Commissioning and controlling load control devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019288554-A1
Application number	US-201816154206-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 8, 2018
Priority date	Aug 5, 2015
Publication date	Sep 19, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A load control system may include control devices capable of being associated with each other at one or more locations for performing load control. Control devices may include control-source devices and/or control-target devices. A location beacon may be discovered and a unique identifier in the location beacon may be associated with a unique identifier of one or more control devices. Upon subsequent discovery of the location beacon, the associated load control devices may be controlled. The beacons may be communicated via radio frequency signals, visible light communication, and/or audio signals. The visible light communication may be used to communicate other types of information to devices in the load control system. The visible light communication may be used to identify link addresses for communicating with load control devices, load control instructions, load control configuration instructions, network communication information, and/or the like. The information in the beacons may be used to commission and/or control the load control system.

First claim

1 . (canceled)

2 . A load control system comprising:
a plurality of load control devices, each configured to control an amount of power provided to a respective electrical load, wherein each load control device is configured to transmit beacon signals that each comprise an identifier of the respective load control device during a beacon signal transmission time period, and to communicate messages other than the beacon signals during a load control communication time period; and a network device configured to:
receive one of the beacon signals from at least one load control device;
store the identifier of the beacon signal received from the at least one load control device; and
transmit a first message to the at least one load control device;
wherein each load control device is configured to receive the first message transmitted by the network device during the load control communication time period.

3 . The load control system of claim 2 , wherein the network device is configured to:
receive beacon signals including the respective identifier from at least two load control devices of the plurality of load control devices; and associate the identifiers of the at least two load control devices to enable control of the at least two load control devices upon subsequent reception of a command by one of the at least two load control devices.

4 . The load control system of claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of load control devices is configured to enter a lower power beacon mode or a beacon off mode to limit or prevent beaconing after the network device associates the identifiers of the at least two load control devices.

5 . The load control system of claim 4 , wherein the network device is configured to send a second message to the at least two load control devices after the association, and the at least two load control devices are configured to enter the lower power beacon mode or the beacon off mode in response to the second message.

6 . The load control system of claim 3 , wherein the network device is configured to receive a location beacon signal from a location beacon transmitting device, the location beacon signal including an identifier associated with a location of the location beacon signal, the network device further configured to associate the identifiers of the at least two load control devices with the identifier associated with the location to enable control of the at least two load control devices upon subsequent reception of the location beacon signal.

7 . The load control system of claim 3 , wherein, prior to associating the identifiers of the at least two load control devices, the network device is configured to:
identify a signal strength at which each respective beacon is received from the load control devices; display the identifiers of the respective beacon signals received from load control devices in a list of load control devices that is sorted according to the corresponding signal strength of each beacon signal; and receive indications of selections of the at least two load control devices from the list of load control devices.

8 . The load control system of claim 2 , wherein the load control devices are each configured to transmit the beacon signal including the respective identifier to the network device via visible light communication or radio-frequency communication.

9 . The load control system of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of load control devices is configured to enter a continuous two-way configuration mode to allow for configuration of operating parameters of the load control device.

10 . The load control system of claim 2 , wherein each of the load control devices is configured to enter a continuous two-way control mode to allow for control of the load control device.

11 . The load control system of claim 2 , wherein each load control device is configured to receive at least one of load control instructions or association instructions during the load control communication time period.

12 . A control device, comprising:
a control circuit configured to communicate signals during a beacon signal transmission time period and a load control communication time period, wherein: during the beacon signal transmission time period, the control circuit is configured to transmit a beacon signal, and during the load control communication time period, the control circuit is configured to communicate signals including messages other than the beacon signal.

13 . The control device of claim 12 , wherein the messages communicated during the load control communication time period allow for association of the control device with one or more external devices.

14 . The control device of claim 13 , wherein, in response to receiving a message indicating that association has been performed, the control circuit is configured to enter a lower power beacon mode or a beacon off mode to limit or prevent beaconing.

15 . The control device of claim 12 , wherein the control circuit is configured to enter a continuous two-way mode in response to receiving an instruction during the load control communication time period or a time period immediately flowing the beacon signal transmission time period, the control circuit configured to transmit and receive messages during the continuous two-way mode.

16 . The control device of claim 15 , wherein the continuous two-way mode is a continuous two-way configuration mode, and the control circuit is configured to communicate messages during the continuous two-way configuration mode for receiving operational settings of the control device.

17 . The control device of claim 15 , wherein the continuous two-way mode is a continuous two-way control mode, and the control circuit is configured to communicate messages during the continuous two-way control mode to allow for control of the control device.

18 . The control device of claim 15 , wherein the control circuit is configured to:
receive a scan request from an external device, wherein the scan request includes an encrypted passcode; determine whether the received encrypted passcode is correct; and based on the determination that the received encrypted passcode is correct, switch to the continuous two-way mode.

19 . The control device of claim 15 , wherein the control circuit is configured to communicate messages when the control device is in the continuous two-way mode using one or more of: a Bluetooth, a near-field communication, a WI-FI, or a Zigbee protocol.

20 . The control device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a beacon transmitting circuit configured to periodically transmit beacon signals during the beacon signal transmission time period.

21 . The control device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a wireless communication circuit configured to transmit and receive messages during the load control communication time period.

22 . The control device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a load control circuit configured to provide power to an electrical load; wherein the control circuit is configured to receive a command including load control instructions during the load control communication time period, and to control the load control circuit to control the power delivered to the electrical load in response to the load control instructions.

23 . The control device of claim 12 , wherein the control circuit is configured to receive association instructions during the load control communication time period.

Assignees

• Lutron Electronics Co

Inventors

• Baker Rhodes B
• Barco Kyle Thomas
• Barnes Bryan Robert
• Bull John H
• Camden Richard S
• Crafts Jordan H
• Dolan David J
• Groller Jason
• Kumar Sanjeev
• Lenz Jonathan T
• Pelaez Miguel Aguado
• Twaddell Daniel L

Classifications

• H02J13/1327

  using optical means · CPC title

• H04W4/06 Primary

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04B10/116

  Visible light communication · CPC title

• H04W52/0245

  according to signal strength · CPC title