Commissioning load control systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12301378-B2
Application number	US-202318325227-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2023
Priority date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

A load control system may include control devices for controlling power provided to an electrical load. The control devices may include a control-source device and a control-target device. The control-target device may control the power provided to the electrical load based on digital messages received from the control-source device. The control devices may include a load control discovery device capable of sending discovery messages configured to discover control devices within a location. The discovered control devices may be organized by signal strength and may be provided to a network device to enable association of the discovered control devices within a location. The discovery messages may be transmitted within an established discovery range. The discovery range may be adjusted to discover different control devices. Different control devices may be identified as the load control discovery device for discovering different control devices.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A load control device, comprising:
communications interface circuitry; and
control circuitry communicatively coupled to the communications interface circuitry, the control circuitry to:
receive a first message from a user device, wherein the first message includes a discovery request;
responsive to receipt of the first message, generate a discovery message;
broadcast the discovery message via the communications interface circuitry;
receive a discovery request response from each of one or more control devices, wherein each discovery request response includes a value indicative of the received signal strength (RSSI) of the broadcast discovery message at the respective responding control device;
cause a communication to the user device of a list of the one or more control devices that responded to the broadcast discovery message; and
receive a second message from the user device, wherein the second message includes data representative of one or more association instructions to create a control relationship between at least one of the one or more responding control devices and the load control device.

2. The load control device of claim 1 , further comprising:
memory circuitry operatively coupled to the control circuitry;
wherein the control circuitry to further:
cause a storage of data representative of the received association instructions in the memory circuitry.

3. The load control device of claim 1 wherein to receive the first message that includes the discovery request the control circuitry to further:
receive the first message from the user device, wherein the first message further includes at least one discovery parameter.

4. The load control device of claim 3 wherein to receive the first message that includes the at least one discovery parameter, the control circuitry to further:
receive the first message from the user device, wherein the first message further includes a targeted device type discovery parameter.

5. The load control device of claim 3 wherein to receive the first message that includes the at least one discovery parameter, the control circuitry to further:
receive the first message from the user device, wherein the first message further includes f a received signal strength (RSSI) discovery parameter that includes a minimum discovery request RSSI to cause a response message from the respective control device.

6. The load control device of claim 3 wherein to receive the first message that includes the at least one discovery parameter, the control circuitry to further:
receive the first message from the user device, wherein the first message further includes a received signal strength (RSSI) discovery parameter that includes a maximum discovery request RSSI to cause a response message from the respective control device.

7. The load control device of claim 1 wherein to receive the discovery request response from each of the one or more control devices, the control circuitry to further:
receive the discovery request response from each of at least one of: one or more control source devices or one or more control target devices.

8. The load control device of claim 1 wherein to receive the discovery request response from each of the one or more control devices, the control circuitry to further:
receive the discovery request response from each of the one or more control devices, the discovery request response including a unique identifier associated with each respective one of the one or more control devices that respond to the broadcast discovery message.

9. The load control device of claim 1 wherein to cause a communication of a list of one or more control devices that have generated a response to the broadcast discovery message to a network device, the control circuitry to further:
cause each of the one or more control devices that respond to the broadcast discovery message to communicate an acknowledgement message to a communicatively coupled system controller; and
cause the system controller to communicate the list that includes the one or more control devices that have generated the response to the broadcast discovery message to the network device.

10. The load control device of claim 9 wherein to cause the system controller to communicate the list that includes the one or more control devices that have generated the response to the broadcast discovery message to the network device, the control circuitry to further:
cause the system controller to communicate to the network device an organized list that includes the one or more control devices that have generated a response to the broadcast discovery message, the organized list sorted by the RSSI of each of the responses to the broadcast discovery message.

11. The load control device of claim 10 wherein to receive the second message that includes the data representative of one or more association instructions, the control circuitry to further:
receive the second message from the user device, wherein the second message includes data representative of a control relationship between at least two responding control devices, that include one or more control source devices and one or more control target devices.

12. The load control device of claim 10 wherein to receive the second message that includes the data representative of one or more association instructions, the control circuitry to further:
receive the second message from the user device, wherein the second message includes data representative of a control relationship between the load control device and one or more responding control devices that include at least one of: one or more control source devices or one or more control target devices.

13. A load control system configuration method, comprising:
receiving, by control circuitry in a load control device, a first message from a user device, wherein the first message includes a discovery request;
responsive to receipt of the first message, generating, by the load control device control circuitry, a discovery message;
broadcasting, by the load control device control circuitry, the discovery message via the communications interface circuitry;
receiving, by the load control device control circuitry, a discovery request response from each of one or more control devices, wherein each discovery request response includes a value indicative of the received signal strength (RSSI) of the broadcast discovery message at the respective responding control device;
causing, by the load control device control circuitry, a communication to the user device of a list of the one or more control devices that responded to the broadcast discovery message; and
receiving, by the load control device control circuitry, a second message from the user device, wherein the second message includes data representative of one or more association instructions to create a control relationship between at least one of the one or more responding control devices and the load control device.

14. The load control system configuration method of claim 13 , further comprising:
causing, by the load control device control circuitry, a storage of data representative of the received association instructions in memory circuitry operatively coupled to the load control device control circuitry.

15. The load control system configuration method of claim 13 wherein receiving the first message that includes the discovery request further comprises:
receiving, by the load control device control circuitry, the first message from the user device, wherein the first message further includes at least one discovery parameter.

Assignees

• Lutron Tech Co Llc

Inventors

• Barco Kyle Thomas
• Barnes Bryan Robert
• Clymer Erica L
• Courtney Brian Michael
• Crafts Jordan H
• Fricke William Bryce
• Knode Galen Edgar
• Kumar Sanjeev
• Lenz Jonathan T
• Ludwig Jr Stephen M
• Raghuram Sandeep Mudabail
• Walsh Iii Richard M

Classifications

• H05B47/196

  characterised by user interface arrangements · CPC title

• H05B47/199

  Commissioning of light sources · CPC title

• H02J13/00

  Circuit arrangements for providing remote monitoring or remote control of equipment in a power distribution network · CPC title

• G05B2219/23312

  Load program from attached device to control that device · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title