Patent ID: 8503886

Claim:
A visual light communication system, comprising: a gateway arranged to convert radio frequency communications received from a wireless network over an air interface for a communication device into visual light communication signals by downconverting the radio frequency communications to baseband signals, decoding the baseband signals, and modulating the baseband signals using visual light; an active light relay arranged to exchange visual light communication signals with the gateway; a passive light relay arranged to exchange visual light communication signals with the active light relay; and a communication device arranged to exchange visual light communication signals with one of the active light relay or the passive light relay, wherein the gateway is further configured to control a handover of the communication device between the visual light communication system and a wireless macro network, and wherein the gateway is further configured to analyze control data of each of a plurality of packets of the received radio frequency communications, and based on the analyzed control data, when a communication session exists between the gateway and the communication device, associate the received packets with the existing communication session, and when a communication session does not exist between the gateway and the communication device, create a new communication session between the gateway and the communication device.