METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING AGGREGATE PRESENCE INFORMATION USING LIGHT

• US 20160143111A1
• Filed: 06/12/2014
• Published: 05/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: ALIAKSEYEU, DZMITRY VIKTOROVICH, DEKKER, TIM, VAN DE SLUIS, BARTEL MARINUS, NEWTON, PHILIP STEVEN
• Granted Patent: US 9,730,293 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 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/1965 using handheld communication devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed generally to lighting control, and more particularly, to various inventive methods, systems, computer-readable media (transitory and non-transitory) and apparatus for conveying aggregate presence information using light. For example, in some embodiments, output of a presence sensor over time may be aggregated, and an LED node may cause one or more LEDs to emit light having a property that conveys the aggregated captured output.

Claims

1. A lighting control apparatus comprising:

a presence sensor to sense a presence of an object and to provide responsive output;

an aggregator module to generate an aggregate presence value based on output of the presence sensor captured over a period of time; and

an output module to generate lighting instructions based on the aggregate presence value, wherein the lighting instructions are configured to cause one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) to emit a coded light signal that carries information indicative of the aggregate presence value or emit light having a hue selected to convey the aggregate presence value.

3. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the coded light signal further carries a timestamp.

6. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the aggregator module includes a capacitor that is charged while the presence sensor senses an object present, wherein a charge of the capacitor at a given time is representative of the aggregate presence value at that time.

7. The lighting control apparatus of claim 6, wherein the aggregator module includes a resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit that controls a rate at which the capacitor is charged.

8. The lighting control apparatus of claim 6, wherein the capacitor is discharged while the presence sensor does not sense an object present.

9. The lighting control apparatus of claim 8, wherein the aggregator module includes a resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit that controls a rate at which the capacitor is discharged.

10. The lighting control apparatus of claim 7, wherein one or more resistors in the RC circuit are adjustable to alter a charge rate of the capacitor.

11. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to store a counter, wherein the aggregator module is configured to increment the counter based on the responsive output of the presence sensor.

12. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a coded light sensor to receive coded light signals.

13. The lighting control apparatus of claim 12, wherein the output module is further configured to generate the lighting instructions in response to an instruction carried by a coded light signal received at the coded light sensor.

14. The lighting control apparatus of claim 12, wherein the aggregator module is further configured to reset the aggregate presence value in response to an instruction carried by a coded light signal received at the coded light sensor.

15. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the aggregator module includes a filter to limit an amount of responsive output of the presence sensor that is captured to generate the aggregate presence value.

16. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the output module is further configured to generate the lighting instructions just prior to the one or more LEDs being turned off.

17. The lighting control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the aggregator module is configured to count two or more instances of responsive output of the presence sensor within a predetermined time interval as a single instance of responsive output for purposes of generation of the aggregate presence value.

18. An LED node comprising one or more LEDs coupled with the lighting control apparatus of claim 1.

2. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

19. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive, via a light sensor, coded light emitted from a light emitting diode (LED) node;

demodulate the coded light to determine an aggregate presence value carried by the coded light signal that represents presence detected by the LED node over a period of time;

render, on a display, output indicative of the determined aggregate presence value.

21. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the output comprises a graphical indicator overlaying a rendition of the LED node on the display, the graphical indicator having a visual characteristic representative of the aggregate presence value.

20. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

24. (canceled)

25. A method of providing aggregate presence information, comprising:

sensing, by a light emitting diode (LED) node, presence of one or more objects;

charging, by the LED node, a capacitor while presence of one or more objects is sensed;

discharging, by the LED node, the capacitor while no presence is sensed; and

selectively illuminating, by the LED node based on a charge of the capacitor, one or more LEDs in a manner that conveys an aggregate presence value represented by the charge.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the selective illuminating comprises causing the one or more LEDs to emit a coded light signal that carries information indicative of the aggregate presence value.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving, by the LED node in a coded light signal, an instruction to perform the selective illumination.

26. (canceled)

28. (canceled)

29. (canceled)