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A Video-Enhanced Grave Marker (VEGM) is a Western-style tombstone equipped with weatherproofed video playback that can be initiated by remote control.
The VEGM, invented by Robert Barrows of San Mateo, California, would allow its owner to record messages or have the deceased family leave messages to be played to any visitor to the site with a remote control. The stones would be equipped with weatherproofed video playback devices plus computer storage and a monitor placed within a weather-proofed, hollowed-out headstone. It could also utilize coded card swiping devices like the technology used for hotel room card keys or it can operate on a credit card or coin activated device . As of April 2005, Barrows estimated that the costs of the VEGMs might start at about USD$8000.
U.S. patent 7,089,495 was issued on The Video Enhanced Gravemarker on August 8, 2006. Barrows commented soon after its invention: "I envision being able to walk through a cemetery using a remote control, clicking on graves and what all the people buried there have to say. They can say all the things they didn't have the opportunity or guts to say when they were alive."
To prevent noise pollution, the audio can also be transmitted to wireless headsets, made available by the cemetery's office.
References
- ^ "Having a Say in Your Epitaph: The Challenge of High-Tech Tombstones". Wall Street Journal. 7 April 2005. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ "US-7089495-B2 - Patent Public Search | USPTO". ppubs.uspto.gov. Retrieved 2024-10-25.