Wireless light bulb

• US 8,669,716 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wireless Environment LLC (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Recker, Michael V., Levine, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shallenberger, Julie
• Application Number:
  US11/847,509
• Publication Number:
  US 20090059603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,385 Days
• Field of Search: 362/802
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/04 the elements being switches safety devices F21V25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/195 the transmission using visible or infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods that employ a control component integrated in a light bulb to control the light bulb wirelessly. The wireless light bulb can include a light source, a control component that manages operation of the light source, an input component that wirelessly obtains input signals that can be utilized by the control component, and a power source. For instance, the light source can be one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) and/or the power source can be one or more batteries. Moreover, the input component can receive the input signals (e.g., radio frequency, infrared, . . . ) from a remote control, a sensor, a differing wireless light bulb, a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag, etc. Further, the wireless light bulb can be mechanically coupled to a lighting fixture, where the lighting fixture may or may not be electrically coupled to an alternating current (AC) power source.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

wirelessly receiving a control signal with a receiver integrated in a light bulb, the light bulb including at least one light emitting diode (LED);

controlling illumination of the light bulb based on the received control signal;

controlling an increase in charge of a battery within a housing from an external AC power source with a recharge component;

providing supplemental power to the at least one LED via the external AC power source through a screw base of the housing simultaneously with power provided via the battery within the housing; and

supplying an amount of power to the light source by supplying a first portion of the amount of power from the external AC power supply and a second portion of the amount of power from the battery while maintaining an intensity level of the light source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the battery within the housing is a rechargeable battery.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling illumination further comprises changing at least one of a state, an intensity, a color, a modulation, or controlling an amount of power provided to the light bulb.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising wirelessly obtaining the input from a remote control or a sensor via a radio frequency or infrared signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying a state of the light bulb at times based upon synchronization with at least one of a time of day clock and calendar.

6. A light bulb, comprising:

a housing that encloses the light bulb, the housing having a screw base for an Edison socket;

a battery within the housing that supplies power to a control component, input component and a light emitting diode (LED) light source, the LED light source including at least one LED;

an external AC power source provided at the screw base;

a control component configured to provide supplemental power to the at least one LED from the external AC power source simultaneously with power from the battery within the housing, wherein an amount of power is supplied to the light source by supplying a first portion of the amount of power from the external AC power supply and supplying a second portion of the amount of power from the battery while maintaining an intensity level of the light source;

a recharge component configured to charge the battery within the housing from the external AC power source; and

an input component configured to obtain an input signal used by the control component to regulate the supplemental power supplied to the at least one LED from the external AC power sources and the power supplied to the at least one LED from the battery.

7. The light bulb of claim 6, wherein the input component receives the input wirelessly from a disparate device via at least one of a radio frequency signal and an infrared signal.

8. The light bulb of claim 7, wherein the disparate device is at least one of a remote control, a sensor, a disparate light bulb, and a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

9. The light bulb of claim 6, wherein the input signal is communicated via a network.

10. The light bulb of claim 6, wherein the control component is further configured to change at least one of a state of the LED light source, an intensity, or an amount of power provided by the battery within the housing of the light bulb and by the external AC power supply.

11. The light bulb of claim 6, further comprising a recharge component configured to charge the battery within the housing from the external AC power source.

12. The light bulb of claim 6, the input component further comprising a sensor, the sensor being at least one of an infrared sensor, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, an acoustic sensor, a motion sensor, a carbon monoxide sensor, a smoke detector, a thermal sensor, a mechanical sensor, or a chemical sensor.

13. The light bulb of claim 6, further comprising a timer component and wherein the controller is further configured to use the timer component to provide the supplemental power based on at least one of a time of day clock and calendar.

14. A light bulb comprising:

at least one light emitting diode (LED);

a battery integrated within the light bulb;

an environmental sensor configured to sense an environmental condition in a vicinity of the light bulb;

a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit and receive control signals;

a control component configured to control illumination of the at least one LED based on at least one of the received control signals or a signal from the environmental sensor, causing power for the illumination of the at least one LED to be supplied by the battery; and

a grouping component configured to group the light bulb with at least one groupable light bulb so that the control component can also control illumination of the at least one groupable light bulb based on an environmental sensor signal from the environmental sensor.

15. The light bulb of claim 14, wherein the battery further comprises at least one of a non-rechargeable battery or a rechargeable battery.

16. The light bulb of claim 14, wherein the environmental sensor further comprises at least one of an infrared sensor, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, an acoustic sensor, a motion sensor, a carbon monoxide detector, a smoke detector, a thermal sensor, an electromagnetic sensor, a mechanical sensor, or a chemical sensor.

17. The light bulb of claim 14, wherein the grouping component is further configured to group the light bulb with the at least one groupable light bulb such that the control component may control the operation of the group in a coordinated fashion.

18. The light bulb of claim 14, wherein the grouping component is further configured to group the light bulb with the at least one groupable light bulb according to at least one of a user selection, a pre-programmed command, a randomly generated command or instructions previously stored in memory.