Controller for a luminaire

• US 9,863,620 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2015
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Current Lighting Solutions, LLC (f/k/a GE Lighting Solutions, LLC) (American Industrial Partners)
• Original Assignee: GE Lighting Solutions LLC (Savant Systems, LLC)
• Inventors: Chaoua, Youcef, Bacon, Louis, Lavigne, Eric, Tracy, David Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, JIMMY T
• Application Number:
  US14/947,692
• Publication Number:
  US 20170146223A1
• Time in Patent Office: 781 Days
• Field of Search: 315291, 315307, 315308, 315312, 315151-158
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/003 the elements being electronics drivers or controllers for operating the light source, e.g. for a LED array
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Provided is a controller for use with a luminaire. The controller that includes a processor connected to at least one lead of a receptacle included in the luminaire. The processor can be programmed to multiplex at least one lead of the receptacle to achieve at least one of a plurality functions.

Claims

1. A light controller, for use with a luminaire, comprising:

a processor connected to at least one unassigned lead of a receptacle included in the luminaire,

wherein the processor is programmed to multiplex the at least one unassigned lead to achieve at least one of a plurality functions; and

wherein the light controller further comprises a memory comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to multiplex the at least one lead.

2. The light controller of claim 1, wherein the processor is connected to two leads of the receptacle.

3. The light controller of claim 2, wherein the receptacle is implemented according to the ANSI C136.41 standard.

4. The light controller of claim 3, wherein the two leads are unassigned pins according to the ANSI C136.41 standard.

5. The light controller of claim 1, wherein the receptacle includes a first set of leads, each lead of the first set being assigned to one or more components of the luminaire, and a second set of leads, each lead of the second set being unassigned, and wherein the at least one unassigned lead is in the second set of leads.

6. The light controller of claim 1, wherein the receptacle is a 7-lead interface, of which three leads are assigned to power functions, two other leads are assigned to one of dimming or DALI™

functions, and wherein the processor is connected to at least one of the two unassigned leads of the 7-lead interface.

7. The light controller of claim 1, wherein the at least one of a plurality of functions is selected from the group consisting of data transmission functions and data reception functions.

8. The light controller of claim 7, wherein the plurality of functions are based on one of analog signaling and digital signaling or a combination thereof.

9. The light controller of claim 1, further comprising hardware configured to program the processor to multiplex the at least one lead.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, for use with a luminaire, the computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

multiplexing at least one unassigned lead of a lighting control receptacle included in the luminaire to achieve one of at least one of a plurality of functions;

wherein the operations further include dynamically multiplexing two or more functions on a single lead from among the at least one unassigned lead.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the operations include performing of a data transmission operation and a data reception operation or a combination thereof.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the lighting control receptacle is implemented according to the ANSI C136.41 standard, and wherein the at least one lead is selected from unassigned leads of the lighting control receptacle.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the receptacle includes a plurality of leads of which leads from a first set of leads are associated with one or more components of the luminaire and leads from a second set of leads are unassigned, and the at least one unassigned lead is selected from the second set of leads.