Control of lighting devices

• US 9,301,374 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2013
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Pandharipande, Ashish Vijay, Caicedo Fernndez, David Ricardo
• Primary Examiner(s): Tan, Vibol
• Application Number:
  US14/394,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20150123561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/04 Systems determining presence of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Presence adaptive lighting control strategies are known to be very effective in reducing energy consumption in buildings. Ultrasonic array sensors have been proposed for reliable presence sensing. Systems and methods are disclosed by which additional sensing functionalities may be enabled for providing new control functions, with the array sensor as basic sensing platform. In particular, hybrid sensing that combines portable sensors (possibly, user enabled) and fixed-infrastructure sensors is considered. Applications are, for example, active presence sensors in lighting control applications.

Claims

1. A control system, comprising:

a light source;

a first active sensor comprising a transmitter arranged to transmit a first probe signal, wherein the first active sensor is a portable sensor;

a second active sensor comprising a transmitter arranged to transmit a second probe signal, wherein the second active sensor is a fixed sensor, and further comprising a receiver sensor array arranged to receive said first probe signal and an echo of said second probe signal; and

a processing unit configured to predictively estimate a location of said first active sensor within the receiver sensor array based on said received first probe signal, and further configured to control a lighting function of said light source in accordance with said predictively estimated location of said first active sensor;

wherein said first probe signal is different from said second probe signal such that interference at said receiving sensor array between said first probe signal and said second probe signal is avoided, the waveform of the first probe signal being chosen to be uncorrelated to the waveform of the second probe signal.

2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein said second active sensor is a fixed infrastructure sensor.

3. The control system according to claim 1, wherein said light source comprises said second active sensor.

4. The control system according to claim 1, wherein said receiving sensor array is arranged to perform direction of arrival measurements in order to estimate the location of said first active sensor.

5. The control system according to claim 4, wherein said sensor array is arranged to perform correlation in order to detect said first probe signal.

6. The control system according to claim 5, wherein said first active sensor and said second active sensor are either ultrasound based sensors or radar based sensors.

7. The control system according to claim 6, wherein said first active sensor is arranged to transmit at most one first probe signal for every three transmissions of said second probe signal.

8. The control system according to claim 7, wherein a version of said first probe signal is accessible by said second active sensor.

9. The control system according to claim 8, wherein said version of said first probe is an exact copy of said first probe signal.

10. The control system according to claim 9, wherein said first active sensor further comprises a receiver arranged to receive said second probe signal, and wherein said transmitter of said first active sensor is arranged to transmit said first probe signal in response to reception of said second probe signal by said receiver.

11. The control system according to claim 10, wherein said receiver of said first active sensor is an array sensor.

12. The control system according to claim 11, wherein said first probe signal is transmitted within the bandwidth of said transmitter of said second active sensor.

13. The control system according to claim 11, wherein said first probe signal is transmitted outside the bandwidth of said transmitter of said second active sensor.

14. A method in a control system comprising a light source, a first active sensor, and a second active sensor, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting, by a transmitter of said first active sensor, a first probe signal;

transmitting, by a transmitter of said second active sensor, a second probe signal;

receiving, by a receiver sensor array of said second active sensor, said first probe signal and an echo of said second probe signal;

estimating, based on said received first probe signal, a location of said first active sensor within the receiver sensor array; and

controlling a lighting function of said light source in accordance with said estimated location of said first active sensor;

wherein said first probe signal is different from said second probe signal such that interference at said receiving sensor array between said first probe signal and said second probe signal is avoided, the waveform of the first probe signal being chosen to be uncorrelated to the waveform of the second probe signal.