GB2589287A - Garment - Google Patents

Abstract

A garment 10 with a biosensing unit 117 for measuring bio-signals of a wearer. The garment includes a secure element 113 storing identification (ID) information for the garment and a controller 101 coupled to the biosensor and a wireless communicator 107. The controller operates the communicator to transmit a message including the ID information over a wireless network, which may be a mobile network 12. The message may be an activation message transmitted over a provisioning channel of the network. The secure element may be an embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC) storing one or more electronic Subscriber Identity Modules (eSIM) for accessing a mobile network operator and the garment information may be included in the eSIM. The ID may be a mobile subscriber identification number (MSIN) or an international mobile subscription identification (IMSI) number. The garment may include a module to detect when it is being worn 103 and can switch between a low-power mode where the transmitter is inactive when not being worn and a normal mode where the transmitter is active when worn.

Description

GARMENT

The present invention is directed towards a garment, and in particular a garment arranged to communicate over a wireless network.

Background

Garments incorporating sensors are wearable electronics which can be designed to interface with a wearer of the garment, and to determine information such as the wearers heart rate, rate of respiration, activity level, and body positioning. Such properties can be measured with a sensor assembly that includes a sensor for signal transduction and/or microprocessors for analysis. Such garments are commonly referred to as 'smart clothing' and may be referred to as 'biosensing garments if they measure biosignals. Typically such garments are only able to communicate locally with a user phone via a short range communication protocol such as NFC or Bluetooth. Typically, such garments are directly paired to a particular phone.

It is desirable to enable garments to communicate over long range communication protocols such as cellular networks.

Summary

According to the present disclosure there is provided a garment as set forth in the appended claims. Other features of the invention will be apparent from the dependent claims, and the

description which follows.

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a garment. The garment comprises a biosensing unit arranged to measure one or more biosignals of a wearer of the garment. The garment comprises a communicator (e.g. a baseband component) arranged to communicate on a wireless network. The garment comprises a secure element arranged to store identification information for the garment, wherein the secure element is accessible by the communicator. The garment comprises a controller communicatively connected to the biosensing unit and communicator, wherein the controller is arranged to control the communicator to communicate on the wireless network. Beneficially, the secure element stores identification information for the garment that is accessible by the communicator. The communicator is able to use the identification information to identify the garment on the wireless network. The communicator may be able to transmit a message comprising the identification information on the wireless network.

The identification information may be a subscriber identifier which uniquely identifies the garment on the wireless network. The subscriber identifier may comprise a mobile subscription identification number MSIN. The subscriber identifier may comprise an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI.

The wireless network may be a mobile network. The mobile network may be a fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G) or sixth generation (6G) mobile network.

The secure element may stores an electronic Subscriber Identity Module (eSIM) for accessing a mobile network operator (MNO), and wherein the identification information for the garment is included in the eSIM. Beneficially, the secure element stores an eSIM for enabling the garment to access wireless network services for an MNO. The secure element may store a plurality of eSIMs for accessing a plurality of different MNOs. The secure element may represent an embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC). The Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) enables the garment to access services provided by a mobile network operator (MNO). The secure element may store an MNO profile that the garment can utilize to register and interact with an MNO. A eUICC is beneficial as it removes the need to store a number of MNO profiles as separate SIM cards. Moreover, eSIMs can be remotely provisioned to garments. eSIMs may be pre-generated with a basic set of information, and may be later assigned to garments when requests are received. A manufacturer may assign each garment with a first unique identifier. The manufacturer may receive a plurality of subscriber identifiers from a mobile network operator. The manufacturer may link each first unique identifier to a different one of the subscriber identifiers. That is, eSIMs may be pre-generated and provided to the garment manufacturer who may then choose how to assign the eSIMs to the garments.

The communicator may be arranged to transmit a message over the wireless network. The message may be an activation message for requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment, and wherein the garment comprises an activation message module for generating the activation message. Beneficially, the garment transmits (e.g. automatically, without user input) an activation message for requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment. This may be transmitted automatically in response to detecting that the garment is being worn by the user. In this way, the simple act of wearing the garment can be used to activate wireless network services. This may help reduce battery consumption as the device may only be activated to transmit data when worn. The activation message may be transmitted directly by the garment to the server over, for example, the wireless network, and in particular over a provisioning channel of the wireless network. The activation message may be transmitted indirectly to the server, e.g. via one or more other electronic devices arranged to communicate over the wireless network. The activation message may be transmitted over a secure communication channel and/or may be encrypted.

The wireless network services may be activated for a first wireless network, and wherein the communicator may be arranged to transmit the activation message via a second wireless network that the garment is activated to transmit data on. The communicator may be arranged to transmit the activation message using a provisioning channel of the wireless network.

The message may comprise the identification information for the garment.

The garment may comprise a liveness detection module arranged to detect whether the garment is being worn by a user. The communicator may be arranged to transmit data on the wireless network in response to the liveness detection module detecting that the garment is being worn.

Prior to the liveness detection module detecting that the garment is being worn by a user, the garment may be arranged to operate in a low power mode. If the liveness detection module detects that the garment is being worn by a user, the garment may be arranged to transition from a low power mode to a normal mode. In the normal mode, the communicator may be activated to transmit data. In the low power mode the communicator may not be activated to transmit data.

The garment may be a top, optionally a shirt, optionally a T-shirt. The secure element may be incorporated into a pocket of the garment. The controller may be incorporated into a pocket of the garment. The communicator may be incorporated into a pocket of the garment. The communicator and/or the biosensing unit may be conductively connected to the controller by one or more conductive fibres or conductive transfers.

The garment may comprise one or more sensors. The garment may sense one or more signals external to the wearer. The garment may comprise any or a combination of a temperature sensor, a camera, a location tracking module such as a GPS module, and a chemical sensor. The garment may sense a combination of external signals and biosignals of the wearer. The garment may be a biosensing garment. The biosensing garment may comprise a biosensing unit for measuring biodata/biosignals of the wearer. Here, "biosignal" may refer to any signal in a living being that can be measured and monitored. The term "biosignal" is not limited to electrical signals and can refer to other forms of non-electrical biosignals. A biosensing unit therefore refers to an electronic component that is able to measure a biosignal of the wearer. The biosensing unit may comprise one or more electrodes but is not limited to this arrangement. The biosensing unit may be a textile-based biosensing unit. The terms "biosignal" and "biodata" are used synonymously throughout the specification. The biosensing unit may be used for measuring one or a combination of bioelectrical, bioimpedance, biochemical, biomechanical, bioacoustics, biooptical or biothermal signals of the wearer. The bioelectrical measurements include electrocardiograms (ECG), electrogastrograms (EGG), electroencephalograms (EEG), and electromyography (EMG). The bioimpedance measurements include plethysmography (e.g., for respiration), body composition (e.g., hydration, fat, etc.), and electroimpedance tomography (Eli). The biomagnefic measurements include magnetoneurograms (MNG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), magnetogastrogram (MGG), magnetocardiogram (MCG). The biochemical measurements include glucose/lactose measurements which may be performed using chemical analysis of the wearer's sweat. The biomechanical measurements include blood pressure. The bioacoustics measurements include phonocardiograms (PCG). The biooptical measurements include orthopantomogram (OPG). The biothermal measurements include skin temperature and core body temperature measurements. The biosensing unit may comprise a radar unit.

The controller may be in communication with a sensor of the garment such as the biosensing unit and operable to control the sensor or the biosensing unit. The controller may be wirelessly connected to the sensor or the biosensing unit. That is, the sensor/biosensing unit may comprise a communicator for wireless communication with the controller. The controller may be conductively connected to the sensor/biosensing unit. The controller may be conductively connected to the sensor/biosensing unit by a conductor. The conductor may be incorporated into the garment. The conductor may be an electrically conductive track or film. The conductor may be a conductive transfer. The conductive transfer may comprise a first non-conductive ink layer and a second non-conductive ink layer. An electrically conductive layer may be positioned between the first non-conductive ink layer and the second non-conductive ink layer. The conductive transfer may be adhered to the textile via use of an adhesive layer so as to form the conductor on the textile. An example conductive transfer is described in UK Patent Application Publication No. GB 2555592 (A) the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The conductor may be formed from a fibre or yarn of the textile. This may mean that an electrically conductive materials are incorporated into the fibre/yarn.

The garment may further comprise a power source or a plurality of power sources. The power source may be for powering the sensor/biosensing unit. The power source may be conductively connected to the controller by a conductor. The conductor may be a conductive transfer. The conductor may be formed from a fibre or yarn of the garment. This may mean that an electrically conductive materials such as graphene is incorporated into the fibre/yarn. The power source may be a battery. The battery may be a rechargeable battery. The battery may be a rechargeable battery adapted to be charged wirelessly such as by inductive charging. The power source may comprise an energy harvesting device. The energy harvesting device may be configured to generate electric power signals in response to kinetic events such as kinetic events performed by a wearer of the garment. The kinetic event could include walking, running, exercising or respiration of the wearer. The energy harvesting material may comprise a piezoelectric material which generates electricity in response to mechanical deformation of the converter. The energy harvesting device may harvest energy from body heat of a wearer of a garment. The energy harvesting device may be a thermoelectric energy harvesting device.

The communicator/baseband component may be a mobile/cellular communicator operable to communicate the data wirelessly via one or more base stations. The communicator may provide wireless communication capabilities for the garment and enables the garment to communicate via one or more wireless communication protocols such as used for communication on: a wireless wide area network (VVVVAN), a wireless metroarea network (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (VVPAN), a near field communication (NFC), and a cellular communication network. The cellular communication network may be a fourth generation (4G) LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), and/or any other present or future developed cellular wireless network. A first communicator on the garment may be provided for cellular communication and a separate communicator may be provided for short-range local communication over1NLAN, WPAN, NFC, or Bluetooth VViFi or any other electromagnetic RF communication protocol.

The garment may refer to an item of clothing or apparel. The garment may be a top. The top may be a shirt, t-shirt, blouse, sweater, jacket/coat, or vest. The garment may be a dress, brassiere, shorts, pants, arm or leg sleeve, vest, jacket/coat, glove, armband, underwear, headband, hat/cap, collar, wristband, stocking, sock, or shoe, athletic clothing, swimwear, wetsuit or drysuit The garment may be constructed from a woven or a non-woven material. The garment may be constructed from natural fibres, synthetic fibres, or a natural fibre blended with one or more other materials which can be natural or synthetic. The yarn may be cotton. The cotton may be blended with polyester and/or viscose and/or polyamide according to the particular application. Silk may also be used as the natural fibre. Cellulose, wool, hemp and jute are also natural fibres that may be used in the garment. Polyester, polycotton, nylon and viscose are synthetic fibres that may be used in the garment.

The present disclosure is not limited to garments. The aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to any device for which it is desirable to activate wireless network services. The device may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, gaming system, MP3 player, point-of-sale device, or wearable device such as a smart watch, necklace, bracelet, or glasses.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Examples of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example garment according to aspects of the present disclosure; Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example server according to aspects of the present disclosure; Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of an example system according to aspects of the

present disclosure;

Figure 4 shows a flow diagram of an example method according to aspects of the present disclosure; and Figure 5 shows a flow diagram of an example method according to aspects of the present

disclosure.

Detailed Descrintion The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a garment 10 according to aspects of the present disclosure. The garment 10 comprises a controller 101. The controller 101 comprises a liveness detection module 103 and an activation message module 105. The garment 10 further comprises a baseband component 107, secure element 113, memory 115, and biosensing unit 117.

The liveness detection module 103 is arranged to detect whether the garment 10 is being worn by a user. The garment 10 further comprises at least one biosensing unit (not shown) which may be part of or may be separate to the liveness detection module 103. The biosensing unit is for measuring one or more biosignals of the wearer. In other words, the biosensing unit records biodata. The biodata is provided to the liveness detection module 103 which analyses the biodata to determine whether the garment 10 is being worn by a user. In some examples, the potential difference between electrodes of one or more biosensing units may be used to determine whether the garment is being worn. When the electrodes are placed in skin contact (or close to the skin) an electrical circuit may be completed between the electrodes via the skin, which may be detected and used to detect that the garment is being worn. Generally, many factors such as temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, or any other detected biosignal can be used to determine whether the garment 10 is being worn.

The activation message module 105 is arranged to generate an activation message for requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment 10 in response to the liveness detection module 103 detecting that the garment is being worn. The activation message can be a request the activation (e.g. provisioning) of services originating from the garment 10.

This may be referred to as a Mobile Originating Provisioning Request (MOPR) message. The activation message may be encrypted.

The baseband component 107 is arranged to transmit the activation message to a server operable to activate wireless network services for the garment 10.

In an example, the baseband component 107 transmits the activation message over a provisioning channel of the wireless network which may be a mobile network. The provisioning channel is available to inactive or unprovisioned wireless devices. Using the provisioning channel, the activation message can be delivered to the server for use in activating wireless network services for the garment 10. The provisioning channel may be, for example, an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel, a Short Message Service (SMS) messaging channel or a Wireless Application Protocol VAP) messaging channel, amongst others.

In another example, the baseband component 107 transmits the activation message over a second wireless network that the garment 10 is already activated to communicate on. This means that before wireless network services for the garment 10 are activated, the garment 10 may use a different communication protocol to communicate the activation message to the server. The second wireless network may be a short-range local communication over WLAN, WLAN, WPAN, NFC, or Bluetooth ® for example. The garment 10 may communicate the activation message indirectly to the server via one or more wireless devices that the baseband component 107 is operable to communicate with over the second wireless network. The baseband component 107 may comprise a first communicator for communicating over the first

B

wireless network which is desired to be activated and a second communicator for communicating over the second wireless network.

The baseband component 107 includes a baseband OS 109 that is configured to manage hardware resources of the baseband component 107. The baseband component 107 may itself comprise a processor, a memory, and radio components to effect communication over a wireless network. The communicator 107 is not required to be a baseband component in all examples of the present example. Instead, the communicator 107 may be any form of communicator 107 operable to communicate data wirelessly via one or more base stations. The communicator 107 therefore provides wireless communication capabilities for the garment 10 and enables the garment 10 to communicate via one or more wireless communication protocols such as used for communication on: a wireless wide area network (VVVVAN), a wireless metroarea network (WMAN), a wireless local area network (VVLAN), a wireless personal area network (VVPAN), a near field communication (NFC), and a cellular communication network. The cellular communication network may be a fourth generation (4G) LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), and/or any other present or future developed cellular wireless network.

The garment 10 also includes a secure element 113 and a memory 115. The secure element 113 may represent a removable UICC or an eUICC. The secure element 113 may store multiple different eSIMs for accessing different mobile network operators (MN05). The garment may be subscribed to multiple different MN0s, and the secure element 113 may store an eSIM for each MNO to which the garment 10 is subscribed. The secure element 113 may store identification information for the garment which may be a subscriber identifier for the garment 10 which uniquely identifies the garment 10 on the mobile network. The subscriber identifier may comprise a mobile subscription identification number (MSIN). The subscriber identifier may comprise an international mobile subscriber identity (MI).

Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a server 14 according to aspects of the present disclosure.

The server 14 comprises a communicator 141, a determination module 143 and an activation module 145.

The communicator 141 is operable to receive the activation message from the garment 10 (Figure 1). The determination module 143 is operable to determine whether to activate wireless network services for the garment 10. The activation module 145 is operable to activate wireless network services for the garment 10. In some examples, the determination module 143 determines to activate wireless network services for the garment 10 provided that an activation message is received. This may mean that only liveness detection is required to activate wireless network services for the garment 10.

As an example, garments may be provided to facilitate the monitoring of people during events such as music festivals which typically involve a large gathering of people. These garments are not initially activated to communicate over the wireless network to save wireless network subscriptions costs, for example. It would be desirable to monitor properties such as the movements, location, and biodata of the people so that festival organisers or health care professionals can monitor the festival goers and provide appropriate actions as required. For example, it may be desirable to monitor the movements of people at the festival for the purpose of crowd control or to help locate children who have strayed from their guardians. It may also be desirable to monitor the hydration levels and/or body temperature of the festival goers to reduce the risk of people becoming dehydrated and/or overheated. To this end, it is desirable to provide garments to monitor properties, such as the properties described above, of the festival goers. The garments may be distributed at the event and worn by the festival goers. The act of wearing the garment causes the garments to be activated to communicate over the wireless network.

This approach provides an easy mechanism for activating garments on a wireless network and avoids the need for a complicated manual registration procedure.

In some examples, additional registration steps may be required by the user to, for example, purchase a data plan for the garment. These additional steps may need to be performed to enable the garment to freely transmit data over the wireless network. In other words, the activation of wireless network services performed in accordance with the present invention may only be an initial "out of the box" activation of the garment.

Referring to Figure 3, there is shown a system 100 according to aspects of the present disclosure which is used to activate wireless network services for a garment 10. The garment 10 generates the activation message and transmits the activation message over a provisioning channel 11 provided on the wireless network represented by base station 12. The wireless network 12 that receives the activation message via the provisioning channel 11 provides the activation message to a server 14.

The sewer 14 is a mobile network operator sewer 14 run by the wireless network for the activation of services for wireless devices such as garment 10. The activation of services includes activating the garment 10 to communicate on the wireless network. This may be an initial "out of the box" activation of wireless services of an unprovisioned garment. The activation of services includes device upgrades, device reactivations, wireless number changes, the addition or purchasing of services, and the wireless number porting for garments 10 that have already been activated/provisioned The server 14 may be a distributed network of servers. That is, aspects of the present disclosure may be performed by a distributed computing system that operate together to perform the desired function of the server 14.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a flow diagram for an example method according to aspects

of the present disclosure.

Step 3101 of the method comprises detecting, by the garment, whether the garment is being worn by a user.

Step S102 of the method comprises, in response to detecting that the garment is being worn, generating, by the garment, an activation message for requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment.

Step S103 of the method comprises transmitting, by the garment, the activation message to a server operable to activate wireless network services for the garment.

Referring to Figure 5, there is shown a flow diagram for an example method according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Step S201 of the method comprises receiving, by the server, an activation message from a garment, the activation message requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment.

Step S202 of the method comprises determining, by the server, whether to activate wireless network services for the garment.

Step S203 of the method comprises activating wireless network services as a result of the determining performed in step 5202.

It will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to garments arranged to transmit activation messages for transmitting messages for requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment. Instead, any form of data may be transmitted by the baseband component of the garment. For example, the baseband component may transmit data obtained from the biosensing unit. Again, a liveness detection module is not required in all examples of

the present disclosure.

At least some of the example embodiments described herein may be constructed, partially or wholly, using dedicated special-purpose hardware. Terms such as 'component', 'module' or 'unit' used herein may include, but are not limited to, a hardware device, such as circuitry in the form of discrete or integrated components, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs certain tasks or provides the associated functionality. In some embodiments, the described elements may be configured to reside on a tangible, persistent, addressable storage medium and may be configured to execute on one or more processors. These functional elements may in some embodiments include, by way of example, components, such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. Although the example embodiments have been described with reference to the components, modules and units discussed herein, such functional elements may be combined into fewer elements or separated into additional elements. Various combinations of optional features have been described herein, and it will be appreciated that described features may be combined in any suitable combination. In particular, the features of any one example embodiment may be combined with features of any other embodiment, as appropriate, except where such combinations are mutually exclusive. Throughout this specification, the term "comprising" or "comprises" means including the component(s) specified but not to the exclusion of the presence of others.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Claims (24)

12 CLAIMS A garment comprising: a biosensing unit arranged to measure one or more biosignals of a wearer of the garment; a communicator arranged to communicate on a wireless network; a secure element arranged to store identification information for the garment, wherein the secure element is accessible by the communicator; and a controller communicatively connected to the biosensing unit and communicator, wherein the controller is arranged to control the communicator to transmit a message on the wireless network comprising the identification information.

A garment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identification information is a subscriber identifier which uniquely identifies the garment on the wireless network.

A garment as claimed in claim 2, wherein the subscriber identifier comprises a mobile subscription identification number MSIN.

A garment as claimed in claim 3, wherein the subscriber identifier comprises an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI.

A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the wireless network is a mobile network.

A garment as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mobile network is a fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G) or sixth generation (6G) mobile network.

A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the secure element stores an electronic Subscriber Identity Module (eSIM) for accessing a mobile network operator (MNO), and wherein the identification information for the garment is included in the eSIM.

A garment as claimed in claim 7, wherein the secure element stores a plurality of eSIMs for accessing a plurality of different MNOs.

A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the secure element represents an embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC).

10. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the communicator is a baseband component.

11 A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the message is an activation message for requesting that wireless network services be activated for the garment, and wherein the garment comprises an activation message module for generating the activation message.

12. A garment as claimed in claim 11, wherein the wireless network services are to be activated for a first wireless network, and wherein the communicator is arranged to transmit the activation message via a second wireless network that the garment is activated to transmit data on.

13. A garment as claimed in claim 11, wherein the communicator is arranged to transmit the activation message using a provisioning channel of the wireless network.

14. A garment as claimed in any of claims 11 to 13, wherein the message comprises the identification information for the garment.

15. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the garment comprises a liveness detection module arranged to detect whether the garment is being worn by a user, and wherein the baseband component is arranged to transmit data on the wireless network in response to the liveness detection module detecting that the garment is being worn.

16. A garment as claimed in claim 15, wherein prior to the liveness detection module detecting that the garment is being worn by a user, the garment is arranged to operate in a low power mode.

17. A garment as claimed in claim 15 or 16, wherein if the liveness detection module detects that the garment is being worn by a user, the garment may be arranged to transition from a low power mode to a normal mode.

18. A garment as claimed in claim 17, wherein in the normal mode, the communicator is activated to transmit data

19. A garment as claimed in any of claims 16 to 18, wherein in the low power mode the communicator is not activated to transmit data.

20. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the garment is a top, optionally a shirt, optionally a T-shirt.

21. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the secure element is incorporated into a pocket of the garment.

22. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the controller is incorporated into a pocket of the garment.

23. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the communicator is incorporated into a pocket of the garment.

24. A garment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the communicator and/or the biosensing unit is conductively connected to the controller by one or more conductive fibres or conductive transfers.