An olfactory display is a device that generates scented air with desired concentration of aroma, and delivers it to the user's olfactory organ. In this article, the nature of olfaction is briefly described from the view point of how to configure olfactory displays. Next, component technologies to compose olfactory displays, i.e., making scents and delivering scents, are categorized. Several existing olfactory display systems are introduced to show the current status of research and development of olfactory displays.

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Trials on transmission of olfactory information together with audio/visual information are currently being conducted in the field of multimedia. However, continuous emission of scents in high concentration creates problems of human adaptation and remnant odors in air.
To overcome such problems we developed an olfactory display in conjunction with Canon Inc. This display has high emission control in the ink-jet so that it can provide stable pulse emission of scents. Humans catch a scent when they breathe in and inhale smell molecules in air. Therefore, it is important that the timing of scent presentation is synchronized with human breathing. We also developed a breath sensor which detects human inspiration.
In this study, we combined the olfactory display with the breath sensor to make a pulse ejection presentation system synchronized the breath. The experimental evaluation showed that the system had more than 90 percent of detection rate. Another evaluation was held at KEIO TECHNO-MALL 2007. From questionnaire results of the participants, we found that the system made the user feel continuous sense of smell avoiding adaptation. It is expected that our system enables olfactory information to be synchronized with audio/visual information in arbitrary duration at any time.

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The model of transient response of semiconductor gas sensor under modulation heating has been constructed successfully. The model consists of the heat conduction process from heater to the sensor surface, the reaction process on the sensor surface and diffusion process near the sensor surface to supply the inflammable gas. The calculated sensor response agreed well with experimental result under step power supplying to the heater. We can predict the sensor transient response so that the model will be useful to distinguish gases and smells by using transient response of semiconductor gas sensors.

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An odor recorder is an instrument capable of determining the qualitative and quantitative composition of the target smell (e.g. apple), so called odor recipe. A variety of smells can be generated by blending multiple odor components; an odor recorder can reproduce smells as well as record them so that the sensor array output pattern of the blended odor can match that of the target odor. Although the range of smell to be recorded has been so far limited, this work enhances that range using mass spectrometry without GC. We previously proposed the algorithm to select appropriate odor components among huge number of candidates. Here we applied this proposed algorithm experimentally for reproducing different eight fruit flavors using odor components selected from our laboratory database, composed of recorded mass patterns of 190 components. The blended and target smells were compared using sensory test (triangle test). Sensory test revealed that the smell blended according to the estimated recipe using our proposed method was almost the same as the target one. Moreover, even if the less contributed components in mass spectra are eliminated from the estimated recipe, the flavor remains almost similar to that of the target one.

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An olfactory display is a device that delivers various odors to the user's nose. It can be used to add special effects to movies and games by releasing odors relevant to the scenes shown on the screen. In order to provide high-presence olfactory stimuli to the users, the display must be able to generate realistic odors with appropriate concentrations in a timely manner together with visual and audio playbacks. In this paper, we propose to use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in conjunction with the olfactory display. Odor molecules released from their source are transported mainly by turbulent flow, and their behavior can be extremely complicated even in a simple indoor environment. In the proposed system, a CFD solver is employed to calculate the airflow field and the odor dispersal in the given environment. An odor blender is used to generate the odor with the concentration determined based on the calculated odor distribution. Experimental results on presenting odor stimuli synchronously with movie clips show the effectiveness of the proposed system.

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If a person's eyes are greater attracted to the target objects by matching the smell to an important scene of a movie or commercial image, the value of the image contents will rise. In this paper, we attempt to describe the image system that can also present smells, and the reason behind the improvement, from gaze point analysis, of the presence of smell when it is matched to the image. The relationship between the eye catching property and the position of the sight object was examined using the image with the scene where someone eats three kinds of fruits. These objects were gazed at for a long time once releasing their smells. When the smell was not released, the gaze moved actively to try and receive a lot of information from the entire screen. On the other hand, when the smell was inserted, the subject was interested in the object and there was a tendency for their gaze to stay within the narrow area surrounding the image. Moreover, we investigated the effect on the memory by putting the smell on the flowers in the virtual flower shop using immersive virtual reality system (HoloStage^TM). It was memorized more easily compared with a scentless case. It seems that the viewer obtains the information actively by reacting to its smell.

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In this report, we improve a sensitivity of odor sensing system using ball SAW devices. Although, we reported the three-flavor identification using four ball SAW devices with different sensing films, the concentrations of the fruits flavors had to be high in the previous study. Thus several optimizations were performed here. First, we optimized the coating parameters of AC electrospray method. Second, we optimized sensing film thickness. Thirdly, we used Savitzky-Golay filter for smoothing response waveforms. After the improvement, we could detect butanol of 90ppb below human threshold. Finally we found that the response speed of ball SAW devices are superior to that of QCM with comparable sensitivity.

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The stacked via technology becomes to be one of key technologies for the achievement of high density packaging as of today, however, it could not be said that the influence of via stacking has been understood sufficiently. The influence of one to five stacked VIA technologies are studied with the parameter of stress and strain on the view point of reliability, comparing the condition that these vias are located directly on the RFP (Resin Filled PTH (Pin Through Hole)), and the other condition that these are located left and right with some distance from RFP. The maximum is happened at the smallest neck of via, and it is recommended that the via stacking is designed with some distance from RFP. The guideline as to the optimized design of the substrate that has the stacked via is provided.

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Constant monitoring and immediate control of fermentation processes have been required for advanced quality preservation in food industry. In the present work, simple estimation of metabolic states for heat-injured Escherichia coli (E. coli) in a micro-cell was investigated using dielectrophoretic impedance measurement (DEPIM) method. Temporal change in the conductance between micro-gap (ΔG) was measured for various heat treatment temperatures. In addition, the dependence of enzyme activity, growth capacity and membrane situation for E. coli on heat treatment temperature was also analyzed with conventional biological methods. Consequently, a correlation between ΔG and those biological properties was obtained quantitatively. This result suggests that DEPIM method will be available for an effective monitoring technique for complex change in various biological states of microorganisms.

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