APPARATUS AND METHOD OF ENERGY EFFICIENT ILLUMINATION USING RECEIVED SIGNALS
First Claim
1. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source and at least one controller, the method comprising:
- from time-to-time, detecting a level of light in an ambient environment;
comparing by the at least one controller the detected level of light in the ambient environment to a first threshold;
validating by the at least one controller a result of the comparison of the detected level of light in the ambient environment to the first threshold with respect to at least one expected condition; and
adjusting by the at least one controller an output of the at least one light source if both the detected level of light in the ambient environment at least satisfies the first threshold and the result of the comparison is valid with respect to the at least one expected condition.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Illumination sources are turned ON and turned OFF in response to detected levels of illumination in an ambient environment reaching respective thresholds, which may be user set. The detection of these turn ON and turn OFF events is verified, for instance against expected events or conditions for the particular location, date and/or time. An alert or log entry may be generated if a detected event or condition appears to be invalid. For instance, if an amount of illumination in the environment is different than predicted by a threshold amount or if a time that the event occurs or is detected is different than expected or predicted by more than a threshold amount. A level of illumination may be decreased to some non-zero level after a specified time after turn ON, and increased at some specified time before turnOFF. Use of information from external sources (e.g., satellites, cell towers) may allow times to be using local time, including daylight savings if applicable.
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Citations
72 Claims
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1. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source and at least one controller, the method comprising:
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from time-to-time, detecting a level of light in an ambient environment; comparing by the at least one controller the detected level of light in the ambient environment to a first threshold; validating by the at least one controller a result of the comparison of the detected level of light in the ambient environment to the first threshold with respect to at least one expected condition; and adjusting by the at least one controller an output of the at least one light source if both the detected level of light in the ambient environment at least satisfies the first threshold and the result of the comparison is valid with respect to the at least one expected condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system to control illumination, the system comprising:
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at least one controller that; from time-to-time, receives a signal indicative of a level of light in an ambient environment; compares the detected level of light in the ambient environment to an expected level of light for at least one of a current time or a current location; compares the detected level of light in the ambient environment to a first threshold; validates a result of the comparison of the detected level of light in the ambient environment to the first threshold with respect to at least one expected condition; and adjusts an output of the at least one light source if both the detected level of light in the ambient environment at least satisfies the first threshold and the result of the comparison is valid with respect to the at least one expected condition. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source, the method comprising:
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determining by a controller, an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time; comparing by the controller, an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment at the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition; and in response to determining an existence of a difference between the actual ambient environment illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, producing by the controller, at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A system to control illumination, comprising:
at least one controller that; determines an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time; compares an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment a the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition; and in response to a determination that a difference between the actual ambient environmental illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, produces at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source, the method comprising:
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receiving a signal by a controller from an external source, the signal indicative of at least one of a current location of the illumination system, a current date or a current time; and controlling a level of illumination produced by the at least one light source based at least in part on at least one of the current location of the illumination system, the current date or the current time. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68)
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69. A system to control illumination, comprising:
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at least one antenna; at least one receiver communicatively coupled to the at least one antenna to receive signals from an external source, the signals indicative of at least one of a current location of the illumination system, a current date or a current time; and at least one controller communicatively coupled to the at least one receiver to receive information therefrom, and which controls a level of illumination produced by the at least one light source based at least in part on at least one of the current location of the illumination system, the current date or the current time. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72)
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Specification