LIGHTING SYSTEM WITH LIGHTING UNITS USING OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
First Claim
1. A lighting system, comprisinga plurality of lighting units, each lighting unit comprisinga lighting element for generating light,a lighting control unit for controlling the light output of said lighting element,a communication unit for sending and receiving communication signals over a communication medium,an optical receiver to receive the light from other lighting units, anda controller unit connected to said optical receiver, communication unit, and lighting control unit.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lighting system and a method of operating the lighting system are described. A plurality of lighting units (10, 10′) each comprise, a lighting element (12) with a lighting control unit (14) for controlling its light output, and a communication unit (16, 16′) for communicating over a communication medium, e.g. RF or power line communication. The units (10, 10′) further have an optical receiver (18) for receiving light from other lighting units (10, 10′). A controller unit (20) is connected to the optical receiver (18), the communication unit (16, 16′) and the lighting control unit (14). In order to allow easy, automated set-up, at least in a configuration phase, the lighting units (10, 10′) send information by operating the lighting elements (12) in a modulated manner, and this information is received by a further lighting unit (10, 10′) observing the generated light. According to a first aspect, the lighting units (10, 10′) are grouped in clusters by turning on the lighting element (12) in a first lighting unit and generating cluster information depending on whether or not the emitted light is observed by further lighting units. According to a second aspect, lighting units (10, 10′) form a communications network and communicate with a joining lighting unit (66) by transmitting code data (78a, 78b) by operating the lighting element (12) according to a modulation sequence, and then transmitting configuration data (80) over the communication medium encrypted with the code data (78a, 78b).
-
Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A lighting system, comprising
a plurality of lighting units, each lighting unit comprising a lighting element for generating light, a lighting control unit for controlling the light output of said lighting element, a communication unit for sending and receiving communication signals over a communication medium, an optical receiver to receive the light from other lighting units, and a controller unit connected to said optical receiver, communication unit, and lighting control unit.
-
6. A method of controlling a lighting system
said lighting system comprising a plurality of lighting units (10, 10′ - ), each of said lighting units comprising
a lighting element for generating light, a communication unit for communicating over a communication medium, and an optical receiver to receive light from other lighting units where said lighting units communicate over said communication medium, and where, at least in a configuration phase, at least one of said lighting units sends information by operating said lighting element in a controlled manner, and at least one further lighting unit receives said information by observing said generated light. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
- ), each of said lighting units comprising
Specification