Lighting system, lighting devices, and terminal

• US 10,129,963 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2017
• Issued: 11/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamauchi, Kentaro, Ueno, Saori, Yagi, Sana, Nishioka, Shinsuke, Nakauchi, Natsuka
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Tung X
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alaeddini, Borna
• Application Number:
  US15/453,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20170265284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/1965 using handheld communication devices

Abstract

A lighting system includes lighting devices and a terminal. The terminal includes a display screen, an input unit, a wireless transmitter which transmits a radio signal, a communication unit which wirelessly transmits a control command to one of a communication address and a logical address for at least one of the lighting devices, specifying the one of the communication address and the logical address, and a controller which displays, on the display screen, icons respectively corresponding the lighting devices, and when an instruction for selecting any one of the icons has been received by the input unit, causes the wireless transmitter to transmit a radio signal indicating predetermined information. When one of the lighting devices which corresponds to the selected icon has received the radio signal, the lighting device transmits the communication address assigned to the lighting device itself to be used for communication with the communication unit.

Claims

1. A lighting system, comprising:

a plurality of lighting devices; and

a terminal which controls the plurality of lighting devices,

wherein the terminal includes;

a display screen;

an input unit configured to receive an instruction from an operator;

a wireless transmitter which transmits a radio signal having a directivity;

a communication unit configured to wirelessly transmit a control command to at least one of the plurality of lighting devices, specifying one of the communication address and the logical address; and

a controller which displays, on the display screen, a plurality of icons respectively corresponding to the plurality of lighting devices, and when an instruction for selecting one of the plurality of icons has been received by the input unit, causes the wireless transmitter to transmit a radio signal indicating predetermined information, wherein;

when a lighting device among the plurality of lighting devices, which corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of icons has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address assigned to the lighting device to be used for communication with the communication unit,

when each of the plurality of lighting devices has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address to the terminal, and

upon receiving the communication address transmitted from the terminal, the controller performs mapping by storing the received communication address in association with an icon selected from among the plurality of icons.

2. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein when the lighting device has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device further performs an output operation which indicates the reception of the radio signal.

3. The lighting system according to claim 2,

wherein the output operation is an operation to emit light performed by the lighting device upon receiving the radio signal.

4. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein when the controller controls the lighting device corresponding to the selected icon, the controller identifies the communication address corresponding to the logical address of the lighting device with reference to association by the mapping, and causes the communication unit to transmit the control command to the identified communication address.

5. The lighting system according to claim 1, further comprising

a lighting commanding device which controls the plurality of lighting devices according to a control command from the terminal,

wherein when an instruction for selecting one of the plurality of icons has been received by the input unit, the controller causes the wireless transmitter to transmit a radio signal indicating a logical address corresponding to the selected icon as the predetermined information,

when the lighting device has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address to the lighting commanding device together with the logical address indicated by the received radio signal, and

when the lighting commanding device has received the logical address and the communication address transmitted from the lighting device, the lighting commanding device performs mapping by storing the logical address and the communication address received.

6. The lighting system according to claim 5,

wherein when the controller controls the lighting device corresponding to the selected icon, the controller transmits the logical address corresponding to the selected icon and a control command to the lighting commanding device, and

upon receiving the logical address and the control command transmitted from the terminal device, the lighting commanding device identifies the communication address corresponding to the logical address with reference to the association by the mapping, and transmits the control command to the lighting device having the identified communication address.

7. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein the controller displays, on the display screen, an image for guiding the operator to select the plurality of icons according to a predetermined order.

8. The lighting system according to claim 7,

wherein the controller obtains arrangement information indicating arrangement positions of the plurality of lighting devices from outside the terminal, and displays the image with reference to the obtained arrangement information, such that an order according to the arrangement positions of the plurality of lighting devices are indicated as the predetermined order.

9. The lighting system according to claim 8,

wherein the order according to the arrangement positions of the plurality of lighting devices is an order which sequentially specifies the lighting devices arranged adjacent to each other.

10. The lighting system according to claim 8,

wherein the controller edits the arrangement information according to the instruction from the operator received by the input unit, and displays the image such that an order according to the edited arrangement information is indicated.

11. The lighting system according to claim 7,

wherein the controller obtains order information indicating the predetermined order from outside the terminal, and displays the image on the display screen in the order indicated by the obtained order information.

12. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein the controller displays the plurality of icons on the display screen such that icons for which the mapping has been completed and icons for which the mapping has not yet been completed are distinguishable from each other.

13. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein the controller displays, on the display screen, the number of icons for which the mapping has not yet been completed from among the plurality of icons.

14. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein the wireless transmitter transmits visible light or infrared rays as the radio signal.

15. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein the wireless transmitter is attached to the terminal in a detachable manner.

16. The lighting system according to claim 1,

wherein each of the plurality of lighting devices exhibits different lighting states before and after transmitting the communication address of the lighting device itself.

17. A lighting device in a lighting system which includes:

a plurality of lighting devices including the lighting device; and

a terminal which controls the plurality of lighting devices,

wherein the terminal includes;

a display screen;

an input unit configured to receive an instruction from an operator;

a wireless transmitter which transmits a radio signal having a directivity;

a communication unit configured to wirelessly transmit a control command to at least one of the plurality of lighting devices, specifying one of the communication address and the logical address; and

a controller which displays, on the display screen, a plurality of icons respectively corresponding to the plurality of lighting devices, and when an instruction for selecting one of the plurality of icons has been received by the input unit, causes the wireless transmitter to transmit a radio signal indicating predetermined information, wherein;

when a lighting device among the plurality of lighting devices, which corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of icons has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address assigned to the lighting device to be used for communication with the communication unit,

when each of the plurality of lighting devices has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address to the terminal, and

upon receiving the communication address transmitted from the terminal, the controller performs mapping by storing the received communication address in association with an icon selected from among the plurality of icons.

18. A terminal in a lighting system which includes:

a plurality of lighting devices; and

the terminal which controls the plurality of lighting devices,

wherein the terminal includes;

a display screen;

an input unit configured to receive an instruction from an operator;

a wireless transmitter which transmits a radio signal having a directivity;

a communication unit configured to wirelessly transmit a control command to at least one of the plurality of lighting devices, specifying one of the communication address and the logical address; and

a controller which displays, on the display screen, a plurality of icons respectively corresponding to the plurality of lighting devices, and when an instruction for selecting one of the plurality of icons has been received by the input unit, causes the wireless transmitter to transmit a radio signal indicating predetermined information, wherein;

when a lighting device among the plurality of lighting devices, which corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of icons has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address assigned to the lighting device to be used for communication with the communication unit,

when each of the plurality of lighting devices has received the radio signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter, the lighting device transmits the communication address to the terminal, and

upon receiving the communication address transmitted from the terminal, the controller performs mapping by storing the received communication address in association with an icon selected from among the plurality of icons.