Illumination control apparatus

• US 8,456,102 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoshii, Katsuji, Gouda, Yoshiaki, Meguro, Masaaki, Nakasone, Junya
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Tung X
• Application Number:
  US13/035,499
• Publication Number:
  US 20110210672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 315149-159, 315/291, 315/312, 340/310.01, 340/541
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

An illumination control apparatus configured to control brightness of a plurality of illumination devices that is provided in a plurality of sections, respectively, includes: a detection unit configured to detect presence or absence of a person in each of the plurality of sections based on an output of a video camera configured to take images of the plurality of sections; and a control unit configured to turn on an illumination device of a detected section among the plurality of illumination devices, the detected section being a section where a person is detected, turn off an illumination device of a section other than the detected section and an adjacent section among the plurality of illumination devices, the adjacent section being a section adjacent to the detected section, and control brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section so that illuminance of the detected section becomes predetermined illuminance.

Claims

1. An illumination control apparatus configured to control brightness of a plurality of illumination devices provided in a plurality of sections, respectively, comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect presence or absence of a person in each of the plurality of sections based on an output of a video camera configured to take images of the plurality of sections; and

a control unit configured to;

turn on an illumination device of a detected section among the plurality of illumination devices, the detected section being a section where a person is detected,

turn off an illumination device of a section other than the detected section and an adjacent section among the plurality of illumination devices, the adjacent section being a section adjacent to the detected section, and

control brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section so that illuminance of the detected section becomes predetermined illuminance, wherein

in a state where the illumination device of the detected section is on and the illumination device of a section other than the detected section and the adjacent section is off, the control unit controls the brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section based on information indicating brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section calculated so that the illuminance of the detected section becomes the predetermined illuminance.

2. The illumination control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit configured to store information indicating the brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section, wherein

the control unit controls the brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section based on the information, indicating the brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section, stored in the storage unit.

3. The illumination control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine a detected region among a plurality of regions in the detected section based on an output of the video camera, the detected region being a region where a person is detected, wherein

in a state where the illumination device of the detected section is on and the illumination device of a section other than the detected section and the adjacent section is off, the control unit controls the brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section based on information indicating brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section calculated so that illuminance of the detected region becomes predetermined illuminance.

4. The illumination control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a measurement unit configured to measure the illuminance of the detected section based on an output of the video camera, wherein

the control unit controls brightness of at least either one of the illumination device of the detected section and the illumination device of the adjacent section, based on a measurement result of the measurement unit, so that the illuminance of the detected section becomes the predetermined illuminance.

5. The illumination control apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine a detected region among a plurality of regions in the detected section based on an output from the video camera, the detected region being a region where a person is detected, wherein

the control unit controls the brightness of at least either one of the illumination device of the detected section and the illumination device of the adjacent section, based on a measurement result of the measurement unit, so that the illuminance of the detected region becomes the predetermined illuminance.