Method and system for controlling environmental conditions
First Claim
1. A computer system for controlling lights within an environment, each light being on a circuit, comprising:
- a scene description data structure that specifies circuits within a scene and specifies target states for the circuits within a scene;
a lighting gateway that retrieves and provides scene descriptions from said scene description data structure when requested and that receives requests to enable a scene and notifies a lighting controller to enable the target state for each circuit within the scene that is requested to be enabled; and
a lighting component for each space from which lights can be controlled that requests and retrieves the scene descriptions from the lighting gateway and that receives requests generated from a user control point device to enable a scene and forwards the request to the lighting gateway.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for controlling environmental conditions, such as lighting. The lighting system provides an architecture that includes a scene description data structure. A scene defines one or more circuits and a target state for the lights on those circuits. The scene description data structure specifies circuits within a scene and specifies a target state for the lights on those circuits within a scene. The lighting system provides a lighting gateway that retrieves and provides scene descriptions to assist in generating a user interface for enabling scenes, and that receives requests to enable scenes and then requests a lighting controller to enable the target state for each circuit within the scene. Each space (e.g., area or room) within the environment has a lighting component that provides a standard programmatic interface to the control the lights from a space. The lighting component retrieves scene descriptions from the lighting gateway and receives requests from a user control point device to enable a scene and then forwards the requests to the lighting gateway.
145 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A computer system for controlling lights within an environment, each light being on a circuit, comprising:
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a scene description data structure that specifies circuits within a scene and specifies target states for the circuits within a scene;
a lighting gateway that retrieves and provides scene descriptions from said scene description data structure when requested and that receives requests to enable a scene and notifies a lighting controller to enable the target state for each circuit within the scene that is requested to be enabled; and
a lighting component for each space from which lights can be controlled that requests and retrieves the scene descriptions from the lighting gateway and that receives requests generated from a user control point device to enable a scene and forwards the request to the lighting gateway. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
a lighting user interface component for each space that requests the lighting component for scene descriptions and that controls the user control point device to present a user interface for controlling the lights within the space.
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3. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the lighting gateway notifies the lighting component when the lighting controller changes state.
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4. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the scenes for a space are organized into a group and wherein a user can control scenes in multiple groups from a single control point device.
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5. A method in a computer system for controlling lights through a lighting controller, each light being on a circuit, the circuits being organized into scenes, the method comprising:
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displaying a visual representation of scenes within a space that can be controlled, wherein each scene of the scenes has associated therewith a scene description data structure that specifies circuits within the scene and specifies target states for the circuits within the scene;
receiving a selection of one of the scenes from a user; and
in response to receiving the selection of a scene, requesting the lighting controller to enable the selected scene; and
when the lighting controller has been successfully requested, displaying a momentary feedback to the user indicating that the lighting controller has been successfully requested. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
when the lighting controller has not been successfully requested, suppressing the displaying of the momentary feedback.
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9. The method of claim 5 wherein the scenes can be enabled as a result of user input from any of more than one user control point device.
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10. The method of claim 5 wherein a scene controls less than all of the circuits within a space.
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11. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 5.
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12. A modulated data signal carrying computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 5.
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13. A computing device comprising means for performing the method of claim 5.
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14. A method for controlling an environmental condition in an environment having a plurality of scenes and a plurality of user control point devices, wherein a scene is a collection of scene component descriptors, wherein each scene component descriptor at least identifies a circuit and a target state for the circuit, comprising:
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receiving a selection of a scene of the plurality of scenes from a user control point device of the plurality of user control point devices;
in response to said receiving, requesting a circuit controller to place each of the circuits identified by the corresponding scene component descriptors of the scene at the target state for the scene; and
receiving from the circuit controller a notification when the circuits of the scene have been driven to the target state. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An environmental control system for controlling an environmental condition of an environment, including:
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an environmental gateway;
an environmental controller;
an environmental component having associated therewith at least one user interface component, wherein the environmental gateway interfaces with the environmental controller and operates to forward requests from the environmental component to the environmental controller, wherein the environmental component receives requests from its associated at least one user interface component to adjust the environmental condition and forwards those requests to the environmental gateway, and wherein the environmental condition has associated therewith an environmental condition description data structure that specifies circuits that relate to the environmental condition and specifies target states for the circuits to achieve said environmental condition. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A scene description data structure utilized in connection with the setting of a collection of circuits of a scene to related target states, comprising for each of a plurality of scenes described by the data structure:
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an identification of the scene;
at least one identification corresponding to each of the circuits within the scene;
a target state for each of the circuits of the scene; and
an event. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
a transition time for each of the circuits within the scene.
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34. A scene description data structure according to claim 32, further comprising for each of a plurality of scenes described by the data structure:
a name of the scene.
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35. An environmental control system for a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a communications bus;
an object controller for controlling a plurality of objects;
an object gateway, wherein said object gateway controls is communicatively coupled to said object controller for communicating information to said object controller from any of multiple components of the system;
a scene description data structure, wherein said scene description data structure is accessible by said object gateway for retrieving descriptions of a scene, wherein a scene is a collection of scene component descriptors, wherein each scene component descriptor at least identifies a circuit and a target state for the circuit;
at least one object component, wherein the at least one object component provides a programmatic interface for receiving requests to control an environmental condition and for instructing the object gateway accordingly;
at least one user control point device for rendering a interface to a user for inputting a scene to enable; and
at least one user interface component, wherein the at least one user interface component serves as the interface between the at least one user control point device and the at least one object component and wherein the at least one user interface component generates the data for display on said user control point device, wherein said communications bus interconnects said object gateway, said at least one object component and said at least one object user interface component. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification