Modulation device, light emitting device, and light emission system

• US 9,831,949 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2016
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsukawa, Yoshihiko, Kido, Shojirou
• Primary Examiner(s): Sedighian, M. R.
• Application Number:
  US15/167,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20160359562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: 398118
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/40 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/50 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/0075 with photonic or optical means
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/165 following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC]

Abstract

A modulation device includes a modulator circuit that causes a light source to perform light communication, storage storing an internal ID, and a control circuit that determines whether an external ID is input into the modulation device. When the control circuit determines that the external ID is input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the input external ID to be input, as a modulation signal, into the modulator circuit. When the control circuit determines that the external ID is not input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the internal ID stored in the storage to be input, as a modulation signal, into the modulator circuit.

Claims

1. A modulation device that causes a light source to perform light communication, the modulation device comprising:

a modulator circuit that modulates a magnitude of current supplied to the light source to cause the light source to perform light communication;

storage storing an internal ID, the internal ID being self-identification information; and

a control circuit that determines whether an external ID is input into the modulation device, the external ID being identification information supplied from an external source,

wherein when the control circuit determines that the external ID is input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the external ID to be input, as a modulation signal, into the modulator circuit, and when the control circuit determines that the external ID is not input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the internal ID stored in the storage to be input, as a modulation signal, into the modulator circuit, and

the modulator circuit modulates the magnitude of current in accordance with the modulation signal input into the modulator circuit.

2. The modulation device according to claim 1, further comprising an ID transmission terminal that outputs, to an external destination, the modulation signal input into the modulator circuit.

3. The modulation device according to claim 1, further comprising a signal switch that selects one of the external ID and the internal ID and outputs the selected one of the external ID and the internal ID to the modulator circuit,

wherein when the control circuit determines that the external ID is input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the signal switch to select the external ID and output the external ID to the modulator circuit, and when the control circuit determines that the external ID is not input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the signal switch to select the internal ID and output the internal ID to the modulator circuit.

4. The modulation device according to claim 1, further comprising a transceiver that receives an input of the external ID into the modulation device and transmits a designated signal to an external destination,

wherein the control circuit includes a synchronization signal input terminal and a synchronization signal output terminal, the synchronization signal input terminal being for receiving an input, from an external source, of a synchronization signal that indicates timing for causing the light source to perform light communication, and the synchronization signal output terminal being for outputting the external synchronization signal to the external destination,

when the transceiver has received the external ID, the control circuit causes the transceiver to transmit, to the external destination, the external ID received by the transceiver and causes the external ID received by the transceiver to be input into the modulator circuit in synchronization with the synchronization signal input into the synchronization signal input terminal, and

when the transceiver has not received the external ID, the control circuit causes the transceiver to transmit, to the external destination, the internal ID stored in the storage and causes the internal ID stored in the storage to be input into the modulator circuit in synchronization with outputting of the synchronization signal from the synchronization signal output terminal.

5. The modulation device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit further includes a validity determiner that determines whether the external ID input into the modulation device is a predetermined valid signal and, when the control circuit determines that the external ID is input into the modulation device, the control circuit causes the external ID to be input into the modulator circuit only when the external ID is determined to be valid by the validity determiner.

6. The modulation device according to claim 5, wherein the validity determiner determines the external ID to be a valid signal when the external ID includes a predetermined security code.

7. The modulation device according to claim 1, wherein when the control circuit determines that the external ID is input into the modulation device, the control circuit determines whether the external ID input into the modulation device is the same as the internal ID, and if the control circuit determines that the external ID input into the modulation device is the same, causes a signal for maintaining the current supplied to the light source at a constant magnitude to be input into the modulator circuit instead, of the external ID.

8. A light emitting device, comprising

a light source;

the modulation device according to claim 1, the modulation device causing the light source to perform light communication; and

a power supply that supplies power to the modulation device.

9. A light emission system, comprising a plurality of light emitting devices including at least a first light emitting device and a second light emitting device, each of the first light emitting device and the second light emitting device being the light emitting device according to claim 8, and

the first light emitting device and the second light emitting device are connected together so as to cause the internal ID stored in the storage of the first light emitting device to be input into the modulator circuit of the first light emitting device and the internal ID to be input as an external ID in the second light emitting device.