LOAD CONTROL DEVICE USER INTERFACE AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT USING NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION (NFC)

• US 20140277805A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Electronics Company Incorporated (Lutron Electronics)
• Inventors: Browne, John C. Jr., Fricke, William Bryce, Henley, Sean, Rego, Ratan Dominic, Stevens, Robert D. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 10,135,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23161 Hand held terminal PDA displays machine control program when user is near that machine
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25187 Transmission of signals, medium, ultrasonic, radio
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25192 Infrared
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/196 characterised by user interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/1965 using handheld communication devices
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/1985 Creation of lighting zones or scenes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

An energy control network may include a number of load control devices, such as dimmer switches, multi-button selector switch, occupancy sensors, and remote controllers, among others. These load control devices may be configured for wireless communication. Other wireless devices, such as laptops, tablets, and “smart” cellular phones may be configured to communicate with the load control devices of the energy control network. The load control devices and the other wireless communication devices may also be configured for Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC may be used to provide a load control device with its initial default configuration and/or an application specific configuration. Also, NFC may be used to transfer a configuration from one load control device that may have become faulty, to a replacement load control device. And NFC may be used to provide and trigger commands that may cause a load control load device to operate in a predetermined manner.

Claims

1. A device operable for wireless communication, the device comprising:

a processor configured to;

select a load control device type based on a first input;

select a load control device database based, at least in part, on the load control device type; and

initiate a transfer of the selected load control device database via a low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

direct the transfer of the selected load control device database to a load control device corresponding to the selected device database.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a transmitter configured to communicate via the low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol is a near field communication protocol.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a transfer status of the selected load control device database.

6. The device of claim 2, wherein the load control device is a dimmer switch, an occupancy sensor, or a remote control device.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the selected load control device database is an initial load control device database.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

select a load control device configuration based on a second input, wherein the selection of the load control device database is further based on a third input, the load control device type, and the load control device configuration.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the third input corresponds to specific configured functions of the load control device.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the selected load control device database is a specific load control device database.

11. A first device operable for wireless communication, the first device comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a signal from a second device via a low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol; and

a processor configured to;

identify the second device based on information contained in the signal;

determine an access level for the second device based on the identified second device; and

display a user interface corresponding to the determined access level.

12. The first device of claim 11, wherein the information includes at least one of a custom integration string or an identification number of the second device.

13. The first device of claim 12, wherein the identification number is a serial number of the second device.

14. The first device of claim 12, wherein the second device is a load control device.

15. The first device of claim 14, wherein the load control device is a dimmer switch or a remote control device.

16. The first device of claim 11, wherein the low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol is a near field communication protocol.

17. The first device of claim 11, wherein the displayed user interface provides one or more user-commanded functions that correspond to the determined access level.

18. The first device of claim 17, wherein the second device is operable to perform the one or more user-commanded functions.

19. A first device, comprising:

a wireless receiver configured to;

receive a first signal via a low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol, the first signal including a first information; and

a processor configured to;

initiate the transmission of a second signal to a load control device upon receipt of the first signal, the second signal including a command causing the load control device to adjust electrical energy supplied to an electrical load.

20. The first device of claim 19, further comprising a wireless transmitter, wherein the second signal to the load control device is transmitted via the wireless transmitter.

21. The first device of claim 19, wherein the wireless receiver is further configured to receive the first signal from a second device.

22. The first device of claim 21, wherein the first information includes at least one of a custom integration string or an identification of the second device.

23. The first device of claim 22, wherein the identification of the second device is a serial number of the second device.

24. The first device of claim 21, wherein the second device is a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device.

25. The first device of claim 19, wherein the first device is a wireless control device.

26. The first device of claim 25, wherein the wireless control device is a smart cellular telephone.

27. The first device of claim 19, wherein the low data rate and close proximity wireless protocol is a near field communication protocol.

28. The first device of claim 19, wherein the load control device is a dimmer switch and the electrical load is a luminary device.

29. The first device of claim 19, wherein the second signal to the load control device is sent via a wireless Internet Packet (IP) based protocol.

30. The first device of claim 29, wherein the IP based protocol is at least of a Wi-Fi protocol or a proprietary IP based protocol.

31. The first device of claim 19, wherein the second signal to the load control device is conveyed via a third device.

32. The first device of claim 27, wherein the wireless receiver is further configured to receive the first signal from a second device, the second device configured such that the first signal including the first information is sent from the second device upon detection of radio frequency energy corresponding to the near field communication protocol.

33. The first device of claim 32, wherein the radio frequency energy corresponding to the near field communication protocol is produced by the first device.

34. The first device of claim 27, wherein the first device is further configured to send the second signal to the load control device upon receiving the first signal via the near field communication protocol.