Digital addressable electronic ballast and control unit
First Claim
1. An electronic ballast for driving a gas discharge lamp, comprising:
- an inverter circuit for producing a high frequency drive voltage to drive a lamp current in said gas discharge lamp;
a controller, coupled to said inverter circuit for control of said inverter circuit;
a digital communication port, coupled to said controller and operable to be connected to a digital communication link;
an infrared communication port, coupled to said controller and operable to receive a signal representative of an infrared data signal transmitted from an infrared transmitter; and
a memory, coupled to said controller and operable to store an address of said ballast;
wherein said signal representative of said infrared data comprises said address and said controller is operable to store said address in said memory; and
wherein said address identifies said ballast when said ballast is connected to said digital communication link.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for providing a load control device, such as a DALI ballast, having an infrared receiver. The load control device resides on a digital communications link and receives infrared commands via a lightpipe. The commands are input to a microprocessor to set an address of the load control device. Addressing the load control device in this manner allows plural control devices residing on a single communications link to be addressed by the same short address. The control devices may be removed and replaced, and the short address and zone assignments of the removed devices may be reassigned to the replacement devices via infrared communication. The load control device may be placed into various modes (e.g., a programming mode or addressing mode) via commands received over the infrared receiver.
129 Citations
65 Claims
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1. An electronic ballast for driving a gas discharge lamp, comprising:
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an inverter circuit for producing a high frequency drive voltage to drive a lamp current in said gas discharge lamp;
a controller, coupled to said inverter circuit for control of said inverter circuit;
a digital communication port, coupled to said controller and operable to be connected to a digital communication link;
an infrared communication port, coupled to said controller and operable to receive a signal representative of an infrared data signal transmitted from an infrared transmitter; and
a memory, coupled to said controller and operable to store an address of said ballast;
wherein said signal representative of said infrared data comprises said address and said controller is operable to store said address in said memory; and
wherein said address identifies said ballast when said ballast is connected to said digital communication link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A lighting control system, comprising:
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an infrared transmitter, operable to transmit an infrared data signal;
a load control device, operable to control a lighting load and comprising a memory for storing an address;
said load control device operable to receive a signal representative of said infrared data signal comprising said address and store said address in said memory;
said load control devices adapted to be connected to a digital communication link. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method of setting a link address for a device in communication with a control link from an infrared transmitter via infrared communication, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting said link address from said infrared transmitter to said device; and
storing said link address in a memory of said device. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of addressing a device in communication with a control link, comprising the steps of:
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causing said device to select a random address, significantly larger than the maximum number of devices possible to be in communication with said control link;
ascertaining said random address of said device by performing a binary tree search method of the universe of possible random addresses;
transmitting to said device at said random address a short address, up to the maximum number of devices possible to be in communication with said control link; and
storing said short address in a memory in said device. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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47. A method of assigning a device having a device address to a group from a user interface of a master lighting control unit having a memory, wherein both said device and said master lighting control unit are in communication with a control link, said method comprising the steps of:
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selecting said device address using said user interface of said master lighting control unit;
selecting said group using said user interface; and
storing an assignment of said device address to said group in said memory of said master lighting control unit. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A master lighting control unit, comprising:
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a controller;
a user interface, coupled to said controller;
a digital communication port, coupled to said controller and operable to be connected to a digital communication link having a control device also connected thereto;
said control device having an address; and
a memory, coupled to said controller and operable to store said address of said control device;
wherein said controller is operable to;
cause said control device to choose a random address, significantly larger than the maximum number of devices possible to be in communication with said digital communication link;
ascertain said random address of said control device by performing a binary tree search method of the universe of possible random addresses; and
transmit to said control device at said random address a short address, up to said maximum number of devices possible to be in communication with said digital communication link. - View Dependent Claims (61)
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62. A master lighting control unit, comprising:
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a controller;
a user interface, coupled to said controller;
a digital communication port, coupled to said controller and operable to be connected to a digital communication link having a control device also connected thereto;
said control device having an address; and
a memory, coupled to said controller and operable to store said address of said control device;
wherein said controller is operable to;
select said address of said control device;
select a group; and
store an assignment of said address of said control device to said group in said memory. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65)
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Specification