LEARNING CAPABLE LIGHTING EQUIPMENT

• US 20150296594A1
• Filed: 04/14/2014
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Blum, Darren, AGGARWAL, Januk, England, John, ENGEL-HALL, Aaron, LU, Min-Hao Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,795,004 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/105 in response to determined parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/12 by detecting audible sound
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A lighting device or system is configured to control of one or more parameters of light output, such as ON/OFF status, intensity when ON, color characteristics and position or orientation of light output (e.g. via a motorized luminaire control). The device or system may have other output capability, e.g. display projection or audio. Sensors or other input devices are responsive to the user. Responsive to user input, sensed activity, and/or acquired information, the device or system, controls a light source in accordance with a lighting control function. Operation of the light source and the lighting control function may be modified based on learning by the device or system.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a source of light, the source of light being configured to output visible light in a manner permitting control of a plurality of parameters of the visible light output, responsive to control by the processor;

a sensor configured to detect a condition in a space illuminated by the system, the condition relating to an activity of an occupant when within the space, and to provide a condition responsive input to the processor;

a data communication interface, controlled by the processor, configured for communication of data from and to the system over a network;

a storage device accessible by the processor; and

a program in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the system to implement functions, including functions to;

identify the occupant;

retrieve a profile of the identified occupant, the profile including a lighting control function established for the identified occupant;

operate the light source to illuminate the space while the identified occupant is in the space, including control of at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the lighting control function established for the identified occupant;

access information about the identified occupant from an on-line service, via communication over the network, to determine a status of the identified occupant for the on-line service;

process the condition responsive signal from the sensor to determine an activity status of the identified occupant while in the space; and

based on at least one of the determined statuses of the identified occupant, adjust the control of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the lighting control function established for the identified occupant.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the function to adjust control comprises a function to modify the lighting control function established for the identified occupant based on a combination of both determined statuses.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the system is configured to control an environmental condition in the space;

the retrieved profile includes a control function established for the identified occupant with respect to the environmental condition; and

execution of the program by the processor, configures the system to implement further functions, including functions to;

control of the environmental condition in accordance with the environmental control function established for the identified occupant; and

based on at least one of the determined statuses of the identified occupant, adjust the control of the environmental condition.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to detect, as the condition, one or more conditions selected from the group consisting of:

an image of the space;

audio within the space;

motion of the occupant within the space; and

light from the occupant within the space.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a learning module configured to implement the function to adjust the control of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output based upon previously determined statuses in response to previous light source operation or control adjustment.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the learning module comprises a neural network;

the neural network receives the currently determined statuses and the previously determined statuses as input;

the neural network produces a weight corresponding to each of the currently determined statuses based on the previously determined statuses; and

the function to adjust the control of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output is based on at least one of the currently determined statuses and corresponding weight.

7. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a source of light, the source of light being configured to output visible light in a manner permitting control of a plurality of parameters of the visible light output, responsive to control by the processor;

a sensor configured to detect a condition in a space illuminated by the system, the condition relating to an activity of at least one of a plurality of occupants when the occupants are within the space, and to provide a condition responsive input to the processor;

a data communication interface, controlled by the processor, configured for communication of data from and to the system over a network;

a storage device accessible by the processor; and

a program in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the system to implement functions, including functions to;

identify at least one of the plurality of occupants;

for each identified occupant;

retrieve a profile of the identified occupant, the profile including a lighting control function established for the identified occupant;

determine a control setting for at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output from the lighting control function established for the identified occupant;

access information about the identified occupant from an on-line service, via communication over the network, to determine a status of the identified occupant for the on-line service;

process the condition responsive signal from the sensor to determine an activity status of the identified occupant while in the space; and

based on at least one of the determined statuses of the identified occupant, adjust the control setting of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in the lighting control function established for the identified occupant; and

operate the light source and adjust the control of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with a composite lighting control function based on each identified occupant'"'"'s contribution to a composite operation of the light source and a composite adjustment to the control setting of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with each identified occupant'"'"'s adjusted lighting control function.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the function to adjust the control setting for each identified occupant comprises a function to modify the lighting control function established for the identified occupant based on a combination of both determined statuses for the identified occupant.

9. The system of claim 7, further wherein:

each retrieved profile includes a respective weight; and

each identified occupant'"'"'s contribution to the composite operation of the light source and the composite adjustment to the control setting of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the composite lighting control function is based on the respective weight.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the retrieved profile with the greatest corresponding weight controls the composite operation of the light source and the composite adjustment to the control of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the composite lighting control function.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the contribution of each identified occupant is further based on a weighted utility function for each identified occupant and the maximization or minimization of a composite utility function including the weighted utility function for each identified occupant.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein further execution of the program by the processor further configures the system to implement further functions, including functions to:

for any unidentified occupant, retrieve a default profile, the default profile including a default lighting control function;

determine a control setting for at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the default lighting control function;

process the condition responsive signal from the sensor to determine an activity status of any unidentified occupant while in the space;

based on the activity status of any unidentified occupant, adjust the control setting of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the default lighting control function; and

operate the light source and adjust the control of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output based on each unidentified occupant'"'"'s contribution to the composite operation of the light source and the composite adjustment to the control setting of the at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the composite lighting control function.

13. The system of claim 7, further comprising a learning module configured to, based on previously determined statuses, previous operations, previous adjustments and previous contributions, influence the contribution of each identified occupant to the composite lighting control function.

14. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a source of light, the source of light being configured to output visible light in a manner permitting control of a plurality of parameters of the visible light output, responsive to control by the processor;

a sensor configured to detect a condition in a space illuminated by the system, the condition relating to an activity of an occupant when within the space, and to provide a condition responsive input to the processor;

a user input element, for providing user input for processing to the processor;

a storage device accessible by the processor;

a program in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the system to implement functions, including functions to;

identify a user as the occupant of the space illuminated by the system;

operate the light source to illuminate the space while the identified occupant is in the space, including control of at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with a predetermined lighting control function;

while illuminating the space, receive an input from at least one of;

the identified occupant representing a desired change of at least one of the parameters of the visible light output via the user input element; and

the sensor representing an activity status of the identified occupant while in the space based upon the condition responsive input to the processor;

modify the predetermined lighting control function responsive to the received input in accordance with the received input;

store the modified lighting control function in association with an identification of the occupant in the storage device, as a profile established for the identified occupant;

while the identified occupant is in the space, use the identification of the occupant to retrieve the stored profile; and

use the retrieved profile to operate the light source to illuminate the space while the identified occupant is in the space, including control of at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the modified lighting control function.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user input element is at least one of:

a control panel responsive to tactile input;

a capacitive sensor;

a microphone responsive to audio input;

a camera or image sensor responsive to motion; and

programming in the storage device responsive to user input via a computer, a tablet, a smartphone or other electronic device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the user input element is integral to the space illuminated by the system.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the user input element is an application executing on a tablet, a smartphone or other electronic device; and

the application communicates with the processor over a network via a data communication interface of the system.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the sensor is configured to detect, as the condition, one or more conditions selected from the group consisting of:

an image of the space;

audio within the space;

motion of the occupant within the space; and

light from the occupant within the space.

19. The system of claim 14, further comprising a learning module configured to implement the function to modify the predetermined lighting control function responsive to the received input based upon previously received inputs.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the learning module comprises a neural network;

the neural network receives the received input and previously received inputs;

the neural network produces a weight corresponding to the received input based on the previously received inputs; and

the function to modify the predetermined lighting control function responsive to the received input is based on the received input and corresponding weight.

21. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a source of light, the source of light being configured to output visible light in a manner permitting control of a plurality of parameters of the visible light output, responsive to control by the processor;

a storage device accessible by the processor; and

a program in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the system to implement functions, including functions to;

identify at least one of the plurality of occupants;

for each identified occupant;

retrieve a profile of the identified occupant, the profile including a lighting control function established for the identified occupant; and

determine a control setting for at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the lighting control function established for the identified occupant; and

operate the light source based on each identified occupant'"'"'s contribution to a composite operation of the light source in accordance with a composite lighting control function.

22. The system of claim 21, further wherein:

each retrieved profile includes a respective weight; and

each identified occupant'"'"'s contribution to the composite operation of the light source in accordance with the composite lighting control function is based on the respective weight.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the identified occupant only contributes to the composite operation of the light source in accordance with the composite lighting control function when the corresponding occupant'"'"'s profile weight is the greatest.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the contribution of each identified occupant is further based on a weighted utility function for each identified occupant and the maximization or minimization of a composite utility function including the weighted utility function for each identified occupant.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein further execution of the program by the processor further configures the system to implement further functions, including functions to:

for any unidentified occupant, retrieve a default profile, the default profile including a default lighting control function;

determine a control setting for at least one of the plurality of parameters of the visible light output in accordance with the default lighting control function; and

operate the light source based on any unidentified occupant'"'"'s contribution to the composite operation of the light source in accordance with the composite lighting control function.

26. The system of claim 21, further comprising a learning module configured to, based on previous operations and previous contributions, influence the contribution of each identified occupant to the composite lighting control function.