computer science

Tonio (app)

Tonio (app) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tonio (app) rather than just read about it. In short: Tonio is an audio decoding app for mobile devices 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.

Key takeaways

Tonio (app) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tonio (app) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tonio (app) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tonio is an audio decoding app for mobile devices 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 from “Tone with Information”.

Usage Information which the app receives inaudibly via audio signals may include URLs, background information, tickets, coupons and music downloads. The developers have mentioned subtitles 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, sent URL links inaudibly via Tonio that were mentioned on air. The Austrian public broadcaster ORF 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 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 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 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. 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

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tonio (app)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tonio (app) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tonio (app) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tonio (app) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tonio (app)

In research: Tonio (app) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tonio (app) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tonio (app) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Android (operating system) software, IOS software, Radio technology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tonio (app) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tonio (app) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tonio (app) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tonio (app) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tonio (app) in simple terms?

Why does Tonio (app) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tonio (app)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tonio (app).