Apparatus and method of energy efficient illumination using received signals
First Claim
1. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source, the method comprising:
- determining by a controller, an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time;
comparing by the controller, an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment at the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition;
in response to determining an existence of a difference between the actual ambient environment illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, producing by the controller, at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event; and
receiving a location signal by the controller, the location signal indicative of the current location of the illumination system,wherein determining by a controller an expected ambient environment illumination condition includes determining at least one of an expected time of dusk or an expected time of dawn for the current location based at least in part on the current location indicated by the location signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Illumination sources are turned ON and turned OFF in response to detected levels of illumination in an ambient environment reaching respective thresholds, which may be user set. The detection of these turn ON and turn OFF events is verified, for instance against expected events or conditions for the particular location, date and/or time. An alert or log entry may be generated if a detected event or condition appears to be invalid. For instance, if an amount of illumination in the environment is different than predicted by a threshold amount or if a time that the event occurs or is detected is different than expected or predicted by more than a threshold amount. A level of illumination may be decreased to some non-zero level after a specified time after turn ON, and increased at some specified time before turnOFF. Use of information from external sources (e.g., satellites, cell towers) may allow times to be using local time, including daylight savings if applicable.
176 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source, the method comprising:
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determining by a controller, an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time; comparing by the controller, an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment at the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition; in response to determining an existence of a difference between the actual ambient environment illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, producing by the controller, at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event; and receiving a location signal by the controller, the location signal indicative of the current location of the illumination system, wherein determining by a controller an expected ambient environment illumination condition includes determining at least one of an expected time of dusk or an expected time of dawn for the current location based at least in part on the current location indicated by the location signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source, the method comprising:
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determining by a controller, an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time; comparing by the controller, an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment at the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition; in response to determining an existence of a difference between the actual ambient environment illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, producing by the controller, at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event; and receiving a location signal by e controller, the location signal indicative of the current location of the illumination system, wherein determining by a controller, an expected ambient environment illumination condition includes determining an expected level of illumination in the ambient environment for the current location at a defined time based at least in part on the current location indicated by the location signal.
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10. A system to control illumination, comprising:
at least one controller that; determines an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time; compares an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment at the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition; in response to a determination that a difference between the actual ambient environmental illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, produces at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event; and receives a location signal, the location signal indicative of the current location of the illumination system, wherein to determine an expected ambient environment illumination condition the at least one controller determines at least one of an expected time of dusk or an expected time of dawn for the current location based at least in part on the current location indicated by the location signal. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source, the method comprising:
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receiving a signal by a controller from an external source, the signal indicative of at least one of a current location of the illumination system, a current date or a current time, wherein receiving a signal by the controller includes receiving a signal via a global positioning system receiver from at least one global positioning a satellite; controlling a level of illumination produced by the at least one light source based at least in part on at least one of the current location of the illumination system, the current date or the current time; determining by the controller, an expected time of at least one of dusk or dawn based at leas in part on at least one of the current location of the illumination system, the current date or the current time; comparing by the controller, a detected occurrence of at least one of dusk or dawn in the ambient environment with the determined expected time of at least one of dusk or dawn; and in response to determining an existence of a difference between the detected occurrence of at least one of dusk or dawn and the determined expected time of at least one of dusk or dawn which exceeds a defined threshold, producing by the controller, at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant condition. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A system to control illumination, comprising:
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at least one controller that; determines an expected ambient environment illumination condition for a current location at a defined date and time; compares an actual ambient environment illumination condition detected in the ambient environment at the current location with the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition; in response to a determination that a difference between the actual ambient environmental illumination condition and the determined expected ambient environment illumination condition, produces at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant event; and receives a location signal, the location signal indicative of the current location of the illumination system, wherein the at least one controller determines an expected level of illumination in the ambient environment based at least in part on the current location indicated by the location signal.
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22. A system to control illumination, comprising:
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at least one antenna; at least one receiver communicatively coupled to the at least one antenna to receive signals from an external source, the signals indicative of at least one of a current location of an illumination system, a current date or a current time, wherein the at least one receiver is a global positioning receiver communicatively coupled to the antenna to receive a number of global positioning signals from a number of global positioning system satellites; and at least one controller communicatively coupled to the at least one receiver to receive information therefrom, and which controls a level of illumination produced by at least one light source based at least in part on at least one of the current location of the illumination system, the current date or the current time, wherein the at least one controller determines an expected time of at least one of dusk or dawn based at least in part on at least one of the current location of the illumination system, the current date or the current time;
compares a detected occurrence of at least one of dusk or dawn in the ambient environment with the determined expected time of at least one of dusk or dawn; and
in response to a determination that an existence of a difference between the detected occurrence of at least one of dusk or dawn and the determined expected time of at least one of dusk or dawn which exceeds a defined threshold, produces at least one of a notification or a record indicative of an aberrant condition. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification