Lighting device, lighting system and wearable device having image processor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9474131-B2
Application number	US-201514644793-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2015
Priority date	May 2, 2014
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A lighting system includes: a plurality of lighting devices each including one or more light emitting units; and an integrated control module; and an integrated control module that communicates with the wearable device with at least one camera, receives an image of a user's eye captured by the camera, detects a pupil image based on the image, and controls the number of lighting devices to be activated among the plurality of lighting devices based on the pupil image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting device comprising:
a communication unit to communicate with a wearable device having at least one camera, the communication unit to receive an image of a user's eye captured by the camera;
a light emitting unit that includes one or more light emitting elements; and
a controller to detect a pupil image based on the image of the user's eye and to control the light emitting unit based on the pupil image,
wherein the controller includes an image processor to detect the pupil image based on the image of the user's eye and to determine a level of illumination corresponding to a size of the detected pupil image by comparing the pupil image with preset first and second reference values,
wherein the image processor includes:
an object detector to detect the pupil image from the image of the user's eye,
an object recognizer to compare the size of the pupil image with the preset first and second reference values, and
an application unit to determine the level of illumination based on a result of the comparison.

2. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the object detector detects a plurality of pupil images from a plurality of images of the user's eye, and
the object recognizer determines an average pupil size of the plurality of pupil images and compares the average pupil size with the preset first and second reference values.

3. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein when the size of the pupil image is greater than or equal to the first reference value, the controller increases the level of illumination from the light emitting unit.

4. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein when the size of the pupil image is less than or equal to the second reference value, the controller decreases the level of illumination from the light emitting unit.

5. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the controller includes an image processor to detect the pupil image based on the image of the user's eye and to determine a level of illumination corresponding to a position of the detected pupil image by comparing the pupil image with a preset reference value.

6. The lighting device of claim 5 , wherein when the position of the pupil image is located above the reference value, the controller increases the level of illumination from the light emitting unit.

7. The lighting device of claim 5 , wherein when the position of the pupil image is located below the reference value, the controller decreases the level of illumination from the light emitting unit.

8. The lighting device of claim 5 , wherein the image processor includes:
an object recognizer to compare the position of the pupil image with the reference value;
an object tracker to determine a change in the position of the pupil image based on a result of the comparison of the position of the pupil image and the reference value; and
an application unit to determine the level of illumination corresponding to the change in the position.

9. The lighting device of claim 8 , wherein the object detector detects a plurality of pupil images from a plurality of images of the user's eye, and
the object recognizer determines an average position of the plurality of pupil images and compares the average position with the reference value.

10. A lighting system comprising:
a plurality of lighting devices, each lighting device including one or more light emitting units; and
an integrated control module to communicate with a wearable device having at least one camera, the integrated control module to receive an image of a user's eye captured by the camera, to detect a pupil image based on the image, and to control a number of lighting devices to be activated among the plurality of lighting devices based on the pupil image,
wherein the integrated control module includes an image processor to detect the pupil image based on the image of the user's eye and to determine a level of illumination corresponding to a size of the detected pupil image by comparing the pupil image with preset first and second reference values,
wherein the integrated control module further includes an integrated control module communication unit to communicate with the wearable device and the plurality of lighting devices, and
the image processor includes:
an object detector to detect the pupil image from the image of the user's eye,
an object recognizer to compare the size of the pupil image with the first and second reference values, and
an application unit to determine a number of lighting devices to be activated based on the size of the detected pupil image.

11. A wearable device comprising:
a camera to receive an image of a user's eye;
a wireless communication unit to send and receive data by communicating with at least one lighting device; and
a wearable device controller to detect a pupil image based on the image of the user's eye, to generate a control signal for controlling a level of illumination of the lighting device, and to control the wireless communication unit to transmit the control signal to the lighting device,
wherein the wearable device controller includes an image processor to detect the pupil image based on the image of the user's eye and to determine the level of illumination corresponding to a size of the detected pupil image by comparing the pupil image with preset first and second reference values,
wherein the image processor includes:
an object detector to detect the pupil image from the image of the user's eye,
an object recognizer to compare the size of the pupil image with the first and second reference values, and
an application unit to determine the level of illumination corresponding to a result of the comparison.

12. The wearable device of claim 11 , wherein the camera obtains a plurality of images of the user's eye,
the object detector detects a plurality of pupil images from a plurality of images of the user's eye, and
the object recognizer determines an average pupil size of the plurality of pupil images and compares the average pupil size with the first and second reference values.

13. The wearable device of claim 11 , wherein the image processor to determine the level of illumination corresponding to a position of the detected pupil image by comparing the pupil image with a reference value.

14. The wearable device of claim 13 , wherein the image processor includes:
the object detector to detect the pupil image from the image of the user's eye;
the object recognizer to compare the position of the pupil image with the reference value;
an object tracker to determine a change in the position of the pupil image based on a result of the comparison of the position of the pupil image and the reference value; and
an application unit to determine the level of illumination corresponding to the change in the position.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Ahn Sunghoon
• Ra Inhwan
• Ro Kyungtae

Classifications

• G02B27/281

  used for attenuating light intensity, e.g. comprising rotatable polarising elements · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• Y02B20/40

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

• H05B47/125 Primary

  by using cameras · CPC title