Computer controlled lighting system having automatically variable position, color, intensity and beam divergence

• US 4,392,187 A
• Filed: 03/02/1981
• Issued: 07/05/1983
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vari-Lite, Inc. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Vari-Lite, Inc. (Signify N.V.)
• Inventors: Bornhorst, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Walsh, Donald P.
• Application Number:
  US06/239,367
• Time in Patent Office: 855 Days
• Field of Search: 362/3, 362/11, 362/16, 362/17, 362/18, 362/85, 362/125, 362/227, 362/231, 362/232, 362/233, 362/234, 362/236, 362/238, 362/239, 362/243, 362/250, 362/285, 362/286, 362/287 , 362/293, 362/296, 362/302, 362/319, 362/305, 362/386, 362/419, 364/525, 364/514, 364/400
• US Class Current: 362/233
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 10/02 changing colors F21S10/002 - F21S10/007, F21S10/04 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 2/00 Systems of lighting devices, not provided for in main groups F21S4/00 - F21S10/00 or F21S19/00, e.g. of modular construction
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 11/18 movable, e.g. flaps, slides
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 14/08 by movement of the screens or filters
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/30 Pivoted housings or frames
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/67 characterised by the arrangement of fans
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/677 the fans being used for discharging
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/04 of lens shape
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 9/40 with provision for controlling spectral properties, e.g. colour, or intensity
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/406 for theatres, stages or film studios
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/007 the movable or deformable optical element controlling the colour, i.e. a spectral characteristic, of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources

Abstract

A lighting system (10) is disclosed which includes a control panel (12) for operating a plurality of lights (14) by means of a single two conductor signal cable (18) and a power cable (20). Two embodiments (30, 110) of lights (14) are provided for use in the present lighting system. In the first embodiment, the light (30) includes four dichroic filters (58-64) mounted for pivotal motion on axes passing through the light path formed by light emanating from a lamp (50). The dichroic filters may be aligned with the light path, thereby eliminating the effect of the filters. The dichroic filters may be singly or in combination pivoted so that the light in the light path is incident on the dichroic filter at a predetermined angle to transmit a preselected color therethrough. Four primary color dichroic filters are employed. An integrating lens (100) is provided for homogenizing the color of the light. A projection lamp (50) may be employed with an elliptical mirror (52) which reflects light to converge at a focus (54). A collimating lens (56) is then used to align the light for passage through dimmer and douser units (94,90) and a focusing lens (104). The second embodiment (110) of the light (14) includes two color wheels (112,114) each having 32 apertures formed in their outer periphery. Thirty one of the apertures are filled with dichroic filters to permit a preselected color to be transmitted therethrough with one aperture left open for passing white light. A gobo wheel (126) and an intensity wheel (130) may also be provided. A zoom lens (134) may be provided. The lighting system (10) permits the color, intensity, divergence and pan and tilt of each of the lights to be adjusted from the control panel (12) for each cue in a show. The settings for each cue during a show may be stored in a memory and recalled to set the variable functions of each light when desired.

Claims

1. A lighting system comprising:

a plurality of light surces for producing directable beams of light, each said light source pivotally mounted to a support member;

at least one dichroic filter pivotally mounted for pivotal motion in each said light beam for transmitting light of a preselected color, the angle of incidence of the light on the dichroic filter being variable to alter the saturation and hue of light transmitted as the dichroic filter is pivoted;

means for pivoting each said dichroic filter;

pivoting means for pivoting each said light source to a preselected position;

controller means for input of information including unique coded addresses each representing a different selected one of said light sources and data representing the preselected position and color of said selected one of said light sources;

transmitter means for transmitting the information;

a communications channel coupled to said transmitter means for carrying all of said information; and

receiver means coupled at spaced apart locations to said communications channel and associated with each of said light sources for receiving the information and reading the coded addresses, each said receiver means responsive to only one of coded addresses for reading the positioning and color data and activating said pivoting means to pivot said selected one of said light sources to the preselected position and further controlling said dichroic filter pivoting means to select the desired color of the light beam.

2. The lighting system of claim 1 further comprising means for storing the information input to said controller means, the information being recalled by said controller means to pivot said selected one of said light sources to the preselected position upon input of a recall command.

3. The lighting system of claim 1 further comprising dimmer means for varying the intensity of the light beam from said light sources, the input information including data representing the desired intensity for said selected one of said light sources, said receiver means activating said dimmer means to vary the intensity of the light beam to the desired level.

4. The lighting system of claim 3 wherein said dimmer means is capable of varying the intensity of the light beam until the light beam is blocked.

5. The lighting system of claim 1 further comprising means for varying the divergence of the light beam from said light sources, the input information including data representing the desired divergence for said selected one of said light sources and said receiver means activating said means for varying the divergence to provide the desired divergence to the light beam of said selected one of said light sources.

25. The lighting system of claim 1 and further comprising:

means for homogenizing the light passing through each dichroic filter with light passing around said dichroic filter to produce a light beam of uniform color.

6. A lighting system comprising:

a plurality of light sources for producing directable beams of light, each of said light sources mounted in a frame means for pivotal motion in a horizontal plane and a vertical plane;

a panning mechanism associated with each of said light sources for pivoting said light source in the horizontal plane;

a tilting mechanism associated with each of said light sources for pivoting said light source in the vertical plane;

first color wheel means rotatably mounted on each said frame means and having at least one dichroic filter mounted in the periphery thereof;

first motor means for rotating said first color wheel means to position the dichroic filter across the light beam emanating from said light source;

second color wheel means spaced from said first color wheel means and rotatably mounted on each said frame means and having at least one dichroic filter mounted in the periphery thereof;

second motor means for rotating said second color wheel means to position the dichroic filter across the light path to transmit a preselected color;

means for controlling the rotation of said motor means to position dichroic filters across the light beam to provide permutations of color emanating from each said light source such that an optical bandpass structure is formed;

a controller for input by an operator of information including a digital coded address representing a selected one of said light sources and digital data representing the desired position of said selected one of said light sources in the horizontal and vertical planes;

a memory for storing the input information for each of said light sources, said controller permitting the operator to select the information to be stored and selectively recalling the stored information;

an asynchronous transmitter for transmitting the input or recalled information for the selected one of said light sources along a communications channel; and

an asynchronous receiver associated with each of said light sources and coupled to said communications channel, each of said receivers associated with each of said light sources receiving each coded address within the transmitted information, only the receiver associated with said selected one of said light sources responsive to said coded address for activating said panning and tilting mechanisms to pivot said selected one of said light sources to the desired position and for controlling said motor means for providing a light beam of a selected color.

7. The lighting system of claim 6 further comprising a dimmer mechanism for varying the intensity of the beam of light from each of said light sources, the information input to said controller including data representing the desired intensity for said selected one of said light sources and the receiver associated therewith operating said dimmer mechanism to provide the desired intensity to the light beam.

8. The lighting system of claim 6 further comprising a mechanism for varying the divergence of the light beam from each of said light sources, the information input to said controller including data representing the desired divergence of the light beam of said selected one of said light sources, the receiver associated therewith operating said mechanism to provide the desired divergence of the light beam.

16. The light source of claim 6 wherein each said light source further comprises an elliptical reflector for reflecting light incident thereon for convergence at a focus, said color wheel means being rotatable to position the dichroic filter across the light path adjacent the focus to minimize the area of the dichroic filter.

17. The light source of claim 6 wherein each said color wheel means includes a plurality of dichroic filters mounted in the periphery thereof to permit light beams of varied color to emanate from said light source and having at least one opening without a dichroic filter to permit a white light beam to emanate from said light source.

18. The light source of claim 6 further having a gobo wheel rotatably mounted on said frame means having a slide having a predetermined image formed thereon and including means for rotating said gobo wheel to position the slide across the light path to project the image in the light beam emanating from said light source.

19. The light source of claim 6 further comprising a light intensity wheel rotatably mounted on said frame means having portions transmitting preselected precentages of the light incident thereon, said light source further comprising means for rotating said light intensity wheel to position a selected portion of said light intensity wheel across the light beam to vary the light intensity of the light beam emanating from said light source.

20. The light source of claim 6 further comprising a light intensity wheel rotatably mounted on said frame means having a plurality of reflective mirrors, each of said mirrors permitting a preselected percentage of the light incident thereon to be transmitted therethrough, said light source further comprising means for rotating said light intensity wheel to position selected ones of said mirrors across the light path to vary the light intensity of the light beam emanating from said light source.

21. The light source of claim 6 further comprising lens means for varying the divergence of the light beam emanating from said light source.

9. A light source for producing variable color light useful to light an area comprising:

frame means;

lamp means for producing light positioned within said frame means, the light produced forming a light path within said frame means;

at least one dichroic filter pivotally mounted within said frame means for pivotal motion in the light path for transmitting light of a preselected color, the angle of incidence of the light on the dichroic filter being variable to alter the saturation and hue of light transmitted as the dichroic filter is pivoted; and

means for pivoting said dichroic filter in order to produce light of any one of a number of colors.

10. The light source of claim 9 wherein said lamp means includes a reflector for reflecting light incident thereon along the light path.

11. The light source of claim 9 further comprising collimating means for aligning the light in the light path in a parallel manner.

12. The light source of claim 9 further comprising focusing means for focusing the light in the light path to illuminate a desired area.

13. The light source of claim 9 further comprising douser means for preventing light from emanating from the light source.

14. The light source of claim 9 further comprising dimmer means for varying the intensity of the light beam emanating from the light source.

15. The light source of claim 9 further comprising positioning means for interconnecting the frame means and a fixed member for moving said frame means to direct the produced beam of light to a desired area.

24. The light source of claim 9 further comprising a plurality of additional dichroic filters similar to said one dichroic filter but with different optical properties such that said additional filters pass a different portion of the light spectrum.

26. The light source of claim 9 and further comprising:

means within said frame means for homogenizing the light passing through said dichroic filter with light passing around said dichroic filter to produce a light beam of the uniform color for projection on an area.

27. The light source of claim 9 and further comprising:

a plurality of said light sources;

controller means for input of information including unique coded addresses each representing a different selected one of said light sources and data representing the preselected color emanating from said selected one of said light sources;

transmitter means for transmitting the information;

a communications channel coupled to said transmitter means for carrying said information;

receiver means coupled at spaced apart locations to said communications channel and associated with each of said light sources for receiving the information and reading the coded addresses, each said receiver means responsive to only one of coded addresses for reading the color data and activating said pivoting means to pivot said dichroic filter of said light source to a selected position.

22. A lighting system for lighting an area comprising:

at least two light sources for producing a directable beam of light and having a plurality of variable functions including position and color;

manual controls for inputting information representing the desired value for each of the variable functions and an address code for a selected one of said light sources for a selected cue in a sequential series of cues;

a control processor means for processing the input information;

a control interface means for interfacing between said manual controls and said control processor means;

a function processor means associated with the variable functions for processing the input information representing that function and the address code, said control processor means directing the input information for each function to the associated function processor means;

processor interface means for interfacing between said control processor means and said function processor means;

a functure cue memory means associated with said function processor means for storing digital representations of the input information representing the address code and the desired value of the variable function for each of said light sources for each cue in the series;

data transmitter means;

output interface means interconnecting said function processor means and said data transmitter means, said data transmitter means translating information from each of said function processor means representing the desired value for each of the variable functions and the address code of said selected one of said light sources to serial data;

data receiver means associated with each of said light sources;

a data link interconnecting said data transmitter means and each of said data receiver means for transmission of the serial data representing the coded address and the desired value of each of the variable functions, each of said data receiver means response to a different coded address transmitted along said data link, the data receiver means associated with said selected one of said light sources activating said selected one of said light sources to set the variable functions to the desired values represented by the serial data; and

the control processor means directing said function processor means to recall the desired value for each of the variable functions for each of said light sources for a selected cue and transferring the recalled values to said data transmitter means for transmission along the data link in response to a command input by the operator to said manual controls, said control processor means automatically sequencing the cues upon command by the operator.

23. The lighting system of claim 22 wherein the variable functions including varying the color of the light beam, intensity of the light beam, divergence of the light beam and the position of the light source for each of the light sources.