Integrated networking equipment and diversity antenna in light bulb

• US 10,020,833 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Nourbakhsh, Farhad
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, James
• Application Number:
  US13/829,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20140273892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,944 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/232 specially adapted for generating an essentially omnidirectional light distribution, e.g. with a glass bulb
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/045 the sensor receiving a signal from a remote controller
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/74 with fins or blades
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 3/061 the material being glass
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 3/062 the material being plastics
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2107/00 Light sources with three-dimensionally disposed light-generating elements
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3827 Portable transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A light bulb or other lamp device incorporating improved antenna configurations and integrated networking equipment is described herein. In one example, a LED light bulb is arranged to include a wireless transceiver and related wireless network processing circuitry, and is coupled to multiple antennas configured to receive and transmit signals using spatial diversity, beamforming, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), or other multi-antenna techniques. The heat sink in the light bulb may be purposed to provide one or more of the multiple antennas, such as use of respective heat sink structures to serve as a diversity antenna. The wireless network processing circuitry may be used for control of the light bulb or for operability with wireless and non-wireless networks. For example, the network processing circuitry may operate as a wireless network access point, repeater, relay, bridge, or like function.

Claims

1. A lamp device, comprising:

a base, the base including a connector to connect with a power source;

a bulb, the bulb extended from the base to define an interior chamber;

a solid-state lighting element included within the interior chamber defined by the bulb, the solid-state lighting element electrically connected to the connector of the base to receive electrical power from the power source;

a first heat sink coupled to the solid-state lighting element and disposed on a surface of the bulb,

a second heat sink coupled to a second solid-state lighting element and disposed on the surface of the bulb, wherein the first heat sink provides a first antenna and the second heat sink provides a second antenna, wherein the first and second antennas are isolated from each other and function independently in a multi-antenna configuration, and wherein the solid-state lighting element and the second solid-state lighting element are electrically connected to the connector of the base to receive electrical power from the power source; and

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver included within the interior chamber defined by the bulb, the RF transceiver being coupled to the first heat sink and the second heat sink, wherein the RF transceiver is arranged to use the first heat sink as the first antenna and the second heat sink as the second antenna in the multi-antenna configuration to provide transmission and reception of respective RF signals.

2. The lamp device of claim 1, wherein the solid-state lighting element includes one or more light emitting diodes.

3. The lamp device of claim 1, wherein the first heat sink includes RF conductive material to emit and receive RF energy from the respective RF signals.

4. The lamp device of claim 1, further comprising network equipment processing circuitry, wherein the RF transceiver is electrically connected to the network equipment processing circuitry, and wherein the network equipment processing circuitry and the RF transceiver is arranged on a circuit board disposed within the interior chamber defined by the lamp bulb.

5. The lamp device of claim 4, wherein the network equipment processing circuitry is configured for providing wireless communications of a wireless local area network according to a standard from an IEEE 802.11 standards family.

6. The lamp device of claim 5, wherein the network equipment processing circuitry is further configured to operate as an access point, repeater, or relay of the wireless local area network.

7. A light emitting diode (LED) light bulb, comprising:

a base assembly including a socket base configured for connection with an electrical socket;

a bulb structure coupled to the base assembly, the bulb structure defining a bulb shape for emission of light generated within the bulb structure;

two heat sinks extending from the base assembly, respectively including an exterior surface protruding from the bulb structure, and an interior surface opposite of the exterior surface facing inside the bulb structure, wherein the two heat sinks include a first heat sink providing a first antenna and a second heat sink providing a second antenna, wherein the first and second antennas are isolated from each other and function independently in a multi-antenna configuration;

two LED arrays respectively mounted on the interior surface of the two heat sinks; and

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver disposed within the bulb structure;

wherein the RF transceiver is electrically connected to the two heat sinks, and is arranged to use the two heat sinks as multiple antennas including using the first antenna and the second antenna in the multi-antenna configuration for transmission and receiving of RF energy.

8. The LED light bulb of claim 7, wherein the socket base is an Edison screw socket base or a multiple pin socket base, the socket base being configured for attachment to a light receptacle.

9. The LED light bulb of claim 8, further comprising:

power circuitry;

light control circuitry coupled to the power circuitry; and

network equipment processing circuitry coupled to the RF transceiver and the power circuitry.

10. The LED light bulb of claim 9, wherein the light control circuitry is controllable based on a light control command provided from the network equipment processing circuitry, wherein the light control command is configured to control light output from one or more of the LED arrays, including one or more of:

light intensity, light color, light on/off, wherein the light control command is determined from a signal received by the RF transceiver.

11. The LED light bulb of claim 9, wherein the network equipment processing circuitry is configured to operate as a network communication device, by performing functions of one or more of:

a wireless network access point, a wireless network relay, or a wireless network repeater.

12. The LED light bulb of claim 9, wherein the network equipment processing circuitry is configured to operate as a network communication device, by performing functions of a wireless network bridge between two networks, the two networks provided from two of:

a wireless wide area network, a wireless local area network, or a power line network.

13. A solid-state light bulb, comprising:

solid-state lighting elements;

an array of antennas provided by portions of the solid-state light bulb that are coupled to the solid-state lighting elements, wherein antennas in the array of antennas are isolated from each other and function independently in a multi-antenna configuration, and wherein each antenna in the array of antennas includes a separate heat sink;

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver including physical layer circuitry arranged to perform communications with a wireless network using the array of antennas in the multi-antenna configuration; and

wireless network processing circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of devices by reception and emission of the communications via multiple antennas of the array of antennas.

14. The solid-state light bulb of claim 13, wherein the solid-state lighting elements include a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) elements arranged to disperse light from the light bulb.

15. The solid-state light bulb of claim 13, wherein the plurality of heat sinks are coupled to the RF transceiver and coupled to the solid-state lighting elements to transfer heat from the solid-state lighting elements, wherein the plurality of heat sinks are provided from a metallic alloy capable of emitting and receiving RF energy in connection with the RF transceiver.

16. The solid-state light bulb of claim 13, the wireless network processing circuitry further arranged to process wireless network transmissions received from the array of antennas.

17. The solid-state light bulb of claim 16, the wireless network processing circuitry further arranged to generate wireless network transmissions for transmission with beamforming using the array of antennas.

18. The solid-state light bulb of claim 13, the wireless network processing circuitry further arranged to perform operations to bridge communications between a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and a wireless local area network (WLAN).

19. The solid-state light bulb of claim 13, the wireless network processing circuitry arranged to perform operations to bridge communications between a wireless network and a power line network.