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By CNET Asia Staff, 20 October 2003 18:05

NEWS Inventors in Japan have dreamt up the latest way for pet owners to get more from their dogs - a mobile that renders pooch speech intelligible to humans.

Bow-Lingual CONNECT is a mobile service based on the Bow-lingual device released by Takara last year, according to Japanese tech news service JCN Networks. The Bow-lingual consisted of a wireless microphone attached to a dog collar, which would pick up the pooch’s barks and translate them for their owners.

This service will be offered by Vodafone KK the Japanese arm of the British wireless company in December.

Bow-Lingual CONNECT will convert dog barks into text and expressions through voice pattern recognition, which will be displayed on the mobile’s screen. It can detect six canine feelings: happy, sad, frustrated, on-guard or territorial, assertive or showing off and needy. It works when the mobile comes within 40 cm of a dog.

Users must first buy a Bow-Lingual CONNECT card, and it can only be run on Sharp's V601SH handset. The handset, which comes with a built-in mobile camera, will be priced at the higher end of the ¥20,000 (£109) level, JCNN reported. It is expected to attract dog-lovers and those with a "playful touch," company officials said.