Lighting system and method for improving the alertness of a person

• US 10,226,593 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2016
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Philips Lighting Holding BV (Signify N.V.)
• Inventors: Wendt, Matthias, Radermacher, Harald Josef Gunther, Erdmann, Bozena, Garcia Morchon, Oscar
• Primary Examiner(s): Taningco, Alexander H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bahr, Kurtis R
• Application Number:
  US15/563,777
• Publication Number:
  US 20180078731A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2021/0044 by the sight sense
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2021/0083 especially for waking up
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 21/00 Other devices or methods to cause a change in the state of consciousness; Devices for producing or ending sleep by mechanical, optical, or acoustical means, e.g. for hypnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3368 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3375 Acoustical, e.g. ultrasonic, measuring means
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/005 Parameter used as control input for the apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/63 Motion, e.g. physical activity
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/0618 Psychological treatment
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/18 for varying the light intensity
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/72 for preventing the driver from being dazzled
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/80 Circuits; Control arrangements for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/125 by using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/16 by timing means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 : Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A lighting system for improving the alertness of a person comprising: one or more light sources (101) arranged to emit light into an environment, at least one of the one or more light sources being arranged with a primary function comprising providing illumination into the environment; and a controller (103) configured to cause at least one of the at least one light sources to provide a secondary function of emitting at least a first light pulse (503) having a duration of between 1 ms and 50 ms, wherein there is an idle period (505) lasting at least 0.1 s on either side of the first light pulse.

Claims

1. A lighting system comprising:

one or more light sources arranged to emit light into an environment, said one or more light sources being arranged with a primary function comprising providing illumination into the environment, and

a controller configured to cause at least said one or more light sources to provide a secondary function of emitting at least a first light pulse of bright light having a duration of between 1 ms and 50 ms, wherein there is an idle period lasting at least 0.1 s on either side of the first light pulse;

wherein the controller is configured to cause at least said one or more light sources providing the secondary function to emit the first light pulse in accordance with a pre-programmed timing scheme; and

wherein at least said one or more light sources arranged with the primary function is arranged for displaying or projecting information in the environment and wherein the pre-programmed timing scheme is linked to the displayed or projected information such that the first light pulse is timed to coincide with a visual change in the displayed or projected information.

2. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause said one or more light sources to emit a second light pulse of bright light having a duration of between 1 ms and 50 ms, the second light pulse being made at least 0.1 s after the first pulse has stopped being emitted.

3. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a time at which the second pulse should be emitted relative to the first pulse based at least in part on an activity to be undertaken by a person located in the environment.

4. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein said one or more light sources configured to emit the first light pulse is different from the said one or more light sources configured to emit the second light pulse.

5. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause said one or more light sources providing the secondary function to emit the first light pulse in response to a determination that an alertness of a person located in the environment has decreased.

6. The lighting system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to make the determination that the alertness of a person located in the environment has decreased in response to receiving a report from at least one sensor configured to monitor a state of the person.

7. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause said one or more light sources providing the secondary function to emit the first light pulse in response to an instruction from an operator of the lighting system.

8. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause said one or more light sources providing the secondary function to only perform the secondary function.

9. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause at least said one or more light sources providing the secondary function to perform the primary function.

10. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to set at least one of an intensity, pulse duration and frequency of the said one or more light sources providing the secondary function in response to receipt of feedback information from a sensor located in the environment.

11. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the controller causes said one or more light sources providing the first light pulse to the emit the first light pulse unobtrusively by means of at least one of

the first light pulse being unnoticeable the person,

the first light pulse coinciding with a change in an activity of the person, and

the first light pulse not substantially interfering with the primary function.

12. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the primary function and secondary function are provided by at least one first light source.

13. The lighting system claim 1, wherein the primary function is provided by at least one first light source and the secondary function is provided by at least one second light source.