3D只是开始 气味电视或问世

人们在视觉享受上一直在追求更高的技术，于是3D、4D接踵而至。有没有想过，或许有一天，你在看到鲜花的时候可以闻到花香，在观看战争场景时闻见硝烟的味道。这种引入了嗅觉的电视技术，现在已经初具雏形。来自日本的冈田谦一教授从喷墨打印机那里找到了灵感，并应用于电视技术，相信不久就会给我们带来惊喜。

Since the days of black and white, film producers and broadcasters have experimented with smell.

Previous attempts included pumping perfume through air conditioning or scratching scented cards at the precise moment.

But now, a Japanese scientist says he adapted ink jet printer technology to deliver smells directly to the viewers' nostrils with acute accuracy.

"Human beings communicate in different ways other than verbal communication. One of the ways is smell. So it must be possible to communicate by using the sense of smell."

Professor Kenichi Okada from Keio University says he's always been fascinated with finding ways of making smell a viable tool for communication.

"The sense of smell is difficult to capture with other conventional media. So I thought to myself: 'Why don't I divide the smell into tiny parts and use it? If you divide it into microscopic parts, you can control it, but how? I consulted different companies on how to go about realizing this. Then I decided to utilize ink jet printer technology that companies used. After sending the proposal to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications, we decided to develop the concept of a new smell display."

The ink jet printer technology is capable of delivering any scent in controlled bursts, with the exception of all, but the heaviest liquids.

At the moment, Professor Okada says he is working on a portable version of his device.

"Through more research, I want to implement this machine in a way that everybody can use it. At the moment, the machine we use for research is expensive, so we have to develop it with other companies' help, trying to make it smaller and easier to use, for example, portable."

The closer the machine fits to the nose means smaller quantities of a scent can be released and will cause less of a nuisance to others, nearby.

He says, however one of its first uses will be for health checks to test a patient's sense of smell. He believes that this research could one day save lives.

"For example, a potential fire can be detected, thanks to the nose. Until now, we couldn't measure this sense, but controlling small quantities the way we are doing, we can do it."

Professor Okada says he is most excited about its uses in entertainment products.

"Of course, it could be used for entertainment, such as for watching a movie. We can finally have a so-called 'Smell-o-Vision'."

Okada says a person's sense of smell can shut down if it's overwhelmed by large quantities of intense fragrances. His machine gets around this problem by using tiny spurts, enabling the user to smell fragrances over a prolonged period.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.