Apparatus, system and method for wireless data transmission by using display backlight

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9774398-B2
Application number	US-201514856769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2015
Priority date	Sep 17, 2014
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an apparatus, a system and a method for wireless data transmission by using a display backlight. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data by using a display backlight according to the present disclosure may include: a data storage unit for storing data to be transmitted; a main control unit for reading the data stored in the data storage unit; a signal modulation unit for modulating the data with a predetermined signal modulation method under the control of the main control unit to generate and output a sequence of switching pulse signals; a light source driving circuit for generating backlight driving switching pulse signals according to the sequence of switching pulse signals; and a display backlight member for outputting a sequence of light and shade signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for transmitting wireless data using a display backlight, comprising:
a data storage unit configured to store data to be transmitted;
a main control unit configured to read the data stored in the data storage unit;
a signal modulation unit configured to modulate the data with a predetermined signal modulation method under the control of the main control unit to generate and output a sequence of switching pulse signals;
a light source driving circuit configured to generate a backlight driving switching pulse signal according to the sequence of switching pulse signals; and
a display backlight member configured to output a sequence of light and dark signals, driven by the backlight driving switching pulse signal,
wherein the apparatus is in combination with an optical probe configured to read the sequence of light and dark signals output by the display backlight member and optically-electrically convert the sequence of light and dark signals, and to generate a sequence of switching pulse signals, the optical probe including:
a receiving-end microprocessor configured to demodulate the sequence of switching pulse signals with a predetermined signal demodulation method to generate recovered data and to further process recovered data.

2. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 1 ,
wherein the predetermined signal modulation method is a signal modulation method of Different Pulses in Fixed Period Modulation, wherein a pulse period is fixed, one digital bit state is transmitted in each period, a first number of rectangle wave pulses with a first width is transmitted in one period in order to represent a first digital bit state, and a second number of rectangle wave pulses with a second width is transmitted in another period in order to represent a second digital bit state.

3. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 2 , wherein a sum of widths of pulse high levels in the first number of rectangle wave pulses is equal to a sum of widths of pulse high levels in the second number of rectangle wave pulses.

4. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined signal modulation method is a signal modulation method of Variable Pulse Period Modulation, wherein the pulse period is variable, a pulse with a first pulse width representing a first digital bit state or another pulse with a second pulse width representing a second digital bit state is transmitted in one period, the first pulse width is different from the second pulse width.

5. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 4 , wherein a ratio of a pulse low level time to a pulse high level time when a digital bit is transmitted is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

6. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 1 , wherein the main control unit, the data storage unit, the signal modulation unit, the light source driving unit and the display backlight member are implemented in a measurement instrument.

7. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is implemented within an electricity meter, and wherein the data comprises power consumption data measured by the electricity meter and an identifier of the electricity meter.

8. The apparatus for transmitting wireless data of claim 7 wherein the recovered data is power consumption numerical readings of the electricity meter and the identifier of the electricity meter; and
the optical probe further includes a battery configured to supply operating power to components of the optical recording pen.

9. An apparatus for receiving wireless data by using a display backlight, comprising:
an optical probe configured to receive a sequence of light and dark signals transmitted with the display backlight and optically-electrically convert the sequence of light and dark signals to generate a sequence of switching pulse signals;
a main control unit;
a digital decoding unit configured to demodulate the sequence of switching pulse signals with a predetermined signal demodulation method under the control of the main control unit to generate recovered data; and
a digital processing and displaying unit configured to process the recovered data under the control of the main control unit.

10. The apparatus for receiving wireless data of claim 9 ,
wherein the predetermined signal demodulation method performs demodulation according to modulation rules as follows: a pulse period is fixed, one digital bit state is transmitted in each period, a first number of rectangle wave pulses with a first width is transmitted in one period in order to represent a first digital bit state, and a second number of rectangle wave pulses with a second width is transmitted in another period in order to represent a second digital bit state.

11. The apparatus for receiving wireless data of claim 10 ,
wherein a sum of widths of pulse high levels in the first number of rectangle wave pulses is equal to a sum of widths of pulse high levels in the second number of rectangle wave pulses.

12. The apparatus for receiving wireless data of claim 9 ,
wherein the predetermined signal demodulation method performs demodulation according to modulation rules as follows: the pulse period is variable, a pulse with a first pulse width representing a first digital bit state or another pulse with a second pulse width representing a second digital bit state is transmitted in one period, the first pulse width is different from the second pulse width.

13. The apparatus for receiving wireless data of claim 12 ,
wherein a ratio of a pulse low level time to a pulse high level time when a digital bit is transmitted is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

14. The apparatus for receiving wireless data of claim 9 ,
wherein the data is data related to numerical readings of a measurement instrument, and the optical probe receives the sequence of light and dark signals periodically or as required.

15. The apparatus for receiving wireless data of claim 9 ,
wherein the process on the recovered data includes displaying data, storing data and transmitting data to a higher level network.

16. An optical recording pen for recording power consumption numerical readings of an electricity meter, comprising:
an optical probe, disposed at a head position of the optical recording pen, configured to read a sequence of light and dark signals transmitted with a display backlight in the electricity meter and optically-electrically convert the sequence of light and dark signals so as to generate a sequence of switching pulse signals;
a main control unit (MCU) configured to demodulate and further process the sequence of switching pulse signals to obtain power consumption numerical readings of the electricity meter and an identifier of the electricity meter; and
a recording pen display, located at a tail of the optical recording pen, configured to display the obtained power consumption numerical readings of the electricity meter.

Assignees

• Schneider Electric Ind Sas

Inventors

• Fei Weihe
• Li Chanjuan
• Dreina Emmanuel

Classifications

• H04B10/524 Primary

  Pulse modulation · CPC title

• H04B10/116 Primary

  Visible light communication · CPC title

• H04B10/1141

  One-way transmission · CPC title

• H04W88/02

  Terminal devices · CPC title

• G06F3/01

  Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer (G06F3/16 takes precedence) · CPC title