Just touching a billboard will soon allow you to see what you want
14 Oct 2008, 1241 Hrs

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London, Oct 14 Billboards at bus stops, railway stations would soon be showing only those advertisements that people are interested in-all one needs to do is touch them once.

Advances in body area networks may soon enable people to interact with other devices by using their body as a conduit, enabling them to exchange data like business cards or photos with other people as well.

Options for such body area networks include skin-clinging radio waves, or tiny vibrations through the skeleton that let people swap data with a handshake, reports New Scientist.

And now, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Daejon, South Korea, is trying to use these new methods of data sharing to revolutionise public advertising.

Usually people tend to ignore billboards and electronic advertising displays because they don't have any interest in the product being promoted.

And now the Korean patent is addressing this very problem by suggesting that people using a body area network could touch an electronic poster to tune it to their interests.

With the touch, the display would download details about that person's interests and recent activities, and would then show a relevant advert.

The billboards will also offer downloads like detailed product brochures.

The only hassle is that not all people will be interested in interacting with these ads, and thus the patent suggests goodies could be offered too - for example special-offer coupons, or even music and films.

The research team has suggested that billboards should be placed where people wait for buses or trains, as they can be the ideal spots to get people interacting. (ANI)