Lighting Device

• US 20080203943A1
• Filed: 06/09/2006
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Baaijens, Hans, Payne, David Copplestone
• Application Number:
  US11/917,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20080203943A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light

Abstract

In a lighting device equipped with three light sources supplying red, green and blue light respectively, the color and/or intensity of the light generated by the three light sources together can be adjusted by means of adjustment points. The colors corresponding to the adjustment points are chosen so that for a fraction of the adjustment points the color difference calculated in the CIELAB space between the colors corresponding to adjacent adjustment points is the same. An inexperienced user can easily find a desired color setting since the change in color perceived by the user is the same for all the adjustment points belonging to said fraction.

Claims

1. A lighting device comprising

a lighting unit comprising light sources for generating red, green and blue light,

ballast circuitry for supplying supply currents to the light sources in the lighting unit,

a control circuit for controlling the operational state of the ballast circuitry by adjusting one or more operational parameters, and

a user interface, coupled to the control circuit, for adjusting the color or the color and intensity of the light generated by the lighting unit, said user interface being provided with a sensing device for sensing a user action resulting in an output signal of the user interface, said output signal adjusting the operational parameters via the control circuit, said sensing device being provided with a number of adjustment points where a user action is possible, each of the adjustment points corresponding to a different color and/or intensity of the light generated by the lighting unit, characterized in that the lighting device is equipped with a memory for storing a color table, each adjustment point corresponding to an element of the color table and each element of the color table comprising data determining the values of the operational parameters of the ballast circuitry corresponding to the adjustment point, and in that the color difference calculated in the CIELAB color space between the color points of the generated light corresponding to adjacent adjustment points is the same for a fraction of the adjustment points.

2. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein part of the adjustment points corresponds to light with the same color but with a different intensity.

3. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein part of the adjustment points corresponds to light with the same intensity but with a different color.

4. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein part of the adjustment points corresponds to light with the same color saturation but with a different hue.

5. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein part of the adjustment points corresponds to light with the same hue but a different color saturation.

6. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein part of the adjustment points corresponds to light with the same value of the x-coordinate but a different value of the y-coordinate in the CIE chromaticity diagram.

7. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein part of the adjustment points corresponds to light with the same y-coordinate but a different value of the x-coordinate in the CIE chromaticity diagram.

8. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjustment points are present on a surface comprised in the sensing means and wherein the color difference calculated in the CIELAB color space between the generated light corresponding to adjacent adjustment points in a first direction is the same and equal to a first value for at least part of the adjacent adjustment points in said first direction and the color difference calculated in the CIELAB color space between the generated light corresponding to adjacent adjustment points in a second direction is the same and equal to a second value for at least part of the adjacent adjustment points in said second direction.

9. A lighting device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the surface of the sensing device comprises the surface of a circle and wherein the first direction is along the circumference of the circle and the second direction is from the center of the circle along a radius.

10. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the sensing device comprises a radial slider that can be rotated around the circle, the user action consisting of the positioning of the slider on the surface of the circle.

11. A lighting device as claimed in claim 8, wherein adjustment points in one of the directions correspond to color points of the generated light with an equal value of the saturation but with different values for the hue and wherein adjustment points in the other direction correspond to color points of the generated light with an equal value of the hue but with different values of the saturation.

12. A lighting device as claimed in claim 10, wherein rotation of the slider selects the hue of the color and adjustment of the radial slide selects the saturation of the color.

13. A lighting device as claimed in claim 10, wherein rotation of the slider selects the saturation of the color and adjustment of the radial slide selects the hue of the color.

14. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing device comprises a ball comprised in a housing and means for detecting the orientation of the ball, the adjustment points being present on the surface of the ball and an adjustment point being selected by a user by means of a rotation of the ball.

15. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface of the sensing device is equipped with a mapping of adjustable colors and/or intensities.

16. A lighting device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the surface of the sensing device is transparent for visible light and the user interface is equipped with a source of white light for lighting the surface during operation.

17. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lighting device is equipped with means for periodically and automatically changing the color of the light, the color difference calculated in the CIELAB color space between subsequent color adjustments of the generated light being the same for each color change.

18. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjustment points correspond to light of different colors and the same intensity and wherein the user interface is further equipped with means for adjusting the intensity of the light at a number of levels, wherein the memory comprises a color table for each level of the intensity and wherein the user interface is further equipped with means for activating the color table corresponding to the adjusted level of the intensity.

19. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjustment points are formed by push buttons.

20. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjustment points are formed by membrane switches.

21. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a separate table and/or formula is used to determine the relation between adjustment points and elements of the color table.