Sensory lighting system and method for characterizing an illumination space

• US 9,363,859 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2013
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Trustees of Boston University
• Original Assignee: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Inventors: Little, Thomas D. C., Karlicek, Robert F. Jr., Radke, Richard J., Butala, Pankil M., Jia, Li
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens, Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fernandez, Pedro C
• Application Number:
  US14/394,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20150061509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,145 Days
• Field of Search: 250/206.1, 250/206.2, 250/221, 250/559.29, 315/312, 315/297, 315/294, 362/231
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/04 Systems determining the presence of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10152 Varying illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/521 from laser ranging, e.g. using interferometry; from the projection of structured light
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/141 Control of illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3578 Emulating the electrical or functional characteristics of discharge lamps
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/10 Controlling the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an illumination system including an array of LED light sources for emitting light encoded with a modulation pattern, an array of sensors and a space characterization unit. The array of sensors receives emitted light scattered by an object. Each sensor determines a distance between the corresponding light source and the object using the modulation pattern. The space characterization unit uses the distance from each sensor to generate an elevation map indicating a presence of the object.

Claims

1. An illumination system comprising:

an array of light emitting diode (LED) light sources disposed in a space for illumination, each light source configured to emit light encoded with a predetermined modulation pattern in the space, the emitted light from among the array of LED light sources being scattered by at least one object in the space;

an array of sensors proximate to the array of LED light sources and configured to receive the scattered light from the at least one object in the space, each sensor configured to determine a distance between the corresponding light source and the at least one object based on detection of the predetermined modulation pattern in the received scattered light; and

a space characterization unit configured to receive the distance from each sensor and to generate an elevation map of the space based upon the distance received from each sensor of the array of sensors and predetermined locations of the sensors in the array of sensors, the elevation map indicating a presence of the at least one object in the space by displaying a height of the at least one object as based upon the distance received from the sensor that senses the at least one object and concurrently displaying a location of the object as based upon the predetermined location of the sensor that senses the at least one object;

wherein each light source includes a plurality of light sources configured to emit the light in different wavelengths, at least one of the sensors configured to determine the distance for each of the different wavelengths, the elevation map including a color map associated with the different wavelengths.

2. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein each light source includes at least one of a spot light, a flood light or a panel light.

3. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein each light source includes a monochromatic light source.

4. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the space characterization unit is configured to detect, based on the elevation map, at least one property of the at least one object, to control illumination by the illumination system.

5. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the space characterization unit is configured to determine, based on the elevation map, at least one of the location of the at least one object, a pose of the at least one object or movement of the at least one object.

6. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the space characterization unit is configured to determine, based on the elevation map, whether the at least one object is an animate object or an inanimate object.

7. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein each sensor is configured to determine a time-of-flight for the emitted light to be received by the sensor based on the detected predetermined modulation pattern, the distance being determined from the time-of-flight.

8. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein each light source is configured to be independently modulated with the predetermined modulation pattern.

9. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein two or more of the light sources are configured to be synchronously modulated with the predetermined modulation pattern.

10. A method of characterizing a space for illumination, the method comprising:

emitting light by an array of light emitting diode (LED) light sources disposed in the space for illumination, the emitted light encoded with at least one predetermined modulation pattern, the emitted light being scattered by at least one object in the space;

receiving the scattered light from at the at least one object in the space by an array of sensors proximate the array of LED light sources;

determining, by each sensor, a distance between the corresponding light source and the at least one object based on detection of the at least one predetermined modulation pattern in the received scattered light; and

generating an elevation map of the space based on the distance determined by each sensor in the array of sensors and predetermined locations of the sensors in the array of sensors, the elevation map indicating a presence of the at least one object in the space by displaying a height of the at least one object as based upon the distance received from the sensor that senses the at least one object and concurrently displaying a location of the object as based upon the predetermined location of the sensor that senses the at least one object, the space for illumination being characterized based on the elevation map; and

wherein each light source includes a plurality of light sources configured to emit the light in different wavelengths, at least one of the sensors configured to determine the distance for each of the different wavelengths, the elevation map including a color map associated with the different wavelengths.

11. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising detecting, based on the elevation map, at least one property of the at least one object, to control illumination by the array of LED light sources.

12. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising determining, based on the elevation map, at least one of the location of the at least one object, a pose of the at least one object or movement of the at least one object.

13. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising determining, based on the elevation map, whether the at least one object is an animate object or an inanimate object.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining of the distance includes determining a time-of-flight for the emitted light to be received by the respective sensor based on the detected at least one predetermined modulation pattern, the distance being determined from the time-of-flight.