Acoustic tags, related computing devices/systems, and methods of use thereof

A method,

• wherein the method is for mobile advertising, comprising:
• transmitting, by an acoustic tag, a pre-determined acoustic signal associated with the acoustic tag, using a first software program executed on the acoustic tag,
• wherein the first software program is stored in a first non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the acoustic tag,
• wherein the acoustic tag has a first hardware processor that executes the first software program, and
• wherein the first hardware processor, when executing the first software program, emits the acoustic signal associated with the acoustic tag through an acoustic transducer,
• initiating, by a handheld electronic device, a monitoring of ambient sound for the emitted acoustic signal associated with the acoustic tag, using a second software program executed on the handheld electronic device,
• wherein the second software program is stored in a second non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the handheld electronic device, and
• wherein the ambient sound is acquired via a microphone on the handheld electronic device, and converted to an electrical signal that corresponds to the ambient sound acquired by the microphone,
• transmitting the electrical signal that corresponds to the ambient sound to a second hardware processor specifically programmed to analyze the electrical signal that corresponds to the ambient sound for the presence of the emitted specific acoustic signal associated with the acoustic tag,
• wherein the second hardware processor executes a third software program being stored in a third non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and
• wherein the second hardware processor, when executing the third software program, performs at least the following steps:
• 1. converting the electrical signal that corresponds to the ambient sound from a time-domain type signal to a frequency-domain type signal based at least in part, on at least one fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm;
• 2. comparing the resulting frequency-domain type signal to a plurality of entries in at least one lookup table wherein each entry corresponds to at least one acoustic signal associated with at least one acoustic tag;
• 3. based on the comparing, determining, in the ambient sound, a particular acoustic signal associated with a particular acoustic tag;
• and
• 4. based on the determining, transmitting at least one notification confirming the presence of the particular acoustic tag;
• and
• based on the at least one notification, triggering, by the handheld electronic device, presenting at least one advertisement message, wherein the at least one advertisement message is specifically pre-determined for the presence of the particular acoustic signal associated with the particular acoustic tag.