Illumination system

• US 8,896,216 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2012
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seoul Viosys Co., Ltd. (Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Seoul Viosys Co., Ltd. (Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lee, Chung Hoon
• Primary Examiner(s): A, Minh D
• Application Number:
  US13/344,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20130009553A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,055 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/307, 315/312, 315/185.R, 315/192, 315/209.R, 315/246, 315/247, 315151-154
• US Class Current: 315/153
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48137 the bodies being arranged next to each other, e.g. on a common substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/44 with an active control inside an LED matrix
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/14 by determining electrical parameters of the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control

Abstract

An illumination system includes multiple light emitting devices arranged in an area so as to be spaced apart from each other. Each light emitting device includes multiple light emitting diode arrays each of which has one light emitting diode or a plurality of light emitting diodes connected in series. The numbers of the light emitting diodes included in each light emitting diode arrays differs from each other. A controller is configured to establish one or more groups each including one or more light emitting devices and adjust an illumination state of each light emitting device by controlling the driving state of the one or more light emitting diode arrays included in each light emitting device. The controller may select the number of light emitting devices included in each group based on an external condition.

Claims

1. An illumination system, comprising:

a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in an area and spaced apart from each other, each light emitting device comprising a plurality of light emitting diode arrays each comprising one light emitting diode or a plurality of light emitting diodes connected in series, the numbers of light emitting diodes in each light emitting diode array being different from the number of light emitting diodes in each other light emitting diode array; and

a controller configured to establish one or more groups, each group comprising one or more of the light emitting devices, and the controller is configured to adjust an illumination state of a selected group of the one or more groups by adjusting the illumination state of each light emitting device in the selected group by controlling a driving state of the light emitting diode arrays included in each light emitting device of the selected group,

wherein;

the area is a space elongated in a lengthwise direction;

the controller establishes the groups by grouping the light emitting devices along the lengthwise direction;

the controller is configured to determine the number of light emitting devices included in each group based on sensing information; and

the sensing information comprises at least one of brightness information of the area, brightness information of outside the area, speed information of an object moving in the area, moving direction information of the object, time information, position information of the object, and position information of the light emitting devices.

2. The illumination system of claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to detect sensing information.

3. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises:

a reception unit configured to receive sensing information; and

a control signal generation unit configured to generate a control signal to control the driving state of the one or more the light emitting diodes in response to the sensing information.

4. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to sequentially adjust an illumination state of a group adjacent to the selected group.

5. The illumination system of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to drive, for each of the light emitting devices of the group adjacent to the selected group, a light emitting diode array comprising a smaller number of light emitting diodes than the number of light emitting diodes comprising the light emitting device of the selected group.

6. The illumination system of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to drive, for each of the light emitting devices of the group adjacent to the selected group, a light emitting diode array comprising a larger number of light emitting diodes than the number of light emitting diodes of the light emitting device of the selected group.

7. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to drive the same number of light emitting diode arrays in each light emitting device of the same group.

8. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the area is exposed to an external light source,

the controller is configured to establish a first group comprising one or more light emitting devices located adjacent to the external light source and one or more additional groups each comprising one or more light emitting devices arranged farther from the external light source than the first group, and

the brightness of the light emitting devices of the first group is lower than the brightness of the light emitting devices of the one or more additional groups.

9. The illumination system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the brightness of the light emitting devices of the first group depending on the brightness of the external light source,

the controller is configured to increase the brightness of the light emitting devices of the first group if the brightness of the external light source is lower than a first reference value, and

the controller is configured to decrease the brightness of the light emitting devices of the first group if the brightness of the external light source is equal to or higher than the first reference value.

10. The illumination system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the number of additional groups depending on the brightness of the external light source,

the controller is configured to increase the number of the additional groups if the brightness of the external light source decreases, and

the controller is configured to establish a brightness of the light emitting devices in each additional group.

11. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the area further comprises an entrance and an exit,

the controller is configured to establish a first group comprising a light emitting device located adjacent to the entrance of the area, a second group comprising a light emitting device arranged adjacent to the exit of the area and one or more additional groups each comprising a light emitting device arranged between the first group and the second group, and

the brightness of the light emitting device in the first group and the light emitting device in the second group is lower than the brightness of the light emitting device of the one or more additional groups.

12. The illumination system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the number of light emitting devices in the first group or the second group depending on a brightness of outside the area,

if the brightness of the outside of the area is lower than a second reference value, the controller is configured to decrease the number of light emitting devices in the first group or the second group to below a first initial value, and

if the brightness of the outside of the area is equal to or higher than the second reference value, the controller is configured to increase the number of light emitting devices in the first group or the second group to equal to or larger than the first initial value.

13. The illumination system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the number of light emitting devices in the first group or the second group depending on the brightness of outside the area,

if the brightness of outside the area is lower than a third reference value, the controller is configured to increase the brightness of the light emitting devices in the first group or the second group to be equal to or larger than a second initial value, and

if the brightness of outside the area is equal to or higher than the third reference value, the controller is configured to decrease the brightness of the light emitting devices in the first group or the second group to below the second reference value.

14. The illumination system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the number of the one or more additional groups depending on the brightness of the area, and

the number of the one or more additional groups increases with an increase in a difference between the brightness of a first point and a second point in the area.

15. The illumination system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the number of the one or more additional groups depending on a speed of an object that enters the entrance of the area, and

the number of the one or more additional groups decreases as the speed of the object increases.

16. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to establish the one or more groups based on a distance between the one or more light emitting devices and an object, and

the farther a group is located from the object, the smaller the number of light emitting diodes arranged in the light emitting diode array driven in each light emitting device of the group.

17. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein

in response to an object approaching the area, the controller is configured to establish a first group comprising one or more light emitting devices within a threshold distance from the object and a second group comprising one or more light emitting devices farther away from the object by a distance larger than the threshold distance, and

the number of light emitting diodes driven in each light emitting device of the first group is larger than the number of light emitting diodes driven in each light emitting device of the second group.

18. The illumination system of claim 17, wherein in response to the object moving away from the first group, the controller is configured to reduce the brightness of each light emitting device of the first group.

19. A method of driving a plurality of light emitting devices in an area, the method comprising:

driving a first light emitting diode array of the light emitting devices based on an initial illumination state;

receiving sensing information for the area;

dividing the area into a plurality of groups, each group comprising at least one light emitting device, based on the received sensing information; and

adjusting an illumination state of the light emitting devices in each group in response to the sensing information,

wherein;

the area is a space elongated in a lengthwise direction;

dividing the area establishes the plurality of groups by dividing the light emitting devices along the lengthwise direction; and

the sensing information comprises at least one of brightness information of the area, brightness information of outside the area, speed information of an object moving in the area, moving direction information of the object, time information, position information of the object, and position information of the light emitting devices.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein adjusting the illumination state of the light emitting devices comprises:

increasing the brightness of the light emitting devices by driving a second light emitting diode array comprising a larger number of light emitting diodes than the first light emitting diode array;

or

decreasing the brightness of the light emitting devices by driving a third light emitting diode array have a smaller number of light emitting diodes than the first light emitting diode array.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein adjusting the illumination state of the light emitting devices comprises:

adjusting the number of light emitting devices included in each group.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

establishing a first group adjacent to an entrance of the area and a second group adjacent to an exit of the area, and a third group between the first group and the second group, and

if a brightness outside the area is above a first reference value, adjusting the illumination state of the first group and second group to be lower than the illumination state of the third group.