Information communication method

• US 9,591,232 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Oshima, Mitsuaki, Nakanishi, Koji, Aoyama, Hideki, Fuchigami, Ikuo, Shin, Hidehiko, Mukai, Tsutomu, Matsushita, Yosuke, Iida, Shigehiro, Yamada, Kazunori
• Primary Examiner(s): Dobson, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/711,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20150244919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 663 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/516 Details of coding or modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time

Abstract

An information communication method of transmitting a signal is provided that uses a change in luminance. The method includes determining a plurality of patterns of the change in luminance, by modulating a respective plurality of signals to be transmitted, and transmitting, by a light emitter changing in luminance according to a pattern among the determined plurality of patterns of the change in luminance, a signal corresponding to the pattern. The plurality of signals each includes a header and a body. In the determining, a first body, a first header, and a second body are modulated as one set in stated order. In the transmitting, the light emitter changes in luminance according to, in stated order, a first luminance change pattern corresponding to the first body, a second luminance change pattern corresponding to the first header, and a third luminance change pattern corresponding to the second body.

Claims

1. An information communication device, comprising:

a wristband configured to be worn on a wrist of a user;

an image sensor (i) configured to be located on a back-of-hand surface side of the wristband, and (ii) configured to capture a subject that is located in a parallel direction to a back-of-hand surface of the user;

a processor; and

a medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program causing the processor to execute operations including

setting an exposure time of an image sensor so that, in an image obtained by capturing a subject by the image sensor, a plurality of bright lines corresponding to a plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appear according to a change in luminance of the subject;

obtaining a bright line image including the plurality of bright lines, by capturing the subject changing in luminance by the image sensor with the set exposure time; and

obtaining information by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image.

2. The information communication device according to claim 1,

wherein the wristband includes a watch, and

the image sensor is located inside of the watch and captures the subject that is located in a parallel direction to a face of the watch.