Controlling brightness of light sources used for data transmission

An apparatus comprising:

• a light source;
• and
• a light source controller, wherein the light source controller is configured to:
• receive a selection of a desired brightness level of a light source;
• receive a piece of data to be transmitted via visible light communication using the light source;
• select a duty cycle, described by an encoding scheme, based on identifying a duty cycle that is closest to the desired brightness level in reference to multiple cycles described by the encoding scheme, wherein selecting the duty cycle further comprises selecting a first duty cycle and subsequently selecting a second duty cycle for a subsequent piece of data;
• encode the data using the encoding scheme, wherein the encoding includes identifying a code corresponding to both the piece of data and the selected duty cycle;
• and
• transmit the identified code via visible light communication using the light source,
• wherein the selected duty cycle comprises an overall duty cycle across multiple pieces of data equivalent to the desired brightness level.

An apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving a selection of a desired brightness level of a light source;
• means for receiving a piece of data to be transmitted via visible light communication using the light source;
• means for selecting a duty cycle, described by an encoding scheme, based on identifying a duty cycle that is closest to the desired brightness level in reference to multiple cycles described by the encoding scheme, wherein selecting the duty cycle further comprises selecting a first duty cycle and subsequently selecting a second duty cycle for a subsequent piece of data;
• means for encoding the data using the encoding scheme, wherein the encoding includes identifying a code corresponding to both the piece of data and the selected duty cycle;
• and
• means for transmitting the identified code via visible light communication using the light source,
• wherein the selected duty cycle comprises an overall duty cycle across multiple pieces of data equivalent to the desired brightness level.

A non-transitory program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method comprising:

• receiving a selection of a desired brightness level of a light source;
• receiving a piece of data to be transmitted via visible light communication using the light source;
• selecting a duty cycle, described by an encoding scheme, based on identifying a duty cycle that is closest to the desired brightness level in reference to multiple cycles described by the encoding scheme, wherein selecting the duty cycle further comprises selecting a first duty cycle and subsequently selecting a second duty cycle for a subsequent piece of data;
• encoding the data using the encoding scheme, wherein the encoding includes identifying a code corresponding to both the piece of data and the selected duty cycle;
• and
• transmitting the identified code via visible light communication using the light source,
• wherein the selected duty cycle comprises an overall duty cycle across multiple pieces of data equivalent to the desired brightness level.

A method comprising:

• receiving a selection of a desired brightness level of a light source;
• receiving a first piece of data to be transmitted via visible light communication using the light source;
• selecting a first duty cycle, described by an encoding scheme, based on identifying a duty cycle that is closest to the desired brightness level in reference to multiple cycles described by the encoding scheme, wherein selecting the duty cycle further comprises selecting a first duty cycle for the first piece of data and subsequently selecting a different duty cycle for a second piece of data;
• and
• transmitting the first piece of data and the second piece of data in a sequence via visible light communication using the light source.