Patents filed for unique SMS-based menu system

Chikka Holdings Ltd. and its affiliate, Bidshot, the Philippines’ leading mobile messaging and wireless services companies, respectively, have announced that they have perfected patent applications under the International Patent Cooperation Treaty pertaining to the use of a unique SMS-accessed menu system and a dynamic numbering system to navigate SMS applications and services.

Dynamic numbering refers to the assignment of virtual GSM numbers to transactions, items, and so on, and is done for ease of use. Patent filing immediately affords global protection to Chikka and Bidshot even before patents are won.

With the patents filed, the group, led by Filipino entrepreneurs and engineers, now exclusively employs a most intuitive mobile data interface using a menu, accessed by simply "texting" and without resorting to WAP, GPRS or 3G data technology. Chikka and Bidshot’s SMS-accessed menu system can be used on any SMS-enabled "legacy" phone.

"We have patented our methods, naturally. Our products are trail-blazing and have not themselves benefited from any existing model. There has been a race to build the world’s most user-friendly SMS-based menu system, to employ it in various messaging, entertainment and even payment applications, and then to finally test and launch products in the most demanding SMS market in the world – the Philippines. The patents clearly establish our position in this race," says Chikka CEO Dennis Mendiola.

Indeed, the group has made full use of the patents for their Chikka Txt Messenger (Smart i-Chat), Bidshot auction, Group i-Chat and CrushCow matching services. Thus, menu options for all actual transactions and service features, for account profile settings and even for "Help" are accessed by sending a SMS message to an access code. Through dynamic numbering technology, subsequent actions only require simple replies to text messages. These actions include posting messages, placing bids, and so on.

"Our breakthrough has been in our simplicity. Our products are created with probably the world’s most advanced texting culture in mind – that of Filipinos! Our products are as intuitive as "texting and texting back" – a second nature to Philippine mobile phone users of all ages, and now, a hallmark of everything that bears the Chikka and Bidshot names," Mendiola adds.

Chikka Holdings Ltd.’s Singapore-registered subsidiary, Chikka Pte. Ltd., holds title to all of Chikka’s intellectual property assets, including all international treaty and national patents, brand names, trademarks and service marks.

Chikka and Bidshot chose Singapore for this extends patent protection in most major wireless markets, including many European countries. National patents were filed in the Philippines and the United States as well.

Chikka Holdings Ltd. is a leading provider of enhanced mobile messaging services to mobile carriers around the world. Chikka is backed by institutional investors, including Guernsey-registered Next Century Partners and Philippine-listed Ajonet Holdings. Chikka is 85-percent Filipino-owned.