Dimming control device and method

• US 9,668,323 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2016
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sang Min Chung
• Original Assignee: Sang Min Chung
• Inventors: Lee, Gyu Ho, Chung, Sang Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Tung X
• Application Number:
  US15/163,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20160345409A1
• Time in Patent Office: 371 Days
• Field of Search: 315291, 315294, 315297, 315307, 315312, 315360
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/962 Capacitive touch switches
• 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

The present invention relates to a dimming control device and method, and a dimming control device according to an embodiment of the present invention may control the ON/OFF of a lamp depending on whether a power pad is touched, and control the brightness of the lamp depending on whether dimming pads are touched. Thus, a user may control brightness step by step and may conveniently manipulate each step of brightness.

Claims

1. A dimming control apparatus that controls illuminance of a lamp, the dimming control apparatus comprising:

a power pad, formed in a center of the dimming control apparatus and configured as a first touch panel for turning on/off power supply of the lamp;

a dimming pad, formed in a circle surrounding a periphery of the power pad and configured as a second touch panel for controlling illuminance of the lamp;

a sensing unit that senses touch operations from the power pad and the dimming pad; and

a control unit interfaced with the sensing unit, the control unit controls turning on/off of power supply to the lamp according to whether or not the sensing unit senses touching of the power pad and controls illuminance of the lamp according to whether or not the sensing unit senses touching of the dimming pad.

2. The dimming control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the illuminance of the lamp using a dimming value according to touch locations of the dimming pad configured as a second touch panel.

3. The dimming control apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the illuminance of the lamp according to touch directions of the dimming pad configured as a second touch panel.

4. The dimming control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dimming pad configured as a second touch panel is arranged by stages to correspond to the illuminance of the lamp.

5. The dimming control apparatus of claim 4, further comprising at least two display lamps that are turned on/off according to whether the dimming pad configured as a second touch panel is touched and display the operational state of the dimming pad.

6. The dimming control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a storage unit that stores a dimming value at the time when the lamp is turned on/off, wherein the control unit controls the illuminance of the lamp to correspond to the stored dimming value when the lamp is turned on.

7. The dimming control apparatus of claim 1, wherein a sensing period of the power pad is set to be longer than a sensing period of the dimming pad.

8. A dimming control method of controlling illuminance of a lamp, the dimming control method comprising:

turning on/off power supply to the lamp with a controller when a sensor interfaced with the controller senses touching of a power pad formed in a center of a dimming control apparatus and configured as a first touch panel for turning on/off the power supply to the lamp; and

controlling the illuminance of the lamp with the controller according to whether the sensor senses touching of a dimming pad, formed in a circle surrounding a periphery of the power pad and configured as a second touch panel, effecting controlling the illuminance of the lamp.

9. The dimming control method of claim 8, wherein in the controlling of the illuminance of the lamp, the illuminance of the lamp is controlled using a dimming value according to touch locations of the dimming pad configured as a second touch panel.

10. The dimming control method of claim 8, wherein in the controlling of the illuminance of the lamp, the illuminance of the lamp is controlled according to touch directions of the dimming pad configured as a second touch panel.

11. The dimming control method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing the dimming value of the lamp when the power pad is touched; and

turning off power supply to the lamp.

12. The dimming control method of claim 8, wherein a sensing period of the power pad is set to be longer than a sensing period of the dimming pad.

13. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a program for executing the method of claim 8.