Sunday, October 20, 2013

Oh, patents - Adam Harvey @ NYU

© Françoise Herrmann
There is an inventor among us!... An NYU student, just like you! His name is Adam Harvey and his patent is US2012056546, an anti-papparazzi  device. It is marketed as the CamoFlash™ and is part of a whole line of fashion wear designed for living in a total surveillance!  That is, Stealth Wear designed to protect you from surveillance cameras taking pictures, or decoy paint and hairstyles called CV Dazzle,  designed to function as a camouflage for all face recognition software!  What is more, CV Dazzle™ (meaning Computer Vision Dazzle) was actually masterminded as an NYU Master’s thesis in the Interactive Telecommunications Program!
 In Privacy we trust is Adam Harvey’s motto, and in his own words:

Stealth Wearcontinues to explore the aesthetics of privacy and the potential for fashion to challenge authoritarian surveillance….Stealth Wear is a vision for fashion that addresses the rise of surveillance, the power of those who surveil, and the growing need to exert control over what we are slowly losing, our privacy.”  

 This is radical fashion, even if it takes a “burqa to be stealthy! In the olden days Adam Harvey’s “burqa” may have been called a “poncho”, but that was in the wild west, when Zappata, was still riding the Sierras. Harvey’s Stealth Wear anti-drone burqa is made of metallized fabric, specially designed to protect against thermal imaging surveillance, a technology used in drones or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).
 The Adam Harvey (aka AH) projects website offers plenty of dialog, and plenty of solutions for living in an increasingly scrutinized world.  Visit http://ahprojects.com/to join the conversation.
 As for Adam Harvey’s anti-paparazzi patent. the idea is brilliant as it involves detection of paparazzi flashes and in response, the emission of even brighter lights, in a portable fashion accessory that looks like a clutch bag!
Below, you will find the patent abstract of the anti-paparazzi/identity protection system and a patent drawing of one embodiment of the anti-paparazzi fashion accessory; a real life picture of how the Camoflash ™ works when it flashes to obscure your ID; and a picture of the anti-drone scarf,  a variation of the Stealth Wear  burqa!

 Abstract [US2012056546]
Anti-paparazzi/identity protection system 
A method and apparatus described herein uses sensors to detect illumination indicative of an active auto-focus system in the IR, near IR, and visible light spectrums. This signal is used to trigger a light in the visible spectrum that disrupts a contrast differencing, passive auto-focus system.
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Go Adam Harvey! Go NYU!!

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