14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile manufacturer Sony Ericsson has filed a patent application last week for a wireless home communication system. The patent explains how the device could route phone calls through the TV set, in a similar way to an in car handsfree kit, and allow the user to keep his/her mobile phone in any room and make or receive calls through the TV set.
This could be useful for several reasons. First off, users tend to misplace their phones while at home and take a long time to find them or not hear them at all when they have an incoming call. Also, while watching TV, the user may not hear that their phone is ringing.
While how it works and why it's useful has been properly explained in the patent filing, it remains unclear whether Sony Ericsson intends to fit existing TV sets to work with the system or integrate handsfree kits into their own sets.
Also, thinking a little bit further into the future, it's really not hard to imagine the possibility of streaming audio and video from a Sony Ericsson handset to your home TV. For those that are interested, here's an extract from the patent: 'In one exemplary embodiment, the call signals may comprise call control signals, such as a received call notification at the mobile communication device. The mobile communication device routes the received call notification to the home theater device via a short-range wireless transceiver.'
'Responsive to the received call notification, the home theater device controls at least one of an audio output and a video output of the home theater device to notify the user of the incoming call. For example, the home theater device may display a video message and/or generate an audible ring tone responsive to the notification signal. As a result, the user receives notification of an incoming call even when the distance to the mobile communication device and/or the volume of the home theater device prevents the user from hearing the mobile communication device.'