Information transmission system, information sending device, information receiving device, information transmission method, information sending method, information receiving method and program product

Abstract

An information transmission system includes: an information sending device including a light emitting section that emits light in a plurality of colors, a modulating section that modulates information to be transmitted into signals composed of changes in color, and a light emission control section that controls the light emitting section to emit light while changing color temporally based on the signals generated by the modulating section; and a receiving device including a camera that captures an image having color, and a control and communication section that detects a temporal color change of the light emitting section emitting light by light emission control by the information transmitting device, from images consecutively captured by the camera, decodes the detected color change into information, and outputs the generated information to a display section.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An information transmission system comprising:
 an information sending device including a light emitting section which emits light in a plurality of colors, a modulating section which modulates information to be transmitted into signals composed of changes in color, and a light emission control section which controls the light emitting section to emit light while changing color temporally based on the signals generated by the modulating section; and   an information receiving device including an imaging section which captures an image having color, a converting section which converts color change of images consecutively captured by the imaging section to information on color space including at least saturation and brightness as parameters, a generating section which generates an image expressed by the parameters of saturation and brightness on color space generated by the converting section from the images consecutively captured by the imaging section, a detecting section which detects the temporal color change by identifying an image of the light emitting section whose light emission control has been performed by the information sending device, based on the image generated by the generating section, a decoding section which decodes the color change detected by the detecting section into information, and an information output section which outputs the information generated by the decoding section.   
     
     
         2 . The information transmission system according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the information on color space generated by the converting section includes a hue parameter; and   the decoding section decodes the color change into the information by judging the color change detected by the detecting section as change in hue parameter in the color space, and converting the color change to corresponding signal sequence.   
     
     
         3 . The information transmission system according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the information sending device and the information receiving device each further include a table in which signals included in information to be transmitted and received are associated with information on color changes in a plurality of stages;   the modulating section modulates the information to be transmitted into the signals composed of changes in color by referencing the table; and   the decoding section decodes the color change detected by the detecting section into the information by referencing the table.   
     
     
         4 . The information transmission system according to  claim 3 , wherein the table defines types of acceptable color changes based on a redundancy level. 
     
     
         5 . The information transmission system according to  claim 1 , wherein the information sending device includes a display device which displays a predetermined image by emitting light in a plurality of colors in pixel units. 
     
     
         6 . The information transmission system according to  claim 5 , wherein the light emission control section controls light emission while changing color temporally using a pixel area of the display device as the light emitting section. 
     
     
         7 . The information transmission system according to claim.  6 , wherein the pixel area of the display device whose light emission control has been performed by the light emission control section has a frame display area set around a periphery thereof which is used to differentiate from an image displayed outside of the pixel area. 
     
     
         8 . An information receiving device comprising:
 an imaging section which captures an image having color;   a converting section which converts color change of images consecutively captured by the imaging section to information on color space including at least saturation and brightness as parameters;   a generating section which generates an image expressed by the parameters of saturation and brightness on color space generated by the converting section from the images consecutively captured by the imaging section;   a detecting section which detects a pixel area whose color changes temporally by identifying the pixel area whose color changes, based on the image generated by the generating section;   a decoding section which decodes the color change detected by the detecting section into information; and   an information output section which outputs the information generated by the decoding section.   
     
     
         9 . The information receiving device according to  claim 8 , wherein:
 the information on color space generated by the converting section includes a hue parameter; and   the decoding section decodes the color change into the information by judging the color change detected by the detecting section as change in hue parameter in the color space, and converting the color change to corresponding signal sequence.   
     
     
         10 . The information receiving device according to  claim 8 , further comprising:
 a table in which signals included in information to be decoded are associated with information on color changes in a plurality of stages;   wherein the decoding section decodes the color change detected by the detecting section into the information by referencing the table.   
     
     
         11 . An information transmission method comprising:
 modulating information to be transmitted into signals composed of changes in color;   performing light emission control by controlling a light emitting section which emits light in a plurality of colors so that the light emitting section emits light while changing color temporally based on the signals generated in the modulating;   converting color change of images consecutively captured by an imaging section which captures an image having color to information on color space including at least saturation and brightness as parameters;   generating an image expressed by the parameters of saturation and brightness on color space generated by the converting from the images consecutively captured by the imaging section;   detecting a temporal color change of the light emitting section emitting light by performing the light emission control, based on the image generated by the generating;   decoding the color change detected in the detecting into information; and   outputting the information generated in the decoding.   
     
     
         12 . An information receiving method comprising:
 converting color change of images consecutively captured by an imaging section which captures an image having color to information on color space including at least saturation and brightness as parameters;   generating an image expressed by the parameters of saturation and brightness on color space generated in the converting from the images consecutively captured by the imaging section;   detecting a pixel area whose color changes temporally by identifying the pixel area whose color changes, based on the image generated in the generating;   decoding color change detected in the detecting into information; and   outputting the information generated in the decoding.   
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a program stored thereon that is executable by a computer in an image display device having an imaging section which captures an image having color, the program being executable by the computer to control the computer to perform functions comprising:
 conversion processing for converting color change of images consecutively captured by the imaging section to information on color space including at least saturation and brightness as parameters;   generation processing for generating an image expressed by the parameters of saturation and brightness on color space generated by the conversion processing from the images consecutively captured by the imaging section;   detection processing for detecting a pixel area whose color changes temporally by identifying the pixel area whose color changes, based on the image generated by the generation processing;   decode processing for decoding color change detected by the detection processing into information; and   information output processing for outputting the information generated by the decode processing.   
     
     
         14 . An information sending device comprising:
 a table in which signals included in information to be transmitted are associated with information on color changes in a plurality of stages based on redundancy;   a modulating section which modulates the information to be transmitted into signals composed of changes in color by referencing the table; and   a light emission control section which controls a light emitting section which emits light in a plurality of colors to emit light while changing color temporally based on the signals generated by the modulating section.   
     
     
         15 . The information sending device according to  claim 14 , wherein a configuration of the color changes is determined based on color separation characteristics or color shade adjustment characteristics of a light receiving device for receiving the color changes during light reception. 
     
     
         16 . The information sending device according to  claim 15 , wherein the light receiving device includes an image sensor. 
     
     
         17 . The information sending device according to  claim 14 , wherein the light emitting section is a pixel area of an image display section which emits light in a plurality of colors in pixel units. 
     
     
         18 . The information sending device according to  claim 17 , wherein the pixel area has a frame display area set around a periphery thereof which is used to differentiate from an image displayed outside of the pixel area. 
     
     
         19 . An information sending method comprising:
 modulating information to be transmitted into signals composed of changes in color by referencing a table in which signals included in the information to be transmitted are associated with information on color changes in a plurality of stages based on redundancy; and   controlling a light emitting section which emits light in a plurality of colors to emit light while changing color temporally based on the signals generated in the modulating.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a program stored thereon that is executable by a computer to control the computer to perform functions comprising:
 modulation processing for modulating information to be transmitted into signals composed of changes in color by referencing a table in which signals included in the information to be transmitted are associated with information on color changes in a plurality of stages based on redundancy; and   light emission control processing for controlling a light emitting section which emits light in a plurality of colors to emit light while changing color temporally based on the signals generated by the modulation processing.