Systems and methods for glare-free adaptive lighting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10225910-B2
Application number	US-201715587982-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2017
Priority date	May 5, 2017
Publication date	Mar 5, 2019
Grant date	Mar 5, 2019

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed to operate a luminaire so as to reduce glare experience by an occupant within an area illuminated by a luminaire. The luminaire includes individually operated light sources. An image capture device is deployed for capturing an image of an area. Operatively coupled to the luminaire and the image capture device is a computing system. The computing is configured to reduce glare by adjusting a light intensity of a light source of the luminaire. These adjustments are based on, for example, a position of an occupant within the area and a direction in which the occupant is facing relative to the luminaire, and/or a position of an indirect glare source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a luminaire including a plurality of individually controllable light sources located within an area to illuminate the area;
one or more image capture devices configured to capture an image of the area; and
a computing system configured to:
determine a position of an occupant within the area;
determine a direction in which the occupant is facing relative to the luminaire;
determine a position of one or more indirect glare sources within the area; and
adjust a light intensity of the plurality of individually controllable light sources of the luminaire to reduce glare experienced by the occupant from one or more glare sources based on the determined position of the occupant and the determined direction that the occupant is facing, wherein:
when the one or more glare sources includes direct glare from the luminaire, the light intensity of a first set of the plurality of individually controllable light sources is adjusted to a first light intensity in order to reduce direct glare experienced by the occupant from the luminaire; and
when the one or more glare sources includes at least one of the one or more indirect glare sources, for each indirect glare source the occupant is facing the light intensity of a subset of the plurality of individually controllable light sources is adjusted to a second light intensity in order to reduce indirect glare experienced by the occupant from that indirect glare source.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system includes a plurality of luminaires and at least some of the luminaires includes the one or more image capture devices, and the plurality of luminaires are communicatively coupled to the computing system.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the luminaire includes a matrix light engine configured to be received within a socket of the luminaire, the matrix light engine comprising:
a base;
a body portion attached to the base; and
a light source module disposed within the base and configured to transmit light to the area using at least one optical element, the light source module including the plurality of individually controllable light sources.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the luminaire includes at least one optical element and a digital micromirror device that transmit light from at least one of the individually controllable light sources to the area.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing system is further configured to adjust the light intensity of at least one of the individually controllable light sources of the luminaire based on a light intensity from a source other than the luminaire to reduce glare experienced by the occupant.

6. A method for operating a luminaire, comprising:
receiving an image of an area illuminated by the luminaire, the luminaire located within the area and comprising a plurality of light sources;
determining a position of an occupant within the area based on the received image;
determining a direction that the occupant is facing relative to the luminaire based on the received image;
determining a position of one or more indirect glare sources within the area; and
adjusting a light intensity of the plurality of light sources of the luminaire to reduce glare experienced by the occupant from one or more glare sources based on the determined position of the occupant and the determined direction that the occupant is facing, wherein:
when the one or more glare sources includes direct glare from the luminaire, the light intensity of a first set of the plurality of light sources is adjusted to a first light intensity in order to reduce direct glare experienced by the occupant from the luminaire; and
when the one or more glare sources includes at least one of the one or more indirect glare sources, for each indirect glare source the occupant is facing the light intensity of a subset of the plurality of light sources is adjusted to a second light intensity in order to reduce indirect glare experienced by the occupant from that indirect glare source.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the position of the occupant within the area comprises analyzing the image to identify at least one shape within the image that corresponds to an occupant within a previous set of images.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the position of the occupant within the area comprises:
associating a position identifier with each location in the area that receives a light output from a light source of the luminaire;
associating each position identifier with at least one pixel of the image;
determining a plurality of pixels of the image that corresponds to the occupant; and
associating the position of the occupant within the area with the at least one light source of the luminaire based on the position identifiers of the plurality of pixels and position identifiers of each of the light sources of the luminaire.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the direction that the occupant is facing relative to the luminaire comprises analyzing the image to identify a plurality of pixels that indicates a direction that the occupant is facing based on a set of previous images.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the direction that the occupant is facing relative to the luminaire comprises identifying at least one of a feature and an activity for the occupant based on the set of previous images.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein adjusting the light intensity of at least one light source of the luminaire further comprises:
identifying a light source of the luminaire to be adjusted based on the determined position of the occupant within the area and a position identifier associated with that position; and
selecting a light intensity at which to operate the identified light source based on the direction that the occupant is facing relative to the luminaire.

12. The method of claim 6 , further comprising correcting at least one angular coordinate for a light source of the luminaire based on a position of an image capture device relative to the luminaire, wherein the image capture device captures the image of the area.

13. A computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine readable mediums having a plurality of instructions encoded thereon that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out, the process comprising:
determining a position of an occupant within an area illuminated by a luminaire, the luminaire located within the area and including a plurality of light sources;
determining a direction in which an occupant is facing relative to the luminaire;
determining a position of one or more indirect glare sources within the area; and
adjusting a light intensity of the plurality of light sources of the luminaire to reduce glare experienced by the occupant from one or more glare sources based on the determined position of the occupant and the determined direction that the occupant is facing, wherein:
when the one or more glare sources includes direct glare from the luminaire, the light intensity of a first set of the plurality of light sources is adjusted to a first light intensity in order to reduce direct glare experienced by the occupant from the luminaire; and
when the one or more glare sources includes at least one of the one or more indirect glare sources, for each indirect glare source the occupant is facing the light intensity of a subset of the plurality of light sources is adjusted to a second light intensity in order to reduce indirect glare experienced by the occupant from that indirect glare source.

14. The computer program p

Assignees

• Brock Lori
• Quilici Michael
• Osram Sylvania Inc

Inventors

• Brock Lori
• Quilici Michael

Classifications

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F21V14/04

  by movement of reflectors {(in vehicle head lamps F21S41/675)} · CPC title

• F21Y2115/30

  Semiconductor lasers · CPC title

• H05B37/0227 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B33/0854

  Electricity · mapped topic