Effective near advertisement transmission method for smart-devices using inaudible high-frequencies

In this paper, we proposed the effective short-distance transmission of advertisements for smart-devices using high-frequencies that are not audible to humans. The existing methods, such as QR codes and NFC tags, for advertisement transmission are problematic, since a specific action is required of the user to obtain the advertising information. Furthermore, only a very near distance is used for advertisement data detection in this case. Alternatively, because the proposed method uses inaudible trigger signals and analyzes the signals using an internal speaker in a smart-device, it can mitigate the above-mentioned challenges of the existing methods. It does not require a specific action of the user to obtain the advertising information and it can be used at a short distance. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed method, we developed trigger signals, which used the proposed method, for sending and receiving applications. We subsequently tested the developed applications in various situations and at various distances. The success rate of the proposed method was approximately 97 %. We also conducted a survey about user convenience; when they used the proposed method or the QR code, we knew that the proposed method was more useful and convenient than the QR code. Therefore, the proposed method is an effective technique for supplying short-distance advertising information to smart-device users.