Motorola has applied for a patent on a microphone, transceiver and power supply built into a patch designed to be stuck to a consumer's throat. The idea is that the electronic tattoo would directly capture sound "emanating from a throat" and transmit it to a smartphone or other computing device via Bluetooth, NFC or other wireless protocols.

'ELECTRONIC TATTOO': The patent application describes a skin patch that can pick up speech and transmit it to a phone or tablet

The patch is intended to provide auxiliary voice input to a mobile computing device, and the company suggests it could be useful in noisy environments such as stadiums, busy streets, restaurants and emergency situations.

The device, described throughout the patent application as an "electronic skin tattoo", could also be embedded in a collar or a band worn around the throat.

The inventor also suggests that the patch could be used to show whether the wearer is telling the truth. "Optionally, the electronic skin tattoo can further include a galvanic skin response detector to detect skin resistance of a user," reads the patent. "It is contemplated that a user that may be nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth telling individual."