SMART DEVICE PERFORMING LED-ID/RF COMMUNICATION THROUGH A CAMERA, AND SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING LOCATION-BASED SERVICES USING THE SAME

• US 20160248505A1
• Filed: 10/28/2014
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seoul National University of Technology Center for Industry Collaboration (Seoul National University)
• Original Assignee: Seoul National University of Technology Center for Industry Collaboration (Seoul National University)
• Inventors: CHA, Jae-Sang
• Granted Patent: US 10,014,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The present invention provides a smart device which can receive, by an image sensor of a camera, a visible light signal generated by a light-emitting source such as a lighting apparatus or a display, and which can transmit the visible light signal to another terminal and light-emitting source by an LED flash of the camera, thereby enabling transmission and reception of visible light communication by the camera, which is equipped as standard in the smart device, as well as enabling transmission and relay of data by connecting to RF communication such as WiFi, Bluetooth and UWB. Moreover, the present invention provides a system and a method for providing location-based services which measure an approximate current location of a user by an RF communication access point and measure the current location of the user in detail by receiving a visible light signal, which includes location information, from the light-emitting source, and thus can perform a high-precision indoor location recognition function linking visible light communication and RF communication and can provide guide image information, which comprises various additional information, on the basis of the location information of the user.

Claims

1. A smart device performing led-ID/RF communication through a camera, the smart device comprising:

a visible light transmitting and receiving module having a visible light receiving module receiving a visible light signal including a location information or a data information from a light-emitting source through an image sensor of a camera, and a visible light transmitting module transmitting a visible light signal including a location information or a data information through an LED flash of the camera;

an image-capturing module capturing an image of peripheral region of the light-emitting source through the image sensor of the camera;

a telecommunication module performing RF communication;

a key-input module having a plurality of selection keys;

a display module displaying the data information received by the visible light receiving module;

a location calculating module calculating a present location of a user by a location information of a user, which is received from an access point through the telecommunication module, and the location information of the light-emitting source, which is received from the light-emitting source as a visible light signal; and

a control module transmitting the present location of a user calculated by the location calculating module or data information to another terminal or the light-emitting source through the visible light transmitting module.

2. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the visible light transmitting and receiving module is equipped within the smart device to be integrally formed with the smart device.

3. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the visible light transmitting and receiving module is separately formed with the smart device and connected to the smart device through a connection terminal.

4. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the visible light transmitting and receiving module is a transmitter-receiver having an LED for transmitting and a photodiode for receiving, which is separately formed with the smart device and connected to the smart device through a connection terminal.

5. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the camera is a multi-camera with at least two cameras.

6. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the camera is a depth camera.

7. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the camera is a high performance camera.

8. The smart device of claim 1, wherein the location calculation module apprehends the location information of a user through the access points, and calculates the present location of a user by the image captured by the image-capturing module and the location information received from the light-emitting source.

9. A system for providing location-based services using a smart device performing led-ID/RF communication through a camera, the system comprising:

at least one light-emitting source generating visible light having location information of its own;

a smart device calculating a present location of a user by a location information of a user, which is received from an access point, and the location information of the light-emitting source, which is received from the light-emitting source as a visible light signal; and

a location-based information sever generating a guide image information including additional information according to the location information of a user, which is received from the smart device, to provide the smart device with the guide image information.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the light-emitting source is a lighting apparatus or a display.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the smart device apprehends the location information of a user through the access points, and calculates the present location of a user by an image captured by an image-capturing module of the smart device and the location information received from the light-emitting source.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the smart device transmits the calculated present location of a user through visible light communication.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the smart device transmits the calculated present location of a user through RF communication.

14. A method for providing location-based services, the method comprising:

receiving, by a visible light receiving module of a smart device, visible light signal including location information or data information from a light-emitting source;

displaying, by a display module of the smart device, the data information, when the visible light signal includes the data information;

calculating a present location of a user by a location information of a user, which is received from an access point through the telecommunication module, and the location information of the light-emitting source, which is received from the light-emitting source as a visible light signal, when the received visible light includes the location information;

transmitting the calculated present location information to a location-based information server; and

receiving guide image information including additional information generated in accordance with the present location information to display the guide image information through the display module.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein calculating a present location of a user includes,

apprehending the location information of a user through the access points, and calculating the present location of a user by an image captured by an image-capturing module of the smart device and the location information received from the light-emitting source.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the calculated present location information to a location-based information server is performed through visible light communication.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the calculated present location information to a location-based information server is performed through RF communication.