A BOFFIN from Sweden has brought Britain’s two most powerful influences together. Mats Segertrom has invented a gadget that makes our TVs and mobile phones talk to each other.

It means you can send a text or a picture message from your phone to any TV of your choice. "It could bring generations together," said inventor Mats Segertstrom, "A youngster who never gets the chance to see their granny could send a text mesage to them, or a lovely picture, even if they’re on the other side of the world."

Segerstrom’s invention is called the ippi. It’s not ready for launch yet, but watch this space.

It’s a box that picks up mobile phone signals while simultaneously being plugged into your telly. Then you insert a card into your phone. And you’re away.

You can send a text message from your mobile, and it flashes up on screen on your target telly.

Imagine that. At 7:30, when you know granny’s watching Coronoation Street, you can send her a sympathetic text saying "Poor old Vera". When it pops up on screen, her heart will burst (not literally) as she knows you’re thinking of her. If Gran knows how to use the controls, she could send a txt back saying " Thank you Billy. Or is that Susan?"

You could even send her a video. If the ippi system was actually working yet. Which it isn't. And if video messages actually worked. (Or is it just me?)

Still, bear with me here. Use your imaginations, for God's sake...

The ippi also does voice messages. Amy Winewarehouse, for example, might want to record a message saying "Shorry, I won't be able to shing tonight, Ah've got a shlight cold". The message could then be relayed via her mobile phone, and played on the TV set in the foyer of whichever auditorium she’s not turning up to that night.

The ippi could also have serious business uses, said Segerstrom. Insurance inspectors could send instant verdicts back from, say, the site of the warehouse fire they are studying for signs of fraud. Journalists could use the system to send reports – text, recorded messages or video – back to the newsroom.

Bringing mobiles and TV together creates a network that the Internet can’t match, he says. "Most people see things they want to report when they’re out on the road, not sitting at their desks," said Sgerstrom, "There's two billion TVs out there in the world, and almost as many mobiles, so there’s a lot of potential."

The ippi boxes, when they eventually get launched commercially, should cost around £200. They’re being trialled by carriers in Sweden at the moment. µ