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Digital Signage : Mobile Content Transfer Interface


Digital Signage: Mobile Content Transfer Interface

"We are currently discussing the transfer of technologies related with the local digital signage manufacturers, while simultaneously promoting the technologies and engaging in the marketing process by jointly participating in international exhibitions abroad. Setting out in new directions of R&D makes it possible to think about what kind of innovative devices will be developed in the future and how people can develop and maintain their new digital lives with the help of such devices. We hope the technologies we develop bring people convenience by ever so cutting-edge technologies that sprout from this increasingly complicated technological world."

Innovative Digital Signage-Mobile Interaction Technology for Users

The market for digital signage, which refers to electronic billboards that show advertisements or information through flat displays or projection, is now growing rapidly. Such a rapid growth results in an increasing necessity to have more innovative and convenient signage interaction technologies.
The research team led by Professor Sungkwan Jung at KAIST (including Senior Researcher Sangsik Kim and Researcher Yongchul Shin) has been carrying out various projects for the development of digital signage technologies since 2012, focusing on the interaction between digital signage and its users. The researchers focused on the development of the technologies required for the improvement of the interaction between digital signage installed in public places and a number of unspecified users. If users are able to download contents from the digital signage by having their mobile devices directly touch it, it will be possible to greatly reduce the difficulty in using signage contents via mobile devices. Also, we believe that through such a process, we can simply the process of bringing contents to a user’s device.

The research team led by Professor Sungkwan Jung found that such an intuitive process showed a high level of immediacy and had something in common with the PuriPura user interface, which can be easily folded like a handkerchief. Therefore, the team started the research to solve problems related to the development of their new technology. By simplifying the interaction and securing a high level of immediacy through R&D, the final product realized by the team’s technology was debuted at the 2013 Korea Electronics Show (KES). Later, this innovative achievement of the team was demonstrated to the president of Korea in the 40-year anniversary ceremony of Daedeok-Innopolis as an outstanding achievement of KAIST. Furthermore, it was introduced in the Meeting for the Presentation of Achievements by KAIST and the Expansion of the Creative Economy held by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, and in the parliamentary inspection carried out by the Communications Commission of the Ministry as an excellent achievement of KAIST.

It took a total of nine months for the team to crystallize ideas and complete the final product in regards to the digital signage-mobile interaction technology. The team went through three major changes to finalize their product: the initial test product, the modified test product, and the final product. The focus of that research team, led by Professor Sungkwan Jung, was a conceptual drawing of the user’s scenario to figure out how the user would use the digital signage in the related environment. Based on the scenario, the team brainstormed and drew a number of ideas by analyzing the user’s demands as well as the possible environment of digital signage. The team then established a particular direction to realize all the ideas by finding and designing various features including the functional and technological demands.

Later, the team developed and tested the core functions related to the ideas before combining them in order to develop the initial test product. When they developed the initial product, the researchers tried to transfer contents using the scrubbing gestures of the PuriPura interface. However, they found out that the possibility of false recognition was high; the test product tended to make incorrect recognitions while the user was not making any gestures, thereby decreasing learnability. This point is also counter to the principle that the transfer interaction technique should be simple and intuitive. So it could not be chosen as the final product.

The team started to think of a way to maintain a high level of immediacy and to solve the problems related to the false recognition. Finally, they chose the stamping pattern instead of the scrubbing. Collaborating with researchers from other teams, the team set the direction for technological development by figuring out how an ordinary user would use the digital signage equipped with the technology and what his or her usage experience would be like. After finding all the factors of technological improvement through the user experiment and developing the modified test product in which they are reflected, the team carried out a sophisticated technological process to complete the final product.

The digital signage-mobile content transfer technology developed by Professor Jung’s team is more innovative and convenient than previous types of methods for contents-transfer between different mobile devices (including QR code and NFC). By using the illuminance sensor of the mobile device, it is possible to recognize and transfer the digital signage contents and use such contents in various ways (including downloading, uploading, and direct control of signage) with just a single touch. Based on the current web technology, the team has made it possible to transfer contents by merely using a web-browser, which is an open-type standard method with no dedicated application. As a result, the user of such contents does not have to worry about the installation of any additional application or the exposure of his or her personal information. Also, as it has become possible to use various devices equipped with a web-browser, including smart-phones and tablet PCs, the interface can be considered highly versatile.

Even now, there are many cases of using digital signage in the public sector, but in most cases, users are provided with a one-off chance to use information. But now, with this technology, we are able to improve the usability by enabling a continuous interaction between the digital signage and its users. Also, through the transfer of technologies, the research team is expected to make great contributions not only to the development of technologies for the local providers of digital signage platforms and contents but also to the reinforcement of their competitiveness in the market. Furthermore, following the expansion of the technology for sharing contents between multiple devices, it will be possible to create additional value.


Prof. Jung, Sungkwan
2013 Annual Report


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