Method And Apparatus For Managing Visible Light Communication Devices

Abstract

A visible light communication device management method and apparatus are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an apparatus and method for checking and managing a membership of a terminal, such as a communication state and a location of a terminal managed by the server.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for use in a lighting device capable of visible light communication, the method comprising:
 receiving a first formatted message from a server;   checking a header of the first formatted message to identify whether the first formatted message is a first management message; and   in response to the first formatted message being identified as the first management message, checking whether or not at least one terminal previously located within illumination coverage of the lighting device are still located within the illumination coverage,   wherein the checking whether or not comprises:
 generating a second formatted message as a second management message to be broadcast within the illumination coverage; 
 emitting visible light containing the second formatted message; 
 receiving a response message for the second management message from at least one terminal, the response message including a terminal identifier of an associated terminal; and 
 updating a management list based on the terminal identifier included in the response message, the management list containing terminal identifiers of terminals with which the lighting device can communicate. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating of the second formatted message comprises copying some fields in the header of the first formatted message into the header of the second formatted message. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the response message for the second management message is received using wireless communication different from the visible light communication. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the updating of the management list includes classifying the terminals into:
 a terminal included in the management list and having transmitted the response message for the second management message;   a terminal included in the management list but not having transmitted the response message for the second management message; and   a terminal not included in the management list but having transmitted the response message for the second management message.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 generates a response message for the first management message, wherein the response message for the first management message has a payload which contains an identifier of the terminal included in the management list but not having transmitted the response message for the second management message and an identifier of the terminal not included in the management list but having transmitted the response message to the second management message; and   transmitting the response message for the first management message to the server.   
     
     
         6 . A method for use in a lighting device capable of visible light communication, the method comprising:
 receiving a first management message from a server; and   in response to the first management message, checking whether or not at least one terminal previously located within illumination coverage of the lighting device are still located within the illumination coverage,   wherein the checking comprises:
 dividing a plurality of terminal identifiers stored in a database managed by the lighting device into several groups in accordance with predefined criteria given to a certain digit of terminal identifier; 
 generating a management list for each group, the management list containing terminal identifiers that meet respective predefined criterion; 
 generating a second management message that contains information on the respective predefined criterion; 
 emitting visible light containing the second management message to broadcast within an illumination coverage of the lighting device; 
 receiving a response message for the second management message from any terminal of which a terminal identifier meets the respective predefined criterion, the response message including an associated terminal identifier; and 
 updating the management list based on the response message for the second management message. 
   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein, the predefined criteria includes whether a value of the certain digit of terminal identifier is equal to a respective value assigned to each group. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein, the predefined criteria includes whether a value of the certain digit of terminal identifier is odd or even. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein, the predefined criterion includes whether a remainder obtained by dividing the certain digit of terminal identifier by the number of groups is equal to a respective value assigned to each group. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the updating of the management list includes classifying the terminals into:
 a terminal included in the management list and having transmitted the response message for the second management message;   a terminal included in the management list but not having transmitted the response message for the second management message; and   a terminal not included in the management list but having transmitted the response message for the second management message.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 generates a response message for the first management message, wherein the response message for the first management message has a payload which contains an identifier of the terminal included in the management list but not having transmitted the response message to the second management message and an identifier of the terminal not included in the management list but having transmitted the response message to the second management message; and   transmitting the response message to the first management message generated by the data manager to the server.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the response message for the second management message is received using wireless communication different from the visible light communication.