Tonio is an audio-decoding- app for

mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

s that allows you to send information inaudibly via radio or TV signals to smartphones. The app was developed by the Austrian company information.io GmbH and initially released in October 2014. Tonio has been awarded with the Austrian Radio Award and with the Austrian Media Future Award. The name Tonio is a

neology Neology ("study of new hings) was the name given to the rationalist theology of Germany or the rationalisation of the Christian religion. It was preceded by slightly less radical Wolffism. ''Chambers English Dictionary'' of 1872 adds the appli ...

from “Tone with Information”.

Usage

Information which the app receives inaudibly via audio signals may include

URL A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...

s, background information, tickets, coupons and music downloads. The developers have mentioned

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

for operas as another possible use case. The Austrian marketer of advertisements in movie theaters, Cinecom, is offering the option to add background information to their commercials via the Tonio technology to its customers. The four largest chains of movie theaters in Austria removed their ban on cellphones in response to the new technology. Radio Eins, a public radio station in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, sent URL links inaudibly via Tonio that were mentioned on air. The Austrian public broadcaster

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

is working on a cooperation with Tonio for various programs according to the Austrian business magazine trend as well as the station LoungeFM that intends to complement its radio news with links to the largest Austrian news website DerStandard.at. Tonio has been used for a campaign in movie theaters in April and May 2016, where visitors received trivia questions to the movie shown.

Technology

Tonio

decodes ''Decodes'' is a genus of moths in the family Tortricidae. Species *''Decodes aneuretus'' Powell, in Obraztsov & Powell, 1961 *''Decodes asapheus'' Powell, 1980 *''Decodes australus'' Powell, 1965 *''Decodes basiplagana'' (Walsingham, 1879) *''D ...

audio information that has been enriched with an inaudible code transmitted from a radio or TV station and translates the code into an URL for example. Therefore, a certain modification of the audio information by the broadcaster is required. In contrast, an

acoustic fingerprint An acoustic fingerprint is a condensed digital summary, a fingerprint, deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database. Practical uses of aco ...

is a digital code to characterize sounds and audio recordings with specific acoustic characteristics (e.g. the app Shazam). Those fingerprints must be stored in databases to identify unknown sounds and acoustic signals (e.g. voice prints or songs), while Tonio codes and decodes additional information into the signal. Other apps with inaudible signals which were used for

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

in the US by sending information about the user back to the server, have been flagged by the privacy protection organization

Center for Democracy and Technology Centre for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for pur ...

. However, according to its developers, Tonio decodes the information sent locally and not on the servers of the company, which makes tracking of consumer behaviour impossible.

Awards

* Österreichischer Medienzukunftspreis 2015 (Austrian Media Future Award), category "Zukunftsweisende Medien-Unternehmen und ihr Medium" (Trendsetting media companies and their medium) * Österreichischer Radiopreis (Austrian Radio Award) 2015, category "Best Innovation" * Futurezone-Award 2015, "Best Infotainment Startup, 2nd Place Futurezone.at: Futurezone Award
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References

Android (operating system) software IOS software Radio technology