System for Presenting and Creating Smell Effects to Video

Olfaction has recently been gaining attention in information and communication technology, as shown by attempts in theaters to screen videos while emitting scents. However, because there is no current infrastructure to communicate and synchronize odor information with visual information, people cannot enjoy this experience at home. Therefore, we have constructed a system of smell videos which could be applied to television (TV), allowing viewers to experience scents while watching their videos. To solve the abovementioned technical problems, we propose using the existing system for broadcasting closed caption. Our system's implementation is mindful of both video viewers and producers, allowing the system on the viewer end to disperse odorants in synchronization with videos, and allowing producers to add odor information to videos. We finally verify the system's feasibility. We expect that this study will make smell videos become common, and people will enjoy ones in daily life in the near future.