Methods of controlling an outdoor lighting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9386664-B2
Application number	US-201113635987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2011
Priority date	Mar 25, 2010
Publication date	Jul 5, 2016
Grant date	Jul 5, 2016

Abstract

A method ( 100 ) of controlling an outdoor lighting system, a computer program product, a controlling device for controlling an outdoor lighting system and an outdoor lighting system are provided. The outdoor lighting system comprises outdoor lamps which are distributed over spatial segments of an outdoor space. The emitted light intensity of the outdoor lamps is controllable per spatial segment, and references are used to refer to specific spatial segments. The method ( 100 ) comprises the steps of (i) receiving ( 102 ) from a detection system an indication of a sub-area of the outdoor space and receiving at least one activity property or the sub-area, the detection system being arranged for detecting activity in the sub-area, the sub-area being different from all the spatial segments, and the indication being used to refer to the sub-area, and the at least one activity property being related to a traffic density in the sub-area (ii) mapping ( 104 ) the at least one indication to at least one reference of a respective spatial segment, (iii) determining ( 106 ) a light intensity level for the respective at least one spatial segment in dependence on the received at least one activity property, (iv) providing ( 108 ) the at least one reference together with the respective determined light intensity to the outdoor lighting system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Method of controlling an outdoor lighting system, the outdoor lighting system comprising outdoor lamps which are distributed over spatial segments of an outdoor space, the emitted light intensity of the outdoor lamps being controllable for each spatial segment, and references being used to refer to specific spatial segments, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving from a detection system an indication of a sub-area of the outdoor space and receiving at least one activity property for the sub-area, the detection system being arranged for detecting activity in the sub-area, the sub-area being different from all the spatial segments, the indication being used to refer to the sub-area, and the at least one activity property being related to a traffic density in the sub-area,
mapping the at least one indication to at least one reference of a respective spatial segment, wherein the mapping is performed on the basis of a predefined mapping between the sub-areas and the spatial segments,
determining a light intensity level for the respective at least one spatial segment in dependence on the received at least one activity property, and
providing the at least one reference together with the respective determined light intensity to the outdoor lighting system.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the detection system being arranged for detecting activities in a plurality of sub-areas comprising the sub-area.

3. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the detection system is at least one of the following types: systems for the detection of electronic devices, sound detection systems, observing systems or traffic detection systems.

4. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the detection system is a mobile communication network.

5. Method according to claim 4 , wherein the received at least one activity property relates to at least one mobile communication device.

6. Method according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one activity property:
relates to a plurality of moving mobile communication devices, and/or
comprises information about a direction of movement of the at least one mobile communication device.

7. Method according to claim 4 , wherein a cell of the mobile communication network corresponds to the sub-area.

8. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined mapping is based on aerial overlap between the sub-areas and the spatial segments.

9. Method of controlling an outdoor lighting system, the outdoor lighting system comprising outdoor lamps which are distributed over spatial segments of an outdoor space, the emitted light intensity of the outdoor lamps being controllable for each spatial segment, and references being used to refer to specific spatial segments, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving from a detection system an indication of a sub-area of the outdoor space and receiving at least one activity property for the sub-area, the detection system being arranged for detecting activity in the sub-area, the sub-area being different from all the spatial segments, the indication being used to refer to the sub-area, and the at least one activity property being related to a traffic density in the sub-area,
mapping the at least one indication to at least one reference of a respective spatial segment,
determining a light intensity level for the respective at least one spatial segment in dependence on the received at least one activity property, wherein the determining of the light intensity levels is performed by applying a predefined relation to the activity property, and/or by applying a predefined set of rules to the activity property, and
providing the at least one reference together with the respective determined light intensity to the outdoor lighting system.

10. Method of controlling an outdoor lighting system, the outdoor lighting system comprising outdoor lamps which are distributed over spatial segments of an outdoor space, the emitted light intensity of the outdoor lamps being controllable for each spatial segment, and references being used to refer to specific spatial segments, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving from a detection system an indication of a sub-area of the outdoor space and receiving at least one activity property for the sub-area, the detection system being arranged for detecting activity in the sub-area, the sub-area being different from all the spatial segments, the indication being used to refer to the sub-area, and the at least one activity property being related to a traffic density in the sub-area,
mapping the at least one indication to at least one reference of a respective spatial segment,
determining a light intensity level for the respective at least one spatial segment in dependence on the received at least one activity property, and
providing the at least one reference together with the respective determined light intensity to the outdoor lighting system,
wherein the at least one activity property of the respective at least one sub-area further comprises at least one of the following: a number of entities currently present in the sub-area, a number of moving entities in the sub-area, a direction of movement of an entity, an average direction of movement of a group of entities, a set of directions of movement related to a set of entities, a speed of movement of an entity, an average speed of movement of a group of entities, a set of speeds of movement related to a set of specific entities.

11. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the indication of the sub-area comprises at least one of the following: a number of the sub-area, a coordinate related to the sub-area, a sub-area description in the format of a polygon defined by a list of coordinates.

12. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining of the light intensity levels is performed by applying a predefined relation to the activity property, and/or by applying a predefined set of rules to the activity property.

13. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one activity property of the respective at least one sub-area further comprises at least one of the following: a number of entities currently present in the sub-area, a number of moving entities in the sub-area, a direction of movement of an entity, an average direction of movement of a group of entities, a set of directions of movement related to a set of entities, a speed of movement of an entity, an average speed of movement of a group of entities, a set of speeds of movement related to a set of specific entities.

14. Method according to claim 9 , wherein the detection system being arranged for detecting activities in a plurality of sub-areas comprising the sub-area.

15. Method according to claim 9 , wherein the detection system is at least one of the following types: systems for the detection of electronic devices, sound detection systems, observing systems or traffic detection systems.

16. Method according to claim 9 , wherein the detection system is a mobile communication network.

17. Method according to claim 10 , wherein the detection system being arranged for detecting activities in a plurality of sub-areas comprising the sub-area.

18. Method according to claim 10 , wherein the detection system is at least one of the following types: systems for the detection of electronic devices, sound detection systems, observing systems or traffic detection systems.

19. Method according to claim 10 , wherein the detection system is a mobile communication network.

Assignees

• Knibbe Engel Johannes
• Bonné Noël François Leopold
• Koninkl Philips Nv

Inventors

• Knibbe Engel Johannes
• Bonné Noël François Leopold

Classifications

• Y02B20/72

  in street lighting · CPC title

• Y02B20/40

  Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection · CPC title

• H05B47/125

  by using cameras · CPC title

• H05B47/19 Primary

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• H05B47/115 Primary

  by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings · CPC title