Method and system for wireless data transmission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10153835-B2
Application number	US-201715683818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2017
Priority date	Aug 31, 2016
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A method for wireless data transmission between a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device acts as a data source and the second communication device acts as a data sink, includes: splitting, by the data source, data to be transmitted from the data source to the data sink into a carrier signal for a radio channel and an optical carrier signal by modulating the carrier signals; transmitting the data via a hybrid transmission path from the data source to the data sink by simultaneously transmitting some of the data via the radio channel and some of the data via a wireless optical direct channel; and merging, by the data sink, via a demodulation process, the data transmitted via the radio channel and the data transmitted via the wireless optical direct channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for wireless data transmission between a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device acts as a data source and the second communication device acts as a data sink, wherein the data source and the data sink are configured to be arranged in variable positions with respect to one another and in direct optical visual contact, and wherein the method comprises:
splitting, by the data source, user data to be transmitted from the data source to the data sink into user data to be transmitted via a radio channel and user data to be transmitted via a wireless optical direct channel;
aligning an optical transmitter of the data source relative to an optical receiver of the data sink based on wireless local area network (WLAN) positioning;
transmitting the user data via a hybrid transmission path from the data source to the data sink by simultaneously transmitting the user data to be transmitted via the radio channel by modulating a carrier signal for the radio channel and transmitting the user data to be transmitted via the wireless optical direct channel by modulating an optical carrier signal; and
merging, by the data sink, via a demodulation process, the user data transmitted via the radio channel and the user data transmitted via the wireless optical direct channel to provide merged transmitted user data,
wherein transmission over the radio channel utilizes a standardized radio carrier signal for networks.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the optical carrier signal is standardized for Visible Light Communications (VLC), and wherein the optical carrier signal has a wavelength within the wavelength range for visible light, the infrared spectrum, or the ultraviolet spectrum.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user data to be transmitted via the optical direct channel is stored in interim storage in a buffer store of the data source until a stable optical direct channel is formed as part of the hybrid transmission path to the data sink.

4. A system for wireless data transmission, comprising:
a first communication device; and
a second communication device;
wherein the first communication device acts as a data source and the second communication device acts as a data sink;
wherein the first and second communication devices are configured to form a hybrid transmission path between the data source and the data sink when transmitting data, the hybrid transmission path comprising a radio channel in accordance with the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard and an optical direct channel;
wherein the data source comprises a radio transmitter, an optical transmitter, and an adjustment device for aligning the optical transmitter;
wherein the data sink comprises a radio receiver and an optical receiver;
wherein the data source is configured to split user data to be transmitted from the data source to the data sink into user data to be transmitted via the radio channel and user data to be transmitted via the optical direct channel, to transmit the user data to be transmitted via the radio channel by modulating a carrier signal for the radio channel, to transmit the user data to be transmitted via the optical direct channel by modulating an optical carrier signal, and to control the adjustment device for the data source to align the optical transmitter of the data source to the optical receiver of the data sink based on WLAN positioning; and
wherein the data sink is configured to merge the user data transmitted via the radio channel and the user data transmitted via the optical direct channel back together after demodulation of the respective carrier signals to provide merged transmitted user data.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the system further comprises a buffer store for interim storage of user data to be transmitted via the optical transmitter.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the buffer store is part of the data source.

7. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the buffer store is configured to act in connection with the data source.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein aligning the optical transmitter of the data source relative to the optical receiver of the data sink based on WLAN positioning includes determining a relative position of the data sink with respect to the data source.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein aligning the optical transmitter of the data source relative to the optical receiver of the data sink based on WLAN positioning further includes establishing an initial rough alignment based on the relative position of the data sink with respect to the data source.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein aligning the optical transmitter of the data source relative to the optical receiver of the data sink based on WLAN positioning is followed by a fine adjustment of the optical transmitter of the data source.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the optical receiver is moving, the method further comprising tracking the optical transmitter of the data source with respect to the moving optical receiver.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data source and the data sink are configured to form the hybrid transmission path while in relative motion with respect to one another.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the merged transmitted user data forms user-comprehensible output data.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a single WLAN radio connection is used for transmitting the user data to be transmitted via the radio channel and for aligning the optical transmitter of the data source relative to the optical receiver of the data sink.

15. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the data source is configured to control the adjustment device for the data source to align the optical transmitter of the data source to the optical receiver of the data sink based on WLAN positioning by determining a relative position of the data sink with respect to the data source.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the data source is further configured to control the adjustment device for the data source to align the optical transmitter of the data source to the optical receiver of the data sink based on WLAN positioning by establishing an initial rough alignment based on the relative position of the data sink with respect to the data source.

17. The system according to claim 16 , wherein the data source is further configured to control the adjustment device for the data source to align the optical transmitter of the data source to the optical receiver of the data sink by a fine adjustment of the optical transmitter of the data source.

18. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the data source and the data sink are configured to form the hybrid transmission path while in relative motion with respect to one another.

19. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the merged transmitted user data forms user-comprehensible output data.

20. The system according to claim 4 , wherein a single WLAN radio connection is used for transmitting the user data to be transmitted via the radio channel and for aligning the optical transmitter of the data source relative to the optical receiver of the data sink.

Assignees

• Deutsche Telekom Ag

Inventors

• Lange Christoph
• Kosiankowski Dirk

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04B10/1121 Primary

  One-way transmission · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title