Grouping Wireless Lighting Nodes According to a Building Room Layout

• US 20080218334A1
• Filed: 03/08/2006
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Pitchers, Stephen M., Simons, Paul R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/10 Controlling the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission

Abstract

A method for determining the relative locations of plural wirelessly controllable building service device nodes and switching control nodes within a building. At least some of the plural building service device nodes are located in different rooms of the building and should be allocated to switching control nodes on a room-specific basis. Wireless communication is established between the nodes to determine relative spatial positions of selected nodes using received signal strength indication (RSSI) values indicative of a distance of separation between two communicating nodes. The building service device nodes are then grouped into two or more groups, a first group corresponding to service device nodes in one of said different rooms and a second group corresponding to service device nodes in another of said different rooms, based on spatial distribution of service device nodes as indicated by the RSSI values, which are strongly affected by walls separating the rooms. The service device nodes of each group are then allocated to at least one associated switching control node.

Claims

1. A method for determining the relative locations of plural wirelessly-controllable building service device nodes (1 . . . 8) and switching control nodes (10, 11) within a building, at least some of the plural building service device nodes being located in different rooms of the building, comprising the steps of:

establishing wireless communication between the nodes to determine relative spatial positions of selected nodes using received signal strength indication (RSSI) values indicative of a distance of separation between two communicating nodes;

grouping the building service device nodes into two or more groups, a first group (22) corresponding to service device nodes (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) in a first one of said different rooms (13) and a second group (21) corresponding to service device nodes (5, 6) in a second one of said different rooms (12), based on spatial distribution of service device nodes as indicated by the RSSI values; and

allocating the service device nodes of each group to at least one associated switching control node.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the step of allocating includes the step of programming each node (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) of a first group of service device nodes to respond to one or more first switching control nodes (11) and programming each of node (5, 6) of the second group of service device nodes to respond to one or more second switching control nodes (10).

3. The method of claim 1 in which the step of allocating includes the step of programming one or more first switching control nodes (11) to control each node (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) of a first group of service device nodes and programming one or more second switching control nodes (10) to control each node (5, 6) of the second group of service device nodes.

4. The method of claim 2 in which the first switching node (11) is located in the first room (13) and the second switching node (10) is in the second room (12).

5. The method of claim 1 in which the step of grouping the building service device nodes (1 . . . 8) comprises determining a network topology based on the RSSI values and defining group boundaries where there are significantly larger gaps (20) between adjacent nodes than gaps between other adjacent nodes in the network topology.

6. The method of claim 5 in which the group boundaries are defined by gaps (20) between adjacent nodes that are significantly larger than an average separation between adjacent nodes.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the step of establishing wireless communication between nodes comprises measuring RSSI values for signals respectively between a designated node and each one of a plurality of building service device nodes within communication range of the designated node to determine a distance of separation between the designated node and each of the plurality of building service device nodes.

8. The method of claim 7 in which the designated node is a switching control node (10, 11) or a service device node (1 . . . 8).

9. The method of claim 7 in which the designated node is a gateway node to a building management system.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the step of establishing wireless communication between nodes (1 . . . 11) comprises instructing plural nodes in the network to determine a respective RSSI value for communication with a target node to thereby determine the relative position of the target node, and repeating this operation for other target nodes to thereby generate a topographic map (33) of all nodes in the network.

11. The method of claim 10 in which the step of grouping the building service device nodes (1 . . . 8) comprises comparing the generated topographic map (33) with a building services plan, and using differences between the node spacings in the topographic map and the building plan to establish the positions of room boundaries (15).

12. The method of claim 1 in which each building service device node (1 . . . 8) comprises a luminaire, and each switching control node (10, 11) comprises an on-off switch, a dimmer controller, a motion sensor, or a presence sensor.

13. The method of claim 1 in which each building service device node comprises any of a heating unit, a ventilation unit, or an air conditioning unit.

14. Apparatus for allocating plural wirelessly controllable building service device nodes (1 . . . 8) to appropriate switching control nodes (10, 11) within a building, at least some of the plural building service device nodes being located in different rooms of the building, comprising:

transceivers for establishing wireless communication between the nodes to determine relative spatial positions of selected nodes using received signal strength indication (RSSI) values indicative of a distance of separation between two communicating nodes;

a microprocessor (35) for grouping the lighting nodes into two or more groups, a first group (22) corresponding to service device nodes (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) in a first one of said different rooms (13) and a second group (21) corresponding to service device nodes (5, 6) in a second one of said different rooms (12), based on spatial distribution of lighting nodes as indicated by the RSSI values; and

allocation means (36) for allocating the lighting nodes of each group with at least one associated switching control node.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the allocation means (36) includes a configuration module for sending configuration signals to the building service device nodes to program each node (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) of the first group of service device nodes to respond to one or more first switching control nodes (11) and to program each node (5, 6) of the second group of service device nodes to respond to one or more second switching control nodes (10).

16. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the allocation means (36) includes a configuration module for sending configuration signals to one or more first switching control nodes (11) to control each node (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) of the first group of service device nodes and to one or more second switching control nodes (10) to control each node (5, 6) of the second group of service device nodes.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the microprocessor includes means for determining a network topology based on the RSSI values and defining group boundaries where there are significantly larger gaps (20) between adjacent nodes than gaps between other adjacent nodes in the network topology.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the group boundaries are defined by gaps (20) between adjacent nodes that are significantly larger than an average separation between adjacent nodes.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the microprocessor is adapted to generate a topographic map (33) of all nodes in the network.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the microprocessor is adapted to compare the generated topographic map (33) with a building services plan, and use differences between the node spacings in the topographic map and the building plan to establish the positions of room boundaries (15).

21. A switching control node (11) for switching wirelessly controllable lighting nodes (1 . . . 8) in a building, and for automatically selecting lighting nodes for allocation to the switching control node where at least some of the plural lighting nodes are located in different rooms (12, 13) of the building, comprising:

a transceiver (31) for establishing wireless communication between the nodes to determine relative spatial positions of selected nodes using received signal strength indication (RSSI) values indicative of a distance of separation between two communicating nodes;

a microprocessor for grouping the lighting nodes into two or more groups, a first group (22) corresponding to lighting nodes in one of said different rooms (13) and a second group (21) corresponding to lighting nodes in another of said different rooms, based on spatial distribution of lighting nodes as indicated by the RSSI values; and

allocation means (36) for allocating the lighting nodes (1 . . . 4, 7, 8) of the first group for operation by at least one associated switching control node and for not allocating the lighting nodes (5, 6) of the second group.