Lightbulb in a fixture having a configuration memory

• US 9,848,480 B1
• Filed: 06/14/2016
• Issued: 12/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Roosli, Philipp Anton
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Tung X
• Application Number:
  US15/182,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20170359885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 553 Days
• Field of Search: 315152, 315307, 315312
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/12 by detecting audible sound
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/185 via power line carrier transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/1965 using handheld communication devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

An internet of things system having a smart light bulb and a smart fixture. The smart light bulb may be inserted into and connect with the smart fixture for power to the smart light bulb. The smart light bulb may be configured by reading configuration information from a memory in the smart fixture. As a whole, the system may have two or more smart light bulbs inserted in two or more smart fixtures, respectively. The two or more smart light bulbs may be interconnected with one another with communication links to make up a mesh network. Non-bulb devices may be connected to the mesh network.

Claims

1. An internet of things (IoT) smart light bulb system comprising:

a smart fixture;

a smart light bulb that is configured to be inserted into and connected to the smart fixture for power to the smart light bulb; and

a memory situated in the smart fixture;

a control electronics module situated in the smart light bulb;

a wireless receiver in the smart light bulb connected to the control electronics module; and

a wireless transmitter in the smart fixture connected to the memory; and

wherein the smart light bulb is configured by reading configuration information from the memory in the smart fixture.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart light bulb is connected to the memory by a contact between conductors from the smart fixture and the smart light bulb, upon the insertion of the smart light bulb into the smart fixture.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the memory is a wireless memory tag affixed to the smart fixture; and

the wireless memory tag is read by a tag reader in the smart light bulb to obtain configuration information for the smart light bulb.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory contains configuration information for the smart light bulb.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the smart light bulb comprises a light source having one or more LEDs; and

the control electronics module comprises a LED drive circuit connected to the one or more LEDs.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the control electronics module further comprises a power feed circuit having a first set of terminals; and

the smart fixture comprises a power supply having a second set of terminals for connection to the first set of terminals upon insertion of the smart light bulb into the smart fixture.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the smart fixture further comprises a receiver that is connected to the memory; and

signals received by the receiver contain information that adds to or changes the configuration information in the memory.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the signals received by the receiver are sent by a smart phone.

9. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the wireless transmitter emanates signals that contain the configuration information from the memory; and

the wireless receiver receives the signals from the wireless transmitter and deciphers the configuration information from the signals.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the signals of the wireless transmitter and the wireless receiver operate in a context of near field communications (NFC) or Bluetooth.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the wireless transmitter periodically transmits the configuration information without being externally prompted.

12. A method for configuring a smart bulb comprising:

inserting a smart bulb, having a light source, in a smart socket;

connecting a control electronics module in the smart bulb, to the light source;

connecting a wireless receiver in the smart bulb to the control electronics module; and

connecting a wireless transmitter in the smart socket to a memory in the smart socket; and

wherein;

the memory contains configuration information that is configured to be provided via the wireless transmitter to the wireless receiver and the control electronics module, respectively; and

the configuration information is for configuring the light source.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein if the smart bulb is replaced with a new smart bulb, the new smart bulb is configured with the configuration information in the memory that is read by the wireless transmitter and transmitted to the wireless receiver which in turn provides the configuration information to the control electronics module for configuring the light source.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

connecting a second receiver in the smart socket to the memory of the smart socket; and

transmitting new, updated, replacement, or additional configuration information to the second receiver for entry in the memory.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the new, updated, replacement, or additional configuration information is sent to the second receiver from a smartphone.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration information comprises one or more features of the smart bulb selected from a group comprising a device address, a device descriptor, location, light color, light brightness, light patterns, and on and off times.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the configuration information comprises a unique identifier to enable the smart bulb to obtain full configuration information from a remote configuration service; and

the unique identifier serves as a lookup key for the configuration information.

18. An internet of things mesh network comprising:

two or more smart sockets; and

two or more smart light bulbs inserted in the two or more smart sockets, respectively;

a control electronics module situated in one or more of the smart light bulbs;

a wireless receiver in the one or more of the smart light bulbs having the control electronics module, wherein the wireless receiver is connected to the control electronics module;

memory in the smart fixture receiving a smart light bulb having the wireless receiver and the control electronics module, wherein the memory includes the configuration for a smart light bulb inserted in the smart socket; and

a wireless transmitter in the smart fixture receiving a smart light bulb having the wireless receiver and the control electronics module, wherein the wireless transmitter is connected to the memory of the smart fixture; and

wherein;

the two or more smart light bulbs are interconnected with one another with communication links;

each smart light bulb has an exclusive connection with a smart socket in which the smart light bulb is inserted; and

each smart socket contains a configuration for a smart light bulb inserted in the smart socket, respectively.

19. The network of claim 18, further comprising one or more non-light bulb devices having communication links with the one or more smart light bulbs.

20. The network of claim 19, wherein the one or more non-light bulb devices are selected from a group comprising thermostats, switches, mobile phones, dimmers, light detectors, and gateways.