INTEGRATION OF COMPUTING DEVICE AND LIGHTING SYSTEM

• US 20110202151A1
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WTEC GmbH
• Original Assignee: Redwood Systems, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Covaro, Mark, Leonard, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,706,271 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/90
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A system may communicate between a display device and a lighting system using light generated by the display device and a light sensor in the lighting system. A computing device and a building control system may communication over a wireless link. The building control system may determine that the computing device is co-located with a fixture in the building control system based on whether communication over the wireless link between the computing device and the building control system is detected.

Claims

1. A lighting system comprising:

a light sensor configured to detect a visible light signal emitted by a display device, wherein a light fixture is associated with the light sensor; and

a control unit configured to set an output light level of the light fixture and to receive information from the display device via the light sensor, wherein the information is embedded in the visible light signal emitted by the display device.

2. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the information from the display device comprises an indication of the output light level.

3. A tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions, the computer executable instructions executable with a processor in a computing device, the computer-readable medium comprising:

instructions executable to communicate with a building control system over a wireless link from the computing device, wherein whether the computing device is in communication with the building control system over the wireless link is indicative of whether the computing device is co-located with a fixture included in the building control system; and

instructions executable to transmit an indication of a target output level of an output of the building control system from the computing device to the building control system based on a determination that the computing device and the sensor are co-located.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the fixture comprises a light fixture and the target output level is indicative of an output light level of the light fixture.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the target output level comprises a target temperature for a physical area in which the fixture is located.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 further comprising instructions executable to receive a fixture identifier over the wireless link at the computing device from the building control system, wherein the instructions executable to transmit the indication of the target output level further comprise instructions executable to transmit the fixture identifier and the indication of the target output level over a data network different from the wireless link.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 further comprising instructions included in a screen saver application executable to transmit user activity information from the computing device to the building control system.

8. A building control system comprising:

a sensor configured to detect a signal emitted by a computing device; and

a processor configured to determine that the sensor and the computing device are co-located based on a detection of the signal by the sensor, the processor being further configured to receive an identity of the computing device from the computing device based on the sensor and the computing device being co-located.

9. The building control system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a physical location of the computing device from a location of the sensor based on the sensor and the computing device being co-located.

10. The building control system of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of sensors, wherein the processor is further configure to track a location of the computing device based on a determination of which of the sensors the computing device is co-located with.

11. The building control system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to track a location of a user based on receipt by the processor of a user identifier indicating the user is logged into the computing device.

12. The building control system of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of sensors, wherein the sensor is a first one of the sensors, and the processor is further configured to determine that the computing device is co-located with the first one of the sensors based on the signal at the first one of the sensors being stronger than at the other sensors.

13. The building control system of claim 8, wherein a user preference is associated with the identity of the computing device, and the processor is further configured to set a light level in a lighting area illuminated by a light fixture based on the user preference.

14. The building control system of claim 13, wherein the processor determines the fixture and the sensor are associated based on receipt, by the processor, of information from the sensor over conductors that power the light fixture.

15. A method for integrating a computing device and a building control system, the method comprising:

determining with a processor in the building control system that the computing device is co-located with a fixture in the building control system based on whether communication over a wireless link between the computing device and the building control system is detected; and

receiving an indication of a target output level from the computing device with the processor based on the computing device being co-located with the fixture, the target output level being for an output of the building control system in an area in which the fixture is located.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising associating an identity of a user of the computing device with the fixture based on the computing device being co-located with the light fixture.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the fixture and the computing device are co-located comprises transmitting a code over the wireless link in a signal generated by a signal emitter associated with the fixture, the signal detectable with a sensor in the computing device, and receiving the code from the computing device over a data network with the processor.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising determining a physical location of the fixture with the processor from data received by the processor from the computing device.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising adjusting the output of the building control system to match the target output level in the area in which the fixture is located.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising mapping the computing device to a group of fixtures closest to the computing device.