Japanese telecommunications giant NTT has succeeded in transmitting MP3 files without a cable through the human body and several Korean companies are busy researching and developing similar technologies with an eye to profiting from them.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Monday, in 2004 there was just one patent application for technology to transmit files such as photos, video clips and MP3s between portable gadgets like mobile phones, digital cameras and MP3 players. That figure grew to nine in 2005 and 25 in 2006. In 2007, 14 such patents had been applied for as of September. Of those, Koreans have applied for 69 percent and foreigners have applied for the rest.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is one of the Korean organizations that is researching and developing technologies that utilize the human body as a vehicle for data transmission.

"We're researching technologies that can transmit data through human body as fast as existing broadband Internet connections, with speeds of 10 megabits per second," said ETRI's Dr. Kang Sung-won.

Although an electric current can flow through our bodies, the body's electrical resistance is much higher than that of copper lines and sending data this way consumes a good deal of power.

That's why researchers are working on technologies that use much less electricity and much faster transmission speeds. The electric current used to send the data is measured in pico-amperes, a tiny amount that is not harmful to humans.

However, experts say that Korean companies should follow international standards in order to commercialize these technologies. If products use different data transmission methods, then files sent by the PC in your right hand might not be legible to the printer in your left. A standard must be adopted for the technology to develop smoothly.

(englishnews@chosun.com )