Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Masao Kamada

Yosuke Kondo

Minoru Maehara

Eiji Shiohama

Hiroyuki Nishino

Yosiaki Hasitani

Yoshiyuki Miyake

Toyohiro Maruyama

Takashi Osugi

Yukiko Omoto

A housing body of a visible light communication terminal houses a light receiving unit configured to receive a visible light communication signal to convert the received visible signal to an electrical signal, an output unit configured to output information obtained from the visible light communication signal, and a power supply unit configured to supply power to the light receiving unit and the output unit. An ear hooking part is curved in an arc-like shape and is attached at one end thereof to the housing body, and is configured to fit the housing body to an auricle by being hooked onto the auricle and together with the housing body sandwiching the auricle therebetween. The light receiving unit is located on a portion of the housing body on an upper side thereof in a vertical direction in a state where the housing body is fitted to the auricle.

Visible light communication terminal

An illumination light communication device includes a power supply unit controlling a load current in a light source unit to be maintained constant based on a dimming signal; an impedance unit series connected to the light source unit; a switch element parallel connected to the impedance unit to connect/disconnect the impedance unit with the light source unit; and a control unit controlling on/off of the switch element to modulate a light intensity of the light source unit such that a binary communication signal is superimposed on illumination light therefrom. The control unit controls the impedance of the impedance unit such that a difference between magnitudes of the load currents respectively when the pulse of the communication signal is superimposed and is not superimposed is maintained constant regardless of a dimming rate of the dimming signal in a range of a dimming rate equal to or greater than a predetermined level.

Illumination light communication device, and illumination apparatus and system including same

An illumination light communication device includes a light source unit including light emitting elements; a power supply unit controlling a load current flowing through the light source unit to be maintained at a constant; a switch element connected in series to the light source unit; and a control unit configured to control on/off of the switch element to modulate a light intensity of illumination light from the light source unit such that a binary communication signal is superimposed on the illumination light. The control unit has a switching circuit to open/close a path between the light source unit and the power supply unit, controls on/off of the switching circuit based on a dimming signal to perform a dimming control on the light source unit by a PWM control, and allows the communication signal to be superimposed on the illumination light in synchronization with an ON time of the switching circuit.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Masao Kamada