LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM RESPONSIVE TO THE LOCATION OF AN OCCUPANT AND/OR MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20170038787A1
• Filed: 08/05/2016
• Published: 02/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Electronics Company Incorporated (Lutron Electronics)
• Inventors: Baker, Rhodes B., Camden, Richard S., Kumar, Sanjeev
• Granted Patent: US 10,599,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• 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

A load control system for controlling an electrical load in a space of a building occupied by an occupant may include a controller configured to determine the location of the occupant, and a load control device configured to automatically control the electrical load in response to the location of the occupant. The load control system may include a mobile device adapted to be located on or immediately adjacent the occupant and configured to transmit and receive wireless signals. The load control device may be configured to automatically control the electrical load when the mobile device is located in the space. The load control system may further comprise an occupancy sensor and the load control device may automatically control the electrical load when the occupancy sensor indicates that the space is occupied and the mobile device is located in the space.

Claims

1. A load control system for controlling an electrical load, the load control system comprising:

a beacon transmitting device configured to transmit a beacon signal including a unique identifier; and

a mobile device configured to;

receive the beacon signal and to determine a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the received beacon signal;

virtually link to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device if the RSSI of the received beacon signal is greater than a first threshold; and

transmit a digital message for controlling the electrical load according to the unique identifier of the beacon signal to which the mobile device is virtually linked;

wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually unlink from the beacon signal if the RSSI of the beacon signal drops below a second threshold less than the first threshold.

2. The load control system of claim 1, further comprising:

a system controller configured to determine a location of the mobile device.

3. The load control system of claim 2, wherein the mobile device is configured to transmit the unique identifier to the system controller, and the system controller is configured to determine the location of the mobile device in response to the unique identifier.

4. The load control system of claim 3, wherein the system controller is configured to transmit a location-based control element associated with the determined location to the mobile device.

5. The load control system of claim 4, wherein the mobile device comprises a visual display and is configured to display the location-based control element on the visual display.

6. The load control system of claim 5, further comprising:

a load control device configured to control the load in response to a selection of the location-based control element.

7. The load control system of claim 5, wherein a selection of the location-based control element allows for control of the electrical load.

8. The load control system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to receive beacon signals from a plurality of control devices and to determine the RSSIs of the received beacon signals.

9. The load control system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device is configured to store the unique identifier of the beacon signal as a favorite beacon signal.

10. The load control system of claim 9, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device if the RSSI of the received beacon signal is greater than the first threshold and the beacon signal is the favorite beacon signal.

11. The load control system of claim 10, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal of the favorite beacon signal stored in memory if the RSSI of the beacon signal is less than the RSSIs of the other received beacon signals.

12. The load control system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal having a highest RSSI of the received beacon signals.

13. The load control system of claim 1, wherein, when the mobile device has virtually linked to the beacon signal, other mobile devices are prevented from virtually linking to the beacon signal.

14. The load control system of claim 1, wherein the first threshold is a fixed level.

15. The load control system of claim 1, wherein the first threshold is a dynamic level.

16. A method for controlling an electrical load, the method comprising:

receiving a beacon signal of a beacon transmitting device, wherein the beacon signal includes a unique identifier;

determining a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the received beacon signal;

virtually linking to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device if the RSSI of the received beacon signal is greater than a first threshold;

transmitting a digital message for controlling the electrical load according to the unique identifier of the beacon signal that was virtually linked; and

virtually unlinking from the beacon signal based on the RSSI of the beacon signal dropping below a second threshold that is less than the first threshold.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting the unique identifier to a system controller; and

determining the location of a mobile device in response to the unique identifier.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transmitting a location-based control element associated with the determined location to the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

displaying the location-based control element on a visual display.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

controlling the electrical load in response to a selection of the location-based control element.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the selection of the location-based control element allows for control of the electrical load.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving beacon signals from a plurality of control devices; and

determining the RSSIs of the received beacon signals.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

storing the unique identifier of the beacon signal as a favorite beacon signal.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

virtually linking to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device if the RSSI of the received beacon signal is greater than the first threshold and the beacon signal is the favorite beacon signal.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

virtually linking to the beacon signal of the favorite beacon signal stored in memory if the RSSI of the beacon signal is less than the RSSIs of the other received beacon signals.

26. The load control system of claim 23, further comprising:

virtually linking to the beacon signal having a highest RSSI of the received beacon signals.

27. A load control system for controlling an electrical load, the load control system comprising:

a beacon transmitting device configured to transmit a beacon signal including a unique identifier; and

a mobile device configured to receive the beacon signal and to store the unique identifier of the beacon signal as a favorite beacon identifier in memory.

28. The load control system of claim 27, wherein the mobile device is configured to receive beacon signals from a plurality of control devices and to determine received signal strength indications (RSSIs) of the received beacon signals.

29. The load control system of claim 28, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device, the mobile device is configured to transmit a digital message for controlling the electrical load according to the unique identifier of the beacon signal to which the mobile device has virtually linked.

30. The load control system of claim 29, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device if the RSSI of the received beacon signal is greater than a first threshold.

31. The load control system of claim 30, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually unlink from the beacon signal if the RSSI of the received beacon signal is less than a first threshold.

32. The load control system of claim 31, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually unlink from the beacon signal if the RSSI of the beacon signal drops below a second threshold less than the first threshold.

33. The load control system of claim 29, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device if the beacon signal is the favorite beacon signal.

34. The load control system of claim 33, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal of the favorite beacon signal stored in memory even if the RSSI of the beacon signal is not greater than the RSSIs of the other received beacon signals.

35. The load control system of claim 29, wherein the mobile device is configured to virtually link to the beacon signal having a highest RSSI of the received beacon signals.

36. The load control system of claim 29, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide advanced control options for controlling the electrical load when the mobile device has virtually linked to the favorite beacon signal.

37. The load control system of claim 29, wherein the mobile device is configured to automatically control the electrical load when the mobile device virtually links to the favorite beacon signal.

38. The load control system of claim 28, wherein the mobile device is configured to:

track the RSSIs of the received beacon signals over a period of time;

determine whether the mobile device is located near a particular beacon signal greater than a predefined period of time; and

based on a determination that the mobile device is located near a particular beacon signal greater than a predefined period of time, store the unique identifier of that beacon signal as the favorite beacon signal.

39. The load control system of claim 28, wherein the mobile device is configured to determine that the mobile device is located near a particular beacon signal greater than a predefined period of time when the mobile device repetitively virtually links to that beacon signal.

40. The load control system of claim 27, wherein the mobile device is configured to store the unique identifier of the beacon signal as the favorite beacon signal in response to a manual user input received via a user interface of the mobile device.

41. A load control system for controlling an electrical load, the load control system comprising:

a beacon transmitting device configured to operate in a first mode of operation in which the beacon transmitting device transmits a beacon signal including a unique identifier; and

a mobile device configured to transmit and receive wireless signals, the mobile device configured to receive the beacon signal;

wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to operate in a second mode of operation in response to receiving a wireless signal.

42. The load control system of claim 41, wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to operate in a low-power mode in response to receiving the wireless signal.

43. The load control system of claim 42, wherein the beacon transmitting device comprises a battery for powering the beacon transmitting device, the beacon transmitting device configured to draw less current from the battery in the low-power mode.

44. The load control system of claim 43, wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to cease transmitting the beacon signals in the low-power mode.

45. The load control system of claim 43, wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to transmit the beacon signals at a lower power level in the low-power mode.

46. The load control system of claim 41, further comprising:

a system controller configured to transmit the wireless signal to the beacon transmitting device to cause the beacon transmitting device to operate in the second mode of operation.

47. The load control system of claim 46, wherein the system controller is configured to cause the beacon transmitting device to operate in the second mode of operation after the beacon transmitting device has been associated during a commissioning procedure of the load control system.

48. The load control system of claim 41, wherein the mobile device is configured to:

virtually link to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device; and

transmit a digital message for controlling the electrical load according to the unique identifier of the beacon signal to which the mobile device has virtually linked.

49. The load control system of claim 48, wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to operate in the second mode of operation when the mobile device has virtually linked to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device.

50. The load control system of claim 49, wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to include an indication in the beacon signal when operating in the second mode of operation.

51. The load control system of claim 50, wherein the indication indicates that the mobile device has virtually linked to the beacon signal of the beacon transmitting device.

52. The load control system of claim 49, wherein the beacon transmitting device is configured to operate in a low-power mode in response to receiving the wireless signal.

53. The load control system of claim 41, wherein the mobile device is configured to transmit the wireless signal to the beacon transmitting device to cause the beacon transmitting device to operate in the second mode of operation.