Method, apparatus and system for visible light communication

#The present invention generally relates to a method for visible light communication, including a method for transmitting and a method for receiving a visible light signal. The present invention also relates to the associated apparatuses and system for visible light communication.

#Visible light communication (VLC) technology has gained significant interest as light emitting diodes (LEDs) are now widely used for general illumination. VLC technology is able to communicate wirelessly by encoding data to visible light emitted by LEDs, and thus relies on the visible light wavelength band, in contrast to existing wire optical communication technology and infrared ray wireless communication technology. An attractive feature of VLC is the ability to incorporate the wireless communication function into the LEDs without affecting the LEDs' ability to perform its primary purpose, such as general illumination or light display purposes. This is because the LEDs can be modulated to switch on and off at ultra-high speeds (e.g., thousands of times per second) which are far beyond what the human eye is able to detect. Another major advantage is that VLC technology has a broad use band. It can be used without restriction unlike radio frequency (RF) communication where the available frequencies for usage are exhausting and regulated.

#However, conventional VLC systems have a number of drawbacks, including low data transmission rate, inflexible display layout/format, and/or lacking in data transfer security.

#Embodiments of the present invention will be better understood and readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following written description, by way of example only, and in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram generally illustrating a system for visible light communication according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2A depicts a flow diagram generally illustrating a method of transmitting a visible light signal in visible light communication corresponding to the VLC transmitter shown in FIG. 1;

#Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus and a system for visible light communication (VLC) which seek to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies of the conventional VLC systems mentioned in the background.

#Some portions of the description which follows are explicitly or implicitly presented in terms of algorithms and functional or symbolic representations of operations on data within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and functional or symbolic representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey most effectively the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities, such as electrical, magnetic or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated.

#Unless specifically stated otherwise, and as apparent from the following, it will be appreciated that throughout the present specification, discussions utilizing terms such as “scanning”, “calculating”, “determining”, “replacing”, “generating”, “initializing”, “outputting”, or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical quantities within the computer system into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system or other information storage, transmission or display devices.