ART Licenses smARTspeak CS Voice Recognition to Maxon

Advanced Recognition Technologies Inc. (ART) today announced that Maxon Electronics Co., Ltd. has licensed ART's smARTspeak CS continuous speech voice recognition technology.

ART's smARTspeak CS will provide voice digit dialing and command features in Maxon's future line of Cellular Telephone and Digital Cordless products worldwide.

As part of this multi-year agreement, ART will work to develop advanced technologies in speech and handwriting recognition that Maxon will use to advance the user interface designs of its future wireless communication technology.

Steve Kim, Maxon's managing director, stated, "We believe that ART's speech recognition will further enhance our leadership position in the wireless market.'' D.Y. Yang, managing director of Maxon's Overseas Sales Unit added: "ART's unique digit dialing feature will create a necessary interface for hands-free operation, eliminating distractions caused by push-button dialing. Maxon is committed to the safety of its customers while providing convenience and ease of use.''

"This agreement with Maxon not only validates voice recognition as the new standard in cellular phone technology, it also builds the bridge between voice recognition and other communication platforms, such as cordless phones,'' Rick McCaskill, Executive VP, Worldwide Sales & Marketing commented. "Maxon is a revolutionary company setting the stage for the future of wireless communications on a global basis and we are proud to be partnered with them.''

The Maxon platforms planned to receive ART's smARTspeak CS technology include all future CDMA/AMPS and PCS cellular phones for the United States and South American markets and GSM Cellular Phones for the European markets. The companies also have the understanding to port smARTspeak CS to Maxons DECT and DSST cordless phones. The first Maxon products including smARTspeak CS are scheduled to ship early second quarter, 2000.

About smARTspeak CS
smARTspeak CS provides a faster and intuitive voice-based user interface for any multi-layered menu-based system, such as a cellular phone, cordless phone or a handheld device. Users can program numbers and/or names to dial phone numbers -- saying "Dial 213/555-4567'' or "Call Bill at home,'' without pausing between numbers or commands. The device then connects the call automatically and puts users in touch. User-defined voice commands can be used to bring up a contact list, the Internet and even e-mails.

Speech recording application programming interfaces (APIs) provide a voice recording and playback feature, enabling users to record and play back voice memos into any application designed by the developer. Voice Lock feature can voice-protect the unit with a user-created voice password to lock or unlock the unit.

smARTspeak CS has superior noise immunity, making it an ideal solution for products that are on-the-go. Because smARTspeak CS is a speaker-dependent solution, languages and accents are not an issue when it comes to designing products being marketed globally.

About Maxon
Maxon is a world leader in the design and manufacture of wireless communication terminals such as portable and mobile professional FM two-way Land Mobile Radios, Specialized Mobile Radios, RF link modules, and a line of personal communication products including Family Radio Service (FRS) radios, handheld and mobile CB radios, 49MHz personal communicators, GMRS/DOT frequency two-way radios, CDMA, GSM and AMPS handsets, and a variety of optional accessory items.

About ART
ART was founded in 1990 and develops and markets innovative, technologically superior voice and handwriting recognition products for the control of cellular phones, computer applications and many other electronic devices. ART holds six patents with twenty-one additional patents pending, protecting its voice and handwriting recognition technologies.

ART is based in Southern California, with an R&D subsidiary in Tel Aviv, Israel, and sales offices in the United States, Israel, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. ART licenses its voice and handwriting recognition technologies, smARTspeak, smARTwriter and simpliWrite, to industry leaders such as Zilog, Philips, Casio, LGIC, Samsung, Lucent/Optimay, Harris Corp., NeoPoint Inc., Acer Peripherals and Maxon.

More than 15 million wireless phones with ART's smARTspeak Voice-Activated Dialing feature have been shipped worldwide. The company was recently recognized by Deloitte & Touche's Technology Fast 500 program. This program ranks ART as the 99th fastest-growing technology company in the United States. The company has been awarded many other technology and product awards such as the 1998 Developer of the Year from the Southern California Software Council.

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