Transferring a mobile tag using a light based communication handshake protocol

A system for transferring one or more mobile tags using a light based communication handshake protocol comprising:

• a mobile device including a processor, a memory storing software and data and being accessible by the processor, an image sensor and an illuminator, the processor being communicatively coupled to the image sensor and the illuminator;
• the mobile device further comprising one or more user input devices;
• the processor under control of the software receives user input from the one or more user input devices indicating a request for transfer of data from another computer device and turns the image sensor on and causes the illuminator to generate a sequence of light flashes indicating a message requesting transfer of the data in accordance with a communication handshake protocol using one or more sequences of light flashes;
• the processor under control of the software identifies a mobile tag in image data being captured by the image sensor, and extracts data encoded in the mobile tag;
• and
• responsive to the data extracted from the mobile tag indicating there is more data to be transferred, the processor causes the illuminator to generate a sequence of light flashes indicating a message to display another mobile tag encoded with data.

A method for transferring one or more mobile tags using a light based communication handshake protocol comprising:

• capturing image data of an electronically displayed mobile tag with an image sensor of a mobile computer device;
• identifying a successful read of data encoded in the mobile tag;
• identifying from the data encoded in the mobile tag whether the mobile tag is the last mobile tag of data in a series of mobile tags;
• responsive to the mobile tag not being the last mobile tag of data in the series, generating a sequence of light flashes with an illuminator of the mobile computer device indicating to display a next mobile tag in accordance with a communication handshake protocol;
• and
• responsive to the mobile tag being the last mobile tag of data in the series, updating the display of the mobile computer device to indicate an end of data transfer for the user.