Methods and arrangements for frequency shift communications by undersampling

• US 9,385,816 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Roberts, Richard D., Walma, Mathijs C., Gopalakrishnan, Praveen
• Primary Examiner(s): Pascal, Leslie
• Application Number:
  US13/977,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20140308048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,695 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/502 LED transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/524 Pulse modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/5563 Digital frequency modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/60 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/4902 Pulse width modulation; Pulse position modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/02 Amplitude-modulated carrier systems, e.g. using on-off keying; Single sideband or vestigial sideband modulation H04L27/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/10 Frequency-modulated carrier systems, i.e. using frequency-shift keying H04L27/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/12 Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/144 with demodulation using spectral properties of the received signal, e.g. by using frequency selective- or frequency sensitive elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2096 Arrangements for directly or externally modulating an optical carrier optical modulation H04B10/503
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/223 Demodulation in the optical domain optical demodulation H04B10/676

Abstract

Embodiments may provide a way of communicating via an electromagnetic radiator, or light source, that can be amplitude modulated such as light emitting diode (LED) lighting and receivers or detectors that can determine data from light received from the amplitude modulated electromagnetic radiator. Some embodiments may provide a method of transmitting/encoding data via modulated LED lighting and other embodiments may provide receiving/decoding data from the modulated LED lighting by means of a device with a low sampling frequency such as a relatively inexpensive camera (as might be found in a smart phone). Some embodiments are intended for indoor navigation via photogrammetry (i.e., image processing) using self-identifying LED light anchors. In many embodiments, the data signal may be communicated via the light source at amplitude modulating frequencies such that the resulting flicker is not perceivable to the human eye.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a frequency shift keying modulator, an output signal at a delimiter frequency, the delimiter frequency being between a first frequency and a second frequency, wherein the output signal at the delimiter frequency can facilitate demodulation of data to transmit, the data having bits associated with a first group and a second group, wherein the first group is associated with the first frequency and the second group is associated with the second frequency;

generating, by the frequency shift keying modulator, the output signal at the first frequency to transmit bits associated with the first group;

generating, by the frequency shift keying modulator, the output signal at the second frequency to transmit bits associated with the second group; and

applying, by the frequency shift keying modulator, the output signal to a light source to generate light comprising the data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying pulse-width modulation to the light source to impose a duty cycle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising varying a pulse width of power supplied to the light source to adjust the intensity of the light generated by the light source.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the output signal at the delimiter frequency comprises generating the output signal at (N+¼

)*Fs or (N−

¼

)*Fs, wherein generating the output signal at the first frequency comprises generating the output signal at N*Fs, and wherein generating the output signal at the second frequency comprises generating the output signal at (N+½

)*Fs or (N−

½

)*Fs, wherein N is an integer and Fs is a sampling frequency.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the output signal at the delimiter frequency comprises generating the output signal at (N+¾

)*Fs or (N−

¾

)*Fs, wherein generating the output signal at the first frequency comprises generating the output signal at (N+1)*Fs, and wherein generating the output signal at the second frequency comprises generating the output signal at (N+½

)*Fs or (N−

½

)*Fs, wherein N is an integer and Fs is a sampling frequency.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating, by the frequency shift keying modulator, the output signal at the first frequency comprises generating light modulated at the first frequency in response to a logical one in the data signal and generating light modulated at the second frequency in response to a logical zero in the data signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein applying, by the frequency shift keying modulator, the output signal to a light source to generate light comprising the data comprises applying the output signal to a light emitting diode (LED).

8. An apparatus comprising:

a modulator to generate an output signal at a delimiter frequency, the delimiter frequency being between a first frequency and a second frequency, wherein the output signal at the delimiter frequency can facilitate demodulation of data to transmit, the data having bits associated with a first group and a second group, wherein the first group is associated with the first frequency and the second group is associated with the second frequency;

generate the output signal at the first frequency to transmit bits associated with the first group; and

generate the output signal at the second frequency to transmit bits associated with the second group; and

an amplitude modulation device to modulate the amplitude of power to apply to a light source at the frequency of the output signal to generate light comprising the data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a pulse width modulator to modulate the pulse width of the power to apply to the light source to adjust the intensity of the light emitted by the light source.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising the light source.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the light source comprises at least one light source from a group of light sources comprising an infrared light source, a visible light source, and an ultraviolet light source.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the modulator comprises at least one integrated circuit to output at least one oscillating signal to vary the frequency of the output signal between the delimiter frequency, the first frequency, and the second frequency to transmit the data.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the modulator comprises more than one oscillation device to vary the frequency of the output signal between the delimiter frequency, the first frequency, and the second frequency to transmit the data.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein modulator comprises logic to set the first frequency as N*Fs, the second frequency as (N+½

)*Fs or (N−

½

)*Fs, and the delimiter frequency as (N+¼

)*Fs or (N−

¼

)*Fs, wherein N is an integer and Fs is a sampling frequency.

15. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein modulator comprises logic to set the first frequency is (N+1)*Fs, the second frequency is (N+½

)*Fs, and the delimiter frequency is (N+¾

)*Fs, wherein N is an integer and Fs is a sampling frequency.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a light detector to detect light at a sampling frequency to produce samples;

frequency logic to determine the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light based upon the samples, the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light being associated with bits of data, wherein the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light comprise a first frequency associated with a first logical value, a second frequency associated with a second logical value, and a delimiter frequency associated with a start of a transmission of a frame of data; and

a data associator to detect a start of a transmission of the data based upon receipt of the delimiter frequency and to determine the data based upon determining the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the light detector comprises:

a camera to capture frames of pixels and

sample logic coupled with the camera to identify whether a light source is on or off to determine the samples based upon the frames of pixels.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first frequency is equal to or a harmonic frequency of the sampling frequency of the camera.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the samples comprise on and off data for the light from a light source across more than one repetitive transmissions of the data from the light source, wherein each of the more than one repetitive transmissions of the data are delimited by the delimiter frequency.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first frequency is N*Fs, the second frequency is (N+½

)*Fs, and the delimiter frequency is (N+¼

)*Fs, wherein N is an integer and Fs is the sampling frequency.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first frequency is (N+1)*Fs, the second frequency is (N+½

)*Fs, and the delimiter frequency is (N+1+¼

)*Fs, wherein N is an integer and Fs is the sampling frequency.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the frequency logic comprises logic to perform a Fourier transform with the samples to determine at least the magnitudes of the waveform at the apparent frequencies.

23. A method comprising:

detecting light, by a light detector, at a sampling frequency to produce samples;

determining, by frequency logic, the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light based upon the samples, the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light being associated with bits of data, wherein the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light comprise a first frequency associated with a first logical value, a second frequency associated with a second logical value, and a delimiter frequency associated with a start of a transmission of a frame of data;

detecting, by a data associator, a start of a transmission of the data based upon receipt of the delimiter frequency; and

determining, by the data associator, the data based upon determining the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein detecting the light by the light detector comprises capturing a frame of pixels including at least one pixel representative of the light and determining a sample of the light by identifying whether the light is emitted by a light source or the light is not emitted by the light source in the frame of pixels.

25. A program product comprising:

a storage medium comprising instructions to be executed by a processor-based device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor-based device, perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving samples produced from light detected by a light detector at a sampling frequency;

determining, by frequency logic, the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light based upon the samples, the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light being associated with bits of data, wherein the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light comprise a first frequency associated with a first logical value, a second frequency associated with a second logical value, and a delimiter frequency associated with a start of a transmission of a frame of data;

detecting, by a data associator, a start of a transmission of the data based upon receipt of the delimiter frequency; and

determining, by the data associator, the data based upon determining the apparent frequencies of modulation of the light.