Gesture-based load control via wearable devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12418774-B2
Application number	US-202318485608-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2023
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Sep 16, 2025
Grant date	Sep 16, 2025

Abstract

A load control system may include control-target devices for controlling an amount of power provided to an electrical load. The control-target devices may be capable of controlling the amount of power provided to the electrical load based on control instructions. The control-target devices and/or the control-instructions may be determined based on a gesture performed by a user. The user may wear a wearable control device capable of measuring movements performed by the user and transmit digital messages that may be used to control an electrical load. The wearable control device may identify gestures performed by the user for controlling a control-target device and/or provide control instructions to the control-target device based on the identified gestures. A gesture may be associated with a scene that includes a configuration of one or more control devices in a load control system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrical load controller, comprising:
first communications interface circuitry;
second communications interface circuitry;
electrical load device control circuitry communicatively coupled to the first communications interface circuitry and to the second communications interface circuitry, the electrical load device control circuitry to:
receive, from a wearable device via the first communications interface circuitry and using a first communication protocol, a first input that includes data representative of a gesture provided by a user of the wearable device;
receive, via the first communications interface circuitry, a second input provided by the user of the wearable device;
responsive to the receipt of the first input and the second input:
using either of the first input or the second input, identify a plurality of electric load devices communicatively coupled to the electrical load controller via the second communication interface circuitry;
wherein the plurality of electric load devices include: one or more control-source devices and one or more control-target devices;

using the remaining one of either the first input or the second input, identify one or more instructions associated with at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices;

generate one or more commands that include at least one of the one or more instructions;
cause a communication, via the second communications interface circuitry using a second communication protocol different than the first communication protocol, of the generated one or more commands to the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices.

2. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein the second input comprises data representative of a second gesture provided by the user of the wearable device, the second gesture distinct from the first gesture provided by the user of the wearable device.

3. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein the second input comprises data representative of a tactile input provided by the user of the wearable device.

4. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein the second input comprises data representative of an audio input provided by the user of the wearable device.

5. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein the gesture data includes the data indicative of the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices and the second input includes data indicative of the one or more instructions.

6. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein the second input includes data indicative of the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices and the gesture data includes the data indicative of one or more instructions.

7. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein to identify the plurality of electric load devices and to identify the one or more instructions associated with the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices, the control circuitry to perform one or more lookup operations using a datastore at least partially resident in the wearable device.

8. The electrical load controller of claim 1 wherein to identify the plurality of electric load devices and to identify the one or more instructions associated with the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices, the control circuitry to perform one or more lookup operations using a datastore at least partially resident in a communicatively coupled network device.

9. An electrical load control method, comprising:
receiving, by electrical load device control circuitry from a wearable device via first communication interface circuitry using a first communication protocol, a first input that includes data representative of a gesture provided by a user of the wearable device;
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, a second input provided by the user of the wearable device;
responsive to the receipt of the first input and the second input:
identifying, by the electrical load device control circuitry, a plurality of electric load devices using either of the first input or the second input;
identifying, by the electrical load device control circuitry, one or more instructions associated with at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices using the remaining one of either the first input or the second input, wherein the plurality of electric load devices include: one or more control-source devices and one or more control-target devices;

generating, by the electrical load device control circuitry, one or more commands that include at least one of the one or more instructions;
causing, by the electrical load device control circuitry via second communication interface circuitry using a second communication protocol, a communication of the generated one or more commands to the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices.

10. The electrical load control method of claim 9 wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the second input provided by the user of the wearable device further comprises:
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, data representative of a second gesture provided by the user of the wearable device, wherein the second gesture differs from the first gesture provided by the user of the wearable device.

11. The electrical load control method of claim 9 wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the second input provided by the user of the wearable device further comprises:
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, data representative of a tactile input provided by the user of the wearable device.

12. The electrical load control method of claim 9 wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the second input provided by the user of the wearable device further comprises:
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, data representative of an audio input provided by the user of the wearable device.

13. The electrical load control method of claim 9 :
wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the first input that includes the data representative of the gesture provided by the user of the wearable device further comprises:
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, gesture data that includes data indicative of the plurality of electric load devices; and

wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the second input provided by the user of the wearable device further comprises:
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, data indicative of the one or more instructions associated with the at least one of the identified plurality of electric load devices.

14. The electrical load control method of claim 9 :
wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the second input provided by the user of the wearable device further comprises:
receiving, by the electrical load device control circuitry via the first communication interface circuitry, data indicative of the plurality of electric load devices; and

wherein receiving, via the first communication interface circuitry, the first input that includes the data representative of the gesture provided by the

Assignees

• Lutron Tech Co Llc

Inventors

• Baker Rhodes B
• Clymer Erica L
• Knode Galen Edgar
• Kumar Sanjeev
• Nill John
• Twaddell Daniel L
• Zizza Michael J

Classifications

• G05D23/1905

  associated with tele control · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title