ANIMAL-ADAPTED ILLUMINATION METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20110163694A1
• Filed: 09/16/2009
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Donners, Maurice Alexander Hugo
• Granted Patent: US 8,541,949 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/297
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 29/10 using light sources, e.g. lasers or flashing lights
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 31/002 Detecting animals in a given area
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1672 using sonic detecting means, e.g. a microphone operating in the audio frequency range

Abstract

An illumination method, comprising the steps of emitting (101) light suitable for providing illumination for human activities; detecting an animal indication signal (7) indicative of the presence of an animal (6); temporarily changing (105) at least one property of the light in response to the detected presence of the animal (6).

Claims

1. An illumination method, comprising the steps of:

emitting (101) light suitable for providing illumination for human activities;

detecting an animal indication signal (7) indicative of the presence of an animal (6);

temporarily changing (105) at least one property of said light in response to the detected presence of said animal (6).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said animal indication signal (7) is an acoustic signal generated by said animal (6).

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said acoustic signal (7) is an ultrasonic signal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of detecting an animal indication signal comprises the steps of:

acquiring (102) a signal (7);

comparing (103) said signal (7) with a predetermined set of characteristics indicating the presence of an animal (6); and

in case of a match between said signal (7) and said predetermined set of characteristics, classifying said signal (7) as an animal indication signal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said set of characteristics is indicative of the presence of a particular set of animal species;

and said step of classifying comprises classifying said signal (7) as an animal indication signal indicative of the presence of an animal belonging to said set of animal species.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of:

displaying information about said set of animal species.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of temporarily changing (105) comprises temporarily changing a color point of said light in such a way that the light intensity perceived by said animal (6) is reduced.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of temporarily changing (105) said at least one property of said light is only performed within predetermined time periods depending on an expected level of human activity within an illuminated area.

12. The control device (11) according to claim 1, wherein said processing circuitry (15;

26) is configured to temporarily change said at least one property of said light only within predetermined time periods depending on an expected level of human activity within an illuminated area.

15. A computer program module configured to perform the steps of the method according to claim 1 when run on processing circuitry comprised in the control device connectable to at least one light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) and at least one detector (2a-d;

12;

21), said control device (11) comprising;

a memory (14;

27) for storing a predetermined set of characteristics indicating the presence of an animal (6); and

processing circuitry (15;

26) configured to;

acquire a signal detected by said detector (2a-d;

12;

21);

compare said signal with said predetermined set of characteristics;

in case of a match between said signal and said predetermined set of characteristics, classify said signal as an animal indication signal; and

control said light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) to temporarily change at least one property of light emitted thereby in response to said animal indication signal.

9. A control device (11), connectable to at least one light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) and at least one detector (2a-d;

12;

21), said control device (11) comprising;

a memory (14;

27) for storing a predetermined set of characteristics indicating the presence of an animal (6); and

processing circuitry (15;

26) configured to;

acquire a signal detected by said detector (2a-d;

12;

21);

compare said signal with said predetermined set of characteristics;

in case of a match between said signal and said predetermined set of characteristics, classify said signal as an animal indication signal; and

control said light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) to temporarily change at least one property of light emitted thereby in response to said animal indication signal.

10. The control device (11) according to claim 9, wherein said set of characteristics is indicative of the presence of a particular set of animal species;

and said processing circuitry (15;

26) is configured to classify said signal (7) as an animal indication signal indicative of the presence of an animal (6) belonging to said set of animal species.

11. The control device (11) according to claim 9, wherein said processing circuitry (15;

26) is configured to temporarily change a color point of said light in such a way that the light intensity perceived by said animal (6) is reduced.

13. An illumination system (1a-d;

10;

20) comprising;

a light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) for emitting light suitable for providing illumination for human activities;

a detector (2a-d;

12;

21) for detecting an animal indication signal (7) indicative of the presence of an animal (6); and

a control device (11) according to claim 9 connected to said light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) and said detector (2a-d;

12;

21) for controlling said light-emitting device (3a-d;

13;

29a-d) to temporarily change at least one property of light emitted thereby in response to an animal indication signal detected by said detector (2a-d;

12;

21).

14. The illumination system according to claim 13, wherein said detector is an ultrasound detector (2a-d;

21) for detecting an ultrasonic signal generated by said animal (6).