Lighting energy management system and method
First Claim
1. A lighting energy management system for controlling the operation of a plurality of lighting fixtures in an area in order to minimize the energy required by said lighting fixtures, said area having a plurality of physical or logical zones, said energy management system comprising:
- (a) at least one occupancy source for indicating whether a physical or logical zone is occupied and providing occupancy data;
(b) at least one energy control unit coupled to the occupancy source and the lighting fixtures for receiving information from the occupancy sources, for determining an optimal brightness command for each lighting fixture, and providing each optimal brightness command to each lighting fixture, said energy control unit being adapted to store and maintain at least first and second zone representations and a plurality of fixture representations, wherein each of said first and second zone representations represents a physical or logical zone of the area and wherein the physical or logical zones of the first and second zone representations overlap, and wherein each fixture representation is associated with a lighting fixture and where;
(i) each said zone representation is adapted to receive data from at least one occupancy source and to selectively provide an adjustment command based on whether a physical or logical zone is determined to be unoccupied;
(ii) each fixture object being associated with at least one of said first and second zone representations according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the physical or logical zone of at least one of the first and second zone representations, and said fixture representation having a switching control and preset module coupled to at least one first and second zone representations for receiving and prioritizing said adjustment commands associated with, and as between, said at least one first and second zone representations, and for using said prioritization to determine the optimal brightness command based thereto for said fixture representations;
(c) said energy control unit distributing the optimal brightness command received from each said fixture representations to each said associated lighting fixtures within at least one of the physical or logical zones associated with said first and second zone representations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A lighting energy management system and method for controlling lighting fixtures in an area a, uses an energy control unit to receive information from the occupancy sources to determine an optimal brightness command for each lighting fixture using a coordinated system of zone and fixture representation. Each zone representation is associated with a physical or logical fixture representation is associated with a light fixture. Each zone representation ensures that lighting level is adjusted when a physical or logical zone is unoccupied. Each fixture representation receives and prioritizes the adjustment command from the first and second zone representations to determine the optimal brightness command.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A lighting energy management system for controlling the operation of a plurality of lighting fixtures in an area in order to minimize the energy required by said lighting fixtures, said area having a plurality of physical or logical zones, said energy management system comprising:
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(a) at least one occupancy source for indicating whether a physical or logical zone is occupied and providing occupancy data;
(b) at least one energy control unit coupled to the occupancy source and the lighting fixtures for receiving information from the occupancy sources, for determining an optimal brightness command for each lighting fixture, and providing each optimal brightness command to each lighting fixture, said energy control unit being adapted to store and maintain at least first and second zone representations and a plurality of fixture representations, wherein each of said first and second zone representations represents a physical or logical zone of the area and wherein the physical or logical zones of the first and second zone representations overlap, and wherein each fixture representation is associated with a lighting fixture and where;
(i) each said zone representation is adapted to receive data from at least one occupancy source and to selectively provide an adjustment command based on whether a physical or logical zone is determined to be unoccupied;
(ii) each fixture object being associated with at least one of said first and second zone representations according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the physical or logical zone of at least one of the first and second zone representations, and said fixture representation having a switching control and preset module coupled to at least one first and second zone representations for receiving and prioritizing said adjustment commands associated with, and as between, said at least one first and second zone representations, and for using said prioritization to determine the optimal brightness command based thereto for said fixture representations;
(c) said energy control unit distributing the optimal brightness command received from each said fixture representations to each said associated lighting fixtures within at least one of the physical or logical zones associated with said first and second zone representations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of controlling the operation of a plurality of lighting fixtures in an area in order to minimize the energy required by said lighting fixtures, said area having a plurality of physical or logical zones, said energy management method comprising:
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(a) determining occupancy data within at least one of the physical or logical zones using at least one occupancy source, and providing occupancy data;
(b) receiving occupancy data and maintaining at least first and second zone representations and a plurality of fixture representations, wherein each of said first and second zone representations represents a physical or logical zone of the area, and wherein the physical or logical zones of the first and second zone representations overlap, and wherein each fixture representations is associated with a lighting fixture, and each fixture representations is associated with at least one of said first and second zone representations according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the physical or logical zone of the building associated with at least one of the first and second zone representations such that;
(i) each said first and second zone representations being adapted to receive data from at least one occupancy source, and to selectively provide an adjustment command based on whether the associated physical or logical zone is occupied;
(ii) each said fixture representation being associated with at least one of said first and second zone representations according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the physical or logical zone of at least one of the first and second zone representations and having a switching control and preset module coupled to the at least one first and second zone representations for receiving and prioritizing said adjustment command, associated with, and as between, said at least one first and second zone representations, and for using said prioritization to determine the optimal brightness command based thereto for said fixture representations; and
(c) distributing the optimal brightness command received from each of said fixture representations to each said associated lighting fixtures within at least one of the physical or logical zones associated with said first and second zone representations. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification