Wireless solid state lighting controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10813197-B2
Application number	US-201715483453-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2017
Priority date	Apr 10, 2017
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

A lighting controller comprises power circuitry, transmitter circuitry, a touch-sensitive panel, and processing circuitry. The power circuitry is configured to relay power from the lighting controller to a solid state lighting fixture wired to the lighting controller. The transmitter circuitry is configured to wirelessly exchange signals with the solid state lighting fixture. The touch-sensitive panel is configured to emit light and receive touch input from a user. The processing circuitry is electrically coupled to the power circuitry, the transmitter circuitry, and the touch-sensitive panel. The processing circuitry is configured to wirelessly control, via the transmitter circuitry, the attribute of light emitted by the solid state lighting fixture in accordance with the touch input received via the touch-sensitive panel and control the light emitted from the touch-sensitive panel to indicate the attribute as the attribute is wirelessly controlled.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting controller comprising:
power circuitry configured to relay power from the lighting controller to a solid state lighting fixture wired to the lighting controller;
transmitter circuitry configured to wirelessly exchange signals with the solid state lighting fixture;
a touch-sensitive panel configured to emit light and receive touch input from a user;
a series of solid state indicator lights;
processing circuitry electrically coupled to the power circuitry, the transmitter circuitry, and the touch-sensitive panel, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
control the series of solid state indicator lights to visually indicate which of a brightness control mode and a color temperature control mode is active;
interpret the touch input received from the user via the touch-sensitive panel, based on which of the brightness control mode and the color temperature control mode of the lighting controller is active, to determine a control signal for wirelessly controlling an attribute of light emitted by the solid state lighting fixture, the attribute being a brightness attribute or a color temperature attribute;
using the control signal to wirelessly control, via the transmitter circuitry, the attribute of the light emitted by the solid state lighting fixture in accordance with the touch input received via the touch-sensitive panel; and
control the light emitted from the touch-sensitive panel to illuminate an area around the lighting controller and correspondingly indicate the attribute as the attribute is wirelessly controlled.

2. The lighting controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to toggle between the brightness and color temperature control modes responsive to a double-tap of the touch-sensitive panel or a pressing of the touch-sensitive panel longer than a threshold duration.

3. The lighting controller of claim 1 , wherein to visually indicate which of the brightness control mode and the color temperature control mode is active, the processing circuitry is configured to:
responsive to one of the brightness and color temperature control modes being active, set a first majority of the series of solid state indicator lights to illuminated and a first remainder of the series of solid state indicator lights to extinguished;
responsive to the other of the brightness and color temperature control modes being active, set a second majority of the series of solid state indicator lights to extinguished and a second remainder of the series of solid state indicator lights to illuminated.

4. The lighting controller of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to select which of the series of solid state indicator lights is included in the first or second remainder of the series of solid state indicator lights to visually indicate the attribute of the light emitted relative to a supported range for the attribute.

5. The lighting controller of claim 1 , wherein the touch input is a sliding touch input and to determine the control signal the processing circuitry is configured to determine, within a range of supported configuration values, a configuration value to indicate via the control signal based on a length over which the sliding touch input was received via the touch-sensitive panel.

6. The lighting controller of claim 5 , further comprising at least one feedback device communicatively coupled to the processing circuitry, the at least one feedback device comprising a haptic feedback actuator, an audio device, or both;
wherein, to determine the configuration value within the range of supported configuration values, the processing circuitry is configured to:
responsive to the brightness control mode being active, determine a brightness value between minimum and maximum supported brightness values;
responsive to the color temperature control mode being active, determine a color temperature value between minimum and maximum supported warmth values;

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to, responsive to determining that the configuration value is equal to a value at either end of the range of supported configuration values, provide feedback to the user using the haptic feedback actuator, the audio device, or both.

7. The lighting controller of claim 1 , wherein to control the light emitted from the touch-sensitive panel the processing circuitry is configured to control the light emitted from the touch-sensitive panel to indicate both the brightness attribute and the color temperature attribute.

8. The lighting controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to, responsive to a user selecting a different lighting fixture to wirelessly control via the touch-sensitive panel, update the light emitted from the touch-sensitive panel to indicate a brightness and color temperature of the different lighting fixture as the different lighting fixture is wirelessly controlled by the lighting controller, wherein the lighting controller is not wired to provide power to the different lighting fixture.

9. A method of controlling solid state lighting, wherein the method is implemented by a lighting controller and comprises:
relaying power from the lighting controller to a solid state lighting fixture wired to the lighting controller;
visually indicating which of a brightness control mode and a color temperature control mode is active via a series of solid state indicator lights of the lighting controller;
interpreting touch input received from the user via a touch-sensitive panel of the lighting controller, based on which of the brightness control mode and the color temperature control mode is active, to determine a control signal for wirelessly controlling an attribute of light emitted by the solid state lighting fixture, the attribute being a brightness attribute or a color temperature attribute;
using the control signal to wirelessly control the attribute of the light emitted by the solid state lighting fixture in accordance with the touch input received from the user via the touch-sensitive panel of the lighting controller; and
emitting light from the touch-sensitive panel to illuminate an area around the lighting controller and correspondingly indicate the attribute as the attribute is wirelessly controlled.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising toggling between the brightness and color temperature control modes responsive to a double-tap of the touch-sensitive panel or a pressing of the touch-sensitive panel longer than a threshold duration.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein visually indicating which of the brightness control mode and the color temperature control mode is active comprises:
responsive to one of the brightness and color temperature control modes being active, setting a first majority of the series of solid state indicator lights to illuminated and a first remainder of the series of solid state indicator lights to extinguished;
responsive to the other of the brightness and color temperature control modes being active, setting a second majority of the series of solid state indicator lights to extinguished and a second remainder of the series of solid state indicator lights to illuminated.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising selecting which of the series of solid state indicator lights is included in the first or second remainder of the series of solid state indicator lights to visually indicate the attribute of the light emitted relative to a supported range for the attribute.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the touch input is a sliding touch input and determining the control sign

Assignees

• Cree Inc
• Ideal Ind Lighting Llc

Inventors

• Reier Bart
• Van Epps Jr Daniel James
• Fang Yuan
• Power David
• Herman Leigh
• Gordon Thomas

Classifications

• H05B47/196

  characterised by user interface arrangements · CPC title

• H05B47/197

  Sound control or voice control · CPC title

• H05B47/199

  Commissioning of light sources · CPC title

• H05B47/19 Primary

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• Y02B20/30

  Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED] · CPC title