Information communication method

• US 9,462,173 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2015
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• 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:
  US14/699,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20150244914A1
• Time in Patent Office: 524 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

An information communication method is provided for obtaining information from a subject using a terminal device. The method includes obtaining and holding identification information of devices, and service information associated with the identification information, from a server. The method also includes setting an exposure time of an image sensor so that 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, and obtaining a bright line image including a plurality of bright lines. The method further includes 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, selecting service information associated with the identification information, and presenting the service information to a user of the terminal device.

Claims

1. An information communication method of obtaining information from a subject using a terminal device that includes an image sensor having a plurality of exposure lines, the information communication method comprising:

obtaining, by the terminal device, one or more sets of identification information of respective one or more devices and one or more sets of service information respectively associated with the one or more sets of identification information, from the server, and holding, by the terminal device, the one or more sets of identification information and the one or more sets of service information;

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;

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; and

selecting, by the terminal device, service information associated with the identification information of the subject from the held one or more sets of service information, and presenting the service information to a user of the terminal device.

2. The information communication method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether or not the user enters a store corresponding to the service information presented in the presenting, by specifying a position of the user; and

in the case of determining that the user enters the store, obtaining, by the terminal device, product service information relating to a product or a service of the store from the server, and presenting the product service information to the user.

3. An information communication device of obtaining information from a subject, the information communication device that includes a processor and an image sensor having a plurality of exposure lines, the processor executes operations comprising:

obtaining, by the information communication device, one or more sets of identification information of respective one or more devices and one or more sets of service information respectively associated with the one or more sets of identification information, from the server, and holding, by the information communication device, the one or more sets of identification information and the one or more sets of service information;

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;

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; and

selecting, by the information communication device, service information associated with the identification information of the subject from the held one or more sets of service information, and presenting the service information to a user of the information communication device.

4. A non-transitory recording medium that stores a program for controlling an information communication device for obtaining information from a subject, the information communication device that includes a processor and an image sensor having a plurality of exposure lines, the program executed by the processor causing the information communication device to execute:

obtaining, by the information communication device, one or more sets of identification information of respective one or more devices and one or more sets of service information respectively associated with the one or more sets of identification information, from the server, and holding, by the information communication device, the one or more sets of identification information and the one or more sets of service information;

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;

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; and

selecting, by the information communication device, service information associated with the identification information of the subject from the held one or more sets of service information, and presenting the service information to a user of the information communication device.