Lighting using solid state light sources
First Claim
1. A lighting system, comprising:
- an optical integrating cavity having a reflective interior surface, at least a portion of which exhibits a diffuse reflectivity, and having an optical aperture for allowing emission of reflected light from within the interior of the cavity into a region to facilitate a humanly perceptible lighting application for the system;
at least one light emitting diode (LED) for emitting visible light, each LED being coupled to supply visible light to enter the cavity at a point not directly observable through the aperture from the region; and
a controller responsive to a user actuation for controlling an amount of visible light supplied to the cavity by the at least one LED.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A light fixture, using one or more solid state light emitting elements, provides an unpixelated light output. An optical element receives and diffuses light from the solid state emitters to form a processed light for output via an optical output area of the fixture. The optical element forms light that is relatively uniform, for example having a substantially Lambertian distribution and/or having a maximum-to-minimum intensity ratio of 2 to 1 or less over the optical output area. In the examples, the optical element comprises a cavity having at least one diffusely reflective surface, and the emitting elements supply light into the cavity at locations not visible through an aperture of the cavity that forms the optical output area. Hence, light from the emitting element(s) is diffusely reflected one or more times within the cavity before emission as part of the uniform light output through the aperture.
153 Citations
177 Claims
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1. A lighting system, comprising:
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an optical integrating cavity having a reflective interior surface, at least a portion of which exhibits a diffuse reflectivity, and having an optical aperture for allowing emission of reflected light from within the interior of the cavity into a region to facilitate a humanly perceptible lighting application for the system;
at least one light emitting diode (LED) for emitting visible light, each LED being coupled to supply visible light to enter the cavity at a point not directly observable through the aperture from the region; and
a controller responsive to a user actuation for controlling an amount of visible light supplied to the cavity by the at least one LED. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A lighting system, comprising:
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an optical integrating cavity having a reflective interior surface, at least a portion of which exhibits a diffuse reflectivity, and having an optical aperture for allowing emission of reflected light from within the interior of the cavity into a region to facilitate a humanly perceptible lighting application for the system;
a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for emitting light, each LED being coupled to supply light to enter the cavity at a point not directly observable through the aperture from the region;
a user interface;
a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the light reflected in the cavity; and
a controller responsive to a user input regarding a selected light characteristic and indication of the characteristic of the reflected light from the sensor, for controlling amounts of visible light supplied to the cavity by the LEDs. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A lighting system, comprising:
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an optical integrating cavity having a reflective interior surface, at least a portion of which exhibits a diffuse reflectivity, and having an optical aperture for allowing emission of reflected light from within the interior of the cavity into a region to facilitate a humanly perceptible lighting application for the system;
at least one solid state light emitting element for emitting visible light, each solid state light emitting element being coupled to supply visible light to enter the cavity at a point not directly observable through the aperture from the region; and
a controller responsive to a user actuation for controlling an amount of visible light supplied to the cavity by the at least one solid state light emitting element. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
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66. A lighting system, comprising:
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an optical integrating cavity having a reflective interior surface, at least a portion of which exhibits a diffuse reflectivity, and having an optical aperture for allowing emission of reflected light from within the interior of the cavity into a region to facilitate a humanly perceptible lighting application for the system;
a plurality of solid state light emitting elements for emitting light, each solid state light emitting element being coupled to supply light to enter the cavity at a point not directly observable through the aperture from the region, at least one of the solid state light emitting elements emitting light of a spectral characteristic including visible light;
a user interface;
a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the light reflected in the cavity; and
a controller responsive to a user input regarding a selected light characteristic and indication of the characteristic of the reflected light from the sensor, for controlling amounts of visible light supplied to the cavity by the solid state light emitting elements. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91)
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92. A solid state light fixture having an unpixelated light output, comprising:
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a plurality of solid state light emitting elements for emitting light in a humanly visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum;
an optical mixing element for receiving and mixing light from the solid state light emitting elements to form a combined light for output via an optical output area of the fixture;
wherein the mixing element is configured to sufficiently mix the light from the solid state light emitting elements that the combined light output is uniform at the optical output area of the fixture to a degree that the combined light output exhibits a maximum-to-minimum ratio of 2 to 1 or less over substantially the entire optical output area. - View Dependent Claims (93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120)
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121. A solid state light fixture having an unpixelated light output, comprising:
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a plurality of solid state light emitting elements for emitting light in a humanly visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum;
an optical mixing element for receiving and mixing light from the solid state light emitting elements to form a combined light for output via an optical output area of the fixture;
wherein the mixing element is configured to sufficiently mix the light from the solid state light emitting elements that the combined light output is at least substantially Lambertian in distribution across the optical output area of the fixture. - View Dependent Claims (122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149)
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150. A solid state light fixture, comprising:
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a solid state light emitting element having a point source output, for emitting light comprising humanly visible electromagnetic energy; and
an optical element for diffusing light from the solid state light emitting element for output via an optical output area of the fixture;
wherein;
the optical output area is substantially larger than the area of the point source output of the solid state light emitting element; and
the optical element is configured to diffuse the light from the solid state light emitting element over the optical output area to produce an unpixelated light output through the optical output area. - View Dependent Claims (151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177)
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Specification