Advanced networked lighting control system including improved systems and methods for automated self-grouping of lighting fixtures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10548204-B2
Application number	US-201816227113-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2018
Priority date	Feb 24, 2016
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

An advanced lighting control system including systems for commissioning a network of lighting fixtures preferably includes a plurality of lighting fixtures, each having a sensor and control module. The sensor and control module includes occupancy and light sensing elements, and a first transceiver. The lighting fixtures can send wireless signals to a second transceiver located in a room controller and/or a network coordinator. The room controller being configured to interpret the occupancy and light sensing information and make decisions thereon, while the network coordinator can rank the lighting fixtures according to a determined signal strength. The network coordinator can command each of the lighting fixtures to illuminate, and based on an observation of the lighting fixture, a determination is made about whether the lighting fixture is located in a particular room. The network coordinator can also include a third transceiver for receiving wireless commands from a remote device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for commissioning a network of lighting fixtures, comprising:
a plurality of lighting fixtures, each of the plurality of lighting fixtures including:
a lighting element;
an identifier unique to each of the plurality of lighting fixtures;
a sensor module including a light sensing element;
at least one transceiver for transmitting and receiving wireless messages; and

a network coordinator configured to discover, group and control a portion of the plurality of lighting fixtures;
wherein the network coordinator includes a processor programmed to:
transmit a wireless activation message to one or more of the plurality of lighting fixtures;
receive an acknowledgment message in response to the wireless activation message from one or more of the plurality of lighting fixtures, each of the acknowledgment messages including the identifier associated with the respective lighting fixture;
group each of the one or more lighting fixtures, from which an acknowledgement message is received, into a networked lighting group; and
determine which of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group has highest signal strength associated with the received acknowledgement messages.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of the network coordinator is further programmed to:
determine whether each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group is located within an area.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of the network coordinator is further programmed to:
rank each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group according to a respective signal strength associated with the received acknowledgement messages; and
command the highest ranked lighting fixture to illuminate its associated lighting element.

4. The system of claim 3 , further comprising:
programming at each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group to:
detect light level information in response to the highest ranked lighting fixture illuminating its associated lighting element; and
transmit to the network coordinator a message containing information relevant to the detected light level; and

wherein the network coordinator is programmed to:
receive the message from the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group;
determine from the received one or more messages, respectively, if a light fixture detected an increase in light level; and
remove any light fixture from the networked lighting group that did not detect an increase in light level.

5. The system of claim 3 , further comprising:
programming at each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group to:
detect light level information in response to the highest ranked lighting fixture illuminating its associated lighting element; and
transmit to the network coordinator a message containing information relevant to the detected light level; and

wherein the processor of the network coordinator is further programmed to:
receive the message from the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group; and
keep any lighting fixture in the networked lighting group if the lighting fixture sees an increased amount of light based on the highest ranked lighting fixture illuminating its associated lighting element; or
remove any lighting fixture from the networked lighting group if no change in light level is detected based on the highest ranked lighting fixture illuminating its associated lighting element.

6. The system of claim 3 , further comprising:
programming at each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group to:
detect light level information in response to the highest ranked lighting fixture illuminating its associated lighting element; and
transmit to the network coordinator a message containing information relevant to the detected light level; and

wherein the processor of the network coordinator is further programmed to:
receive the message from the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group; and
remove any lighting fixture from the networked lighting group except for those where a message was received indicating a detection of increased light level.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network coordinator includes a transceiver for receiving wireless messages from a remote device for controlling an operational function of the network coordinator.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of the network coordinator is programmed to rank each of the plurality of lighting fixtures from which an acknowledgement message is received, according to the determined signal strength.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of the network coordinator is programmed to selectively command each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group to illuminate their respective lighting elements.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of the network coordinator is programmed to transmit the wireless activation message to one or more of the plurality of lighting fixtures in response to a user input selected from a list consisting of a light flash, a button press on an entry station, and a signal from a remote device.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed in an entry station associated with a room, the room containing at least a portion of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed in one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

13. A method for commissioning a networked lighting system, comprising:
transmitting, from a network coordinator associated with an area, a wireless activation message to one or more lighting fixtures;
receiving, by at least a portion of the lighting fixtures, the wireless activation message;
transmitting, from the lighting fixtures receiving the wireless activation message, an acknowledgment message to the network coordinator in response to receiving the wireless activation message, each of the acknowledgment messages including an identifier associated with the respective lighting fixture;
receiving, at the network coordinator, the acknowledgement messages;
grouping, by the network coordinator, the lighting fixtures transmitting an acknowledgement message into a networked lighting group;
determining which of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group has highest signal strength associated with the received acknowledgement messages;
transmitting, from the network coordinator, a message to a highest ranked one of the lighting fixtures, the message instructing the highest ranked one to illuminate an associated lighting element; and
determining whether each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group is located within the area in response to the highest ranked one of the lighting fixtures illuminating its associated lighting element.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining which of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group has highest signal strength associated with the received acknowledgement messages comprises:
determining, at the network coordinator, a respective signal strength associated with each of the received acknowledgement messages; and
ranking each of the lighting fixtures from which an acknowledgement message is received according to the determined signal strength of the received acknowledgement message.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein step of determining whether each of the lighting fixtures in the networked lighting group is located within the area comprises sensing, at a light sensing element associated with each of the lightin

Assignees

• Leviton Manufacturing Co

Inventors

• Leinen Richard A
• Hick Robert L

Classifications

• H05B45/10

  Controlling the intensity of the light · CPC title

• H05B47/11 Primary

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H05B33/0854

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B37/0272 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic