Odor Reproduction with Movie and Its Application to Teleolfaction
The authors of this chapter study the odor reproduction system synchronously with a movie. The system is made up of an odor sensing system and an olfactory display. The fruit flavors were recorded with movies using a digital video camera and the odor sensing system. The results of the sensory tests showed that the odor information recorded using the proposed method is appropriate for the smell regeneration associated with the movie. Next, the authors propose a tele-olfaction system synchronous with visual information. The olfactory display system was placed remotely from the odor sensing system, and both of them were connected via Internet. In addition to the olfactory system, a Web camera captures image around the sniffing point and that image appears at the computer display connected to the olfactory display at remote site. Moreover, the mobile stage with its sniffing point and the Web camera remotely controlled by a user was introduced so that he/she could interactively approach a smelling object. The questionnaire survey at the exhibition revealed that a user can enjoy smell synchronous with movie in real time even if he/she stays at the remote site.