System and method for controlling luminaires

• US 7,394,210 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2005
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: TIR Technology LP
• Inventors: Ashdown, Ian
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thuy Vinh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le; Tung X
• Application Number:
  US11/241,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20060082331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• Field of Search: 315291-295, 315312-316, 315307-309, 315/246, 315/317, 315/324, 340 522- 525, 340/825.24, 345/39, 345 47- 48
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/24 using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/325 Pulse-width modulation [PWM]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission

Abstract

The present invention provides a programmable lighting system comprising a plurality of light-emitting elements and a controller responsive to a hierarchically encoded data input stream. The controller determines and provides appropriate control signals for controlling the characteristics of the light generated by the plurality of light-emitting elements operatively coupled thereto. The data input stream may use a DMX512 or other network protocol and can be hierarchically encoded by varying the value of the START code of the data packets. When a DMX512 or other data packet with a NULL START code or “color” packet is received by the controller, the controller interprets the frames to be intensity control data wherein each frame can correspond to a particular light-emitting element or group of light-emitting elements. The color packet can provide data for the generation of a particular temporal color sequence or a temporal color sequence that is random or any other lighting sequence. When a DMX512 or other data packet with a non-NULL START code or “service” packet is received by the controller, the controller can interpret each START code value independently and can assign or modify one or more attributes of the controller, for example, the particular mode of operation, or an address or serial number may be assigned or modified based on the value of the START code.

Claims

1. A programmable lighting system comprising:

a) a plurality of light-emitting elements for generating light output of one or more wavelengths; and

b) a controller having one or more attributes, the controller operatively coupled to the plurality of light-emitting elements, the controller for controlling the light output of the light-emitting elements, the controller being responsive to hierarchically encoded input data, the hierarchically encoded input data comprising a non-null start code having a value, the controller in response to the non-null start code determining which of the one or more attributes of the controller are to be affected by the hierarchically encoded input data, wherein the value of the non-null start code identifies which of the one or more attributes of the controller is affected and wherein the controller is adapted for connection to a source of power.

2. The programmable lighting system according to claim 1, wherein

the non-null start code instructs the controller to initiate an action to be performed, said action selected from the group comprising:

assigning one or more addresses to the controller, saving user-defined color sequences, selecting a factory preset color sequence, synchronizing timing between two or more controllers.

3. The programmable lighting system according to claim 2, wherein the non-null start code instructs the controller to set one or more serial numbers in the controller.

4. The programmable lighting system according to claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a serial port for receiving the hierarchically encoded input data, a real-time clock, memory for storing at least a portion of the hierarchically encoded input data and a plurality of converters for providing appropriate signals to the light-emitting elements for control thereof, wherein the serial port, real-time clock, memory and converters are operatively coupled together.

5. The programmable lighting system according to claim 1 further comprising a thermistor operatively coupled to the controller, the thermistor for measuring a temperature of the lighting system.

6. The programmable lighting system according to claim 1, wherein the controller has a unique serial number and one or more group addresses.

7. A method for controlling a programmable lighting system having a controller and a plurality of light-emitting elements operatively coupled thereto, the controller having one or more attributes, the method comprising the steps of:

a) generating hierarchically encoded input data, the hierarchically encoded input data comprising a non-null start code having a value;

b) transmitting hierarchically encoded input data to the controller;

c) determining, in response to the value of the non-null start code, a first controller attribute of the one or more attributes of the controller intended to be affected by the hierarchically encoded input data;

d) assigning or modifying the first controller attribute in response to the hierarchically encoded input data; and

e) controlling light output of the plurality of light-emitting elements by the controller.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the non-null start code instructs the controller to initiate an action to be performed, said action selected from the group comprising:

assigning one or more addresses to the controller, saving user-defined color sequences, selecting a factory preset color sequence, synchronizing timing between two or more controllers.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the action of assigning one or more addresses to the controller comprises the steps of:

reading the frame data and determining type of frame data regarding the one or more addresses of the controller;

updating address attributes of the controller based on the determined type of the frame data; and

saving in controller memory the updated address attributes.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the action of saving user-defined color sequences comprises the steps of:

a) extracting from the frame data one or more addresses;

b) comparing said one or more addresses with current controller address;

c) if a match is determined, reading said user-defined color sequences from the frame data; and

d) saving in controller memory the user-defined color sequences.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the action of selecting a factory preset color sequence comprises the steps of:

a) extracting from the frame data information defining a factory preset color sequence;

b) executing defined factory preset color sequence.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein the action of synchronizing information between two or more controllers comprises the steps of:

a) extracting a time stamp from the frame data;

b) resetting controller time stamp based on the extracted time stamp.

13. The method according to claim 7, further comprising initializing the one or more attributes of the controller prior to generating hierarchically encoded input data.

14. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of reading a thermistor, thereby determining a temperature reading representative of temperature of the lighting system, thereby enabling derating of one or more of the plurality of light-emitting elements depending on the temperature reading.

15. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of detecting raw color data regarding a particular color of one or more light-emitting elements, applying a perceptual correction factor to the raw color data thereby generating corrected color data and transmitting the corrected color data to a converter associated with the one or more light-emitting elements of the particular color.