Lighting Unit with Near Field Communication, Integrated Circuit and Methods therefor
First Claim
1. A lighting unit comprising:
- a microcontroller; and
a near field communication, NFC, -enabled embedded device comprising shared NFC memory configured to be written to and read from by both an external NFC reader/writer using near field communication and the microcontroller and configured to enable an operation of the lighting unit to be both monitored and controlled using NFC;
wherein the microcontroller comprises or is coupled to a metering circuit configured to measure a power usage for the lighting unit and store the measured power usage in the shared NFC memory; and
wherein the stored power usage for the lighting unit is accessible by the external NFC reader/writer for use in at least one of;
a billing system, a lighting unit testing or lighting unit component testing operation, in a calibration of a metering function.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A lighting unit is described comprising: a microcontroller; and a near field communication (NFC)-enabled embedded device comprising NFC shared memory configured to be written to by both an external NFC reader/writer using near field communication and the microcontroller and configured to enable an operation of the lighting unit to be both monitored and controlled using NFC. In this manner, the operation of a lighting unit may be monitored using NFC and controlled by using one of two approaches, such as via a microcontroller within the lighting unit and/or a near field communication, NFC, via the NFC-enabled embedded device; wherein the microcontroller comprises or is coupled to a metering circuit configured to measure a power usage for the lighting unit and store the measured power usage in the shared NFC memory; and wherein the stored power usage for the lighting unit is accessible by the external NFC reader/writer for use in at least one of: a billing system, a lighting unit testing or lighting unit component testing operation, in a calibration of a metering function.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A lighting unit comprising:
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a microcontroller; and a near field communication, NFC, -enabled embedded device comprising shared NFC memory configured to be written to and read from by both an external NFC reader/writer using near field communication and the microcontroller and configured to enable an operation of the lighting unit to be both monitored and controlled using NFC; wherein the microcontroller comprises or is coupled to a metering circuit configured to measure a power usage for the lighting unit and store the measured power usage in the shared NFC memory; and wherein the stored power usage for the lighting unit is accessible by the external NFC reader/writer for use in at least one of;
a billing system, a lighting unit testing or lighting unit component testing operation, in a calibration of a metering function. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An integrated circuit for a lighting unit comprising:
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a microcontroller; and a near field communication, NFC, -enabled embedded device comprising NFC shared memory configured to be written to by both an external NFC reader/writer using near field communication and the microcontroller to control an operation of the lighting unit; wherein the microcontroller comprises or is coupled to a metering circuit configured to measure a power usage for the lighting unit and store the measured power usage in the shared NFC memory; and wherein the stored power usage for the lighting unit is accessible by the external NFC reader/writer for use in at least one of;
a billing system, a lighting unit testing or lighting unit component testing operation, in a calibration of a metering function.
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15. A method for controlling an operation of a lighting unit that comprises a microcontroller;
- and a near field communication, NFC-enabled embedded device comprising NFC shared memory, the method comprising;
configuring the NFC shared memory to be written to and read from by both the microcontroller and an external NFC reader/writer using near field communication; writing operational data of the lighting unit to the NFC shared memory by the microcontroller; reading the operational data of the lighting unit from the NFC shared memory by the external NFC reader/writer using near field communication; measuring a power usage for the lighting unit; and storing the measured power usage in the shared NFC memory so that the measured power usage is accessible by the external NFC reader/writer for use in at least one of;
a billing system, a lighting unit testing or lighting unit component testing operation, in a calibration of a metering function. - View Dependent Claims (16)
- and a near field communication, NFC-enabled embedded device comprising NFC shared memory, the method comprising;
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17. A near field communication, NFC, system comprising:
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an external near field communication, NFC, reader/writer; a lighting unit comprising; a microcontroller; and a NFC-enabled embedded device comprising NFC shared memory configured to be written to by both the external NFC reader/writer and the microcontroller to control an operation of the lighting unit; wherein the microcontroller comprises or is coupled to a metering circuit configured to measure a power usage for the lighting unit and store the measured power usage in the shared NFC memory; and wherein the stored power usage for the lighting unit is accessible by the external NFC reader/writer for use in at least one of;
a billing system, a lighting unit testing or lighting unit component testing operation, in a calibration of a metering function. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification