Method for assigning light sensors for regulating the lighting in a lighting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11665803-B2
Application number	US-201917279110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 8, 2019
Priority date	Sep 26, 2018
Publication date	May 30, 2023
Grant date	May 30, 2023

Abstract

A method for assigning light sensors for regulating a lighting system includes switching the lighting of the lighting system into a first switching state such that a first lighting group emits light with a predetermined luminous flux, switching the lighting of the lighting system into a second switching state such that the first lighting group emits light with a reduced luminous flux by comparison with the predetermined luminous flux or emits no light, and measuring a luminance of the light reflected by a reference surface respectively assigned to the light sensors with the aid of the light sensors to determine a first measurement value in the first switching state and a second measurement value in the second switching state. The method may further include assigning a sensor to the first lighting group based on a comparison of difference values formed for each of the light sensors, and storing the assignment.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for assigning a plurality of light sensors for regulating the lighting in a lighting system in a space to be illuminated, said lighting system comprising:
a plurality of lighting groups, where each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups comprises one or more luminaires,
a control device configured to regulate a luminous flux of each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, and
a plurality of light sensors where each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors is assigned to each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, the luminous flux of each lighting group being regulated by a corresponding light sensor of the plurality of light sensors,

wherein the method comprises:
switching the lighting of the lighting system into a first switching state such that a first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups emits light with a predetermined luminous flux;
switching the lighting of the lighting system into a second switching state such that the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups emits light with a reduced luminous flux by comparison with the predetermined luminous flux or emits no light;
measuring a luminance of the light reflected by a reference surface by all of the light sensors of the plurality of light sensors in the space to determine a first measurement value in the first switching state and a second measurement value in the second switching state for all of the light sensors of the plurality of light sensors;
determining a difference value from the first and second measurement values for each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors;
comparing all of the difference values determined for each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to each other, and
assigning at least one light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the comparison, and
storing the assignment, such that the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups can be regulated to a constant illuminance on the reference surface in a control loop based on the measurement values continuously detected by the at least one assigned light sensor.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the assigning of the at least one light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group occurs when the difference value is the highest among the difference values determined.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising
assigning at least one second light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups when the difference value determined lies within a predetermined interval distance from the highest difference value.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising
assigning at least one second light sensor to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups when a size of the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups exceeds a predetermined third number of luminaires.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the luminous flux of the remaining lighting groups other than the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups is switched off or remains switched off, or is reduced or remains reduced to a low dimming value during the switching the lighting of the lighting system into the first switching state.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein
the luminous flux of the remaining the lighting groups of the plurality of lighting groups is switched off or remains switched off, or is reduced or remains reduced to a low dimming value, during the switching the lighting of the lighting system into the second switching state.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the switching of the first lighting group into both of the first switching state and into the second switching state occurs by dimming or turning off the light sources of the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least two light sensors of the plurality of light sensors are assigned to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups; and
further comprising setting weighting factors for the regulation of the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the measurement values continuously detected during operation by the at least two light sensors of the plurality of light sensors and further based on the comparison of the difference values of the at least two assigned light sensors of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein
the weighting factors comprise a higher weighting factor for a comparatively higher difference value and a lower weighting factor for a comparatively lower difference value.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the method occurs successively for the remaining lighting groups of the plurality of lighting groups other than the first lighting group.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 ,
further comprising deactivating any light sensor not assigned to a lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,
further comprising initiating the method during operation of the lighting system by an event.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein
the event is the setting and storage of a regulation setpoint value in the control device.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein
the event occurs by way of a pushbutton, a motion detector, a time switch, or combinations thereof.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising:
assigning at least one light sensor of the plurality of lighting sensors to a new lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the comparison of the difference values determined, and
storing the new assignment in the control device only if a change in the difference values in the comparison exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the method occurs by the control device.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the luminaires and the plurality of light sensors of the lighting system are connected to the control device in an individually addressable manner via a common data bus, and wherein each lighting group and its corresponding luminaires grouped therein and/or the assignment of each light sensor to a respective lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups are/is stored in a cache memory of the control device or of the plurality of light sensors.

18. A control device for assigning a plurality of light sensors for regulating the lighting in a lighting system in a space to be illuminated, said lighting system comprising:
a plurality of lighting groups, where each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups comprises one or more luminaires,
a control device configured to regulate a luminous flux of each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, and
a plurality of light sensors where each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors is assigned to each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, the luminous flux of each lighting group being regulated by a corresponding light sensor of the plurality of light sensors,

wherein the control device is configured to carry out a method; wherein the method comprises:
switching the lighting of the lighting system

Assignees

• Osram Gmbh

Inventors

• Pilz Axel

Classifications

• H05B47/175 Primary

  by remote control · CPC title

• H05B47/198

  Grouping of control procedures or address assignation to light sources · CPC title

• H05B45/12

  using optical feedback · CPC title

• H05B47/11 Primary

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

• H05B41/39

  continuously · CPC title