Lighting system and method

• US 10,440,794 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2017
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Feit Electric Company Incorporated
• Original Assignee: LiFi Labs, Inc. (Buddy Technologies Ltd.)
• Inventors: Alexander, Marc, Cameron, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens, Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kaiser, Syed M
• Application Number:
  US15/801,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20180124895A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 2/005 of modular construction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light

Abstract

A controllable dynamic lighting system including a lighting element device with a set of controllable zone and a controlling means. A method for controlling a lighting system including: receiving lighting system operation inputs, determining operation instructions for one more controllable zones based on the operation inputs, and controlling controllable zone operation based on the respective operation instructions.

Claims

1. A modular system for displaying diffuse colored light, comprising:

a lighting system, comprising;

a plurality of light emitters, wherein each light emitter is configured to display light in a plurality of colors;

a housing encasing the light emitters, wherein the housing defines a first face parallel to and proximal an active surface of the plurality of light emitters, wherein the first face comprises a light-diffusive material;

a touch-sensitive surface mechanically mounted to the first face, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is aligned with and overlays a majority of a projection of the plurality of light emitters onto the first face, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is configured to receive a region selection;

a connector integrated in an edge of the housing, wherein the connector mechanically and electrically couples the first lighting system to a second lighting system; and

a controller connected to the touch-sensitive surface, the connector, and the lighting system, wherein the controller is configured to;

determine layout information for a modular assembly based on information determined from the connector, the modular assembly comprising the lighting system, the layout information comprising a number of lighting systems cooperatively forming the modular assembly and a distance between said lighting systems;

receive a region selection based on the layout information and a color selection corresponding to said region selection;

identify indices of controllable zones corresponding to the region selection; and

assign the color selection to the light emitters corresponding to the region selection.

2. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the connector comprises a cable comprising nonzero length.

3. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the controller further comprises an application executable on a user device, wherein the application is configured to:

determine the layout of the modular assembly;

present a virtual representation of the layout; and

receive a color selection for a region within the virtual representation of the layout.

4. The modular system of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to:

generate a series of light pulses;

measure a current draw from each light pulse; and

determine the number of lighting systems coupled to the controller using the measured current draw.

5. The modular system of claim 4, wherein the application is further configured to receive an animation designation, wherein the animation designation prescribes a dynamic pattern for the modular assembly, the dynamic pattern comprising a temporal parameter and a color selection assignment for each of the light-emitting units in the modular system, wherein the temporal parameters are determined using the virtual representation of the layout.

6. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is further configured to receive the color selection.

7. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the lighting system consists of no more than two hundred controllable zones per square foot of the first surface.

8. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the diffusive material has an optical transmittance of ninety percent or less.

9. A method for displaying an arrangement of diffuse colored light, comprising:

receiving a region selection;

receiving a color selection in association with the region selection;

mapping the region selection to a virtual representation, wherein the virtual representation comprises a set of controllable zones, wherein the mapping determines a regional set of controllable zones;

assigning the color selection to the regional set of controllable zones;

blending color selections assigned to each of the controllable zones within the regional set, comprising;

identifying a first controllable zone within the regional set associated with a first color selection;

identifying a second controllable zone proximal to the first controllable zone, the second controllable zone associated with a second color selection, wherein the second color selection is different from the first color selection;

determining an edge controllable zone, wherein the edge controllable zone is located between the first and second controllable zones when the first controllable zone is non-adjacent with the second controllable zone; and

the edge controllable zone is the second controllable zone when the first controllable zone is adjacent with the second controllable zone; and

assigning an edge color selection to the edge controllable zone in the virtual representation, wherein the edge color selection comprises an averaged color between the first color selection and the second color selection;

identifying light emitters, within the arrangement, that are assigned to each controllable zone; and

controlling the light emitters based on a respective color selection assignment in the virtual representation.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a color selection from a first controller, wherein the first controller is coupled to a first touch-sensitive surface.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a region selection from a second controller, wherein the second controller is coupled to a second touch-sensitive surface separate and distinct from the first touch-sensitive surface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a user device comprises the first touch-sensitive surface, and a modular lighting system comprises the light emitters and the second touch-sensitive surface.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a first and second distinct set of color selections for a common light emitter;

selecting a set of color selections from the first and second distinct sets of color selections based on predetermined thresholds; and

updating the light-emitting unit assignments with color selection assignments extracted from the selected set of color selections.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining layout information for a modular lighting system, the modular lighting system comprising a plurality of connected lighting system units, each lighting system unit comprising a controller, the layout information comprising a number of lighting system units cooperatively forming the modular lighting system and a distance between said lighting system units, wherein a virtual representation of the layout information is displayed on an application executable on a user device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the layout information of the modular lighting system comprises:

propagating a series of light pulses through the modular lighting system;

measuring a current draw from each light pulse; and

determining a number of lighting system units electrically connected to each controller based on the measured current draw.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the region selection is received at the virtual representation of the layout information.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving an animation designation from a user, wherein the animation designation prescribes a dynamic pattern to the color selection assignments of the light-emitting units.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining temporal parameters of the animation designation based on the layout of the modular lighting system, the temporal parameters comprising a rate at which color selection assignments are changed.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the color selection comprises receiving a voice command associated with the color selection.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein a modular lighting system comprises the controllable zones, each controllable zone including a subset of the light emitters and a local control module, wherein controlling the light emitters comprises:

generating control instructions for each controllable zone based on the respective color selection assignment in the virtual representation at a user device;

formatting the control instructions into a set of packets at the user device;

wirelessly transmitting each packet of the set of packets to each local control module;

buffering received packets of the set of packets at the local control modules;

detecting an execution event at the local control modules; and

synchronously executing the control instructions at the local control modules in response to detecting the execution event.