Lighting system with configurable dimming

• US 10,448,471 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2018
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chowdhury, Towfiq M., Chen, Feng
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, Jany
• Application Number:
  US16/022,892
• Time in Patent Office: 473 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 45/46 having LEDs disposed in parallel lines
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission

Abstract

Certain aspects involve lighting systems in which a dimming curve of the illumination can be selectively modified. For instance, a lighting system includes a light source configured for emitting light at a target color temperature and a switch configured to receive a selection of a dimming curve from a predefined set of dimming curves. When in a first position, the switch configures the light source to adjust a lumen intensity of the light source according to a dimming adjustment signal and a first dimming curve. When in a second position, the switch configures the light source to adjust the lumen intensity according to a dimming adjustment signal and a second dimming curve that is different from the first dimming curve.

Claims

1. A lighting system comprising:

a light source configured for emitting light at a target color temperature; and

a switch configured to receive a selection of a dimming curve from a predefined set of dimming curves, wherein

when in a first position, the switch configures the light source to adjust a lumen intensity of the light source according to a dimming adjustment signal and a first dimming curve, and

when in a second position, the switch configures the light source to adjust the lumen intensity according to the dimming adjustment signal and a second dimming curve that is different from the first dimming curve.

2. The lighting system of claim 1 further comprising a microcontroller configured to:

receive the selection of the dimming curve from the switch; and

configure the light source to dim according to the first dimming curve or the second dimming curve.

3. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein the dimming adjustment signal is one or more of (i) a voltage level input to the lighting system, (ii) a digital signal input, and (iii) a wireless input signal.

4. The lighting system of claim 1, further comprising a microcontroller configured to:

identify a signal generated by the switch;

access a table entry from a data table, the table entry comprising a mapping between the signal and an additional dimming curve from a predefined set of dimming curves; and

dim the light source according to the additional dimming curve indicated by the table entry.

5. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light source is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) group.

6. The lighting system of claim 1, further comprising an additional switch configured to generate the dimming adjustment signal.

7. The lighting system of claim 1, further comprising an additional switch having a first configuration selecting a first intensity and a second configuration selecting a second intensity.

8. The lighting system of claim 1, further comprising an additional switch having a first configuration selecting a first color temperature and a second configuration selecting a second color temperature.

9. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the predefined set of dimming curves comprises a linear curve, a logarithmic curve, or a square logarithmic curve.

10. The lighting system of claim 1, further comprising an additional switch having a first configuration selecting the light source and a second configuration selecting an additional light source, wherein the light source is configured to emit a first color temperature of light and the additional light source is configured to emit a second color temperature of light.

11. A lighting driver comprising:

a dimming adjustment input port;

a dimming curve input port; and

an output port,

wherein;

the dimming curve input port is configured to receive a dimming curve selection from a predefined set of dimming curves, the dimming curve selection indicated by one or more of (i) a first signal indicating a first selection of a first dimming curve from the predefined set of dimming curves or (ii) a second signal indicating a second selection of a second dimming curve from the predefined set of dimming curves,

the dimming adjustment input port is configured to receive a dimming adjustment signal, and

the lighting driver is configured to provide an output current via the output port to a light source, the output current based on the dimming curve selection and the dimming adjustment signal.

12. The lighting driver of claim 11, wherein the dimming adjustment signal is one or more of (i) a voltage level input, (ii) a digital signal, and (iii) a wireless signal.

13. The lighting driver of claim 11, further comprising a microcontroller configured to:

access, from a table, a table entry comprising a mapping between the dimming curve selection and a dimming curve from a predefined set of dimming curves; and

dim the light source according to the dimming curve indicated by the table entry.

14. The lighting driver of claim 11, wherein the lighting driver further comprises an additional input port configured to receive an additional input indicating a first intensity or a second intensity, wherein the lighting driver is configured to adjust the output current to configure an intensity of the light source to either the first intensity or the second intensity.

15. The lighting driver of claim 11, wherein the lighting driver further comprises an additional input port that is configured to detect an additional input from an additional switch having (i) a first configuration selecting a first color temperature and (ii) a second configuration selecting a second color temperature, wherein the lighting driver is configured to set a color temperature of the light source to either the first color temperature or the second color temperature.

16. The lighting driver of claim 11, wherein the predefined set of dimming curves comprises one or more of a linear curve, a logarithmic curve, and a square logarithmic curve.

17. A method of manufacturing a lighting system, the method comprising:

identifying a first dimming curve and a second dimming curve;

configuring a microcontroller to operate in a first state corresponding to the first dimming curve and a second state corresponding to the second dimming curve; and

installing a light source, the microcontroller, and a switch in a lighting system, the switch having (i) a first configuration in which the microcontroller is configured to adjust an intensity of the light source according to a dimming adjustment signal and the first dimming curve and (ii) a second configuration in which the microcontroller is configured to adjust the intensity of the light source according to the dimming adjustment signal and the second dimming curve.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the switch is a slide switch having a first position that implements the first configuration and having a second position that implements the second configuration.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first dimming curve and the second dimming curve comprise (i) a linear curve, (ii) a logarithmic curve, or (iii) a square logarithmic curve.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

configuring the microcontroller to operate in a first intensity state corresponding to a first intensity and a second intensity state corresponding to the second dimming curve; and

installing a light source, the microcontroller, and the switch in the lighting system, the switch having (i) a first intensity configuration in which the microcontroller is configured to set the intensity of the light source according to a first predetermined intensity and (ii) a second intensity configuration in which the microcontroller is configured set the intensity of the light source according to a second intensity.