DISTRIBUTED LIGHTING CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20110175553A1
• Filed: 03/29/2011
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm MEMS Technologies Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sampsell, Jeffrey B.
• Application Number:
  US13/075,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20110175553A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/312
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control

Abstract

The Distributed Lighting Control System (DLCS) is based upon a distributed lighting system, which imbeds luminaire devices in structural materials such as ceiling tiles and wallboard. Each luminaire device is attached to a power network, and each luminaire device includes, or is directly associated with, an electronic circuit component that controls the activation and operation of the luminaire. In normal operation the power network is energized based on signals conveyed to the circuit through wireless means or through signals imposed upon the power grid. Said signals are generated by the DLCS-controller, which is resident within the structure that contains the DLCS.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one controller including

a controller communication device,

and an interface configured to receive input; and

at least one luminaire assembly including

a luminaire communication device configured to receive information from the controller communication device, and

at least one luminaire including at least one light emitting diode,

wherein the at least one luminaire assembly is associated with a unique identifier, and wherein the at least one luminaire assembly is configured to receive energy from a direct current power grid.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the luminaire communication device and the controller communication device are configured for bi-directional communication such that the luminaire communication device can send information to, and receive information from, the controller communication device and such that the controller communication device can send information to, and receive information from, the luminaire communication device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller further includes a computer readable medium and instructions stored on the computer readable medium configured to enable communication between the at least one controller and the at least one luminaire.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one luminaire assembly includes a circuit.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the circuit includes a microprocessor.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the unique identifier is electronically embedded in the circuit.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the unique identifier is a serial number.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the serial number is indicated by a machine-readable format

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the serial number is indicated by a human-readable format.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is in communication with one or more non-luminaire devices.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more non-luminaire devices are selected from the group consisting of remote controls, computer-based software applications, handheld computing devices, PDAs, smart-phones, light level sensors, and storage devices.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one controller is in communication with a remote control configured to receive user commands and transmit the user commands to the at least one controller.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one controller is in communication with one or more light level sensors, the at least one controller configured to receive light level information from the one or more light level sensors and to send commands to the at least one luminaire assembly based at least in part on the received light level information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the commands sent to the at least one luminaire assembly are based at least in part on a change in the received light level information.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one controller is in communication with an external building management system and the at least one controller is configured to provide the received light level information to the external building management system.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is configured to select one of a steady-state current mode of operation and a pulse-width-modulating operation for the at least one luminaire.

17. A method comprising:

obtaining a unique identifier associated with each of a plurality of luminaires located in a distributed lighting system;

assigning each luminaire of the plurality of luminaires a universal identifier;

organizing the plurality of the luminaires into at least one lighting group;

assigning each luminaire of the plurality of luminaires at least one group identifier representative of a physical or task-based grouping of the plurality of luminaires;

querying a portion of the plurality of luminaries regarding the capabilities of each of the queried luminaires;

receiving information from each of the queired luminaires regarding each queried luminaire'"'"'s capabilities; and

sending a command from a controller to the one or more of the plurality of luminaires based on at least one of a unique identifier, the universal identifier, and a group identifier,

wherein the controller can selectively control desired luminaires through the use of at least one of the unique identifiers, the universal identifier, and a group identifier.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the information received from each of the queried luminaires includes address, payload and identifier information

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the command sent from the controller includes address, command, payload, and identifier information.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing the received luminaire capability information in a computer readable medium.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending a controller identifier to at least one luminaire of the plurality of luminaries, wherein the at least one luminaire sends all responses to the identified controller.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein obtaining the unique identifiers includes scanning each of the plurality of luminaires with a portable device and transmitting the unique identifiers associated with each of the plurality of luminaires to the controller.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein organizing each of the luminaires into at least one lighting group is a dynamic process.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising polling the plurality of luminaries for missing or non-functional luminaires and providing a notification of same.