Lighting fixture with image sensor

• US 9,686,477 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2015
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDEAL Industries Lighting, LLC (Ideal Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CREE Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walters, Mike, Dummer, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Henn, Timothy J
• Application Number:
  US14/623,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20160241765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 855 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A lighting fixture with a control system, a light source, and an image sensor is disclosed. The image sensor is configured to capture an image in response to an image capture signal. The light source emits light in response to a drive signal. The control system provides the drive signal to control the light emitted by the light source, and when an image needs to be captured, provides the image capture signal. When capturing an image, the control system may coordinate the drive signal and the image capture signal so that the image sensor captures the image when the light source is emitting light, if light is needed or desired. The control system may control the drive signal to control the light emitted by the light source or control other lighting fixtures in the lighting network based, at least in part, on information derived from one or more captured images.

Claims

1. A lighting fixture comprising:

a solid state lighting source that is responsive to a drive signal;

an image sensor configured to capture an image during an image capture period in response to an image capture signal; and

a control system configured to;

during an on state, control the drive signal such that light for general illumination is emitted from the solid state lighting source;

during an off state, control the drive signal such that no light for general illumination is emitted from the solid state lighting source; and

when capturing the image;

provide the image capture signal; and

control the drive signal such that light for image capture is continuously emitted from the solid state lighting source throughout the image capture period, wherein images are captured at different times throughout the on state and the off state and the light for general illumination differs from the light for image capture by at least one characteristic during the off state.

2. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the at least one characteristic is color, such that a color for the light for general illumination is different than a color for the light for image capture.

3. The lighting fixture of claim 2 wherein the color for the light for image capture is shifted toward red light relative to the color for the light for general illumination.

4. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the at least one characteristic is output level such that an output level for the light for general illumination is different than an output level for the light for image capture.

5. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the at least one characteristic comprises:

color such that a color for the light for general illumination is different than a color for the light for image capture; and

output level such that an output level for the light for general illumination is different than an output level for the light for image capture.

6. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the control system is configured to determine an ambient light level based at least in part on information from an image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the drive signal such that an output level of the light for general illumination is based at least in part on the ambient light level.

7. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the light for general illumination is controlled to match the color spectrum of ambient light.

8. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the light for general illumination is controlled to compensate for spectral deficiencies of ambient light.

9. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the control system is configured to determine an ambient light color characteristic based at least in part on information from an image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the drive signal such that a color temperature of the light for general illumination is based at least in part on the ambient light color characteristic.

10. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the control system is configured to determine an ambient light output level based at least in part on information from an image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the drive signal such that an output level of the light for image capture is based at least in part on the ambient light output level.

11. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the control system is configured to determine an ambient light color characteristic based at least in part on information from an image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the drive signal such that a color of the light for image capture is based at least in part on the ambient light color characteristic.

12. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the control system is configured to determine an occupancy state based at least in part on information from at least one image that was previously captured by the image sensor and determine whether to operate in the on state or the off state based on the occupancy state.

13. The lighting fixture of claim 12 wherein when in the on state, the control system is configured to determine an ambient light level based at least in part on information from at least one image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the drive signal such that an output level of the light for general illumination is based on the ambient light level.

14. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the images captured by the image sensor are used to determine an ambient light characteristic and an occupancy state, and the control system is configured to determine how to control the drive signal based on the ambient light characteristic and whether to operate in the on state or the off state based on the occupancy state.

15. The lighting fixture of claim 14 wherein the control system is further configured to provide instructions to other lighting fixtures via a communication interface, wherein the instructions are based on at least one of the ambient light characteristic and the occupancy state and dictate how the other lighting fixtures control their light output.

16. The lighting fixture of claim 14 wherein the control system is further configured to send the image to at least one other lighting fixture via a communication interface.

17. The lighting fixture of claim 14 wherein the control system is further configured to send information from the image to at least one other lighting fixture via a communication interface.

18. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein:

throughout the image capture period, the control system is configured to control the drive signal such that the drive signal is pulse width modulated where each cycle of the drive signal has an active portion in which the light for image capture is continuously emitted and an inactive portion in which the light for image capture is not emitted; and

to capture the image, the control system controls at least one of the drive signal and the image capture signal to ensure that the image capture period falls within the active portion, such that the light for image capture is continuously emitted throughout at least the image capture period.

19. The lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the solid state lighting source comprises a plurality of LEDs of a first color and a plurality of LEDs of a second color, which is different than the first color.

20. The lighting fixture of claim 19 wherein the light for image capture is the first color.

21. The lighting fixture of claim 20 wherein the first color is red.

22. The lighting fixture of claim 21 wherein the second color is at least one of a combination of blue light and yellow light and a combination of blue light and green light.

23. The lighting fixture of claim 20 wherein the light for general illumination is formed at least in part from the first color and the second color.

24. The lighting fixture of claim 20 wherein the first color is infrared.

25. The lighting fixture of claim 20 wherein the light for general illumination is white light.

26. The lighting fixture of claim 20 wherein the light for image capture is white light.

27. A lighting fixture comprising:

a solid state lighting source that is responsive to a pulse width modulated drive signal, wherein each cycle of the pulse width modulated drive signal has an active portion in which light for image capture is continuously emitted and an inactive portion in which the light for image capture is not emitted;

an image sensor configured to capture an image during an image capture period in response to an image capture signal; and

a control system configured to;

during an on state, control the pulse width modulated drive signal such that light for general illumination is emitted from the solid state lighting source;

during an off state, control the pulse width modulated drive signal such that no light is emitted from the solid state lighting source; and

when capturing the image, provide the image capture signal such that the image capture period falls within the active portion of the pulse width modulated drive signal.

28. The lighting fixture of claim 27 wherein the image capture period takes place during the on state.

29. The lighting fixture of claim 27 wherein the image capture period takes place during the off state and light for the image capture period that is separate from the light for general illumination is emitted when the image capture period takes place during the off state.

30. The lighting fixture of claim 27 wherein the control system is configured to control the pulse width modulated drive signal such that the light for general illumination differs from the light for image capture by at least one characteristic.

31. The lighting fixture of claim 30 wherein the at least one characteristic is color, such that a color for the light for general illumination is different than a color for the light for image capture.

32. The lighting fixture of claim 30 wherein the at least one characteristic is output level, such that an output level for the light for general illumination is different than an output level for the light for image capture.

33. The lighting fixture of claim 30 wherein the at least one characteristic comprises:

color, such that a color for the light for general illumination is different than a color for the light for image capture; and

output level, such that an output level for the light for general illumination is different than an output level for the light for image capture.

34. The lighting fixture of claim 30 wherein the control system is configured to determine an ambient light level based at least in part on information from an image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the pulse width modulated drive signal such that an output level of the light for general illumination is based at least in part on the ambient light level.

35. The lighting fixture of claim 30 wherein the control system is configured to determine an ambient light color characteristic based at least in part on information from an image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and control the pulse width modulated drive signal such that a color temperature of the light for general illumination is based at least in part on the ambient light color characteristic.

36. The lighting fixture of claim 30 wherein the control system is configured to determine an occupancy state based at least in part on information from at least one image that was previously captured by the image sensor, and determine whether to operate in the on state or the off state based on the occupancy state.

37. The lighting fixture of claim 27 wherein images captured by the image sensor are used to determine an ambient light characteristic and an occupancy state, and the control system is configured to determine how to control the pulse width modulated drive signal based on the ambient light characteristic and whether to operate in the on state or the off state based on the occupancy state.

38. The lighting fixture of claim 37 wherein the control system is further configured to provide instructions to other lighting fixtures via a communication interface, wherein the instructions are based on at least one of the ambient light characteristic and the occupancy state and dictate how the other lighting fixtures control their light output.

39. The lighting fixture of claim 37 wherein the control system is further configured to send the image to at least one other lighting fixture via a communication interface.

40. The lighting fixture of claim 37 wherein the control system is further configured to send information from the image to at least one other lighting fixture via a communication interface.

41. The lighting fixture of claim 27 wherein the solid state lighting source comprises a plurality of LEDs of a first color and a plurality of LEDs of a second color, which is different than the first color.

42. The lighting fixture of claim 41 wherein the light for image capture is the first color.

43. The lighting fixture of claim 42 wherein the first color is red.

44. The lighting fixture of claim 42 wherein the light for general illumination is formed at least in part from the first color and the second color.

45. The lighting fixture of claim 42 wherein the first color is infrared.

46. The lighting fixture of claim 42 wherein the light for general illumination is white light.

47. The lighting fixture of claim 42 wherein the light for image capture is white light.

48. The lighting fixture of claim 27 wherein the image sensor is a CMOS-based image sensor.