Lighting system and signal converting device therefor

• US 9,578,714 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2016
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Chang Seob, Kim, Min Su
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, JIMMY T
• Application Number:
  US15/139,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20160242256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 300 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/307, 315/308, 315/312
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/183 using digital addressable lighting interface [DALI] communication protocols
• 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

A lighting system includes a digital addressable lighting interface (DALI) master controller, a lighting driver, and a signal converter. The DALI master controller is connected to a management server. The lighting driver operates a lighting device including a light emitting diode (LED). The signal converter is connected to the DALI master controller by a DALI bus operating according to a DALI communication protocol, and is communicatively connected to the lighting driver via a wireless communication connection operating according to a wireless communication protocol. The signal converter inter-converts a signal transmitted and received from the DALI master controller according to the DALI communication protocol and a signal transmitted to and received from the lighting driver according to the wireless communication protocol so as to enable communication between the lighting driver and the DALI master controller.

Claims

1. A lighting system, comprising:

a lighting apparatus including a plurality of LEDs;

a driver configured to drive the plurality of LEDs;

a sensor unit configured to generate an environment information by detecting a change of surrounding environment; and

a controller configured to control the driver based on the environment information,

wherein the controller comprises a signal converter communicatively connected to the driver via a wireless communication connection operating according to a wireless communication protocol and a digital addressable lighting interface (DALI) master controller configured to transmit and receive a signal according to a DALI communication protocol, and

wherein the signal converter is configured to inter-convert a signal transmitted to and received from the DALI master controller according to the DALI communication protocol and a signal transmitted to and received from the lighting driver according to the wireless communication protocol so as to enable communication between the driver and the DALI master controller.

2. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit comprises at least one of a lighting sensor configured to detect an ambient light, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.

3. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of LEDs have different color temperatures from each other, and the controller is configured to control the driver based on the environment information, so as to determine a color temperature of the lighting apparatus.

4. The lighting system of claim 3, wherein the lighting apparatus comprises a plurality of first LEDs configured to emit white light having a first color temperature and a plurality of second LEDs configured to emit white light having a second color temperature.

5. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to increase or decrease the color temperature of the lighting apparatus by adjusting a light emitted from the plurality of first LEDs and a light emitted from the plurality of second LEDs.

6. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the lighting apparatus comprises a plurality of lighting apparatuses, the driver comprises a plurality of drivers, and each of the plurality of drivers is configured to control at least one of the plurality of lighting apparatuses.

7. The lighting system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the plurality of drivers is provided as a single module with the controller.

8. The lighting system of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the plurality of drivers provided as a single module with the controller is communicatively connected to other driver according to the wireless communication protocol.

9. The lighting system of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to communicate with each of the plurality of the drivers by using unique addresses allotted to each of the plurality of the drivers.

10. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the driver comprises a wireless communication module configured to receive a signal from the signal converter according the wireless communication protocol, and a driving circuit module configured to drive the plurality of LEDs by using an information included in the signal from the signal converter.

11. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the signal converter comprises a first communication module configured to transmit and receive a first signal to and from the DALI master controller according to the DALI communication protocol, a second communication module configured to transmit and receive a second signal to and from the driver according to the wireless communication protocol, and a control module configured to inter-convert the first signal and the second signal.

12. The lighting system of claim 11, wherein the control module comprises a plurality of control modules, at least one of the plurality of control modules is configured to inter-convert the first signal and the second signal, and

the plurality of control modules are communicatively connected to each other according to Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART), and an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C).

13. The lighting system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of control modules are provided as a single integrated circuit (IC).

14. The lighting system of claim 11, wherein the control module is configured to extract at least one of address information, device information, and control information from a signal received through the first communication module and conforming to the DALI communication protocol to generate a signal conforming to the wireless communication protocol.

15. The lighting system of claim 14, wherein the control module is configured to receive the at least one of address information, device information, and control information from a signal from a management server and a control switch connected to the DALI master controller.

16. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication protocol is a protocol based on at least one of ZigBee™

, ultra-side band (UWB), wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth™

, infrared data association (IrDA), and radio frequency identification (RFID).

17. The lighting controller for a plurality of lighting apparatuses, comprising:

a sensor unit configured to generate an environment information by detecting a change of surrounding environment;

a plurality of drivers configured to drive the plurality of lighting apparatuses; and

a controller configured to control each of the plurality of drivers,

wherein the controller comprises a DALI master controller configured to transmit and receive a first signal to and from an external management server according to a DALI communication protocol, and a signal converter configured to transmit and receive a second signal to and from the plurality of drivers according to a wireless communication protocol and inter-convert the first signal and the second signal.

18. The lighting controller of claim 17, wherein the plurality of lighting apparatuses are equipped in different spaces, and the controller is configured to control each of the plurality of drivers by using the environment information collected in each of the spaces by the sensor unit.

19. The lighting controller of claim 17, wherein the controller is configured to adjust at least one of a brightness, a color temperature, a color of light emitted from each of the plurality of lighting apparatuses by using the environment information and a pre-determined condition of a user.