Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Xiaohong Sun

Demetri J Giannopoulos

Laurence Bourdillon

A LED system () for illumination and data transmission employs a LED driver (), an electronic switch (), and an illumination unit (). In a first illumination state, illumination unit () receives LED current(s) from LED driver () to emit a first light output. In a second illumination state, the illumination unit () receives additional LED current(s) from LED drivervia the electronic switch as controlled by the LED driver where the illumination unit () additionally emits a second light output. LED system () optically communicates a data bit with each transition of the illumination unit () from the first illumination state to the second illumination state, and vice-versa.

LED system for illumination and data transmission

A method of operating a light source () including a ballast () in electrical communication with a lamp (). The method includes operating the ballast () to determine () an average lamp power to be applied to the lamp () during a data period. The method further includes operating the ballast () to generate and communicate () a pulse width modulated drive signal to the lamp () during the data period, the pulse width modulated drive signal having one of a first waveform and a second waveform for applying the average lamp power to the lamp (), the first waveform including at least one pulse representative of a first data bit, the second waveform including at least one pulse representative of a second data bit. The method additionally includes operating the lamp () to emit () a modulated light output in response to a reception of the pulse width modulated drive signal during the data period, the modulated light output being representative of the first data bit in response to the pulse width modulated drive signal having the first waveform, the modulated light output being representative of the second data bit in response to the pulse width modulated drive signal having the second waveform.

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Briarcliff Manor, NY, United States of America

Xiaohong Sun