Useful data is transmitted to a terminal existing in a transportation vehicle. A communication apparatus installed in the transportation vehicle and configured to transmit the data to the terminal existing in the transportation vehicle includes a data selection unit and an illumination unit. The data selection unit acquires location information indicating a location of the transportation vehicle in which the terminal exists and which is traveling. Based on the acquired location information, the data selection unit selects approaching-location data related to a location ahead of a current location of the transportation vehicle in a traveling direction from a plurality of pieces of data related to the location. The illumination unit transmits, as a modulated light signal, a signal comprising the approaching-location data.

A system (300) and a related method (100) for controlling an optical output of at least one electronic label in a retail environment is provided. The system comprises a camera (310) comprising a transmitter for transmitting a control signal (380, 381) and an electronic label (320) comprising a receiver (325) for receiving the control signal and wherein the electronic label is adapted to change its optical output in response to the control signal, the electronic label is arranged within the field of view of the camera. The camera is adapted to receive an identifier of the electronic label and transmit a control signal comprising the identifier and wherein the electronic label is adapted to receive the control signal comprising the identifier and change its optical output based on that the identifier comprised in the control signal matches an identifier of the electronic label.

An object is to provide a terminal device, a communication method, and a communication system which are capable of acquiring accurate optical ID information regardless of the position of the terminal device and the light receiving angle.

The terminal device, the communication method, and the communication system according to the present invention each sets a threshold value for the illuminance of a received optical signal by using a moving average method, a weighted moving average method, or an exponential moving average, so that the optical signal can be binarized with a threshold value according to a change in the position of the terminal device, the light receiving angle, or the like. Information from other sensors may be used to set the threshold value.

An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal device, a communication method, and a communication system which are capable of reducing the error rate even if the transmitting side and the receiving side are asynchronous. The terminal device, communication method, and communication system according to the present invention sample an optical signal more finely than a 0/1 bit pattern in optical ID estimation processing for determining which of 1/0 the data acquired by an optical sensor is, and perform a majority decision using a plurality of sampling values in a decision processing window. Thus, even if the correct sampling value fails to be obtained, the correct bit value can be derived from other samplings.

Liquid crystal (LC) beam modulation devices are applied to lighting control or to optical wireless communications to improve performance of lighting or communications. A flexible optical network using LC beam modulation and common control of beam intensity and solid angle of beams are also described.

A method for changing software data of a field device is disclosed. In an embodiment, the field device has, in or on a housing, a device code that can be optically detected using a mobile device. An embodiment of the method includes detecting a first device code with a reader unit of the mobile device, accessing primary device data of the field device by the mobile device, and converting the primary device data to secondary device data. The embodiment further includes detecting a second device code and subsequently transmitting the secondary device data to the field device. The second device code may be the same as or different from the first device code. The disclosed embodiments furthermore comprise an associated system.

A method for changing software data of a field device is disclosed. In an embodiment, the field device has, in or on a housing, a device code that can be optically detected using a mobile device. An embodiment of the method includes detecting a first device code with a reader unit of the mobile device, accessing primary device data of the field device by the mobile device, and converting the primary device data to secondary device data. The embodiment further includes detecting a second device code and subsequently transmitting the secondary device data to the field device. The second device code may be the same as or different from the first device code. The disclosed embodiments furthermore comprise an associated system.

A mobile object configured for movement in an area equipped with VLC illumination sources comprises a light sensor arranged to detect illumination from at least one of the illumination sources within the view of the light sensor; a computer arranged to determine from the detected illumination (i) a position of the mobile object relative to the at least one illumination source and (ii) the identifier of the at least one illumination source; and a transceiver. The transceiver can receive from another mobile object a message comprising the position of the other mobile object relative to a source of illumination, and the identifier of that source of illumination. From this, the computer determines from its position and the message a distance from the other mobile object. A mobile object which transmits such a message is also envisaged.

The invention provides a computing device for determining and conveying a bandwidth coverage of an optical communication modality within a space, wherein the space comprises at least one optical transmitter arranged for communicating over said optical communication modality; wherein the computing device comprises a controller configured to: obtain configuration data characterizing a configuration of said space; obtain lighting data characterizing the at least one optical transmitter; determine the bandwidth coverage of the optical communication modality within the space based on the configuration data and the lighting data; wherein the computing device comprises an output interface configured to: convey a signal indicative of the bandwidth coverage of the optical communication modality within the space.

The invention provides a computing device for determining and conveying a bandwidth coverage of an optical communication modality within a space, wherein the space comprises at least one optical transmitter arranged for communicating over said optical communication modality; wherein the computing device comprises a controller configured to: obtain configuration data characterizing a configuration of said space; obtain lighting data characterizing the at least one optical transmitter; determine the bandwidth coverage of the optical communication modality within the space based on the configuration data and the lighting data; wherein the computing device comprises an output interface configured to: convey a signal indicative of the bandwidth coverage of the optical communication modality within the space.