Method and system for controlling environmental conditions

• US 20020193913A1
• Filed: 08/19/2002
• Published: 12/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: William H. Gates
• Original Assignee: William Gates
• Inventors: Gelland, Torsten, Pyle, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US10/223,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20020193913A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/299
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/449 Object-oriented method invocation or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission

Abstract

A method and system for controlling environmental conditions, such as lighting. The lighting system provides an architecture that includes a scene description data structure. A scene defines one or more circuits and a target state for the lights on those circuits. The scene description data structure specifies circuits within a scene and specifies a target state for the lights on those circuits within a scene. The lighting system provides a lighting gateway that retrieves and provides scene descriptions to assist in generating a user interface for enabling scenes, and that receives requests to enable scenes and then requests a lighting controller to enable the target state for each circuit within the scene. Each space (e.g., area or room) within the environment has a lighting component that provides a standard programmatic interface to the control the lights from a space. The lighting component retrieves scene descriptions from the lighting gateway and receives requests from a user control point device to enable a scene and then forwards the requests to the lighting gateway.

Claims

1. A computer system for controlling lights within an environment, each light being on a circuit, comprising:

a scene description data structure that specifies circuits within a scene and specifies target states for the circuits within a scene;

a lighting gateway that retrieves and provides scene descriptions when requested and that receives requests to enable a scene and notifies a lighting controller to enable the target state for each circuit within the scene that is requested to be enabled; and

a lighting component for each space from which lights can be controlled that requests and retrieves scene descriptions from the lighting gateway and that receives requests generated from a user control point device to enable a scene and forwards the request to the lighting gateway.

2. The computer system of claim 1 further including:

a lighting user interface component for each space that requests the lighting component for scene descriptions and that controls the user control point device to present a user interface for controlling the lights within the space.

3. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the lighting gateway notifies the lighting component when the lighting controller changes state.

4. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the scenes for a space are organized into a group and wherein a user can control scenes in multiple groups from a single control point device.

5. A method in a computer system for controlling lights through a lighting controller, each light being on a circuit, the circuits being organized into scenes, the method comprising:

displaying a visual representation of scenes within an space that can be controlled;

receiving a selection of one of the scenes from a user; and

in response to receiving the selection of a scene,

requesting the lighting controller to enable the selected scene; and

when the lighting controller has been successfully requested, displaying a momentary feedback to the user indicating that the lighting controller has been successfully requested.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the momentary feedback is highlighting of the visual representation of the selected scene.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the momentary feedback is an audio feedback.

8. The method of claim 5 including:

when the lighting controller has not been successfully requested, suppressing the displaying of the momentary feedback.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the scenes can be enabled as a result of user input from more than one user control point device.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein a scene controls less than all of the circuits within a space.

11. A method in a computer system for controlling environmental conditions within an environment from a user control point device, the environment being divided into spaces, the method comprising:

providing a specification of groups of environmental conditions, each group of environmental conditions associated with a space;

associating a user control point device with a space;

displaying at the user control point device an indication of options available for controlling the environmental conditions associated with space and displaying an indication that another group of environmental conditions is controllable from that user control point device; and

receiving a request from a user to control the environmental conditions in the other group from the user control point device.

12. The method of claim 11 including after receiving the request from the user, displaying at the user control point device an indication of options available for controlling environmental conditions within the other space.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the space and the other space are adjacent spaces within the environment.