IVC: Imperceptible Video Communication∗

Visible light communication (VLC) has received significant attention recently because it facilitates data communication in scenarios with high user density, where conventional wired and wireless technologies cannot work well due to user mobility and channel contention. However, the existing VLC techniques require specialized hardware for communication to take place, and therefore they are considered impractical for end users yet. Given the abundance of cameras and LCD screens in today’s environment, it makes sense the use of these devices for wireless communication. Specifically, cameras can be used for shooting nearby LCD screens and use them for network access. A couple of works provided feasible solutions to video channel communication, however their works did not overcome at least one of the challenges: low data throughput, reliance on additional infrastructure (Digimarc Technology [1]) and unreadable video (PixNet [2] or COBRA [3]). This demo explores this novel communication medium and presents Imperceptible Video Communication (IVC). A system that takes advantage of both off-the-shelf cameras and LCD displays, and it transfers imperceptible data over a normal video and without the reliance on additional infrastructure.