ILLUMINATION DEVICE

• US 20120019165A1
• Filed: 07/21/2011
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IRIS Ohyama Incorporated (Oyama KK)
• Original Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Osawa, Hideharu, Igaki, Masaru, Tsuchikawa, Takuya
• Granted Patent: US 8,830,067 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/294
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/91 Remote control based on location and proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/125 by using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

The illumination device disclosed in the present specification has a light source, a touchless sensor for detecting proximity and movement of an object without contact, and a control unit for controlling the driving of the light source on the basis of an output of the touchless sensor.

Claims

1. An illumination device comprising:

a light source;

a touchless sensor for detecting proximity and movement of an object without contact; and

a control unit for controlling the driving of said light source on the basis of an output of said touchless sensor.

2. The illumination device according to claim 1, wherein

said control unit performs on/off control of said light source when said object is stationary for a predetermined time while in proximity to said touchless sensor.

3. The illumination device according to claim 1, wherein

said control unit performs dimmer control or toning control of said light source in accordance with a predetermined direction when said object is moved in the predetermined direction while in proximity to said touchless sensor.

4. The illumination device according to claim 3, wherein

said control unit

increases the light intensity of said light source when said object is moved in a first direction;

decreases the light intensity of said light source when said object is moved in a second direction;

increases the color temperature of said light source when said object is moved in a third direction; and

decreases the color temperature of said light source when said object is moved in a fourth direction.

5. The illumination device according to claim 4, wherein

said first direction and said second direction are mutually opposite directions;

said third direction and said fourth direction are mutually opposite directions; and

said first direction and said second direction, and said third direction and said fourth direction are mutually orthogonal.

6. The illumination device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a housing to which said light source and said touchless sensor are provided; and

an arm attached to said housing.

7. The illumination device according to claim 6, wherein

said touchless sensor is installed in the vicinity of an arm attachment part to which said arm is attached.

8. The illumination device according to claim 1, wherein

said light source is attached to a ceiling, and said touchless sensor is attached to a wall surface.

9. The illumination device according to claim 1, wherein

said light source has at least one LED.

10. The illumination device according to claim 9, wherein

said LED comprises a plurality of LED elements having different emission colors;

and

said control unit controls driving of the LED elements individually for each color.

11. The illumination device according to claim 1, wherein

said touchless sensor comprises:

a plurality of light emitters from which light is emitted in sequence, the light emitters being provided in mutually different positions;

a single light receiver for detecting each reflected light incident in sequence, the reflected light having been emitted in sequence from said plurality of light emitters and reflected by said object; and

a reflected light intensity information generator for generating a plurality of reflected light intensity information indicating the intensity of each reflected light detected by said light receiver;

wherein

said control unit receives said plurality of reflected light intensity information generated by said reflected light intensity information generator and determines the proximity and movement of said object.

12. The illumination device according to claim 11, wherein

said control unit computes a phase difference of an intensity variation between each reflected light and determines the movement of said object on the basis of the computed result.

13. The illumination device according to claim 12, wherein

said plurality of reflected light intensity information includes first reflected light intensity information for indicating the intensity of a first reflected light that reaches said light receiver from a first light emitter via said object;

second reflected light intensity information for indicating the intensity of a second reflected light that reaches said light receiver from a second light emitter via said object; and

third reflected light intensity information for indicating the intensity of a third reflected light that reaches said light receiver from a third light emitter via said object; and

said control unit acquires the absolute values of each of at least two phase differences among the phase difference of an intensity variation between said first reflected light and said second reflected light, the phase difference of an intensity variation between said first reflected light and said third reflected light, and the phase difference of an intensity variation between said second reflected light and said third reflected light, and determines the movement axis of said object on the basis of a size relationship between the acquired absolute values.

14. The illumination device according to claim 13, wherein

said control unit determines the movement direction of said object on said movement axis on the basis of the positive or negative sign of the phase difference whose absolute value is determined to be the larger among two phase differences whose absolute values are compared.

15. The illumination device according to claim 11, wherein

each of said plurality of light emitters is an infrared LED for emitting infrared light.

16. The illumination device according to claim 11, wherein

said plurality of light emitters is provided at vertex positions of a regular polygon;

and

said light receiver is provided at the center of gravity of said regular polygon.

17. The illumination device according to claim 16, wherein

said regular polygon is an equilateral triangle.

18. The illumination device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an image-capturing unit for capturing an image of a specific imaging region;

wherein

said control unit performs movement detection using said touchless sensor and face detection using said image-capturing unit, and controls the driving of said light source on the basis of the results of both types of detection.