ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEE) has secured a United States (U.S.) patent on a technology platform built on technologies such as 3D audio, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), digital scent, holograms and touch. The company aims to offer an immersive experience to the viewers, satisfying all the five senses.
The platform developed at its ZEE Media Lab in the Silicon Valley will enable the viewers to touch, feel, smell and experience products, with a seamless transaction (e-commerce) ecosystem.
Be it immersive entertainment content or informative education-based solutions, or gaming, or e-commerce, this comprehensive technology platform is built to cater to every single need of the viewer, said a company statement.
ZEE’s chairman Subhash Chandra said: “At ZEE, we envisioned 4-5 years back, that the overall media landscape is poised to evolve at an extremely rapid pace, with content companies blending into technology companies. Hence, we started investing our time and energy in building a technology for the future, which enhances the content viewing experience by many folds. It is a concrete step in realising our vision of transforming ourselves from a media & entertainment powerhouse to a technology company, offering immersive experiences.”
ZEE’s lab in the Silicon Valley was set up in 2016 to create this platform. While the five senses have not yet been deployed on a commercial scale, with the grant of the U.S. Patent, ZEE can now make the platform available to millions of users across the world.
Amit Goenka, CEO, Z5 Global, said: “We are excited to offer this unique immersive experience to our viewers. The U.S. patent is a milestone achieved in this process giving us the required level of confidence and reassurance. This is just the beginning of an extraordinary journey of transforming the viewers content viewing experience.”
The commercially viable prototype will be ready in the next 12 months and ZEE’s plans to target mainstream global viewers across the U.S., Europe, Asia, China and Latin America.
“The company plans to showcase its platform to Indian viewers by way of experience centres as it will take time to develop the ecosystem in India, Mr. Goenka told The Hindu.