System and method for operating at least one LED unit of a lighting grid comprising a plurality of LED units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11811451-B2
Application number	US-202217569089-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2022
Priority date	Oct 5, 2017
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a system and method for operating at least one LED unit of lighting grid comprising a plurality of LED units, wherein the LED units are configured to transmit a VLC signal including a code word. A plurality of user equipment devices captures the light transmitted by the LED unit and determines parameters related to the light, such as a VLC quality parameter, flicker value, light intensity parameter and light colour parameter. Based on these parameters, a controller determines control parameters for the LED unit. As such, a feedback loop is created wherein the LED unit is controlled based on measurements with the user equipment devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating at least one LED unit of a lighting grid comprising a plurality of LED units, comprising the steps of:
emitting light from the LED unit, the emitted lighted including a VLC signal to transmit data via the VLC signal;
capturing the light emitted by the LED unit with light capturing modules of a plurality of user equipment devices;
decoding, with each user equipment device, the VLC signal transmitted by the LED unit from the light captured by the light capturing module of the particular user equipment device;
determining, with each user equipment device for the LED unit, a VLC quality parameter which represents a quality of a transmission of data via the VLC signal transmitted by said LED unit;
determining a VLC control parameter for the LED unit, based on said VLC quality parameter;
adjusting the VLC signal transmitted by the LED unit based on the VLC control parameter;
determining with each user equipment device, from the captured light from the LED unit, a light intensity parameter which represents an intensity of the light transmitted by said LED unit;
comparing the light intensity parameter with an intensity reference value;
determining an intensity control parameter for the LED unit, based on said comparison; and
adjusting the intensity of the light emitted from the LED unit based on the intensity control parameter.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining the intensity reference value based on the light intensity parameter of multiple LED units of the lighting grid.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining with each user equipment device, from the captured light from the LED unit, a light colour parameter which represents the colour of the light transmitted by said LED unit;
comparing the light colour parameter with a colour reference value;
determining a colour control parameter for the LED unit, based on said comparison; and
adjusting the colour of the light emitted from the LED unit based on the colour control parameter.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising the step of determining the colour reference value based on the light colour parameter of multiple LED units of the lighting grid.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining a type and/or instance of each user equipment device with which the light emitted by the LED unit is captured; and
adjusting, based on said type and/or instance received from any user equipment device, at least one of the following parameters received from or determined based on information received from said user equipment device:
the VLC quality parameter and/or the VLC control parameter; and/or
the light intensity parameter and/or the intensity control parameter; and/or
a light colour parameter and/or a light colour control parameter.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of
storing, for the LED unit, the determined parameters in a memory;
determining an aging of the LED unit based on the stored parameters, in particular based on an evolution of the parameters over time; and
informing an operator when to replace the LED unit, based on the determined aging of the LED unit.

7. A system, comprising
a lighting grid comprising
a plurality of LED units which are each adapted to emit light in an area wherein a plurality of user equipment devices are present, wherein the light emitted by each LED unit includes a VLC signal, wherein each LED unit is adapted to transmit data to the plurality of user equipment devices via the VLC signal;
a controller, which comprises
a communication terminal for receiving light intensity parameters which each represent an intensity of the light emitted by a LED unit of the lighting grid and/or light colour parameters which each represent the colour of the light emitted by a LED unit of the lighting grid, which light intensity parameters and/or light colour parameters are transmitted by the plurality of user equipment devices; and
a processing unit, which is configured to
compare each light intensity parameter with an intensity reference value and/or each light colour parameter with an colour reference value, and
determine an intensity control parameter for each LED unit for which a light intensity parameter has been received and/or colour control parameter for each LED unit light colour parameter has been received, based on said comparison,
wherein the controller is configured to adjust the light emitted by the LED units based on the corresponding intensity control parameter and/or colour control parameter.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the intensity reference value and/or the colour reference value is a predetermined value.

9. The system according to claim 7 , herein the processing unit of the controller is configured to determine the intensity reference value based on the light intensity parameters of multiple LED units of the lighting grid and/or to determine the colour reference value based on the light colour parameters of multiple LED units of the lighting grid.

10. The system according to claim 7 , wherein
the controller further comprises a memory wherein for at least one LED unit the parameters received from the user equipment devices and/or the parameters determined by the processing unit of the controller are stored, and
the processing unit of the controller is configured to determine an aging of the LED unit based on the stored parameters, in particular based on an evolution of the parameters over time, and
the controller is adapted to output a signal to an operator representing a replacement order for the LED unit based on the aging of said LED unit.

11. The system according to claim 7 , wherein each user equipment device of the plurality of user equipment devices comprises
a light capturing module for capturing the light emitted by the LED units of the lighting grid,
a processing unit, which is configured to determine for at least one LED unit the light intensity parameter and/or light colour from the light captured with the light capturing module, and
an output terminal for transmitting the determined light intensity parameter and/or light colour parameter.

12. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of user equipment devices are mobile communication devices comprising an installed mobile application, wherein said mobile application is configured to:
cause the mobile communication device to capture the light emitted by the LED units with the light capturing module of the mobile communication device,
decode code words transmitted by the LED units for which the emitted light is captured by the light capturing module,
provide information to a user on a display of the mobile communication device, wherein said information is related to an environment wherein the lighting grid is arranged, and wherein said information is based on a determined location of the mobile communication device, which determined location is determined based on the decoded code words,
determine for the at least one LED unit the light intensity parameter and/or the light colour parameter, and
cause the mobile communication device to transmit the light intensity parameter and/or the light colour parameter via the output terminal.

13. A method for operating at least one LED unit of a lighting grid comprising a plurality of LED units, comprising the steps of:
emitting light from the LED unit, the emitted light including a VLC signal to transmit data via the VLC signal, wherein said data optionally comprises at least a code word

Assignees

• Eldolab Holding Bv

Inventors

• Saes Marc
• Otten Andy Johanna Elisabeth

Classifications

• H05B47/195

  the transmission using visible or infrared light · CPC title

• H04B10/116 Primary

  Visible light communication · CPC title

• H04B10/502

  LED transmitters · CPC title

• H04B10/66

  Non-coherent receivers, e.g. using direct detection · CPC title

• H05B45/12

  using optical feedback · CPC title