Wireless communication system and wireless communication apparatus

• US 7,986,234 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2004
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Fukuda, Kunio
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham; Quang
• Application Number:
  US10/567,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20070024444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,547 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.1, 340/572.1, 340/5.61, 340/7.22, 455/41
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer

Abstract

A low consumption power is realized in a communication type that a ratio of transmission between apparatus limited to a relatively short distance occupies most of communications.

Upon reception of transmission data constituted of a bit series, a wireless transmission module unit performs an on/off operation of an antenna switch connected to an antenna, in accordance with a bit image of the transmission data, and transmits, by a back scattering scheme, the transmission data as reflected radio waves of radio waves from a transmission destination generated by a change in an antenna load impedance. The antenna switch is generally made of a gallium arsenide IC, its consumption power is several 10 μW or less, and it becomes possible to realize ultra low consumption wireless image transmission.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system for data transmission by radio waves between a data supply source apparatus and a data provided destination apparatus, in which:

the data supply source apparatus is operable to photograph a moving image and to perform an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag function that transmits image data representative of the moving image obtained from a moving image photographing operation by a back scattering scheme by absorbing or reflecting external radio waves provided by the data provided destination apparatus in accordance with a bit string of the data through an on/off control of an antenna switch to make an antenna in a terminated state or an open state; and

the data provided destination apparatus is operable to perform a reader function that transmits the radio waves in a predetermined frequency band and reads data of an RFID tag in accordance with reflected waves from the data supply source apparatus which represent the moving image data obtained from the moving image photographing operation,

in which the wireless communication system includes a circuit to provide confirmation as to whether the image data supplied from the data supply source apparatus is correct or incorrect,

in which the wireless communication system is operable to perform in a first mode and a second mode, in which in the first mode the image data along with the confirmation thereof is transmitted and in the second mode one-way transmission of the image data without the confirmation thereof is transmitted,

in which an average power utilized by the wireless communication system for transmission of the image data and the confirmation thereof is 10 mW (milliwatts) or less, and

in which an average power utilized by the wireless communication system for the one-way transmission of the image data without confirmation thereof is approximately several 10 μ

W (microwatts) or less.

2. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which:

the data provided destination apparatus transmits a non-modulated carrier or a modulated control signal, and the data supply source apparatus transmits data by absorbing or reflecting the external radio waves on a basis of termination control of the antenna; and

the data provided destination apparatus receives the data on a basis of presence/absence of the reflected waves from the supply source apparatus.

3. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which:

the data provided destination apparatus has means for storing or reproducing data received from the data supply source apparatus.

4. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which:

the data provided destination apparatus receives the data on a basis of presence/absence of the reflected waves from the supply source apparatus, performs error detection, and transmits an error detection result in a form of a control signal made of an ASK, PSK or FSK modulation wave, and the data supply source apparatus demodulates the control signal at a reception unit and demodulation unit to perform re-transmission control.

5. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which:

the data supply source apparatus having photographing means is remotely controlled by a command in a control signal transmitted from the data provided destination apparatus.

6. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which the data supply source apparatus is a digital camera or a mobile phone.

7. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which the data provided destination apparatus is a personal computer, a television, or a printer.

8. The wireless communication system recited in claim 1, in which the image data is transmitted by the data supply source apparatus at a frequency of approximately 2.4 GHz.