Japan's Sony Corp will use image-reading software from IBM in its DVD recorders and flat-panel TVs to be launched in the next business year. Sony is expected to embed a modified version of IBM's "DB2 Everyplace" personal computer database software into the products, allowing users to search and index image data at faster speeds.

A spokesman at IBM Japan Ltd., the Japanese unit of the world's largest computer company, said that IBM had been supplying Sony with the database software since late 2003 but could not comment on how Sony would use the product.

Sony said in a statement that it was considering the option of employing IBM's software, but that it had not made any decisions about specific products.