Smell-O-Vision Soon To Be A Reality?

I seem to recall that this was something Willy Wonka was working on in the film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"  Is this idea coming to fruition?  Are we getting closer and closer to virtual reality in television?  Read more....

An odoriferous entertainment system is the technology that no one demands but that many have attempted to invent.  Putting aside the question of whether anyone actually desires to smell the saltwater breeze kicking down the Jersey Shore or the smoky vapors curling off a Bobby Flay steak, engineers at the University of California, San Diego , have designed a plausible way to deliver fragrant delights through a television.  In 1960, an adventurous filmmaker tried to do something similar, pumping smells through pipes in the theater chairs during “Scent of Mystery” a gimmicky vehicle for the new technology.  It was the first and last movie to be shot in the scent-o-vision format.  The device would contain up to 10,000 unique liquids, stored in an array of tiny chambers.  When activated, a wire running through the array will heat the correct liquid.  As the contents vaporize and pressure in the chamber builds, some of it escapes through a compressed hole in the chamber.  Tests have shown that people could identify the smells while about 3 feet away from the screen.  Most of the 10,000 liquefied odor concoctions don’t yet exist and getting people to use scented televisions will require an infusion of innovation from perfume makers.