciplines are integrated with expertise from the human sciences and

technology through a multi-disciplinary, research-based approach that makes it possible to create

new solutions that satisfy and anticipate people's needs and aspirations.

Philips suggest that "As new technological developments advance they become better and

smaller as we use refined, miniaturized technology. But there are limits to miniaturization. It can

help make products smaller and easier to use, but the ultimate dream is not to have easier tools: it

is not to have to bother with tools at all! The step forward then is the integration of functions into

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 11

Digital Jewelry

objects that we do not feel clutters us, which are part of our life. Philips approach shows an

openness to form and mode of interaction, their proposed devices often suggest playful ways of

interacting with the systems, but in terms of wearable devices their suggestions echo qualities of

'products' rather than 'jewelry.

Product Design Company IDEO has produced proposals for wearable digital appliances,

which intimate notions of jewelry. The ideas consist of: Cell phone rings, where the ear piece

and mouth piece telephony are embedded in finger jewellery, 'Toe Jewelry', which facilitates

navigation around a city, through the use of satellites and a PDA power plant on a belt, a Sports

watch which supplies data of your performance, to upload to your PDA for analysis and a low

powered ear mounted phone. The forms still resemble products, rather than jewellery, but they

show a more imaginative interpretation of how to wear digital devices than many product design

companies.

As these examples illustrate, the majority of digital devices to date using the body as their

canvas and locus are from a functionalist led standpoint. Craft theorists such as Greenhalgh

(2002) discuss the relevance of technology for makers of craft objects and there is a recognisable

shift in the embrace of such notions. However there are very few contemporary jewelers going

beyond the expression of ideas and aesthetics attributed to digital technology in their work.

IDEO’s Technojewelry proposals for digital jewelry include Cell phone, Rings, where the

ear piece and mouth piece are embedded in finger jewelry, and GPS Toes, toe rings which act as

directional indicators and are wirelessly connected to a GPS receiver kept in a bag or worn on a

belt. Elements of these designs show a more sensitive understanding of what it means to

integrate an object into your appearance by wearing it. Their focus on the hands and feet are

described by IDEO as: “non intrusive locations for useful innovations, these concepts prove that

new devices needn’t look alien to your person and that we can make technology adapt to our

lifestyles rather than the other way around.”

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 12

Digital Jewelry

Fig 2.1: IDEO’s Technojewelry

2.5 People and Their Awareness of Digital Jewelry

A survey was conducted for this purpose through social network (Facebook, Twitter)

Participants included: 138 people, age group 19-30, Male and Female. Our results concluded the

following-There are 106 people(77%) do not about digital jewelry, while there are 32 people

(23%) they may have heard or read about it. About 73% accept the idea of digital jewelry. The

most popular field used for Digital Jewelry is Intelligence. This is comparing with medical and

social fields.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 13

Digital Jewelry

Chapter-3

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF DIGITAL

JEWELRY

Digital jewelry devices consist of a screen or display for information, most likely

consisting of 7-16-segment, or dot matrix LEDs, LCDs, or other technologies such as

electroluminescent material (EL) or others, which could become an optional display.

So too, an audiovisual or other 'display' could consist of a speaker, a single flashing light,

a sensor of some kind (such as a temperature driven EL display), or other informational

aesthetic. The display layer sits on a face of the device, which is enclosed in some material such

as plastic, metal, crystal, or other material.

It has external switches and buttons on its side and a data-port for accessing the

programmable electronic circuit inside. A micro controller that is a surface mounted device

(SMD) on a printed circuit board (PCB) with resistors (R) and capacitors (C) are the internal

‘guts' of the jewelry[1].

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 14

Digital Jewelry

3.1 Display Technologies

The digital jewelry display, for instance, every alphabet and number system has found

representation within the electronics realm and 'dot-matrix' (a matrix of single LEDs) is used to

display Chinese and Japanese and other character sets, as can the alternative display for LCDs

(liquid-crystal-displays) also be used, as often found in watches.

FIG 3.1: Alphanumeric or graphic display types

Digital Jewelry can be made in many different sizes and shapes with a variety of

materials ranging from plastic and metal to rubber and glass. They utilize electromagnetic

properties and electronics to display information through a screen or display of some kind. This

could range from LED 7-segment, 16-segment, dot matrix, and other programmable LEDs

devices to LCDs, OLEDs, and other displays, which are all driven by the self-contained jewelry

devices themselves[1].

A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols

and images. Every type of modern technology uses dot matrices for display of information,

including cell phones, televisions, and printers. They are also used in textiles with sewing,

knitting, and weaving.

In printers, the dots are usually the darkened areas of the paper. In displays, the dots may

light up, as in an LED, CRT, or plasma display, or darken, as in an LCD. Although the output of

modern computers is generally all in the form of dot matrices (technically-speaking), computers

may internally store data as either a dot matrix or as a vector pattern of lines and curves. Vector

data encoding requires less memory and less data storage, in situations where the shapes may

need to be resized, as with font typefaces. For maximum image quality using only dot matrix

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 15

Digital Jewelry

fonts, it would be necessary to store a separate dot matrix pattern for the many different potential

point sizes that might be used. Instead, a single group of vector shapes is used to render all the

specific dot matrix patterns needed for the current display or printing task.

Sixteen-segment displays were originally designed to display alphanumeric characters

(Latin letters and Arabic digits). Later they were used to display Thai numerals  and Persian

characters. Before the advent of inexpensive dot-matrix displays, sixteen and fourteen-segment

displays were some of the few options available for producing alphanumeric characters

on calculators and other embedded systems. However, they are still sometimes used

on VCRs, car stereos, microwave ovens, telephone Caller ID displays, and slot

machine readouts[2].

Sixteen-segment displays may be based on one of several technologies, the three most

common optoelectronics types being LED, LCD and VFD. The LED variant is typically

manufactured in single or dual character packages, to be combined as needed into text line

displays of a suitable length for the application in question

3.2 Electromagnetic Beads

The closest comparison to this model is that of 'beads' which are strung together to make

a custom necklace or bracelet, with interchangeable electromagnetic component systems or

devices. One bead may be a capacitor on the inside, and a solar panel on the outside.

Another bead may have an internal resistor which feed power into a programmed

microcontroller bead which drives an external screen, with other options available in a variety of

bead configurations which compose a circuit, including beads with a piezo element, voltage

regulator, crystal, or rechargeable battery as part of the modular jewel circuit [2].

The number of data pins on the microcontroller needs to be enough to easily program the

display layer plus the switches without overly complex and advanced coding methods. The key

to the device's ability to work effectively is a balancing of electronic components within the

circuit with a light-duty processing and limited power consumption required for the display (d)

layer.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 16

Digital Jewelry

FIG 3.2: Electromagnetic Beads[1]

3.3 Prototypes of Digital Jewelry

FIG 3.3: Hiox Necklace

The figure 3.3 shows a complete HIOX necklace showing al 26 letters of roman alphabets

extended in 4-dimentional space lifetime. Metal with leather cord.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 17

Digital Jewelry

FIG 3.4: Programmable HIOX Ring with 16-Segment LED Display

A Sixteen-Segment Display (SISD), sometimes called a "Union Jack" display or a

"British Flag" display is a type of display based on 16 segments that can be turned on or off

according to the graphic pattern to be produced. It is an extension of the more common seven-

segment display, adding four diagonal and two vertical segments and splitting the

three horizontal segments in half. Other variants include the fourteen-segment display which

splits only the middle horizontal segment[2].

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 18

Digital Jewelry

Chapter-4

THE JAVA RING

It seems that everything we access today is under lock and key. Even the devices we use

are protected by passwords. It can be frustrating trying to keep with all of the passwords and

keys needed to access any door or computer program.

Dallas Semiconductor is developing a new Java-based, computerized ring that will

automatically unlock doors and log on to computers.

FIG 4.1

(a)The Java Ring can be programmed to give you access to every door and device.

(b)DS9104 Digital Decoder[3]

For over 10years, Dallas semiconductor also has been designing, making and selling a

line of highly secure microprocessors are used in satellite TV descramblers, automatic teller

machines, point of sale terminals, and other similar applications requiring cryptographic security

and high resistance to attack by hackers. Postal Service's (USPS) Information Based Indicia

Program Postal Security Device Specification, intended to permit printing of valid U.S. postage

on any PC, provided the first opportunity to combine two areas of expertise when a secure

microprocessor was designed into an iButton the resulting product, named the Crypto iButton,

combines high processor performance and high-speed cryptographic primitives, and exceptional

protection against physical and cryptographic attacks of outsiders. An agreement between Dallas

Semiconductor and RSA Data Security Inc[4]. provides a paid-up license for anyone using the

Crypto iButton to perform RSA encryption and digital signatures so that no more further

licensing of the RSA encryption technology is required so far. High security is afforded by the

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 19

Digital Jewelry

ability to erase the contents of NVRAM extremely quickly. This feature, rapid zeroization, is a

requirement for high security devices that may be subjected to attacks by hackers. As a result of

its high security, the Crypto iButton is expected to win the FIPS 140-1 security certification by

the National Institute of Standards and Technology (N IST).A special operating system was

designed and stored in the ROM of the Crypto iButton to support cryptography and general-

purpose financial transactions -- such as those required by the Postal Service program. While not

a Java virtual machine, the Ecommerce firmware designed for this application had several points

of similarity with Java, including an object-oriented design and a byte code interpreter to

interpret and execute Dallas Semiconductor's custom-designed with the E-Commerce Script

language.[3]

The DS9104 Digital Decoder Ring is a portable database disguised as jewelry with the

DS1996 Memory iButton as signet. Data is transferred serially using the 1-Wire® protocol

through a simple interface. Data is first written to a scratchpad, verified, and then transferred to

NV memory. The 64-bit serial number guarantees that each ring is unique and traceable. The

ring communicates by touch through a parallel or serial port interface. Applications include

access control to buildings, doors, and computers and digitized storage of personal

information[4].

Note: Rings cannot be resized as the iButton will not withstand the high temperatures required.

The Java Ring, first introduced at JavaOne Conference, has been tested at Celebration

School, an innovative K-12 school just outside Orlando, FL. The rings given to students are

programmed with Java applets that communicate with host applications on networked systems.

Applets are small applications that are designed to be run within another application[3].

At Celebration School, the rings have been programmed to store electronic cash to pay

for lunches, automatically unlock doors, take attendance, store a student's medical information

and allow students to check out books. All of this information is stored on the ring's iButton.

Students simply press the signet of their Java Ring against the Blue Dot receptor, and the system

connected to the receptor performs the function that the applet instructs it to. In the future, the

Java Ring may start your car.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 20

Digital Jewelry

4.1 Components of Java Ring

The Java Ring is a stainless-steel ring, 16-millimeters (0.6 inches) in diameter, which

houses a 1-million-transistor processor, called an iButton. The ring has 134 KB of RAM, 32 KB

of ROM, a real-time clock and a Java virtual machine, which is a piece of software that

recognizes the Java language and translates it for the user's computer system[4].

Digital jewelry, (designed to supplement the personal computer,) will be the evolution in

digital technology that makes computer elements entirely compatible with the human form.

Highlights of Java Ring

Runs Java better (plus portions enhance Java Card 2.0)

Careful attention to physical security (rapid zeroization)

Durability to stand up to everyday use

High memory capacity (up to 134K bytes NV SRAM)

Retail connectivity to 250 million existing computers (less if designed-in before

manufacturing)

FIG 4.2: Blue Dot Receptor

The Java Ring is snapped into a reader, called a Blue Dot receptor, to allow

communication between a host system and the Java Ring. iButton requires connection to a reader

known as a Blue Dot Receptor in order to be supplied with power and to receive input and send

output. The read/write operation will be done by this blue dot receptor provided by RS232 serial

port adaptor.

Receptor cable connects to the USB port of PC or any embedded system. The

information is transferred between the iButton and pc with momentary touching java ring.

4.2 Working Of Java Ring

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 21

Digital Jewelry

Since java ring is programmed with the applets and the programming is done according

to our application and this will specific for the specific user. All information of the user is stored

in the java ring.Figure 4.3 shows how java ring is used to open the door. User simply has to press

the signet of the java ring against the blue dot receptor and the system connected to the receptor

performs the function that the applets instruct it to.java ring has the user profile and the same

profile is present in the door embedded

Fig 4.3: Opening door using Java Ring

system also, when the user press the signet of the java ring against the java ring reader which is

embedded at the handle of the door the data is transferred from the ring to door system. if the

profile is authentic means user is authentic to open the door the applets president in the ring

instruct the door to open.

Information is transferred between iButton and a PC with a momentary contact, at up to

142K bits per second. To do that one presses iButton to the Blue Dot receptor, a 15 pipeline into

PC. The Blue Dot sticks to any convenient spot on the front of a PC and is cabled to the serial or

parallel port in the back[1].

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 22

Digital Jewelry

Figure 4.4 : Working process of Java Ring(Source: Java Card Technology)

According to the Dallas Superconductor’s information, over 41 million iButtons are

currently in circulation. List of the major users include the U.S. Post Office, entire truck fleet

fitted with iButtons that track vehicle maintenance; Citizens of Istanbul, Turkey, who store

digital cash in the iButton, using the device as a small change purse on their mass transit system.

It was also said that the U.S. Postal service has approved.

Java ring is programmed with the applets according to our application. For specific class

of user specific java applets is preloaded in to the java ring. All the information of the user is

stored in the java ring. User simply presses the signet of the java ring against the “blue dot”

receptor and the system connected to the receptor performs the function that the applet instructs

to.

Java rings are authorized through Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) so that no one

can steal a person’s ring and use that ring. The java ring provides very high degree of security for

the confidential data that is stored in the NVRAM memory[4].

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 23

Digital Jewelry

4.3 Operating System in Java Ring

A special operating system was designed and stored in the ROM of the Crypto iButton to

support cryptography and general-purpose financial transactions – such as those required by the

Postal Service program. While not a Java virtual machine, the E-Commerce firmware designed

for this application had several points of similarity with Java, including an object-oriented design

and a byte code interpreter to interpret and execute Dallas Semiconductor’s custom-designed E-

Commerce Script Language [3].

A Compiler was also written to compile the high-level language representation of the

Script Language to a byte code form that could be interpreted by the E-Commerce VM.Although

the E-Commerce firmware was intended primarily for the USPS application, the firmware

supports a variety of general electronic commerce models that are suitable for many different

applications. The E-Commerce firmware also supports cryptographic Protocols for secure

information exchange such as the Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol (SKIP)

developed by Sun Microsystems Inc.

4.4 Applications of Java Ring

Access control to buildings and equipment

Secure network login using challenge/response authentication

Storage vault for user names and passwords

User profile for rapid Internet form-filling

Digital signatures for e-commerce

United States Postal Service Postal Security Device for PC Postage downloadable over

the Internet.

Digital photo ID and fingerprint biometrics

Thermochron applications

4.5 Advantages

Java ring is wearable.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 24

Digital Jewelry

Completely controlled by the user. Provides authentication to users which is crucial for

many applications. Easier for administrator to maintain the security infrastructure.

Rapid Zeroization -zeroisation (also spelled zeroization) is the practice of erasing

sensitive parameters (electronically stored data, cryptographic keys, and CSPs) from a

cryptographic module to prevent their disclosure if the equipment is captured. This is

generally accomplished by altering or deleting the contents to prevent recovery of the

data.

More secure than using passwords.

Portable.

Provides real memory, more power, and a capacity for dynamic programming.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 25

Digital Jewelry

Chapter-5

APPLICATION, ACHIEVEMENTS, ADVANTAGES AND

LIMITATIONS

5.1 Application:

I. In Social Networking

The use of digital jewellery in the areas of social communication help to easy

communication between users as well as help to interact and respond faster as it helps to

share the latest information around the world then the digital jewelry helps rapid response

and high efficiently.

You can communicate with your friends, family, as your need as effective way.

II. In Personal Field

The java ring help the employee in the companies to reminder the time of the meeting by

saving the date on this ring(Rings can notify for not only phones, it may include email

and messages or any other kind of notification) , or to communicate with other stuff

easily by using the other component of the jewelry eg: Earrings, Necklace…etc

III. In Intelligence Field

Digital jewelry can be used to adjust the Security Council, where it is considered a

modern method and easy to use in the transfer of information in a more secure and

confidential due to their small size and used it on a personal level.

IV. In Medical Fields

That the use of jewelry digital in the medical field a big impact at facilitating their career

where it’s become a means of: communication very easy between the patient and the

doctor or the medical staff as a whole, used in follow-up patients and outside the hospital

easily, the patient can communicate with his doctor with ease, whether in the hospital or

at home as well as at the medical level they.

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 26

Digital Jewelry

5.2 Ongoing achievements:

Charmbadge

Intelligent Spectacles

Smart Wrist Watch

Magic Decoder ring

Charmed Communicator Eyepiece

Mouse Ring

5.3 Advantages

It provides SECURITY.

For example, JAVA RING is used to lock or unlock doors or computers. As we

use passwords and keys to lock our doors and computers. We don’t need to

remember all those passwords and carry all those keys. So java ring is designed to

provide security.

It is easy to carry everywhere.

As COMPUTING DEVICES are embedded, it is not necessary to carry CELLS or

COMPUTERS it is not necessary to carry CELLS or COMPUTERS.

5.4 Limitations

Charging capabilities and cost are the sample of problems.  

Display is very small

 Rays may be harmful

CONCLUSION

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 27

Digital Jewelry

Fig: Digital Watch

The basic idea behind the digital jewelry concept is to have the convenience of wireless,

wearable computers while remaining fashionably sound. The combination of shrinking computer

devices and increasing computer power has allowed several companies to begin producing

fashion jewelry with embedded intelligence. Today, manufacturers can place millions of

transistors on a microchip, which can be used to make small devices that store tons of digital

data. Researchers have already created an array of digital-jewelry prototypes. "We've made one

of almost everything except tongue rings," says Dan Russell, senior manager of IBM's Almaden

Research Lab, where IBM is developing digital-jewelry technology[1].

Russell says that digital jewelry is the beginning of the disintegration of the personal

computer into tiny pieces. It is hoped to be marketable soon, however, several bugs remain.

Charging capabilities and cost are just a sample of the problems that lurk [1].

The role posited, through this research, of a contemporary jeweler is not how to add an

aesthetic to a technology, or how you wear something, but that a jeweler can force much bigger

questions and issues, which involves questioning motivations, relevances, and forms of digital

appliances and interaction. As a result of this next phase the aim is to use the findings to develop

a reflective review of the researcher's own practice.

The research will generate empirical data for mainly qualitative analysis. In this way the

activities will inform one another and allow refinement and development of the research

methodology and in turn the researcher's own practice. It is anticipated that the research will test

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 28

Digital Jewelry

the appropriateness of Contemporary Jewellery as a creative strategy in the further development

of such technologies.

Furthermore it will define new design methodologies, which will bridge the roles of

Designer and Jeweler. If successful this research will enhance the relevance of Contemporary

Jewellery and establish its value as a source of knowledge in a post-industrial age. The

researcher will produce a thesis and a series of jewellery objects, which will be presented in the

form of one or more exhibitions, which will address the issue of transparency and

communication of content. As stated by Professor Randall White Jewellery is a defining

signifier, it was in the Middle-Upper Paleolithic age and this research can demonstrate that it still

is today.

The purpose of having digital jewelry is to use the different technologies provided in

computers or other devices in a smaller easy to carry device. we have went so far down that road

with all the existing digital jewelry. However, the future is wide open for any new ideas in that

field to make our lives much easier .New combinations of this sort may change our everyday

tasks to make it simpler, thus saving our time money and energy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 29

Digital Jewelry

1. Mobile Communications --Jochen Schiller

2. Bluetooth Connect without Cables--Jennifer Bray and Charles F Sturman

3. Cellular & Mobile Communications-- LEE

Web:

[1]www.IBM.com

[2]www.howstuffworks.com

[3]www.infoworld.com

[4]www.ibutton.com

Dept of ISE, DBIT, Bangalore Page 30