Load control device user interface and database management using Near Field Communication (NFC)

• US 10,516,546 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2018
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Inventors: Browne, Jr., John C., Henley, Sean, Rego, Ratan Dominic, Fricke, William Bryce, Stevens, Robert D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Norton, Jennifer L
• Application Number:
  US16/194,693
• Publication Number:
  US 20190089551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23161 Hand held terminal PDA displays machine control program when user is near that machine
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25187 Transmission of signals, medium, ultrasonic, radio
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25192 Infrared
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• 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

An energy control network may include a number of load control devices, such as dimmer switches, multi-button selector switch, occupancy sensors, and remote controllers, among others. These load control devices may be configured for wireless communication. Other wireless devices, such as laptops, tablets, and “smart” cellular phones may be configured to communicate with the load control devices of the energy control network. The load control devices and the other wireless communication devices may also be configured for Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC may be used to provide a load control device with its initial default configuration and/or an application specific configuration. Also, NFC may be used to transfer a configuration from one load control device that may have become faulty, to a replacement load control device. And NFC may be used to provide and trigger commands that may cause a load control load device to operate in a predetermined manner.

Claims

1. A mobile device operable for wireless communication, the mobile device comprising:

a processor configured to;

transmit a serial number of the mobile device to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device via a near-field communication (NFC) protocol, when the mobile device is proximate to the RFID device;

receive a load control command to change an amount of power delivered by a dimmer to an electrical load, wherein the load control command is received from the RFID device via the NFC protocol subsequent to transmission of the serial number; and

transmit the received load control command via a second wireless protocol to a wireless control device,

wherein the wireless control device is further configured to transmit the load control command to the dimmer.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the second wireless protocol is a radio frequency protocol.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to transmit the received load control command to the wireless control device via a wireless router.

4. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the second wireless protocol is a Wi-Fi protocol.

5. A method performed by a mobile device, the method comprising:

transmitting a serial number of the mobile device to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device via a near-field communication (NFC) protocol, when the mobile device is proximate to the RFID device;

receiving a load control command to change an amount of power delivered by a dimmer to an electrical load, wherein the load control command is received from the RFID device via the NFC protocol subsequent to transmission of the serial number; and

transmitting the received load control command via a second wireless protocol to a wireless control device, wherein the wireless control device is further configured to transmit the load control command to the dimmer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second wireless protocol is a radio frequency protocol.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the received load control command to the wireless control device comprises transmitting the received load control command to the wireless control device via a wireless router.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second protocol comprises a Wi-Fi protocol.

9. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions that when executed by a processor of a mobile device operable for wireless communication, cause the processor to:

transmit a serial number of the mobile device to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device via a near-field communication (NFC) protocol, when the mobile device is proximate to the RFID device;

receive a load control command to change an amount of power delivered by a dimmer to an electrical load, wherein the load control command is received from the RFID device via the NFC protocol subsequent to transmission of the serial number; and

transmit the received load control command via a second wireless protocol to a wireless control device, wherein the wireless control device is further configured to transmit the load control command to the dimmer.

10. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the second wireless protocol is a radio frequency protocol.

11. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to transmit the received load control command to the wireless control device via a wireless router.

12. The non-transient computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second wireless protocol is a Wi-Fi protocol.