Master/slave arrangement for lighting fixture modules

• US 10,172,218 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2017
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDEAL Industries Lighting, LLC (Ideal Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CREE Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Inventors: Motley, Arnold, Chobot, Joseph P., Pope, Daniel J., Trainor, John J., Harris, Michael James
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thuy Vinh
• Application Number:
  US15/714,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20180014394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 315149, 315152, 315153, 315291, 315292, 315312, 315324, 34028601, 455 68, 455 69
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/62 using mixing chambers, e.g. housings with reflective walls
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/70 characterised by passive heat-dissipating elements, e.g. heat-sinks
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/04 of lens shape
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 7/00 Reflectors for light sources characterised by cooling arrangements F21V29/505
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/18 using temperature feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/30 Driver circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/165 following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/17 Operational modes, e.g. switching from manual to automatic mode or prohibiting specific operations
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a lighting fixture that includes a driver module and at least one other module that provides a lighting fixture function, such as a sensor function, lighting network communication function, gateway function, and the like. The driver module communicates with the other modules in a master/slave scheme over a communication bus. The driver module is configured as a slave communication device, and the other modules are configured as master communication devices. As such, the other modules may initiate communications with the driver to send information to or retrieve information from the driver module.

Claims

1. A switch module comprising:

a light sensor;

a communication interface;

a user interface; and

circuitry adapted to;

in a first mode;

determine that at least one of a plurality of lighting fixtures is entering a lightcast mode, in which the at least one of a plurality of lighting fixtures emits a first lightcast signal via a light source of the at least one of a plurality of lighting fixtures;

monitor for the first lightcast signal provided by the at least one of a plurality of lighting fixtures via the light sensor;

effect generation of lightcast data based on receipt of the first lightcast signal; and

send the lightcast data via the communication interface; and

in a second mode;

receive user input via the user interface; and

based on the user input, send an instruction to the at least one of a plurality of lighting fixtures via the communication interface to control a light output level of the at least one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

2. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the lightcast data is sent to the at least one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

3. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the lightcast data is sent to each lighting fixture of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

4. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the lightcast data is sent to a commissioning tool.

5. The switch module of claim 4 wherein the commissioning tool is connected to a personal computing device.

6. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the circuitry is further adapted to determine local sensor data from the light sensor.

7. The switch module of claim 6 wherein the circuitry is further adapted to send the local sensor data to the at least one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

8. The switch module of claim 6 wherein the circuitry is further configured to control how to instruct the plurality of lighting fixtures to output light based on the local sensor data.

9. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the switch module further comprises an occupancy sensor and the switch module is further configured to determine occupancy information from the occupancy sensor.

10. The switch module of claim 9 wherein the circuitry is further configured to control how to instruct the plurality of lighting fixtures to output light based on the occupancy information.

11. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the user interface comprises switch circuitry adapted to determine whether the switch module should be on or off.

12. The switch module of claim 1 further comprising switch circuitry adapted to determine a dimming position of the switch module.

13. The switch module of claim 12 wherein the switch circuitry provides information based on the dimming position to the circuitry and the circuitry is further adapted to process the information.

14. The switch module of claim 13 wherein the circuitry is further adapted to determine whether or not to send a command to the at least one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

15. The switch module of claim 13 wherein the circuitry is further adapted to determine whether or not to send status information to the at least one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

16. The switch module of claim 1 wherein the communication interface is a wireless communication interface that facilitates wireless communications with each lighting fixture of the plurality of lighting fixtures.