Information communication method

• US 10,165,192 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2017
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• 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, Mukai, Tsutomu, Shin, Hidehiko, Matsushita, Yosuke, Iida, Shigehiro, Yamada, Kazunori
• Primary Examiner(s): Dobson, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US15/652,831
• Publication Number:
  US 20170318212A1
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1143 Bidirectional transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/72 Combination of two or more compensation controls
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/743 Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/76 by influencing the image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/531 by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/533 by using differing integration times for different sensor regions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method is provided that includes setting an exposure time of an image sensor of a customer terminal so that, in an image obtained by capturing the subject, a bright line corresponding to each of a plurality of exposure lines appears according to a change in luminance of the subject. The method also includes obtaining a bright line image including a plurality of bright lines, by capturing the subject and obtaining identification information of the subject, by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image. The method further includes sending the identification information to a server, obtaining a menu listing a product of the store from the server, displaying the menu on a display of the terminal, and sending product information of the product that is selected by the customer and payment information of the customer to the server.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

setting an exposure time of an image sensor of a terminal of a customer so that, in an image obtained by capturing a subject that is installed in a store by the image sensor, a bright line corresponding to each of a plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject;

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

obtaining identification information of the subject, by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image;

sending the identification information to a server;

obtaining a menu listing a product of the store from the server;

displaying the menu on a display of the terminal; and

sending product information of the product that is selected by the customer and payment information of the customer to the server, when the product is selected by the customer.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the menu is sent from the server when the server acknowledges the identification information.

3. A terminal, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing thereon a computer program, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations including

setting an exposure time of an image sensor of the terminal of a customer so that, in an image obtained by capturing a subject that is installed in a store by the image sensor, a bright line corresponding to each of a plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject;

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

obtaining identification information of the subject, by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image;

sending the identification information to a server;

obtaining a menu listing a product of the store from the server;

displaying the menu on a display of the terminal; and

sending product information of the product that is selected by the customer and payment information of the customer to the server, when the product is selected by the customer.

4. A non-transitory recoding medium storing thereon a computer program, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations including:

setting an exposure time of an image sensor of a terminal of a customer so that, in an image obtained by capturing a subject that is installed in a store by the image sensor, a bright line corresponding to each of a plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject;

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

obtaining identification information of the subject, by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image;

sending the identification information to a server;

obtaining a menu listing a product of the store from the server;

displaying the menu on a display of the terminal; and

sending product information of the product that is selected by the customer and payment information of the customer to the server, when the product is selected by the customer.

5. A server, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing thereon a computer program, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations including

receiving identification information that is sent from a first terminal of a customer, the identification information of a subject installed in a store being received by the first terminal via visible light communication with the subject;

sending a notification indicating that the customer comes to the store to a second terminal of a clerk of the store when the identification information is received;

sending a menu listing a product of the store to the first terminal when the identification information is received, the menu being to be displayed on a display of the first terminal;

receiving a product information of the product and payment information of the customer when the product is selected by the customer, the product information and the payment information being sent from the first terminal to the server; and

sending the product information and the payment information to a Point of Sale (POS) system of the store, when the product information and the payment information is received.

6. The server according to claim 5,

wherein the first terminal includes an image sensor having a plurality of exposure lines, and

wherein the visible light communication includes

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

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

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

7. The server according to claim 5,

wherein the notification is displayed on a display of the second terminal.