Apple patent application hints at iPhones transmitting data over voice channels

Visual voicemail has been touted by Apple as a revolutionary new voicemail system, but there may be another revolutionary system on the way. It looks like Apple’s had the iPhone, and related technologies, on their collective minds for quite some time now. This newest patent application, filed back in January 24, 2006, outlines plans for iPhones to communicate data (like SMS text messages) over voice channels (with the provision to translate data, like SMS text messages, for audio output). The tech provides for a direct device-to-device communication of data, without the need for a back-end server to relay the data.

Data (we’ll just refer to the data as text messages from here on out) from one iPhone would be converted to an appropriate voice format and transmitted to another iPhone for decoding. The text message could be transcoded into an audio signal - which would be particularly well suited for the visually impaired.

“In this way, a sender can select that data which he/she desires to send to a receiver unit using by first converting the data into an appropriate vocal/voice format which is then forwarded to a receiver unit by way of the voice channel,” describes the application, “Once received at the receiver unit, the vocalized data can be converted to an audio signal, which is then output by way of an audio output device (such as a speaker, earphone, etc.).”

Could we see this type of iPhone communication with a future iTunes update? Imagine an iChat interface that would bypass the need for a backend server, or an SMS text system that obviates the need for iChat altogether. Cross your fingers on that one folks, as patent filings go, we may not even see this tech cross over into the real world. But, we’ll keep you updated.

[Via: Apple Insider]