Communication method, communication device, and transmitter

A communication device which uses a terminal including an image sensor, the communication device comprising:

• a determining unit configured to determine whether the terminal is capable of performing the visible light communication;
• a first obtaining unit configured to, when the determining unit determines that the terminal is capable of performing the visible light communication, obtain a decode target image by the image sensor capturing a subject whose luminance changes, and obtain, from a striped pattern appearing in the decode target image, first identification information transmitted by the subject;
• and
• a second obtaining unit configured to, when the determining unit determines that the terminal is incapable of performing the visible light communication, obtain a captured image by the image sensor capturing the subject, extract at least one contour by performing edge detection on the captured image, specify a specific region from among the at least one contour, and obtain, from a line pattern in the specific region, second identification information transmitted by the subject, the specific region being predetermined.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing a communication method which uses a terminal including an image sensor, the computer program causing the computer to execute:

• determining whether the terminal is capable of performing visible light communication;
• when the terminal is determined to be capable of performing the visible light communication, obtaining a decode target image by the image sensor capturing a subject whose luminance changes, and obtaining, from a striped pattern appearing in the decode target image, first identification information transmitted by the subject;
• and
• when the terminal is determined to be incapable of performing the visible light communication in the determining pertaining to the visible light communication, obtaining a captured image by the image sensor capturing the subject, extracting at least one contour by performing edge detection on the captured image, specifying a specific region from among the at least one contour, and obtaining, from a line pattern in the specific region, second identification information transmitted by the subject, the specific region being predetermined.