Xiaomi, one of the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturers, hopes to monitor health with a new type of facial mask that can monitor air quality and body condition in real time, but its patented technology may come too late to protect against the first wave of coronavirus.

The Chinese company Xiaomi is developing a new type of facial "smart mask" that uses built-in sensors and electronic systems to track the air around and coming out of your lungs. The company, which is the fourth-largest smartphone maker on the planet and sells everything from televisions to electric scooters worldwide, is already selling masks in China as fast as it makes them, thanks to the coronavirus epidemic.

But the new patented mask does more than the current Xiaomi Youpin F95 Face Mask (pictured above). The patent, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, describes a new type of high-tech wearable with sensors that capture information about the environment and the wearer's health.

Inside are also the processors and electronics needed to collect that data in real time and store it for access by other devices such as smartphones and computers in the cloud. The mask also has its own battery power supply to feed these electronics and the device's air filter.

The mask is also designed to use accelerometers and gyroscopes to know what the user is doing. According to Xiaomi, this helps the computer make more accurate calculations about the absorption of pollutants. These sensors help record "total wearing time, pollution absorption, breathing volume, and breathing frequency."

By talking to a smartphone or smartwatch, facial devices can also alert users and doctors of potential breathing abnormalities as well as ambient air quality.

We have seen the rise of wearables for health monitoring over the past few years. The Apple Watch represents a wave of such devices. While Apple's little gadget can monitor some aspects of heart health and body activity, it still lacks many things. Xiaomi seems to want to go much further with active monitoring of more external and internal parameters, given the current climate of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Furthermore, unlike a watch, a mask can actually protect you from many environmental threats.

Can you imagine a future where everyone wears a mask along with their smartphone? In China, and in many other parts of the world, you don't have to imagine it. They have been doing so for years now and will continue to do so. So it makes total sense to make masks smart and useful.

Still, it's a bloody scary world that consumer electronics manufacturers would create such a device to keep us safe. But this is exactly the path we are headed down. It is unfortunate that the miniaturized technology to detect pathogens in real time does not yet exist. It will happen eventually, but we as hypochondriacs can take that action right now.