A German syndicate announced this week that it has patented a chip for sending scents via text and multimedia messages.

A spokesperson from mobile services company ConVisual told reporters at The Local that people could send the smell of the ocean breeze through cell phones from vacation spots or mark special occasions by sending an aromatic two-dimensional bouquet.

Developers have been working on the chips for eight years, and they could be released to market by 2010, according to a report in the Berlin-based, English-language news site.

About 100 scents will be available on the chips, but consumers will need special phones to use them. Developers are seeking partnerships with mobile phone companies for marketing and distribution.

So far, researchers have worked on floral and other enjoyable scents, but the possibilities are endless.

Fortunately, people with scent-enabled mobile phones will be able to reject messages.

In announcing its patent, the German syndicate said that Japanese company NTT Communications' external scent atomizer for mobile phones has shown that "scent technology is increasingly attractive." In the United States, Motorola obtained a patent for smell-releasing phones and explained that the device would "fill a need" and "address problems" of on-the-go consumers who miss the nice fragrances they enjoy from plug-in devices at home.

Soon, maybe those consumers won't have to worry when they go as far as Berlin and pick up a handy device that works there -- if the folks at ConVisual and those working with them from the Institute of Sensory Analysis and Marketing Consultancy have their way.