Controlling the power consumption of a receiving unit

• US 9,357,497 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2009
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Wendt, Matthias, Erdmann, Bozena, Deppe, Carsten, Sauerlaender, Georg
• Primary Examiner(s): Myers, Paul R
• Application Number:
  US12/865,438
• Publication Number:
  US 20100325456A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,675 Days
• Field of Search: 713/320
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An average power consumption of receiving units (3,5,7) for controlling apparatuses (4,6,8) in response to operation control signals from transmitting units (2) may be reduced by introducing devices (1,21) for controlling the power consumption of the receiving units (3,5,7) in response to detections of states of the apparatuses (4,6,8). The devices (1) may comprise controllers (30) for controlling the power consumption in a wireless, non-wireless, physical and/or logical manner. The devices (1) may comprise monitors (33) for monitoring power consumption, currents and/or voltages at the receiving units (3,5,7) and/or the apparatuses (4,6,8). The devices (1) may comprise receivers (40), detectors (41), converters (42) and transmitters (43) for receiving the operation control signals, detecting the states of the apparatuses (4,6,8), converting the operation control signals into converted signals, and transmitting the operation control signals or the converted signals to the receiving units (3,5,7) for controlling the power consumption of the receiving units (3,5,7) via the transmitted signals, wherein the transmitted signals correspond to power control signals.

Claims

1. A device for controlling a power consumption of a receiving unit, the receiving unit being arranged to control an apparatus in response to a reception of a wireless or non-wireless operation control signal from a transmitting unit, the apparatus comprising a product that is remotely controlled via a combination of the transmitting unit and the receiving unit, the device comprising:

a controller for, in response to a detection of a state of the apparatus, controlling the power consumption of the receiving unit for reducing an average power consumption of the receiving unit;

a receiver for receiving the operation control signal, the device being configured to switch the receiving unit off when the apparatus is switched on or off or is in another state and to switch the receiving unit back on in reaction to a reception of the operation control signal; and

a processor for, in response to an analysis of traffic exchanged between the transmitting unit and the receiving unit, generating statistics and generating a message.

2. The device as defined in claim 1, the device being arranged to control a power consumption of a further receiving unit, the further receiving unit being arranged to control a further apparatus, the controller being arranged to, in response to a detection of a state of the further apparatus, control the power consumption of the further receiving unit for reducing an average power consumption of the further receiving unit.

3. The device as defined in claim 1, the receiving unit forming part of a lamp driver, and/or the apparatus comprising a lamp.

4. The device as defined in claim 1, the controller communicating via a wireless or non-wireless interface for controlling the power consumption of the receiving unit wirelessly or non-wirelessly, and/or the controller communicating via a physical and/or logical interface for controlling the power consumption of the receiving unit physically and/or logically.

5. The device as defined in claim 1, the device further comprising a monitor for monitoring a power consumption of and/or a current flowing through and/or a voltage supplied to the receiving unit and/or the apparatus.

6. The device as defined in claim 1, the device further comprising a detector for detecting the state of the apparatus in response to a reception of the operation control signal.

7. The device as defined in claim 1, the device further comprising a memory for storing at least the operation control signal, and a transmitter for transmitting and/or re-transmitting at least the operation control signal to the receiving unit.

8. The device as defined in claim 1, the device further comprising a converter for converting the operation control signal into a converted signal.

9. The device as defined in claim 7, the controller communicating via the transmitter for controlling the power consumption of the receiving unit via the converted signal.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is configured to switch the receiving unit off when the apparatus is switched on and to switch the receiving unit back on in reaction to a reception of the operation control signal.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a wireless interface and wherein the device communicates a wireless signal to the receiving unit via the wireless interface to control the power consumption of the receiving unit by selectively turning the receiving unit on and off.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the device receives power via a supply line and includes an interface which is configured under control of the controller to selectively pass the power to the receiving unit via a non-wireless interface between the device and the receiving unit to selectively turn the receiving unit on and off.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the device includes a wireless interface for transmitting the received operation control signal to the receiving unit.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is configured to switch the receiving unit on and off in response to the operation control signal received by the receiver of the device.

15. A device for controlling a power consumption of a plurality of receiving units, each receiving unit each being arranged to control a corresponding apparatus in response to reception of operation control signals transmitted from a transmitting unit to the receiving unit, the apparatus comprising a product that is remotely controlled via a combination of the transmitting unit and the receiving unit, the device comprising:

a wireless receiver configured to sniff the operation control signals which are transmitted wirelessly from the transmitting unit directly to the receiving units and received by the receiving units directly from the transmitting unit;

a detector configured to detect a state of each apparatus in response to the operation control signals sniffed by the wireless receiver;

an interface to one or more links between the device and the receiving units; and

a controller configured to, in response to a detection of a state of one of the apparatuses, control via the interface the power consumption of the corresponding receiving unit for reducing an average power consumption of the corresponding receiving unit, the device being configured to switch each receiving unit off when the corresponding apparatus is switched on or off or is in another state, and to switch the receiving unit back on in response to one of the operation control signals sniffed by the wireless receiver.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the operation control signals directly to the receiving unit according to a Zigbee protocol, and wherein the receiver comprises a Zigbee receiver configured to sniff the operation control signals which are transmitted according to the Zigbee protocol.

17. The device of claim 15, further comprising an interface configured to receive a further control signal from a further device, the further control signal being configured for reducing an average power consumption of the device.

18. A system including a device for controlling a power consumption of a plurality of receiving units, each receiving unit each being arranged to control a corresponding apparatus in response to reception of operation control signals transmitted from a transmitting unit to the receiving unit, the apparatus comprising a product that is remotely controlled via a combination of the transmitting unit and the receiving unit, the device comprising:

a first interface connected to a detector via an information link and configured to receive from the detector via the information link data indicating a state of each of the apparatuses;

an interface to one or more links between the device and the receiving units; and

a controller configured to, in response to a detection of a state of one of the apparatuses from the data received via the first interface from the detector, control via the interface the power consumption of the corresponding receiving unit for reducing an average power consumption of the corresponding receiving unit, the device being configured to switch each receiving unit off when the corresponding apparatus is switched on or off or is in another state, and to switch the receiving unit back on in response to expiration of a predefined time interval.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the device does not supply power to the receiving units, and is configured to control the power consumption of the receiving units by transmitting power control signals to the receiving units via the interface.

20. The device of claim 18, the device is configured to selectively supply and not supply power to each of the receiving units via the interface.