Identifying the potential innovation of visible light communications (VLC) using patent analysis

Recently, the interest in Visible Light Communication (VLC) is increasing due to the continued development of light emitting diodes (LED) which bring characteristics of long lifetimes, green technology, low power, color mixing, fast switching etc. Also, the need of internet connectivity is much higher with current lifestyle changes which have implications for limited bandwidth and also spectrum availability. Topics related to VLC address these problems by using the visible light spectrum as an alternative solution. In this paper, we present potential areas of visible light communication in the future using patent analysis. This method was chosen as a bridge for researchers, engineers, and industrial players to reduce the subjectivity for making topic or project decisions and creating advanced understanding between technology development and industrial development. We conducted an analysis of 329 patents in the USPTO database for the period 1976-2017 using "visible light communication"as a query. The findings show that VLC patents are still dominated by transmission technologies and wireless network communication. But there was a wider development about VLC that was targeting materials, such as semiconductor nitride and energy efficiency.