U.K. firms showcase next-generation technology

U.K. firms showcase next-generation technology

Cutting-edge high technology developed by British firms will soon be available in the Korean telecommunication market.
Members of the mobile and wireless sector of the U.K. Trade & Investment Mission said in Seoul yesterday that major mobile telecommunication operators and manufacturers in Korea will provide upgraded mobile service, taking advantage of the high-end technology introduced by the mission this week.

One of the technologies will allow people to use real-time voice search engines on their cell-phones, MP3 players, car navigations and televisions. People will be able to talk to those from different countries using a real-time voice translator program installed in their mobile phones. And instead of carrying around a long and bulky keyboard in backpacks, computer users will be able to opt for a fabric keypad that can be folded and is as thin as a napkin.

The mobile voice search technology developed by Novauris enables users to save data or search for information on their mobile devices, which has already been available in the United States since August 2006. Currently, millions of Verizon Wireless subscribers in the United States are using the Nova Search software installed in their mobile phones to download songs, ring-tones, games and pictures. Users can also save and search 500 million names and addresses, 1 million mp3 tracks, receive finance-related information in their phones - simply by uttering out what they want.

The technology was inspired by the need to recognize complicated names and addresses, previously unavailable in speech recognition technology, said Melvyn Hunt, co-founder of Novauris and a pioneer in automatic speech recognition.

Novauris, founded in London in 2002, started from scratch with eight highly-experienced researchers in the field, said Yoon Kim, another co-founder of the company.

Kim expects the Korean embedded platform will soon be available in both wireless telecommunication and navigation tools based on its success in the U.S. market, which grew 30 percent last month alone. "It goes beyond the cool effect. We are confident that it will attract the biggest electronic market, (including) Korea as well," Kim said.

Novauris's past and present customers and partners include Samsung Electronics, BMW, Verizon Wireless and Korea's ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute). Novauris, which means new ear in Latin, is currently headquartered in London and has operations in the United States and Korea.

The instant talking translator software developed by Echo Translator will enable mobile users to ditch their phrase books when traveling abroad in the future. Echo Translator, which holds 20 patents in phrase logic technology, provides the most advanced and simple-to-use instant translator, company officials said.

The patented Phraselogic program directs users to communicate in the correct structure using a combination of some 100,000 words and phrases. It can also be used as a language learning device using its cognitive learning platform, said Leo Clifton, sales manager of the company.

The company's founder, Gideon Clifton, was inspired to develop the Phraselogic platform when he was at the Cannes Film Festival in France three years ago. He wished he could talk to people from different countries freely and that idea led to the opening of the company's lab in 2004.

Echo Translator's other projects include real-time voice-to-text and voice-to-voice translation, which officials said is expected to take another eight years of research. Its service is already widely used by overseas mobile operators including Orange, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Microsoft.

Another product that may draw interest from Korean mobile users is Eleksen's interactive fabric keypads that utilize Bluetooth and USB technologies. Its wireless fabric keyboard is a full laptop size keyboard but can be rolled up to fit in a pocket. Eleksen's sales director, Zimmer Cheng, said that the electric signal generated by the three layers of mesh fabric enables the napkin-thin keypads to work.

Its patented smart fabric, ElekTex, is flexible, lightweight, fashionable and durable, which can even be machine-washed, said Cheng. ElekTex is expected to be applied to robotic control and PDA's. Also available in the form of iPod5 buttons - touch-pad buttons integrated into garments or backpacks - Eleksen's products will be available in the Korean market in September.


<< The Korea Herald, 12 July, 2007 >>