Camera module, communication device and wireless optical communication method

Abstract

This invention provides a camera module, a communication device, and a wireless optical communication method. The camera module includes a reconfigurable superlens and an image sensor, wherein the reconfigurable superlens and the image sensor are arranged sequentially along the optical axis from the object plane to the image plane. The reconfigurable superlens has two operating modes: an imaging mode and a communication mode. When the reconfigurable superlens is in communication mode, it converges the incident wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor. This invention solves the problems of low communication efficiency and poor reliability of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios, thereby improving the communication efficiency and reliability of cameras in such scenarios.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of wireless optical communication, specifically to a camera module, a communication device, and a wireless optical communication method. Background Technology

[0002] Existing optical wireless communications (OWC) include infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light communication (VLC). Infrared and visible light communication are safer and more mature than ultraviolet communication, therefore, mobile terminals primarily use infrared and visible light, with ultraviolet being less common. The infrared wavelength range is 780nm-1000nm, the ultraviolet wavelength range is 10nm-380nm, and the visible light range is 380nm–780nm. As a wireless communication technology carrying information, OWC has advantages such as abundant spectrum resources, no electromagnetic interference, and high security. Taking VLC as an example, it uses a light-emitting diode (LED) to emit a data stream that is invisible to the human eye, and then a photodiode (PD) receives the data through photoelectric conversion. This point-to-point communication has a small field of view and is easily affected by ambient light interference, limiting it to indoor applications. In recent years, wireless optical communication systems based on smartphone cameras have received widespread attention. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless optical communication systems based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors have also been experimentally verified, proving the feasibility of image sensors replacing traditional photodiodes as VLC receivers. This technology is known as Optical Camera Communication (OCC) or Light Fidelity (Li-Fi).

[0003] In existing technologies, a hybrid refracting-hybrid lens scheme combining one or more traditional refractive lenses with a superlens has been proposed. This achieves high-resolution imaging across a wide visible light band while compressing the overall optical length, thus enabling miniaturization and lightweight design. However, the design goals of these hybrid refracting-hybrid lenses are all focused on optimizing image quality and do not address the specific optical requirements of wireless optical communication scenarios.

[0004] In summary, the application of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios suffers from low communication efficiency and poor reliability. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides a camera module, a communication device, and a wireless optical communication method to at least solve the problems of low communication efficiency and poor reliability of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios in related technologies.

[0006] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a camera module is provided, comprising: a reconfigurable superlens and an image sensor, wherein the reconfigurable superlens and the image sensor are arranged sequentially from the object plane to the image plane along the optical axis; the operating modes of the reconfigurable superlens include an imaging mode and a communication mode; when the operating mode of the reconfigurable superlens is the communication mode, the reconfigurable superlens converges the incident wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor.

[0007] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a communication device is provided, the communication device including a first surface and a second surface disposed opposite to each other, at least one of the first surface and the second surface being provided with a camera, the camera including the camera module described above, the camera being a super lens camera or a fold-super hybrid lens camera.

[0008] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a wireless optical communication method is also provided, executed by the aforementioned communication device. The method includes: a reconfigurable superlens of a camera module of the communication device receiving a wireless optical communication signal and converging the wireless optical communication signal to a target area of ​​an image sensor of the communication device; the image sensor sending an image frame sequence containing the wireless optical communication signal to a communication demodulation module of the communication device; and the communication demodulation module extracting the wireless optical communication signal based on the image frame sequence.

[0009] According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is also provided, comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

[0010] The present invention provides a camera module comprising a reconfigurable superlens and an image sensor, wherein the reconfigurable superlens and the image sensor are arranged sequentially along the optical axis from the object plane to the image plane. The reconfigurable superlens operates in two modes: an imaging mode and a communication mode. In the communication mode, the reconfigurable superlens converges the incident wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor. This solves the problems of low communication efficiency and poor reliability of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios in related technologies, thereby improving the communication efficiency and reliability of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios. Attached Figure Description

[0011] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of the camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0012] Figure 2 This is a structural block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of a wireless optical communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the inner and outer ring structure of the camera according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a camera including a reconfigurable Luneburg superlens according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0016] The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

[0017] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and drawings of this invention are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence.

[0018] This embodiment provides a camera module. Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the camera module structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown below. Figure 1 As shown, it includes: a reconfigurable superlens and an image sensor, wherein the reconfigurable superlens and the image sensor are arranged sequentially from the object plane to the image plane along the optical axis; the reconfigurable superlens has two operating modes: an imaging mode and a communication mode; when the reconfigurable superlens is in the communication mode, the reconfigurable superlens converges the incident wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor.

[0019] In one exemplary embodiment, such as Figure 1 As shown, the camera module also includes a refractive lens, a reconfigurable superlens, a refractive lens, and an image sensor arranged sequentially along the optical axis from the object plane to the image plane.

[0020] In one embodiment, the refractive lens is used to provide basic optical power and correct major aberrations.

[0021] In one embodiment, a reconfigurable superlens has a surface with a subwavelength-scale array of nanostructures. The phase distribution of the nanostructure array is designed to focus incident wireless optical communication signals onto the target photosensitive area of ​​the image sensor with enhanced focusing efficiency within a first operating wavelength band, such as 450nm–650nm, or the emission wavelength of a specific communication LED, while suppressing background stray light incident in non-communication wavelength bands or non-communication directions. The reconfigurable superlens is the core of the entire system, responsible for both high-speed beam control and mode switching in the downlink and uplink retroreflection.

[0022] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens works in conjunction with a conventional refractive lens to form a refractive-superlens hybrid optical system.

[0023] In one embodiment, the total optical length of the fold-hybrid optics system does not exceed 5.0 mm to accommodate the space constraints of the communication device.

[0024] In one embodiment, the total optical length of the above-described fold-super-hybrid optical system is preferably no more than 3.5 mm.

[0025] In one embodiment, the communication device may be a mobile terminal.

[0026] In this embodiment of the invention, by using a hybrid refracting-superlens scheme, complex wavefront modulation functions that are difficult to achieve with traditional pure refractive lenses are realized while maintaining a volume comparable to that of traditional mobile phone cameras, i.e., a total track length (TTL) of less than or equal to 5.0 mm. This solves the contradiction between volume and performance in VLC of mobile terminals.

[0027] In one embodiment, the wavefront modulation function described above includes, but is not limited to, wavelength selectivity, polarization separation, and large field of view.

[0028] In one exemplary embodiment, the nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is configured to: have a phase distribution configured to converge a wireless optical communication signal of a first wavelength through a first focusing efficiency and an incident light signal of a second wavelength through a second focusing efficiency, wherein the first focusing efficiency is greater than the second focusing efficiency; have a phase distribution configured to receive wireless optical communication signals within a first field of view range through a first receiving efficiency, wherein the first field of view range includes a horizontal field of view greater than a first threshold or a vertical field of view greater than a second threshold; have a phase distribution configured to converge wireless optical communication signals within a second field of view range through a third focusing efficiency, wherein the difference between the second field of view range and the field of view in the normal incident direction is less than the third threshold; and have the nanostructure array divided into multiple functional regions, each functional region corresponding to a wireless optical communication signal of a different polarization state, or each functional region corresponding to a wireless optical communication signal of a different wavelength.

[0029] In this embodiment of the invention, focusing efficiency is the proportion of wireless optical communication signal energy incident on the surface of the superlens that is effectively guided to the photosensitive area of ​​the image sensor.

[0030] In one embodiment, the array of nanostructures of the reconfigurable superlens is configured for communication wavelength selective focusing. The phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens is designed to provide highly efficient convergence only for one or more specific wavelengths used by the wireless optical communication transmitter, wherein the high focusing efficiency is the aforementioned first focusing efficiency.

[0031] In one embodiment, one or more specific wavelengths may be 450nm, 520nm, or 630nm, corresponding to the emission peak of a standard red-green-blue light-emitting diode (RGB LED) or a specific communication LED.

[0032] In this embodiment of the invention, using a first focusing efficiency for a specific wavelength can improve optical receiving efficiency and the focusing efficiency of wireless optical communication signals on the image sensor. Especially in long-distance communication scenarios, it can reduce signal attenuation and bit error rate.

[0033] In one embodiment, the phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens is designed to provide lower focusing efficiency for other wavelengths, thereby achieving signal-noise separation in the wavelength domain within the optical module. The lower focusing efficiency is the second focusing efficiency described above.

[0034] In this embodiment of the invention, by providing a second focusing efficiency for other wavelengths, background light interference with wireless optical communication can be effectively reduced.

[0035] In one embodiment, the nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is configured to extend the communication field of view. The phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens is designed to maintain efficient reception of communication optical signals over a large field of view, i.e., the aforementioned first field of view, reducing the requirements for precise alignment between the transceiver and wireless optical communication and improving the user experience.

[0036] In one embodiment, the first field of view range can be a horizontal field of view ≥ 60° and a vertical field of view ≥ 40°. Here, 60° is the first threshold mentioned above, and 40° is the second threshold mentioned above.

[0037] It should be noted that the above-mentioned horizontal field of view ≥60° and vertical field of view ≥40° are only examples. In actual implementation, the values ​​of the first and second thresholds can be determined according to the actual situation, and no specific restrictions are imposed here.

[0038] In one embodiment, the nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is configured for spatial filtering of background light. The phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens is designed to provide maximum focusing efficiency, i.e., the third focusing efficiency, for incident light near the normal incident direction, i.e., within the aforementioned second field of view range.

[0039] In one embodiment, the area near the positive incident direction, i.e., the range of the second field of view, can be within a field of view of ±5°.

[0040] It should be noted that the ±5° field of view range mentioned above is only an example. In actual implementation, the value of the second field of view range near the positive incident direction can be determined according to the actual situation, and no specific restrictions are imposed here.

[0041] In one embodiment, the phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens is designed to provide low focusing efficiency for background light incident at large angles, thereby achieving spatial filtering in the optical domain and improving the received signal-to-noise ratio.

[0042] In one embodiment, the nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is configured for optical domain polarization / wavelength multiplexing separation. The nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is divided into multiple functional regions, i.e., spatial multiplexing.

[0043] In one embodiment, each region is independently controlled for incident communication light with different polarization states, converging optical signals from different channels to different sub-regions of the image sensor, thereby achieving signal separation of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) or polarization division multiplexing (PDM) in the optical module, effectively improving the communication rate.

[0044] In one embodiment, different polarization states include left-handed circular polarization (LCP) and right-handed circular polarization (RCP).

[0045] In one embodiment, each region is independently controlled for incident communication light of different wavelengths, converging optical signals from different channels to different sub-regions of the image sensor, thereby achieving signal separation in the optical module using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) or polarization multiplexing (PDM) and effectively improving the communication rate.

[0046] In one embodiment, different wavelengths may include red, green, and blue (RGB) wavelengths.

[0047] In this embodiment of the invention, the phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens is specifically optimized for the needs of wireless optical communication, thereby improving the reception efficiency, signal-to-noise ratio and field of view coverage of the communication optical signal at the hardware level, providing a hardware foundation for high-speed, high-reliability OWC, especially VLC or Li-Fi.

[0048] In one exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens switches between imaging mode and communication mode via an external control signal.

[0049] In one embodiment, the external control signal may be an external voltage.

[0050] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens includes an electrically controllable phase-change material or liquid crystal material, and the effective phase distribution of the superlens is changed by applying an external voltage, thereby switching between a high-resolution imaging mode and an enhanced communication reception mode.

[0051] In one embodiment, the phase change material may be a germanium-antimony-tellurium alloy Ge2Sb2Te5, vanadium dioxide VO2, etc.

[0052] In one exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens simultaneously executes imaging mode and communication mode using spatial multiplexing or polarization multiplexing, wherein the nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is spatially divided into imaging functional region and communication functional region; or, the reconfigurable superlens is configured with imaging-optimized phase distribution and communication-optimized phase distribution for different polarization channels respectively.

[0053] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens employs spatial multiplexing, embedding imaging-optimized phase distribution and communication-optimized phase distribution in different regions of the same substrate, respectively, and the image sensor extracts imaging data and communication data respectively through subsequent algorithms.

[0054] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens employs polarization multiplexing, embedding imaging-optimized phase distribution and communication-optimized phase distribution on different polarization channels of the same substrate, respectively. The image sensor then extracts imaging data and communication data through subsequent algorithms.

[0055] In one exemplary embodiment, the type of reconfigurable superlens includes at least one of the following: liquid crystal superlens; phase change material superlens; graphene superlens.

[0056] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens can be a liquid crystal superlens, which can change the alignment of liquid crystal molecules by applying a voltage, thereby changing its equivalent refractive index and ultimately controlling the phase, amplitude and polarization of the transmitted light.

[0057] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens can also be a phase change material, such as germanium-antimony-tellurium alloy Ge2Sb2Te5, graphene, etc., whose optical properties can be changed by applying a voltage.

[0058] This invention provides a camera module comprising a reconfigurable superlens and an image sensor, wherein the reconfigurable superlens and the image sensor are sequentially arranged along the optical axis from the object plane to the image plane. The reconfigurable superlens operates in two modes: an imaging mode and a communication mode. In the communication mode, the reconfigurable superlens converges the incident wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor. This solves the problems of low communication efficiency and poor reliability of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios in related technologies, thereby improving the communication efficiency and reliability of cameras in wireless optical communication scenarios.

[0059] This invention also provides a communication device, including a first surface and a second surface disposed opposite to each other, at least one of the first surface and the second surface being provided with a camera, wherein the camera is a superlens camera or a fold-superlens hybrid lens camera.

[0060] In one exemplary embodiment, the lens type in the camera module of the superlens camera is only a reconfigurable superlens, while the lens type in the camera module of the fold-superlens hybrid lens camera includes both reconfigurable superlens and refractive lenses.

[0061] In an exemplary embodiment, the camera has an inner and outer ring structure. The inner ring of the camera is a reconfigurable superlens of the camera module, and the outer ring of the camera is a spatial light modulator (SLM). The SLM is used to modulate the wireless optical communication signal received by the reconfigurable superlens and reflect the modulated wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

[0062] In one exemplary embodiment, the camera has an inner and outer ring structure. The inner ring of the camera is a reconfigurable superlens of the camera module, and the outer ring of the camera is a focal plane mirror. The focal plane mirror is used to reflect the wireless optical communication signal received by the reconfigurable superlens to the transmitting source.

[0063] In an exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module is a reconfigurable Luneburg superlens, which is used to correct the reflected optical path of the image sensor of the camera module and reflect the received wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

[0064] In one exemplary embodiment, the equivalent refractive index and phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module are adjusted by an external control signal.

[0065] In one exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module is used to receive wireless optical communication signals and decompose the composite wavefront of multiple wireless optical communication signals into multiple orthogonal spatial modes according to the holographic principle.

[0066] In an exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module is used to reflect or transmit wireless optical communication signals, and the frequency offset of the wireless optical communication signals is adjusted by an external control signal to split a single wireless optical communication signal into multiple beams with different frequencies and spatial distributions.

[0067] In an exemplary embodiment, when cameras are arranged on both the first and second surfaces, the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module located on the first surface is used to form a first communication link, and the reconfigurable superlens located on the second surface is used to form a second communication link. The first and second communication links switch to perform wireless optical communication, or the first and second communication links jointly perform wireless optical communication.

[0068] Figure 2 This is a structural block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 2 As shown, it includes the aforementioned camera module, as well as an image signal processor, a communication demodulation module, and a baseband processor.

[0069] In an exemplary embodiment, the camera module, as a wireless optical communication signal receiving front end, can reconfigure the superlens to efficiently converge and focus the incident wireless optical communication signal onto the target photosensitive area of ​​the image sensor according to the current operating mode, such as imaging mode or communication mode, while suppressing background noise.

[0070] In one exemplary embodiment, the image sensor of the camera module receives a wireless optical communication signal from a reconfigurable superlens, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs a raw image frame sequence (RawData) containing information on communication light intensity fluctuations.

[0071] In one exemplary embodiment, the image sensor may be a CMOS sensor.

[0072] In one exemplary embodiment, the image signal processor (ISP) preprocesses the raw image frame sequence output by the image sensor, including denoising, automatic gain control (AGC), and exposure compensation, to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the communication signal and output the preprocessed image data stream.

[0073] In this embodiment of the invention, the camera module can adopt an interface compatible with existing CMOS image sensors and ISP chips, which facilitates the technological upgrade and widespread application in existing smartphones and tablets.

[0074] In an exemplary embodiment, the communication demodulation module extracts specific pixel regions containing communication information from the image data stream output by the ISP, and decodes the light intensity change sequence into a digital bit stream through time-domain signal analysis, frequency-domain transformation, or deep learning algorithms, thereby achieving demodulation of optical signal to electrical signal data.

[0075] In this embodiment of the invention, a specific pixel region may be a region of interest (ROI).

[0076] In an exemplary embodiment, the baseband processor receives the digital bit stream output by the communication demodulation module, performs channel decoding, error correction, and protocol layer processing, and finally recovers the complete application layer data to complete the information reception of wireless optical communication.

[0077] Based on the aforementioned camera module and communication device, this embodiment of the invention also provides a wireless optical communication method, executed by the aforementioned communication device. Figure 3 This is a flowchart of a wireless optical communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 3 As shown, it includes the following steps:

[0078] In step S302, the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module of the communication device receives the wireless optical communication signal and converges the wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor of the communication device.

[0079] In one exemplary embodiment, before the reconfigurable superlens receives wireless optical communication signals, the method further includes: adjusting the equivalent refractive index and phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens through an external control signal to make the first focusing efficiency greater than a preset efficiency threshold.

[0080] In one exemplary embodiment, a reconfigurable superlens receives wireless optical communication signals, including: the reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signals and decomposes the composite wavefront of multiple wireless optical communication signals into multiple orthogonal spatial modes according to the holographic principle, so as to encode the multiple wireless optical communication signals in the same light beam.

[0081] In one exemplary embodiment, a reconfigurable superlens receives wireless optical communication signals, including: the reconfigurable superlens receiving wireless optical communication signals and adjusting the frequency offset of the wireless optical communication signals through an external control signal to split a single wireless optical communication signal into multiple beams with different frequencies and different spatial distributions.

[0082] In one exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens receiving wireless optical communication signals includes: the reconfigurable superlens receiving wireless optical communication signals according to a preset period.

[0083] In this embodiment of the invention, the preset period is the time period obtained by adjusting the reconfigurable superlens between imaging mode and communication mode through an external control signal.

[0084] In one exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens is controlled by an external control signal to switch between imaging mode and communication mode.

[0085] In an exemplary embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens receiving wireless optical communication signals includes: the reconfigurable superlens receiving wireless optical communication signals through a first part of a nanostructure array, focusing the wireless optical communication signals onto a target area of ​​an image sensor for communication signal demodulation, and focusing image signals onto an image sensor through a second part of a nanostructure array for image signal imaging processing.

[0086] In step S304, the image sensor sends the image frame sequence containing the wireless optical communication signal to the communication demodulation module of the communication device.

[0087] In an exemplary embodiment, the image sensor sends an image frame sequence to the communication demodulation module, which then passes it through an image signal processor. The image signal processor preprocesses the image frame sequence, including denoising, automatic gain control (AGC), and exposure compensation, to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the communication signal, and outputs the preprocessed image data stream to the communication demodulation module.

[0088] Step S306: The communication demodulation module extracts the wireless optical communication signal based on the image frame sequence.

[0089] In an exemplary embodiment, the communication demodulation module extracts the wireless optical communication signal based on the image frame sequence. Essentially, the communication demodulation module extracts specific pixel regions containing communication information from the image data stream, decodes the light intensity change sequence into a digital bit stream through time-domain signal analysis, frequency-domain transformation, or deep learning algorithms, and sends the digital bit stream to the baseband processor to receive the digital bit stream output by the communication demodulation module. The processor then performs channel decoding, error correction, and protocol layer processing to ultimately recover the complete application layer data, thus completing the extraction and reception of the wireless optical communication signal.

[0090] In one exemplary embodiment, the device further includes: a focal plane mirror of a reconfigurable superlens that focuses wireless optical communication signals onto the camera of the communication device, and the focal plane mirror that reflects the wireless optical communication signals back to the transmitting source via the reconfigurable superlens.

[0091] In one exemplary embodiment, the device further includes: a spatial light modulator (SLM) of a hybrid camera of the communication device modulates the wireless optical communication signal received from the transmitting source and directly returns the modulated wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

[0092] In one exemplary embodiment, a reconfigurable superlens located on a first surface of the communication device forms a first communication link, and a reconfigurable superlens located on a second surface of the communication device forms a second communication link. The method further includes: performing wireless optical communication through the first communication link or the second communication link when the first communication link or the second communication link meets a communication performance threshold; or, performing wireless optical communication jointly through the first communication link and the second communication link when neither the first communication link nor the second communication link meets a communication performance threshold.

[0093] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: constructing an imaging and communication objective function of the communication device based on the combined bit error rate and communication rate of the first and second communication links, and based on the total aberration and imaging sharpness of the camera module of the communication device; and obtaining the structural parameters of the camera module that satisfy the communication performance threshold and the imaging performance threshold by optimally solving the imaging and communication objective function.

[0094] The communication device described above based on the embodiments of the present invention performs wireless optical communication, which is divided into uplink communication and downlink communication.

[0095] In this embodiment of the invention, the downlink communication of wireless optical communication includes the following steps:

[0096] S401, A modulated wireless optical communication signal is emitted from the transmitting source.

[0097] In one embodiment, the transmitting source may include, but is not limited to, a transmitting LED light source or a free space optical communication (FSO) laser light source.

[0098] In one embodiment, the LED light source at the transmitting end is a common light source for short-range wireless optical communication. The LED light represents digital information by frequently "on" and "off". The fold-hybrid lens of the camera module in this embodiment of the invention has a large field of view (FOV), and the focal length and wavefront phase can be dynamically adjusted by external electric field, light field, etc., to achieve electronic beam scanning, tracking and alignment, and can receive long-distance FSO laser light sources and communicate.

[0099] S402, the fold-super hybrid lens camera module receives wireless optical communication signals, wherein the reconfigurable super lens converges the wireless optical communication signals with enhanced efficiency or creates multiple independent spatial channels to the predetermined photosensitive area of ​​the image sensor, namely the aforementioned target area.

[0100] In one embodiment, the fold-super-hybrid lens camera module receives wireless optical communication signals and changes the alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules or the phase of the surface of chalcogenide phase change materials or graphene media by electronically controlling the reconfigurable super-lens, thereby changing its equivalent refractive index and ultimately controlling the phase, amplitude, and polarization of the transmitted light through wavefront processing to achieve enhanced convergence of wireless optical communication signals.

[0101] In one embodiment, the fold-hybrid lens camera module receives wireless optical communication signals and creates multiple independent spatial channels to transmit data in parallel by manipulating the wavefront.

[0102] In one embodiment, it is achieved through both beam diversity and mode multiplexing.

[0103] In one specific embodiment, mode multiplexing utilizes the principle of holography to generate a specific holographic pattern on the metasurface of the spherical light wave from the LED at the receiving port, thereby decomposing the composite wavefront of multiple signals into multiple orthogonal spatial modes and encoding multiple independent signals in the same beam of light.

[0104] In one specific embodiment, beam diversity is achieved by applying a high-frequency control signal to the metasurface to cause a frequency shift in the reflected or transmitted light, thereby splitting a single white LED signal into multiple beams of different frequencies and following different paths after reflection.

[0105] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens receiving wireless optical communication signals has a prerequisite: the communication and imaging multiplexing modes of the reconfigurable superlens must be switched to a communication mode by adjusting the multiplexing mode. There are two types of multiplexing mode switching: time-division multiplexing and space-division multiplexing.

[0106] In one specific embodiment, time division multiplexing: within extremely short time frames, the superlens polls for imaging and communication. This is the most straightforward approach, similar to time division duplexing.

[0107] In one specific embodiment, the aforementioned extremely short time frame can be a preset time period, which is obtained by adjusting the reconfigurable superlens between imaging mode and communication mode through an external control signal.

[0108] In one specific embodiment, spatial multiplexing: a portion of the elements of the superlens array are permanently or semi-permanently allocated to communication functions, and another portion is allocated to imaging, with both working in parallel in space without interfering with each other.

[0109] In practice, this can be achieved through left-handed circular polarization and right-handed circular polarization, i.e., left-handed circular polarization is used for imaging and right-handed circular polarization is used for communication, or vice versa.

[0110] In one embodiment, taking a liquid crystal superlens as an example, the characteristic of liquid crystals being sensitive to the polarization state of light can be utilized to allow the lens to perform different tasks instantaneously by switching the incident light.

[0111] In this embodiment of the invention, switching the incident light includes, but is not limited to, switching left-handed / right-handed circularly polarized light.

[0112] In practical implementation, the switching between the GST crystal and amorphous states can be achieved through electronic or thermal control. That is, the crystal is used for imaging, and the amorphous state is used for communication, or vice versa. GST, or germanium-antimony-tellurium alloy Ge2Sb2Te5, can be non-volatile and remains stable for a relatively long time.

[0113] In practical implementation, the phase of graphene can be modulated through electronic control, optical control, and thermal control. This modulation can be performed with fine precision between 0 and 2π. Electronic control and optical control can be very fast, thermal control can be non-volatile, and there are more modes, faster speeds, and more flexible switching between imaging and communication states.

[0114] S403, The image sensor acquires a sequence of image frames containing wireless optical communication signals.

[0115] In one embodiment, the image sensor may be a CMOS image sensor, which captures images at a fixed frame rate (fps), with each frame recording the state of the light source at a specific moment. This process treats the wireless optical communication signal as a continuous image stream and extracts the light intensity fluctuations of the corresponding pixels of the light source in each frame.

[0116] S404, the communication demodulation module processes the image frame sequence to extract and demodulate the wireless optical communication signal.

[0117] In one embodiment, the communication demodulation module extracts and recovers the original wireless optical communication data from the image frame sequence acquired by the front-end image sensor through a series of signal processing procedures. The entire process is mainly divided into three steps: preprocessing, signal extraction, and signal demodulation.

[0118] In one embodiment, the preprocessing process can employ deep learning-based algorithms to unify tasks such as signal enhancement and object detection into a single end-to-end network model. For example, semantic segmentation networks such as U-Net can be used to directly segment and identify bright and dark stripes in OCC images in one step.

[0119] In one embodiment, the signal extraction process involves the demodulation module selecting the pixel region corresponding to the light source in each frame of the image and extracting its grayscale value, thereby mapping the continuous brightness changes over time into a one-dimensional grayscale value time series.

[0120] In one embodiment, the signal demodulation method can be regarded as a classification or regression problem, and the bit information can be directly decoded from the original gray value sequence by training a neural network or using models such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) or Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM).

[0121] In one embodiment, the training neural network described above includes, but is not limited to, convolutional neural networks (CNN) and deep neural networks (DNN).

[0122] In this embodiment of the invention, the uplink communication of the wireless optical communication adopts reverse reflection.

[0123] Retroreflection refers to the physical phenomenon where light returns along its original path after incident. In traditional OWC uplinks, the terminal needs to actively emit lasers and precisely align them with the LED emitter or quasi-base station, which is not only power-intensive but also extremely difficult to maintain in mobile scenarios. Retroreflection, on the other hand, transfers this most energy-intensive mechanical or electronic scanning task of alignment to the reflector itself. This is equivalent to the mobile terminal's fold-hybrid lens camera becoming a passive retroreflective tag for the LED communication source, giving the terminal a natural advantage of zero beam tracking power consumption.

[0124] The classic retroreflector is a cat's-eye structure. The basic construction of a cat's-eye retroreflector involves placing a mirror at the focal plane of a lens. Incident light is converged by the lens onto the mirror at the focal point, then collimated by the same lens and returns along the same path. Traditional cat's-eye structures, due to the use of curved refractive lenses, are always limited by spherical aberration in terms of reflection efficiency, and are also bulky and difficult to integrate into a planar form. The introduction of reconfigurable superlenses has completely changed this situation. A reconfigurable superlens is a planar optical element composed of an array of subwavelength nanostructures. It can achieve arbitrary control of the wavefront in an extremely thin planar form and possesses polarization-independent characteristics. Large-area retroreflection can be achieved through array expansion.

[0125] The reconfigurable superlens of this invention pre-defines independent retroreflection phases for different circularly polarized light (left-handed / right-handed). When multiple composite signals are incident, they can be automatically sorted and returned along their original paths. In one embodiment, for example, the optical spin Hall effect is used to achieve self-separation without additional alignment, easily supporting 12 independent channels in the microwave band, with a single-channel efficiency of over 91%.

[0126] In this embodiment of the invention, the uplink communication of wireless optical communication includes the following steps:

[0127] S501, Passive Reception and Self-Aligned Backreflection.

[0128] In this embodiment of the invention, a cat's-eye retroreflector is constructed using a reconfigurable superlens and a reflecting lens. When a downlink beam from the base station illuminates the terminal, the reconfigurable superlens automatically focuses it onto the reflective layer. Based on the principle of optical path reversibility, the beam returns along its original path with extremely high efficiency. The entire process requires no mechanical or electronic scanning, achieving zero beam tracking power consumption.

[0129] In one embodiment, the aforementioned reflecting lens may be a focal plane mirror.

[0130] S502, Reconfigurable modulator loads data.

[0131] In this embodiment of the invention, a non-volatile reconfigurable material is integrated into the reflection path. A very short electrical or thermal pulse instantaneously alters the material's phase transition from an insulating to a metallic state, thereby enabling on / off keying or phase modulation of the retroreflected beam. Once the state switch occurs, no energy is required to maintain it; energy is only needed when changing data, resulting in typical standby power consumption approaching zero.

[0132] In one embodiment, the aforementioned non-volatile reconfigurable material may include, but is not limited to, GST phase change films, graphene thermal control medium surfaces, etc.

[0133] S503, modulates the optical signal and transmits it back to the LED optical communication source or base station.

[0134] In this embodiment of the invention, the reflected light beam carrying uplink data information is collimated again by the same superlens and precisely emitted in the reverse direction along the original incident path. The receiver at the base station captures and demodulates the returned light beam, completing the uplink transmission from the terminal to the LED optical communication source or base station.

[0135] S504, multi-channel parallel transmission.

[0136] In this embodiment of the invention, multi-dimensional technologies such as polarization multiplexing and angle multiplexing can be introduced through superlens design. In one specific embodiment, by utilizing different circular polarization states or setting up multiple microlens arrays, multiple independent retroreflection channels that do not interfere with each other can be established simultaneously under the same physical aperture, thereby multiplying the uplink bandwidth and realizing zero-power MIMO uplink communication.

[0137] In this embodiment of the invention, the communication device described above may be a mobile terminal.

[0138] In practical implementation, mobile terminals are prone to line-of-sight (LOS) interruption due to users constantly changing their angle and orientation. This necessitates switching to a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) path for reception, which can easily lead to signal attenuation and multipath interference. To address this, an optimized superlens phase gradient design can be employed to achieve efficient ±60° wide-angle retroreflection, adapting to various terminal posture scenarios such as handheld tilting, rotation, and near / far movement. Furthermore, a flat Luneburg lens (i.e., the aforementioned reconfigurable Luneburg lens combined with a dynamic reflective surface) can be used to physically achieve a wider angle (e.g., ±30°) retroreflection within a certain range.

[0139] In this embodiment of the invention, both the first and second surfaces of the mobile terminal are equipped with a fold-super hybrid lens camera, which facilitates wireless optical communication when the mobile terminal is placed facing forward or backward, as well as from multiple angles.

[0140] In actual implementation, the first surface can be the front of the mobile terminal, and the second surface can be the back of the mobile terminal.

[0141] In this embodiment of the invention, a fold-hybrid lens camera is configured on both the first and second surfaces of the mobile terminal, involving MIMO switching and collaborative operation of the optical camera communication (OCC) between the two cameras. In one embodiment, iterative optimization can be performed together with indicators such as the imaging sharpness of the optical system to obtain an optimal solution that balances imaging and communication performance.

[0142] In one embodiment, under the forward and reverse cooperative MIMO mode, for the mobile terminal's forward and reverse dual reconfigurable superlens OCC-MIMO system, a 2×N MIMO channel model is adopted, wherein the two transmitters correspond to the forward and reverse reconfigurable superlenses. N Each receiver corresponds to a receiver array, and the channel matrix is... The definition is as follows:

[0143] (1)

[0144] In the formula, Indicates the front reconfigurable superlens emitter to the first i Channel coefficients of each receiver, Indicates the reconfigurable superlens emitter on the back side to the first i Channel coefficients of each receiver.

[0145] Channel coefficient Taking into account path loss, superlens focusing efficiency, and optical aberrations, the specific expression is as follows:

[0146] (2)

[0147] In the formula, : Optical power (W) at the reconfigurable superlens emitter;

[0148] The optical transmission efficiency of the refracting-hybrid lens system is determined by the phase distribution of the superlens nanostructure and the parameters of the refractive lens.

[0149] : Optical gain of the transmitter and receiver;

[0150] : No. j The first transmitter (front / back) to the first i Path loss at each receiver;

[0151] Channel phase offset, which is generated by the optical path difference and the phase modulation of the superlens.

[0152] In this embodiment of the invention, the total channel capacity of the OCC-MIMO system is... (bit / s / Hz) can be obtained from the channel matrix The calculation yielded:

[0153] (3)

[0154] In the formula, for N The identity matrix of order 1;

[0155] Channel matrix H The conjugate transpose of;

[0156] M The number of MIMO sub-channels, where, in the case of dual superlenses (positive and negative), M =2;

[0157] SNR i For the first i Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of each sub-channel (unitless).

[0158] Equation (3) represents the communication throughput of MIMO mode, that is, the communication quality. When the independent communication capacity of a single end is insufficient, the cooperative MIMO mode is triggered to improve the communication rate.

[0159] In this embodiment of the invention, based on a scenario where both the front and back sides are equipped with folding-hybrid lens cameras, the following parameters are defined:

[0160] : Front-facing superlens OCC link bit error rate;

[0161] : Back-side superlens OCC link bit error rate;

[0162] : Front superlens OCC communication rate (bit / s);

[0163] : Back-side superlens OCC communication rate (bit / s);

[0164] Path loss (dB) of optical communication links on the front and back sides;

[0165] The system presets a bit error rate threshold (usually set to 10). -6 (This can be adjusted according to actual needs).

[0166] The system presets a minimum communication rate threshold (bit / s).

[0167] In this embodiment of the invention, the reconfigurable superlens located on the front of the communication device forms a first communication link, and the reconfigurable superlens located on the back of the communication device forms a second communication link.

[0168] In one embodiment, when a single link meets a communication performance threshold while another link does not, the system switches to the single link that meets the threshold for dedicated communication.

[0169] (1) To switch to dedicated communication via the front superlens, the following must be met:

[0170] (4)

[0171] (2) To switch to dedicated communication via the rear superlens, the following must be met:

[0172] (5)

[0173] In one embodiment, when no single link meets the communication performance threshold, but the combined MIMO capacity of the forward and reverse links meets the standard, the system switches to the forward and reverse dual superlens OCC-MIMO cooperative communication mode, which must satisfy:

[0174] (6)

[0175] in, The bit error rate after combining forward and reverse MIMO signals. This represents the total communication rate after MIMO combining.

[0176] In this embodiment of the invention, to achieve more accurate mode scheduling, a link comprehensive quality factor is constructed. These correspond to the front and back links, respectively. Taking into account bit error rate, communication rate, and path loss, the expression is as follows:

[0177] (7)

[0178] In the formula, include and , include and , include and . For normalized weight coefficients, satisfying It can be dynamically adjusted according to actual communication and scenario requirements. In one embodiment, for example, when prioritizing communication speed, the speed can be increased. When prioritizing communication reliability, increase .

[0179] In this embodiment of the invention, an imaging and communication objective function of the communication device is constructed based on the combined bit error rate and communication rate of the first and second communication links, as well as the total aberration and imaging sharpness of the camera module of the communication device. By optimally solving the imaging and communication objective function, the structural parameters of the camera module that satisfy the communication performance threshold and the imaging performance threshold are obtained.

[0180] In one embodiment, the imaging and communication objective functionJ The optimization strategy employs a minimization approach, ignoring path loss, and is expressed as follows:

[0181] (8)

[0182] in, The normalized weights for each performance metric satisfy... ;

[0183] The bit error rate of the combining circuit in the OCC-MIMO system;

[0184] This represents the total communication rate of the OCC-MIMO system (bit / s).

[0185] For the total aberration of the hybrid optical system, For the first k Weighted values ​​for various aberrations, such as spherical aberration, coma, and chromatic aberration. n This represents the number of aberration types.

[0186] is the average modulation transfer function of the optical system, which characterizes the image sharpness. Its value ranges from [0,1], and the larger the value, the better the image quality.

[0187] In this embodiment of the invention, the optimization process of the imaging and communication objective function J can be solved using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, and the specific process is as follows:

[0188] (1) Initialization parameters: Set initial parameters such as the phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens nanostructure, the radius of curvature of the refractive lens, and the lens spacing, and determine the weighting coefficients. Set optimization parameters such as the number of iterations and the convergence threshold;

[0189] (2) Optical performance simulation: Based on the initial parameters, the total aberration of the refracting-hybrid optical system is simulated and calculated. With average modulation transfer function ;

[0190] (3) Communication performance simulation: based on OCC-MIMO channel matrix Simulation calculation system bit error rate With total communication rate ;

[0191] (4) Calculation of objective function: Substitute the above simulation results into equation (8) to calculate the comprehensive objective function value. J ;

[0192] (5) Parameter iteration update: According to the PSO algorithm rules, update the phase profile of the reconstructible superlens and the structural parameters of the refractive lens, and repeat steps (1)-(4);

[0193] (6) Convergence criterion: If the objective function value J If the convergence threshold is met or the preset number of iterations is reached, stop the iteration and output the optimal parameter combination; otherwise, return to step (5) to continue the iteration.

[0194] In this embodiment of the invention, the core of the PSO algorithm consists only of simple vector operations, such as addition, multiplication, and random number generation, without involving matrix inversion or gradient calculation, making it suitable for running on mobile devices. However, it is still important to note that the threshold is fixed during offline pre-training, and only simple thresholds are deployed online for online inference to ensure real-time decision-making.

[0195] The fold-hybrid system in this invention combines a metasurface with traditional refractive optical elements. The subwavelength structure of the metasurface compensates for the residual aberrations of the refractive elements or endows them with new light field manipulation functions. The fold-hybrid system combines the high transmission efficiency and mature fabrication of refractive elements with the high design freedom and multifunctional integration capabilities of metasurfaces, achieving a better balance between efficiency, performance, and system complexity. Furthermore, the fold-hybrid system can effectively reduce the height of mobile terminal cameras, enabling its widespread application in mobile phones, tablets, and other scenarios such as small wide-angle cameras.

[0196] In this embodiment of the invention, the camera has an inner and outer ring structure. The inner ring of the camera is a reconfigurable superlens of the camera module, and the outer ring of the camera is a spatial light modulator (SLM). The SLM is used to modulate the wireless optical communication signal received by the reconfigurable superlens and reflect the modulated wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

[0197] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the inner and outer ring structure of the camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown below. Figure 4 As shown, visible light from the inner ring is transmitted to the CMOS sensor. In one embodiment, since the superlens can moderately increase the focusing range through phase modulation, the lateral length of the refractive lens can be slightly larger than that of the superlens; furthermore, the quantity is at least one superlens and one refracting lens, but in practice, there can be two or more of each, but the thickness should be controlled so that it does not protrude into the back cover plane. Figure 4As shown, the outer ring is made into an SLM. In this case, the inner ring is mainly used for imaging CMOS sensor, but some pixels are designated to sense the azimuth and elevation angles of the LED wireless optical communication source. The outer ring is a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM). After the mobile terminal system calculates and locates the LED wireless optical communication source through the pixels sensed by the CMOS sensor, the mobile terminal system returns the communication content to be transmitted to the LED wireless optical communication source through the original path light reflection of the SLM or Luneburg lens, realizing zero-power reverse reflection wireless optical communication.

[0198] In one embodiment, the LED actively "inquires," with communication still initiated by the LED light source, emitting a probe beam. The SLM passively "responds," with the LED light being received by the outer ring of miniature SLMs. The SLM can perform extremely precise processing on the incident light, dynamically changing its phase or intensity in real time. This process is called information loading (modulation). The light, after being modulated by the SLM, returns to the LED light source along its original path. The LED light source receives this reflected light carrying the "response" and obtains the information through demodulation. In this process, the SLM acts like a flashlight, reflecting information to the transmitter without relying on a reconfigurable superlens. However, the reconfigurable superlens still plays an auxiliary role. Although the SLM is powerful, it is usually a planar device with limited viewing angle and wavefront control capabilities. The introduction of the inner ring superlens is precisely to address the shortcomings of the SLM and achieve a 1+1>2 effect.

[0199] In one embodiment, when the incident angle of the LED light changes, the superlens can effectively focus the light onto the SLM, thereby expanding the effective working range of the system.

[0200] In one embodiment, the reconfigurable superlens can pre-correct the light wavefront, compensating for aberrations caused by the planarization of the SLM, resulting in a more focused returning beam and higher energy efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio. This combination essentially achieves more precise manipulation of optical signals through the separation and coordination of functional modules.

[0201] In this embodiment of the invention, the pixels reserved in the CMOS for locating the LED light source are generally distributed into multiple single pixels to form a spatial light MIMO / or single-input multiple-output (SIMO) architecture, which facilitates the location of the LED and enables spatial multiplexing and spatial modulation, and can realize downlink communication between multiple / single LEDs and the CMOS.

[0202] In this embodiment of the invention, multi-pixel localization avoids the traditional method of first identifying high-brightness regions of interest (ROIs) through imaging, and then achieving localization at the receiving end by receiving a clear flashing signal ID for the ROI, which is time-consuming and slow. Direct non-imaging multi-pixel time-division or code-division multiple access (CDMA) localization is much faster. In one embodiment, in the case of time-division LEDs, the incident angles of LEDs at three different locations are directly measured by multi-pixel localization. For example, if only one LED is lit in a time slot, forming a light spot, the two-dimensional coordinates of the light spot are calculated using the centroid method, and the three-dimensional coordinates are located using the angle of arrival (AOA). In one embodiment, in the case of code-division multiple access LEDs, all LEDs are lit, and each LED uses spread spectrum orthogonal modulation. The CMOS multi-pixel localization continuously acquires several frames at a frame rate of at least twice the chip speed. For the time series data of each pixel, a sliding correlation is performed using the known orthogonal code of each LED. After the correlation operation, the distribution map of the light intensity of each LED on all pixels is obtained. The two-dimensional coordinates of the light spot, i.e., the incident angle, are calculated by the centroid algorithm for each individual LED. After obtaining the incident angles of all LEDs, the three-dimensional coordinates of each LED are calculated using AOA.

[0203] In this embodiment of the invention, the communication process involves spatial multiplexing or spatial modulation. Spatial multiplexing uses traditional MIMO channel matrix modeling to obtain the received vector. When the received channel matrix is ​​known, channel estimation can be performed. Spatial modulation differs from spatial multiplexing in its modulation method, but the basic idea of ​​channel estimation is the same, and will not be described in detail here. After channel estimation, the source information can be obtained by iterating the variance and mean of the measured values.

[0204] The above communication process only occupies a small number of CMOS pixels and does not affect the overall imaging effect, that is, positioning and imaging can be carried out simultaneously; however, in order to ensure that there are no missing pixels in the original CMOS imaging, communication and imaging can also be processed in a time-division manner.

[0205] In another embodiment of the present invention, the camera has an inner and outer ring structure. The inner ring of the camera is a reconfigurable superlens of the camera module, and the outer ring of the camera is a focal plane mirror. The focal plane mirror is used to reflect the wireless optical communication signal received by the reconfigurable superlens to the transmitting source.

[0206] In one embodiment, the outer ring is a focal plane mirror used for retroreflection and information transmission. The outer ring is the core execution unit of communication, which actively changes the state of the reflected light to load uplink information, thereby realizing information transmission.

[0207] In one embodiment, the state of the reflected light includes, but is not limited to, intensity and phase.

[0208] In one embodiment, the aforementioned uplink information may be data to be sent by the camera.

[0209] In one embodiment, the inner ring is a reconfigurable superlens for intelligent control and communication assistance. The inner ring acts as a high-speed, dynamic, intelligent "optical switch." From the inner ring's perspective, the light reflected from the outer ring is equivalent to an information carrier to be modulated. The rapid switching function of the reconfigurable superlens endows the reflected light from the outer ring with the ability to carry changing information. Combining the structures of the inner and outer rings enables information loading.

[0210] In one embodiment, the outer ring mirror is located on the focal plane of the incident light. When the incident parallel light passes through the inner ring superlens, it will be focused onto a certain point on the outer ring mirror, thus achieving beam convergence.

[0211] In one embodiment, the optical state of the inner ring superlens changes rapidly according to a preset coding rule (such as 0 and 1) under an applied control signal. This is like a high-speed shutter, controlling the intensity, phase, or polarization of the light ultimately projected onto the outer ring mirror at an extremely high frequency, thus achieving dynamic modulation.

[0212] In one embodiment, the modulated light beam is reflected by the outer ring mirrors, passes through the inner ring lens again, and finally returns to the active end via this "cat's eye" structure. The active end only needs to monitor the intensity changes of the returned light signal to demodulate the information that the camera wants to send, and the camera itself does not need to emit light, realizing low-power passive communication and completing the reverse transmission.

[0213] In another embodiment of the present invention, the camera does not have inner and outer rings, and the reconfigurable superlens is a reconfigurable Luneburg superlens. The reconfigurable Luneburg superlens is used to correct the reflected light path of the image sensor of the camera module and reflect the received wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source. Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a camera including a reconfigurable Luneburg superlens according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown below. Figure 5 As shown, due to the presence of the intermediate refractive lens, the CMOS sensor acting as the reflective layer is not a pure reflector. Its return and incident light paths will experience certain distortions. These distortions can be corrected at the software level at the reconfigurable Luneburg superlens using inherent optical device parameters, ensuring that the LED's input and output light paths remain consistent. Non-imaging positioning methods can still be used for LED positioning, and simultaneous or time-division processing can still be employed for imaging. The biggest difference between this and the implementation lies in the uplink communication carrier. Due to the aforementioned optical path distortion, uplink communication can load the uplink communication data stream while simultaneously correcting the distortion. Although some of the originally uncorrected reflected light will be reflected back to the LED communication light source, it will be treated as noise because it lacks useful communication information.

[0214] The wireless optical communication method and communication device for implementing the wireless optical communication method provided in the embodiments of the present invention, and the camera module included in the communication device, provide a highly integrated hardware solution for scenarios such as mobile payment, indoor positioning, augmented reality (AR), and high-speed data exchange between devices.

[0215] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods according to the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Of course, they can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes several instructions to cause a terminal device (which may be a mobile phone, computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of the present invention.

[0216] This invention also provides a network device, which includes a receiver, a transmitter, and a processor. The network device is used to perform the steps of the above-described wireless optical communication method embodiments through at least one of the receiver, transmitter, and processor.

[0217] Embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program is configured to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments when executed.

[0218] In one exemplary embodiment, the aforementioned computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, various media capable of storing computer programs, such as USB flash drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), portable hard drives, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0219] Embodiments of the present invention also provide an electronic device including a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program and the processor being configured to run the computer program to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

[0220] In one exemplary embodiment, the electronic device may further include a transmission device and an input / output device, wherein the transmission device is connected to the processor and the input / output device is connected to the processor.

[0221] This invention also provides a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

[0222] In one exemplary embodiment, the computer program product described above includes a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of this application.

[0223] Specific examples in this embodiment can be found in the examples described in the above embodiments and exemplary implementations, and will not be repeated here.

[0224] It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above can be implemented using general-purpose computing devices. They can be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices. They can be implemented using computer-executable program code, and thus can be stored in a storage device for execution by a computing device. In some cases, the steps shown or described can be performed in a different order than those described herein, or they can be fabricated as separate integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps can be fabricated as a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any particular combination of hardware and software.

[0225] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention. Various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, or improvements made within the principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A camera module, characterized in that, include: A reconfigurable superlens and an image sensor, wherein the reconfigurable superlens and the image sensor are arranged sequentially from the object plane to the image plane along the optical axis; The reconfigurable superlens has two operating modes: an imaging mode and a communication mode. When the reconfigurable superlens operates in the communication mode, the reconfigurable superlens converges the incident wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor.

2. The camera module of claim 1, wherein, The nanostructure array of the reconfigurable superlens is configured as at least one of the following: The phase distribution of the nanostructure array is configured to converge the wireless optical communication signal of the first wavelength through a first focusing efficiency and the incident light signal of the second wavelength through a second focusing efficiency, wherein the first focusing efficiency is greater than the second focusing efficiency. The phase distribution of the nanostructure array is configured to receive the wireless optical communication signal within a first field of view range with a first receiving efficiency, wherein the first field of view range includes a horizontal field of view greater than a first threshold or a vertical field of view greater than a second threshold. The phase distribution of the nanostructure array is configured to converge the wireless optical communication signal within a second field of view using a third focusing efficiency, wherein the difference between the second field of view and the field of view in the normal incident direction is less than a third threshold. The nanostructure array is divided into multiple functional regions, each corresponding to a wireless optical communication signal with a different polarization state or a wireless optical communication signal with a different wavelength.

3. The camera module of claim 1, wherein, The reconfigurable superlens switches between the imaging mode and the communication mode via an external control signal.

4. The camera module of claim 1, wherein, The reconfigurable superlens simultaneously executes the imaging mode and the communication mode using spatial multiplexing or polarization multiplexing. The reconfigurable superlens nanostructure array is spatially divided into an imaging functional region and a communication functional region. Alternatively, the reconfigurable superlens may be configured with imaging-optimized phase distribution and communication-optimized phase distribution for different polarization channels.

5. The camera module according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The refractive lens, the reconfigurable superlens, the refractive lens, and the image sensor are arranged sequentially along the optical axis from the object plane to the image plane.

6. The camera module according to claim 1, characterized in that, The type of the reconfigurable superlens includes at least one of the following: Liquid crystal superlens; Phase change material superlenses; Graphene superlens.

7. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a first surface and a second surface disposed opposite to each other, at least one of the first surface and the second surface is provided with a camera, the camera includes a camera module as described in any one of claims 1-6, and the camera is a super lens camera or a fold-super hybrid lens camera.

8. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The camera has an inner and outer ring structure. The inner ring of the camera is a reconfigurable superlens of the camera module, and the outer ring of the camera is a spatial light modulator (SLM). The SLM is used to modulate the wireless optical communication signal received by the reconfigurable superlens and reflect the modulated wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

9. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The camera has an inner and outer ring structure. The inner ring of the camera is a reconfigurable superlens of the camera module, and the outer ring of the camera is a focal plane mirror. The focal plane mirror is used to reflect the wireless optical communication signal received by the reconfigurable superlens to the transmitting source.

10. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens of the camera module is a reconfigurable Luneburg superlens. The reconfigurable Luneburg superlens is used to correct the reflected optical path of the image sensor of the camera module and reflect the received wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

11. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The equivalent refractive index and phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module are adjusted by external control signals.

12. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens of the camera module is used to receive wireless optical communication signals and decompose the composite wavefront of multiple wireless optical communication signals into multiple orthogonal spatial modes according to the holographic principle.

13. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens of the camera module is used to reflect or transmit wireless optical communication signals, and the frequency offset of the wireless optical communication signals is adjusted by external control signals to split a single wireless optical communication signal into multiple beams with different frequencies and spatial distributions.

14. The communication device according to claim 7, characterized in that, When the cameras are arranged on both the first surface and the second surface, the reconfigurable superlens of the camera module located on the first surface is used to form a first communication link, and the reconfigurable superlens located on the second surface is used to form a second communication link. The first communication link and the second communication link switch to perform wireless optical communication, or the first communication link and the second communication link jointly perform wireless optical communication.

15. A wireless optical communication method, characterized in that, Performed by the communication device according to any one of claims 7-14, the method comprises: The reconfigurable superlens of the camera module of the communication device receives wireless optical communication signals and converges the wireless optical communication signals to the target area of ​​the image sensor of the communication device. The image sensor transmits a sequence of image frames containing the wireless optical communication signal to the communication demodulation module of the communication device; The communication demodulation module extracts the wireless optical communication signal based on the image frame sequence.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, Before the reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal, the method further includes: The equivalent refractive index and phase distribution of the reconfigurable superlens are adjusted by an external control signal to make the first focusing efficiency greater than a preset efficiency threshold.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal, including: The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signals and, based on the holographic principle, decomposes the composite wavefront of multiple wireless optical communication signals into multiple orthogonal spatial modes, so as to encode the multiple wireless optical communication signals in the same beam.

18. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal, including: The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal and adjusts the frequency offset of the wireless optical communication signal through an external control signal, splitting the single wireless optical communication signal into multiple beams with different frequencies and spatial distributions.

19. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal, including: The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal according to a preset period.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens can be switched between imaging mode and communication mode by an external control signal.

21. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal, including: The reconfigurable superlens receives the wireless optical communication signal through a first part of the nanostructure array, focuses the wireless optical communication signal to the target area of ​​the image sensor for communication signal demodulation, and focuses the image signal to the image sensor through a second part of the nanostructure array for image signal imaging processing.

22. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: The reconfigurable superlens focuses the wireless optical communication signal onto the focal plane mirror of the camera of the communication device, and the focal plane mirror reflects the wireless optical communication signal back to the transmitting source via the reconfigurable superlens.

23. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: The spatial light modulator (SLM) of the camera in the communication device modulates the wireless optical communication signal received from the transmitting source and directly returns the modulated wireless optical communication signal to the transmitting source.

24. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The reconfigurable superlens located on a first surface of the communication device forms a first communication link, and the reconfigurable superlens located on a second surface of the communication device forms a second communication link. The method further includes: If either the first or second communication link meets the communication performance threshold, wireless optical communication is performed via either the first or second communication link; or If neither the first communication link nor the second communication link meets the communication performance threshold, wireless optical communication is performed jointly through the first communication link and the second communication link.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the combined bit error rate and communication rate of the first and second communication links, and the total aberration and imaging sharpness of the camera module of the communication device, an imaging and communication objective function of the communication device is constructed. By optimally solving the imaging and communication objective function, the structural parameters of the camera module that satisfy the communication performance threshold and imaging performance threshold are obtained.

26. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the steps of the method described in any one of claims 15-25.

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