Illumination system and illumination control method thereof

• US 8,198,826 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2010
• Issued: 06/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Coretronic Corporation
• Original Assignee: Young Lighting Technology Inc. (Coretronic Corporation)
• Inventors: Lin, Chih-Hua, Hwang, Jung-Min, Lan, Yu-Chin
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, David Hung
• Application Number:
  US12/818,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20110050108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/307, 315/308, 315/149, 315/159, 315/156, 315/157, 315/158, 315/312, 315/318, 315/313, 315/152, 315/154, 315/155
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources

Abstract

An illumination system including a master control unit, a device unit, a driving circuit unit, and an illumination unit is provided. The master control unit receives an input signal and outputs a control signal by performing a program operation processing to the input signal. The device unit analyzes the control signal so as to obtain a color temperature setting value and a brightness setting value, and generates two output signals according to the brightness setting value and two color temperature adjusting signals determined by the color temperature setting value. The illumination unit has at least two lamps with different color temperatures. The driving circuit unit receives and converts the two output signals so as to proportionally output two driving signals to respectively drive the two lamps. One of the two output signals is enabled after the other of the two output signals is disabled for a predetermined time.

Claims

1. An illumination system, comprising:

a master control unit, configured for receiving an input signal and outputting a control signal by performing a program operation process to the input signal;

at least a device unit, coupled to the master control unit, configured for analyzing the control signal to obtain a color temperature setting value and a brightness setting value, and generating two output signals according to the brightness setting value and two color temperature adjusting signals determined by the color temperature setting value;

at least an illumination unit, having at least two lamps with different color temperatures; and

at least a driving circuit unit, coupled between the device unit and the illumination unit, configured for receiving and converting the two output signals, and proportionally outputting two driving signals to respectively drive the two lamps,

wherein, one of the two output signals is enabled after the other of the two output signals is disabled for a predetermined time.

2. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device unit comprises:

a microcontroller, coupled to the master control unit, configured for receiving and analyzing the control signal so as to obtain the color temperature setting value and the brightness setting value;

a signal generator, coupled to the microcontroller, configured for receiving the color temperature setting value and generating the two color temperature adjusting signals according to the color temperature setting value; and

a multiplier, coupled to the microcontroller and the signal generator, configured for receiving the brightness setting value and the two color temperature adjusting signals, and generating the two output signals after respectively multiplying the two color temperature adjusting signals by a percentage of the brightness setting value.

3. The illumination system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the two color temperature adjusting signals comprise a first color temperature adjusting signal and a second color temperature adjusting signal.

4. The illumination system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first color temperature adjusting signal is the percentage of the color temperature setting value, and the second color temperature adjusting signal is a complement of the percentage of the color temperature setting value.

5. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a duration ratio of the two output signals being enabled determines a color temperature of the illumination unit.

6. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a duration length of the two output signals respectively being enabled determines a brightness of the illumination unit.

7. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

an input unit, coupled to the master control unit, configured for providing the input signal to the master control unit.

8. The illumination system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the input unit comprises a switch, a computer apparatus, a touch-type controller or an acoustic controller.

9. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a sensor unit, coupled to the master control unit, configured for outputting a sensing signal to the master control unit by sensing an environment variable, wherein the sensing signal is used as a reference for the master control unit self-adaptively adjusting the color temperature and the brightness of the illumination unit.

10. The illumination system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the sensor unit at least comprises a temperature sensor, a brightness sensor, a proximity sensor, an infra-red sensor or a smoke detector.

11. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a sensor unit, coupled to the device unit, configured for outputting a sensing signal to the device unit by sensing an environment variable, wherein the sensing signal is used as a reference for the device unit self-adaptively adjusting the color temperature and the brightness of the illumination unit.

12. The illumination system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the sensor unit at least comprises a temperature sensor, a brightness sensor, a proximity sensor, an infra-red sensor or a smoke detector.

13. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two lamps at least comprise a cold color white light lamp and a warm color white light lamp.

14. The illumination system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control signal is a standard DMX512 signal, a serial peripheral interface signal or an inter-integrated circuit signal.

15. An illumination method, comprising:

providing an input signal and generating a control signal by performing a program operation process to the input signal;

analyzing the control signal to obtain a color temperature setting value and a brightness setting value, and generating two output signals according to the brightness setting value and two color temperature adjusting signals determined by the color temperature setting value;

converting the two output signals and proportionally generating two driving signals; and

driving respectively at least two lamps with different color temperatures in an illumination unit according to the two driving signals,

wherein, one of the two output signals is enabled after the other of the two output signals is disabled for a predetermined time.

16. The illumination method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the two color adjusting signals comprise a first color temperature adjusting signal and a second color temperature adjusting signal, and the first color temperature adjusting signal is a percentage of the color temperature setting value, and the second color temperature adjusting signal is a complement of the percentage of the color temperature setting value.

17. The illumination system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the two output signals are generated by respectively multiplying the two color temperature adjusting signals by the percentage of the brightness setting value.

18. The illumination method as claimed in claim 15, wherein a duration ratio of the two output signals respectively being enabled determines a color temperature of the illumination unit.

19. The illumination method as claimed in claim 15, wherein a duration length of the two output signals respectively being enabled determines a brightness of the illumination unit.

20. The illumination method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

adjusting self-adaptively a color temperature and a brightness of the illumination unit according to an environment variable.