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UK-based WirelessOcean Group has developed a prototype of a system that allows users to send and receive SMS messages through their television.
The "Text2TV" prototype enables a standard television set to receive, display and send text messages using a standard GSM mobile telephone and a SCART lead.
The system requires mobile users to connect their phone to the Text2TV unit via the phone's data cable. The unit periodically polls the mobile phone for new messages. When a message arrives, the unit informs the person watching television by superimposing a message over the TV image.
The user can read and reply to the mail using the television remote control. But if the user decides not to view the message, it is stored in the memory until a later time.
WirelessOcean is currently seeking strategic partners who will help the company bring the product to market by the autumn of 2003, according to Selwyn Lloyd, group director of WirelessOcean. More information on the prototype is at the Wireless Ocean Web site.
The system from the UK firm is the latest initiative aimed at extending the reach of text messaging. German software developer Speech Design announced recently that it plans to extend its speech-enabled SMS text messaging service to other European telecom providers. Speech-enabled SMS text messaging is a technology that allows users to send SMS messages from mobile phones to landline phones.
A message from a mobile user is intercepted by the Deutsche Telekom servers, which convert the message to voice format. This is then relayed and read aloud to the landline user, much like a voicemail.
Approximately 2 million SMS messages have been sent to the fixed line network each month since the launch of Deutsche Telekom's SMS-to-voice service in July 2001.
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