Ultrasonic bridge for wireless communication
View Patent ↗There is provided an ultrasonic bridge for ultrasonic-based wireless communication. For example, there is provided an ultrasonic bridge that includes a microphone configured to transduce an ultrasound into an analog voltage. The ultrasonic bridge further includes hardware configured to convert the analog voltage to digital information. The ultrasonic further includes a transceiver configured to send the digital information wirelessly to a remote device via one of an RF link and a light-based link.
1. An ultrasonic bridge comprising:
a processor;
a digital-to-analog converter configured to receive a digital command from the processor and output a first ultrasonic tone to an external device;
a microphone configured to transduce a second ultrasonic tone from the external device into an analog voltage;
hardware configured to convert the analog voltage to a digital word unique to a level of the analog voltage; and
a transceiver configured to send the digital word wirelessly to a remote device via one of an RF link and a light-based link for controlling the remote device via the external device.
2. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 1 , wherein the RF link is one of Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Wi-fi.
3. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 1 , wherein the light-based link is an infrared (IR) link.
4. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 1 , wherein the external device is a smart phone device.
5. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 1 , wherein the remote device is a lighting system.
6. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 1 , wherein the remote device is one of a smart TV and a speaker system.
7. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive device information from the remote device wirelessly.
8. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 7 , wherein the device information is received via one of the RF link and the light-based link.
9. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 8 , wherein the ultrasonic bridge is further configured to output the device information as an acoustic signal.
10. An ultrasonic bridge comprising:
hardware configured to output an ultrasonic tone including an instruction for a first remote device;
hardware configured to convert an analog voltage corresponding to the ultrasonic tone into a digital word unique to a level of the analog voltage; and
hardware configured to receive device information wirelessly from a second remote device via one of an RF link and a light-based link;
wherein the ultrasonic tone corresponds to the device information for controlling the second remote device via the first remote device.
11. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , further comprising an digital-to-analog converter configured to output a drive voltage for a speaker to produce the ultrasonic tone.
12. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , further comprising a transceiver configured to receive the device information via the RF link.
13. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , further comprising a light-based transceiver link.
14. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , further comprising a processor and a memory.
15. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , wherein the first remote device is a smart phone.
16. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , wherein the first remote device is a tablet personal computer.
17. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , wherein the first remote device is a first lighting system and the second remote device is a lighting system.
18. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , wherein the second remote device is a lighting system and the first remote device is a smart phone.
19. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 10 , wherein the ultrasonic bridge is configured to provide connectivity between a smart phone and a plurality of devices.
20. The ultrasonic bridge of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of devices are connected to an RF network or accessible via an infrared transceiver link.