Advanced networked lighting control system including improved systems and methods for automated self-grouping of lighting fixtures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9961750-B2
Application number	US-201715439012-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2017
Priority date	Feb 24, 2016
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

An advanced lighting control system including systems for commissioning a network of lighting fixtures preferably includes a plurality of lighting fixtures, each having a sensor and control module. The sensor and control module includes occupancy and light sensing elements, and a first transceiver. The lighting fixtures can send wireless signals to a second transceiver located in a room controller and/or a network coordinator. The room controller being configured to interpret the occupancy and light sensing information and make decisions thereon, while the network coordinator can rank the lighting fixtures according to a determined signal strength. The network coordinator can command each of the lighting fixtures to illuminate, and based on an observation of the lighting fixture, a determination is made about whether the lighting fixture is located in a particular room. The network coordinator can also include a third transceiver for receiving wireless commands from a remote device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for commissioning a network of lighting fixtures, comprising:
a plurality of lighting fixtures, each of the plurality of lighting fixtures including: a lighting element;
an identifier unique to each of said plurality of lighting fixtures;
a sensor module associated with at least one of the lighting elements, the sensor module including an occupancy sensing element, a light sensing element and a first transceiver; and
a network coordinator comprising a second transceiver, the network coordinator configured to discover, group and control a portion of the plurality of lighting fixtures by communicating with the first transceivers of each of the plurality of lighting fixtures;
wherein the network coordinator includes a processor programmed to:
receive, via the second wireless transceiver, respective wireless messages sent from each of the plurality of lighting fixtures, each of the respective wireless messages including the identifier associated with the respective lighting fixture;
determine a respective signal strength associated with each of said respective wireless messages; and
rank each of the plurality of lighting fixtures according to the determined signal strength.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of lighting fixtures further includes a housing, the housing including the lighting element and the sensor module disposed.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a third transceiver associated with the network coordinator, the third transceiver for receiving wireless messages from a remote device for controlling an operational function of the network coordinator.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the network coordinator is a ZigBee coordinator, the first transceiver of each of the plurality of lighting fixtures comprises a ZigBee transceiver, and the third transceiver is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) transceiver.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed in an entry station associated with a room, the room containing at least a portion of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed in one of said plurality of lighting fixtures.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of lighting fixtures further comprises a processor programmed to send a respective one of said respective wireless messages upon a powering up of said lighting fixture.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of said network coordinator is programmed to command the second transceiver to send a wireless activation signal to the first transceivers of each of the plurality of lighting fixtures, the wireless activation signal configured to command the first wireless transceivers to send the respective wireless messages.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of said network coordinator is programmed to add each of the plurality of lighting fixtures, from which a respective wireless message is received, to a networked lighting group.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor of said network coordinator is programmed to selectively command, via the second transceiver, each of said lighting fixtures to illuminate their respective lighting elements, based on the determined ranking.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor of said network coordinator begins said selective commanding in response to a user input selected from a list consisting of a light flash, a button press on an entry station, and a wireless signal from a remote device.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of lighting fixtures send a plurality of said respective messages.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module is directly coupled to the lighting element, the lighting element comprising a light source connected to a driver or a light source having an integral driver.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed in a room controller associated with a room in which at least some of the plurality of lighting fixtures are disposed.

15. A method for commissioning a networked lighting system, comprising:
sending, from a plurality of lighting fixtures, respective wireless messages to a network coordinator associated with an area, each of the respective wireless messages including an identifier associated with the respective lighting fixture;
receiving, at the network coordinator, the respective wireless messages;
determining, at the network coordinator, a respective signal strength associated with each of said respective wireless messages;
ranking each of the plurality of lighting fixtures according to the determined signal strength;
sending, from the network coordinator, a wireless message to a highest ranked one of said plurality of lighting fixtures, the wireless message instructing the highest ranked one to illuminate an associated lighting element;
determining whether said illuminated lighting element is located within the area; and
keeping the highest ranked one in a networked lighting group if said illuminated lighting element is determined to be located within the area, or removing the highest ranked one from said networked lighting group if said illuminated lighting element is determined not to be located within the area.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of sending respective wireless messages to a network coordinator is in response to a light flash provided to a light sensing element associated with each of said plurality of lighting fixtures.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of sending respective wireless messages to a network coordinator is in response to an occupancy condition sensed by an occupancy sensing element associated with each of said plurality of lighting fixtures.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of sending respective wireless messages to a network coordinator is in response to a wireless activation message sent by the network coordinator.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed within the entry station.

20. The method of claim 19 , the entry station further comprising a wireless transceiver for communicating with a remote device, the remote device running an application configured to enable a user to control at least one aspect of the entry station.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the network coordinator is disposed within a housing of one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

22. The method of claim 21 , the one of the plurality of lighting fixtures further comprising a wireless transceiver for communicating with a remote device, the remote device running an application configured to enable a user to control at least one aspect of the one of the plurality of lighting fixtures.

23. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of sending respective wireless messages to a network coordinator is in response to a powering up of each of said plurality of lighting fixtures.

24. The method of claim 15 , further comprising, before the step of sending, from the network coordinator, a wireless message to a highest ranked one of said plurality of lighting fixtures, adding each of the plurality of lighting fixtures, from which the respective wireless messages have been received by the network coordinator, to a networked lighting group.

25. The method of claim 15 , wherein the steps of sending, from the network coordinator, a wireless message t

Assignees

• Leviton Manufacturing Co

Inventors

• Leinen Richard A
• Hick Robert L

Classifications

• H05B45/10

  Controlling the intensity of the light · CPC title

• H05B47/11 Primary

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H05B47/198

  Grouping of control procedures or address assignation to light sources · CPC title

• H05B47/199

  Commissioning of light sources · CPC title