Abstract:
A system for sensing luminaire properties and controlling luminaire performance independently of the location, distance or orientation of the sensors relative to the source luminaire device that is being sensed. Thus, the installer and the maintenance crew are freed from issues and activities associated with sensor installation.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/360,879, filed Nov. 23, 2016, entitled Color Based Half-Life Prediction System, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/306,636, entitled Color Based Half-Life Prediction System, filed Mar. 11, 2016, and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/445,669, entitled Location Independent Lighting Sensor System, filed Jan. 12, 2017, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    A system for sensing luminaire properties and controlling luminaire performance independently of the location, distance or orientation of the sensors relative to the source luminaire device that is being sensed is described herein. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Digital lighting technologies based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) offer a massive improvement in comparison to traditional fluorescent and incandescent lamps. The primary advantages of LED-based luminaires include high energy conversion and optical efficiency, durability, lower operating costs, etc. The massive improvements in LED technologies have displayed efficient and robust full-spectrum lighting sources that achieve a variety of lighting effects in many applications. Some of the luminaires feature a plurality of lighting modules, including a plurality of LEDs, which are capable of generating different colors and color-changing lighting effects. 
         [0004]    Today&#39;s digitally-based intelligent lighting control systems switch and dim luminaires, as they set up light scenes and manage them in space and time, thus allowing luminaires to be addressed individually and provide great flexibility. Their user-friendly features include easy programming and operations along with a simple installation process. Lighting control systems can be integrated as a subsystem into a building management scheme. A lighting control network consists of one or more lighting devices, e.g., electrical ballasts, LED devices, and dimmers. The dimmers must support specific interfaces to be able to receive control inputs and dim the lights appropriately. Different light devices may support different control interfaces. 
         [0005]    LED-based luminaires do not usually fail abruptly like traditional light sources; instead, their light output slowly diminishes over time. Furthermore, LED light sources can have such long lives that life testing and acquiring real application data on long-term reliability becomes problematic—new versions of products are available before the current ones can be fully tested. To add to the challenge, LED light output and useful life are highly dependent on the electrical and thermal conditions that are determined by the luminaire and system design. 
         [0006]    Luminaires embedded with LEDs are finding application in every shape and size in varied environments, such as homes, industrial factories, shopping malls, hospitals, office buildings, and so on. The primary reason for the immense popularity of this kind of luminaires is their operational longevity and their reduced power consumption. Lower power consumption helps people reduce their electric bills to a massive extent. Due to this, the technological advancement of these kind of luminaires has soared to new heights. 
         [0007]    Smart luminaires embedded with LEDs also include a plurality of sensors, which may include daylight sensors, various kinds of field strength sensors used to sense electrical and magnetic fields, temperature sensors, motion sensors, light sensors, proximity sensors and so on. Smart lighting fixtures have been designed that additionally or alternatively implement intelligent lighting control systems in order to achieve energy savings. Each sensor has its own individual goals and responsibilities. To explain this with one example, some luminaires include daylight sensors and motion detectors. Each luminaire only illuminates when the ambient light level, as measured by the daylight sensor, is below a certain level, and this can be combined with a detected motion. 
         [0008]    Existing technology discloses techniques to sense magnitudes of lumen depreciations in a number of ways. These systems sense a lumen depreciation of part of any lighting fixtures, but they also sense the relative light level external to the lighting fixtures. These systems are capable of not only deriving lumen depreciation levels of the luminaires but also the total lumen depreciation levels of the lighting fixtures. These systems typically are comprised of sensors positioned outside of the lighting fixtures, and comparators to determine measured actual lumen output signals from the sensors to pre-set references or threshold lumen output values. Error signals are generated by the comparators if it is disclosed that the actual lumen output has gone below the reference or threshold lumen output levels. In these systems, the sensor location relative to the luminaire is an important factor. In addition, the sensor calibration that is based on the specific luminaire and environment is critical to accurate measurement of lumen levels. It would instead be desirable to provide a sensor system that could be continuously operated even if the sensor is moved relative to the luminaire over the life of the luminaire. It would also be desirable to provide a sensor system that can be automatically recalibrated if the specific luminaire in use is replaced. 
         [0009]    Another existing technology provides techniques to control individual LEDs in LED-based illumination devices so that a desired level of luminous flux and desired chromaticity of the illumination devices can be maintained over any fluctuations in drive currents and temperatures. The illumination devices include a plurality of emission LEDs, a storage medium, an LED driver, a receiver circuit, and a control circuit. The storage medium maintains a table of calibration values correlating forward voltage and drive currents to chromaticity and luminous flux at a variety of temperatures for each of the emission LEDs. The LED driver and receiver circuit provide respective drive currents to the emission LEDs to produce continuous illuminations, and periodically turn the emission LEDs off to calculate operating forward voltages that develop across each emission LED. The control circuit determines whether a target luminance setting or a target chromaticity setting for the illumination device has changed, and, if so, determines new respective drive currents needed to achieve the target luminance setting and the target chromaticity setting using the operating forward voltages measured across each emission LED, the table of calibration values, and one or more interpolation techniques. 
         [0010]    Another existing technology provides techniques to monitor the health of LED-based lights. These techniques describe the received data regarding LED junction temperatures, ambient temperatures, and drive currents associated with the LEDs, receiving pre-existing LED performance data sets. They determined the end of life of the LEDs based on the junction temperatures of the LEDs, the ambient temperatures, the drive currents associated with the LEDs, and the pre-existing LED performance data sets. 
         [0011]    However, the largest drawback associated with existing systems is that the positions of the sensors are fixed, i.e., their locations are not changeable. In all the above existing systems, the sensor must be pre-calibrated prior to use. Therefore, any change in the sensor location (relative to the luminaire position) or replacement of the luminaire type itself requires calibration information to be supplied (from the manufacturer) for the new system to be set up. Plainly, if the locations of the sensors are changed relative to the luminaires that they are sensing, then none of the above disclosed systems will be able to function in an appropriate manner. Rather, they would all need to be re-calibrated first, which can be extremely time consuming to do. What is needed is a system and method that frees an installer and/or maintenance crew from issues and activities associated with sensor installation and recalibration. 
         [0012]    Due to the large variety of luminaries and the rapid introduction of new luminaire architecture and designs, there is a need for a system and a method that is capable of working with any type of luminaire while being able to control the luminaire with sensor readings even if the position of the sensor(s) is changed with respect to the luminaire, or if the luminaire itself has been changed. 
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    In accordance with the present system, a variety of sensors are included into a smart lighting system that automatically recalibrates sensor readings upon a change in the position of the sensor(s) relative to the luminaire, or upon a change in the luminaire itself. The present sensor systems can be part of a sensor platform that is ideally used with LED-based luminaires in a smart lighting environment. Upon a location change of the sensor(s), the system controls lighting by automatically recalibrating the sensors. As such, system integrity is maintained across sensor installation and location changes. 
         [0014]    Embodiments of the present system may comprise a plurality of LEDs and/or electronic ballasts (“luminaires”), each of which are connected to one or more sensors (“sensors”). The sensors may be connected to a control and communication device or to a plurality of control and communication devices—Universal Smart Lighting Gateway (“USLG” or “Gateway”) which controls the dimming level of the luminaires and is capable of communicating the sensors&#39; readings and the dimming level as well as the power reading of the luminaire over wired/wireless networks and via Wide Area Network (“WAN”) to cloud servers for processing. 
         [0015]    The present system may provide a sensor or combination of sensors that can measure multiple color channels (such as a “color sensor” that directly faces the luminaires) as well as a low resolution imaging sensor (which could be an array of sensors combined into a low resolution imaging device). Such a color sensor can be used to measure both the color content of a light source and color intensity. Optionally, the color sensor can sense a single color or a plurality of colors. The present system may also include a single ASIC functioning as an imaging (“environment”) sensor for monitoring the environment of the light source. Optionally, such an environment sensor can include three (or more) different sensors including but not limited to: a low-resolution image sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a temperature sensor. Without limitation, the present disclosure is referring to the three sensors included in the environment sensor as “environment sensor”. Further, without limitations, the environment sensor may include less or more sensors than are described here; and it is to be understood that the present environment sensor can include a combination of sensors that measure the environment, as described in this disclosure. Embodiments in accordance with the present system can also use other sensors and more types of sensors to characterize the environment. In all cases, the present disclosure refers to these combinations of sensors as “environment sensor”. It is to be understood that both the color sensor and the environment sensor hardware as described herein can be commonly found existing sensors. Importantly, however, the novel setup and dynamic tuning of these sensors and the information they provide and how this information is acted upon forms part of the present novel disclosure. 
         [0016]    Embodiments in accordance with the present system can include the combination of the two sensors (the environment sensor and the color sensor). The present sensor system can optionally be set into a single ASIC or be a set of separate devices, all of which are also connected to the USLG. The sensors convey real time measurements and assessments to the USLG. In an embodiment, the color sensor faces the incoming light from the luminaire and the environment sensor faces the opposite direction, i.e., away from the luminaire. However, other positions are also contemplated, all keeping within the scope of the present system. Both sensors provide measurements that are relative to their location and orientation relative to the luminaire. 
         [0017]    The present USLG may interface with other control systems or devices via wired connections, Ethernet connections, wireless connections or any combination thereof, and can receive control messages that direct the USLG to change the dimming level via its dimming interface. This interface or plurality of interfaces is described herein as the backend interface of the gateway (“backend interface”). The protocol used in this interface is described herein as the backend protocol. Embodiments in accordance with the present system have a backend protocol that is capable of delivering dimming directions to the USLG as well as receiving sensor and power level readings from the USLG associated with the monitored/managed luminaires by this USLG. 
         [0018]    The present USLG is capable of communicating and handling a plurality of dimming protocols via a dimming control interface. The protocols include, but are not limited to, 0V-10V, 1V-10V, DALI and DMX, and both digital and analog protocols and interfaces are included. Embodiments in accordance with the present system do not limit the type of hardware/wire/bus interfaces between the USLG and the dimming device, e.g., the number of wires, the type of wires or bus connectors. Rather, the connections can be as simple as analog interface control wires and/or electrical/digital bus connectors, of any kind. 
         [0019]    The present USLG is capable of communicating and handling a plurality of sensors and sensor protocols via its sensors&#39; interface. Embodiments contemplated by the present system do not limit the type of hardware/wire/bus interfaces between the USLG and the sensor devices, e.g., the number of wires, the type of wires or bus connectors. The connections can be as simple as analog interface connectors and/or electrical/digital bus connectors of any kind. 
         [0020]    The present USLG can control the dimming device and change the dimming level and the color temperature of the luminaire (albeit only in luminaire devices that allow for color temperature controls). In an embodiment, the USLG can receive a set of directives for dimming setup and sensor measurements to occur at a specific day and time and/or on a specific schedule that repeats itself. In an embodiment, the sensors can be programmed via the USLG such that they will provide event information data only in cases where the color intensity is outside a predefined range. In an embodiment, the USLG can be controlled such that it executes measurements only when environment measurements are in a certain range, as well as when the dimming level is in a certain range. Therefore, in an embodiment, the dimming parameters, the environmental reading parameters and the sensor parameters and reading setup, can all be controlled from outside of the USLG via cloud sensors connecting to the USLG. A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the fact that the control that is described here allows the system to set up a miniature-controlled environment in which the color intensity of a luminaire can be measured. 
         [0021]    In embodiments, a power meter can be included. The power meter can be connected to the input line of the luminaire in such a way that it can measure the electrical power drawn by the luminaire at any given moment in real-time. For example, this power meter can be connected to the gateway to provide real-time power measurements correlated 1-1 to the luminaire power drawn at any given moment. The interface between the gateway and the power meter can optionally be a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) or other communication interface. The interface between the power meter device and the luminaire depends on the type of power meter used. Since this is well-known technology, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the know-how associated with power meter connections. 
         [0022]    The USLG may continuously receive real-time performance measurements from the sensor devices via the sensor interface and power measurements from the power meter via the power meter interface. The USLG may send these readings in a compressed format to the cloud servers. The compressed format may include two types of messages: (a) a baseline message set (“baseline message set”) that includes the full sensor readings, power level readings and current dimming state; or (b) an updates message set (“updates message set”) that includes changes or differentiations from the previous message set, where a message set can be a baseline message set or any of the updates message set. The baseline message set is sent upon major change, such as a change in the dimming level. The updates message set is sent at regular intervals. The updates message set includes readings that are significantly different from the previous set. In one embodiment, sensor readings can be averaged over the time interval between two consequent updates message sets. 
         [0023]    Optionally, the present system includes cloud servers that are continuously receiving performance measurements from a plurality of USLGs. These cloud servers perform correlations between the received information and the specific LED luminaires, which are controlled by these USLGs, and derive an expected lumen life expectancy prediction graph. The life expectancy prediction is based on the lumen prediction graph that is the theoretical lumen degradation prediction graph in ideal known conditions developed by the LED manufacturer and the USLG measurements. Using these correlated information embodiments in accordance with the present system can more accurately predict L70 and L50 for the specific luminaire in its current environment. 
         [0024]    In one embodiment the cloud servers provide every USLG with a table of reading directions that includes the correct sensor reading thresholds for specific dimming levels associated with the specific luminaire. The USLG is reporting changes or deviations from this internal table to the cloud servers. Using this method, the system further reduces the amount of information that needs to be transmitted over the USLG backhaul. In this way the cloud server applications can control the rate of information sent by the USLG and more accurately predict the LED behavior. 
         [0025]    In embodiments, a color sensor provides continuous measurements of a plurality of color channels. In an embodiment these color channels can be Blue, Yellow and Green channels. In other embodiments the color channels can be Red, Green and Blue channels. These measurements are specific to the color sensor and its design, such that different color sensors may provide different color intensity readings, yet the sensor readings will depreciate at the same rate relative to the said color sensor. In an embodiment, the process of calibration of the sensor is such that the depreciation of a sensor follows a known graph, which was studied for the specific color sensor, in an embodiment a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). In an embodiment, the sensor readings are normalized by its previous readings, such that only the normalized change in reading is significant. Color sensors do not differ from one another in any significant way after normalization of the readings, e.g., so, taking two different color sensors CMOS that are attached to the same luminaire in different physical attachment locations on the fitting, different absolute Red, Green, Blue and Yellow intensity readings will be expected to be received when compared between the two sensors, yet the normalized values read by the individual sensor of the % change in color intensity will have a very close, negligible difference. Red intensity may be read, for instance, as x1 and y1 at time t1 from the two sensors. At t2, x2 and y2 are read respectively. Then, x2/x1=y2/y1+w where w&lt;&lt;1 (e.g., where w is very small). Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure allow for an exponential relationship between color intensity measurements and lumen intensity of the LED. This relationship is known/calculated by the cloud server. 
         [0026]    In embodiments, one or more sensors are connected to the group of luminaires and sense information associated with them. When the system initializes, a sensor entry calibration point is measured. Using a controlled dimming level, the system can identify, based on several readings, the relative level of measurement experienced by the specific sensor for each sensor in the system. This entry point is the basis for calibration. Large deviations from the basic expected sensor behavior (measurements), which may occur in the future, will indicate change in the sensor location or in the luminaire and will activate a recalibration of the sensor to a new measured level. 
         [0027]    In embodiments, the environment and color sensors are placed or connected onto the fitting of the luminaire. The exact location of the sensors is not fixed, e.g., two different luminaires by the same manufacturer of the same type of fitting and LED specifications can be assembled such that the sensors&#39; location is different relative to the surface and dimensions of the fitting. The present system does not limit the location of the color and environment sensors on the fitting. As a result, the impact of the placement of the color and environment sensors on the fitting is mitigated by the present system. 
         [0028]    According to an aspect, a multi-point measurement of color intensity over time can be used to differentiate between LED replacement and sensor relocation. The present system may employ a method that is looking for LED expected behavior in the first several 1000 hours of the LED life. It uses known expected behavior as an indicator for newly installed LEDs to differentiate from sensor relocation that causes increases in color intensity measurements. It also may provide a system that is aware of the base time for an LED for every LED and luminaire in the system and uses this base to learn and calibrate the sensor measurements associated with said luminaire. Specifically, a new luminaire will typically increase in luminosity in its first 100 hours, and then later begin to decrease in luminosity. The present system can detect the continual increase in luminosity that is found at the beginning of the life of a new luminaire and thus deduct that a new luminaire has been installed. 
         [0029]    The present invention may continuously monitor every luminaire in the system. The measurements are correlated to the baseline measurement and aligned with prediction graph for lumen depreciation over time. The graph is specific to the luminaire and the currently installed environment. When a measurement is deviating from the expected by large number (which can be set by the operator of the system), the server will first try to calibrate the baseline into a new baseline assuming that the sensor location had been changed. After calibration two type of measurements are possible. If the color intensity measurement increases that means that the luminaire is a new one and the system will wait to identify the first 1000 hours point before being able to measure depreciating values. If the measurements are of decreasing values over time the system will compare the new generated graph slope with the previously measured one. If the slope is different and the operator will be alerted to a possible issue with either sensor misplacement or a new luminaire type being installed and but not reported. 
         [0030]    In embodiments the present system compares a large sample of same sensors attached to the same luminaire types and statistically identifies common baseline measurements and calibrates the sensors across the entire system. Using this baseline, it can track any deviations in order to identify change in sensor location/orientation relative to the luminaire. 
         [0031]    Embodiments in accordance with the present system provides a system for predictive analytics that is not impacted by sensor location changes due to the process of recalibration and the ability to identify such change for every sensor in the system. 
         [0032]    These and other advantages will be apparent from the present application of the embodiments described herein. 
         [0033]    The preceding is a simplified summary to provide an understanding of some aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure. This summary is neither an extensive nor exhaustive overview of the present disclosure and its various embodiments. The summary presents selected concepts of the embodiments of the present disclosure in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description presented below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the present disclosure are possible utilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0034]    The above and still further features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of embodiments thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and wherein: 
           [0035]      FIG. 1  illustrates a high-level system diagram of a universal gateway system for controlling dimming of a luminaire; 
           [0036]      FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary gateway box diagram; 
           [0037]      FIG. 3  illustrates a diagram of an exemplary sensor connection to a luminaire; 
           [0038]      FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary system handling a procedural global event such as system initialization or baseline or updates messages received; 
           [0039]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of a device setup and discovery stage of the present system; 
           [0040]      FIG. 6  illustrates a flow chart of a system handling a gateway Standard Operational Mode; 
           [0041]      FIG. 7  illustrates a flow chart of a system creating an “Updates Message”; 
           [0042]      FIG. 8  illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary system including cloud servers for calculating specific luminaire half-life prediction information; 
           [0043]      FIG. 9  illustrates a diagram of a sensor interface data structures of a system; 
           [0044]      FIG. 10  illustrates a diagram of a message structure for messages delivered in the system from a gateway to cloud servers; 
           [0045]      FIG. 11  illustrates a diagram of a message structure for messages delivered in the system from the cloud servers to the gateway; 
           [0046]      FIG. 12  illustrates a diagram of a luminaire database structure of a system; 
           [0047]      FIG. 13  illustrates a diagram of an events database and a message status database structure of a system; 
           [0048]      FIG. 14  illustrates a diagram of a luminaire half-life prediction database structure, according to an aspect; and 
           [0049]      FIG. 15  illustrates a flow chart of a system including cloud servers handling an updates message. 
       
    
    
       [0050]    Various features, aspects, and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description, along with the accompanying figures in which like numerals represent like components throughout the figures and text. The various described features are not necessarily drawn to scale, but are drawn to emphasize specific features relevant to some embodiments. 
         [0051]    The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. To facilitate understanding, reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate like elements common to the figures. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0052]    Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to a system and method for initialization and automatic re-calibration of a sensor subsystem associated with luminaries, such that measurements taken by the sensor subsystem are independent of the sensor(s) physical location of installation relative to the luminaire. The present system and method may use correlated predicted life expectancy of a plurality of lighting devices to detect that there has been a change in the sensor used, a change in the sensor installation position or a replacement of the luminaire itself, and thereby trigger new sensor calibration. Embodiments of the present disclosure will be illustrated below in conjunction with the figures. 
         [0053]    The term “module” as used herein refers to any known or later developed hardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, or combination of hardware and software that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element. Also, while the present disclosure is described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated those individual aspects of the present disclosure can be separately claimed. 
         [0054]    The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any tangible storage and/or transmission medium that participates in storing and/or providing instructions to a processor for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, NVRAM, or magnetic or optical disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, magneto-optical medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, solid state medium like a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read. A digital file attachment to e-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives is considered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. When the computer-readable media is configured as a database, it is to be understood that the database may be any type of database, such as relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like. Further, while reference is made to various types of databases, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that all of the database functions may be stored within compartments of a single database, or within individual databases. In any event, the disclosure is considered to include a tangible storage medium or distribution medium and prior art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which the software implementations of the present disclosure are stored. 
         [0055]    According to an aspect and with reference to  FIG. 1 , a system  100  for predicting life expectancy and controlling operation of a plurality of luminaires  112  is described. The plurality of luminaires  112  may include at least one light source, which may include a plurality of Light Emitting Diode (LED) devices  111 , and a dimming controller device or driver or interface  110 . The luminaire  112  is connected to one or more sensors found in at least one sensor subsystem  108 . The sensors may be connected to at least one gateway  102 , which is a device configured to control and communicate with the luminaire  112 . The system  100  includes the at least one gateway  102 , which in an embodiment is a protocol agnostic gateway and/or a Universal Smart Lighting Gateway (USLG), at least one power meter  114 , and at least one cloud server  106 . 
         [0056]    The gateway  102  may be capable of detecting, communicating and handling/controlling a plurality of dimming protocols via the dimming control device  110  to provide a plurality of dimming levels to the luminaires  112 . The gateway  102  is configured to receive information related the current dimming level of the luminaires  112 . The dimming protocols include, but are not limited to, 0V-10V, 1V-10V, DALI and DMX. According to an aspect, both digital and analog protocols and interfaces are included. Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure do not limit the type of hardware/wire/bus interfaces between the gateway  102  and the dimming device  110 , e.g., the number of wires, the type of wires or bus connectors. The dimming control lines  122 ,  126  connections may be analog interface control wires and/or electrical/digital bus connectors, of any kind. 
         [0057]    In an embodiment, the luminaire  112  may include a single luminaire or multiple luminaires connected with a single common interface to power lines  120 ,  124  and to dimming control lines  122 ,  126 . According to an aspect, a power meter  114  may be connected electrically between the gateway  102  and the luminaire  112  and may be connected electrically to the luminaire  112  via the power lines  120 ,  124 . The power meter  114  may be connected to the gateway  102  via a power meter interface  132 . The power meter  114  connections are described in further detail hereinbelow, with reference to  FIG. 2 . 
         [0058]    The power meter  114  may be connected to an input line of the luminaire  112  (see  FIG. 1 ), in such a way that the power meter  114  measures electrical power drawn by the luminaire  112  at any given moment in real-time. According to an aspect, the power meter  114  is connected to the gateway  102  to provide real-time power measurements correlated 1-1 to luminaire power drawn at any given moment. The interface  132  between the gateway  102  and the power meter  114  may be a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) or other communication interface. The particular power lines  120 ,  124  between the power meter device  114  and the luminaire  112  may depend on the type of power meter  114  being used. 
         [0059]    As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , system  100  includes at least one sensor subsystem  108  that detects current conditions of at least one of the luminaires  112 . The sensor subsystem  108  may include at least a first sensor to detect the color intensity and a second sensor to detect at least one change in the environmental condition in luminaire  112 . Thus, the current conditions of the luminaires  112  can be detected with the sensors such that the current color level or intensity, the current temperature or voltage or humidity or the current dimming level can be measured. This current condition information can be relayed to the gateway  102  which relays this information to the server  106  for storage, processing and the like. As such, sensor subsystem  108  can be used to sense/detect a plurality of color channels and monitor at least one change in environmental condition in real time. The information collected by the gateway  102  can include the current power level of the luminaires  112  as measured by the power meter  114 . The sensor subsystem  108  may be arranged such that it connects via connection  130  to the luminaire  112  on one side and to the gateway  102  via a sensor interface  128  on the other side. The location of placement of the sensors in sensor subsystem  108  may be different for various types of sensors. 
         [0060]    The gateway  102  is capable of communicating and handling the plurality of sensors and sensor protocols via its sensor interface  128 . Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure do not limit the type of hardware/wire/bus interfaces between the gateway  102  and the sensor subsystem  108 , e.g., the number of wires, the type of wires or bus connectors. The connections can be as simple as analog interface connectors and/or electrical/digital bus connectors of any kind. 
         [0061]    In aspects, the sensor or combination of sensors in sensor subsystem  108  may include a “color sensor” that measures multiple color channels, and is positioned directly facing the luminaires, and may also include an “environment sensor” that may be a low resolution imaging sensor or array of sensors or a single ASIC. The color sensor may be used to measure both the color content of a light source and the color intensity. The color sensor can optionally be based on a single color or a plurality of colors. 
         [0062]    The environment sensor is used for monitoring the environment of the light source. The environment sensor may optionally include three or more different sensors, such as a low-resolution image sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a temperature sensor. Other sensors and different types of sensors can be used as well, all keeping within the scope of the present system. 
         [0063]    The sensors may be directed as follows: the color sensor faces the luminaires, and the environment sensor faces away from the luminaires in such a way that it monitors the environment. Real time measurements and assessments may be conveyed to the gateway  102  by the sensors that make up the sensor subsystem  108 . 
         [0064]    In aspects, gateway  102  can control the dimming device  110  and thereby change the dimming level and the color temperature of the luminaire  112  (in luminaire devices that allow for color temperature controls). In a method of operation, gateway  102  receives a set of directives or instructions for dimming setup and sensor measurements to occur at a specific day and time and/or on a specific schedule that repeats itself. Such information may be stored in a scheduling database. (See, for instance,  FIG. 5  regarding the Dimming and Testing Schedule Database  524 .) Server  106  may access the scheduling database and transmit a scheduling message to record the current dimming level and to detect the current conditions of the luminaires  112  by the sensor subsystem  108 . According to an aspect, the sensors of the sensor subsystem  108  can be programmed via the gateway  102  such that they will provide event information leading to sensor recalibration only in cases where the color intensity is outside a predefined range. In a method of operation, gateway  102  may control the luminaire such that the gateway reads the environmental sensor information only when the environment measurements are within a certain range, as well as when the dimming level is within a certain range. Should the sensor measurements fall outside of these expected ranges, then the server  106  can calculate new expected sensor ranges in which the gateway controls luminaire operation. Dimming parameters, environmental reading parameters, sensor parameters and reading setup may all be controlled from outside of the gateway  102  via cloud sensors  106 . 
         [0065]    The environment and color sensors of sensor subsystem  108  may be placed/connected onto a fitting on luminaire  112 . Unfortunately, the exact position of these sensors relative to the luminaire  112  is not exactly known. This is because two different luminaires made by the same manufacturer with the same type of fittings and LED specifications may be assembled such that the sensor location is different relative to the surface and dimensions of the luminaire fitting. 
         [0066]    In aspects, the color sensor provides continuous measurements of a plurality of color channels. These color channels can optionally be Blue, Yellow and Green channels; or Red, Green and Blue channels. The measurements taken may be specific to the color sensor and its design, such that different color sensors may provide different color intensity readings. Sensor readings for color sensors are expected to depreciate at a rate that follows a known graph which was studied for the specific color sensor CMOS. In a method of operation, the sensor readings are therefore normalized, such that only the normalized change in reading is significant and is detected by the cloud server. Changes in color sensor readings do not differ from one another in any significant way after normalization of the readings. For example, given two different color sensors CMOS that are attached to the same luminaire in different physical attachment locations on the luminaire fitting, different absolute Red, Green, Blue and Yellow intensity readings may be expected to be received when compared between the two sensors, yet the normalized values read by the individual sensor of the % change in color intensity will have a very close, negligible difference. For instance, the Red intensity may be read as x1 and y1 at time t1 from the two sensors. At t2, x2 and y2 may be read respectively. Then, x2/x1=y2/y1+w where w&lt;&lt;1 (for example, where w is very small). Embodiments in accordance with the present system allow for an exponential relationship between color intensity measurements and lumen intensity of the LED. This relationship is known/calculated by the cloud server. 
         [0067]    The system  100  may continuously receive real-time performance measurements from the sensor devices of the sensor subsystem  108  via the sensor interface  128  and power measurements from the power meter  114  via the power meter interface  132 . The gateway  102  may send these sensor and power readings in a compressed format to the cloud servers  106  for processing, storage, calculating, compilation, comparing, and the like. Server  106  may include a processor configured to receive and use the information to calculate and predict the life expectancy of the luminaires and to generate and relay a life expectancy report to a user. The compressed format may include two types of messages, namely a baseline message set and an updates message set as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow with reference to  FIG. 4 . The baseline message set may include the full sensor readings, power level readings and current dimming state. The updates message set may include changes or differentiations from the previous message set. In aspects, the baseline message may be sent when major changes occur (such as a change in the dimming level), whereas the updates message set may be sent at regular intervals. According to another aspect, the updates message set includes readings that are significantly different from the previous set. According to one method of operation, sensor readings can be averaged over the time interval between two consequent updates message sets. 
         [0068]    The system  100  may include a backhaul interface  118  for connecting the gateway  102  and a network gateway  104 . The backhaul interface  118  may be a wired or wireless Local Area Network (LAN), including one or more of Mesh Bluetooth Low Energy (Mesh BLE), Smart Mesh, Bluetooth Mesh, WLAN, ZigBee, and/or Ethernet LAN. In an embodiment, the backhaul interface  118  is a Mesh BLE. The communication protocol may include the Mesh BLE. The gateway  102  may thus be connected to the back-end network gateway  104  via LAN, WLAN, WAN, Mesh BLE radio network or other means. This connection may allow another device on the network local to the gateway or via WAN in the cloud, to handle the lumen prediction process. Thus, the entire luminaire half-life prediction process can be distributed between physical machines or on a single machine, local or remote to the gateway  102  itself. 
         [0069]    Gateway  102  can interface with other control systems or devices via wired connections, Ethernet connections, wireless connections or any combination thereof, and can receive control messages that direct the gateway  102  to change the dimming level via its dimming interface/control/driver  110 . Embodiments in accordance with the present system provide a system in which the backhaul protocol (i.e.: the protocol used in interface  118 ) is capable of delivering dimming directions to the gateway  102  as well as receiving sensor and power level readings via the sensor subsystem  108  from the gateway  102  associated with the monitored/managed luminaires  112 . 
         [0070]    The gateway  102  may be connected to the network gateway  104 , which resides between the local networks to a wide area network (WAN)  116 . The WAN  116  connects the gateway  102  to cloud computers/servers  106  for operational and management interfaces. 
         [0071]    As described in greater detail in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/344,263, filed Nov. 4, 2016, (“the &#39;263 Application”), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, system  100  may facilitate dynamic discovery of a dimming protocol that runs over the dimming control lines  122 ,  126 . The server  106  may calculate and predict depreciation of the dimming levels of the plurality of luminaires  112 . According to an aspect, the server  106  is configured to report the current prediction via a plurality of user reporting mechanisms, including a real time display of status and prediction information associated with the plurality of luminaires  112 . 
         [0072]    In one embodiment, the cloud servers  106  provide each gateway  102  with a table of reading directions that includes the correct sensor reading thresholds for specific dimming levels associated with the specific luminaire  112 . The gateway  102  may report changes or deviations from this internal table to the cloud servers  106 . Using this method, the system  100  may further reduce the amount of information that needs to be transmitted over the gateway  102  backhaul interface  118 . In this way, the cloud server applications can control the rate of information sent by the gateway  102  and more accurately predict the LED  111  behavior. 
         [0073]    System  100  may send sensor readings and other information over the backhaul interface  118  to the cloud server  106  at random times. According to an aspect, this allows for better utilization of the backhaul interface  118 , which may be a wireless mesh network with limited backhaul capacity. In an embodiment, a message being sent at random time periods during the day will include a correct time stamp of the reading and the dimming level. The message receiving time at the cloud server is not the measurements&#39; time, thus tagging the measurement correctly with time of measurement may be required. 
         [0074]    The cloud server  106  performs correlations between received information and the specific LEDs  111 /luminaires  112 , which are controlled by gateways  102 , and derive an expected lumen prediction graph. The prediction graph may be based on the lumen prediction graph, that is, the theoretical lumen degradation prediction graph in ideal known conditions developed by the LED manufacturer, (and stored in a Driver Manufacturers database (DB)  820 , as discussed in greater detail hereinbelow with reference to  FIG. 8 ), and the measurements acquired through the sensor subsystem  108 , the power meter  114  and/or the dimming level set by the dimming control device  110 . Thus, the real-time measurements are compared/correlated to the predicted or manufacturer&#39;s life (end of life and/or half-life) graph to establish an actual graph of what the specific luminaires  112  are experiencing in actuality. Thus, a solution that allows users/customers to more accurately predict when sufficient lumen degradation has occurred such that action needs to be taken to replace the light source is provided. Using this correlated information, the system can more accurately predict L 70  and L 50  for the specific luminaire in its current environment. According to an aspect, the dimming and/or testing schedule is updated based on differences detected between current information received/collected and previous information that had been received/collected previously. 
         [0075]      FIG. 2  depicts the gateway  102  in further detail. According to an aspect, a soft switch  202  to select between different electrical dimming interfaces is provided. The soft switch  202  may be actively used to search for the correct protocol between the gateway  102  and the luminaire  112  (not shown in this figure). The luminaire  112  may be a dimming luminaire. According to an aspect, protocol modules  228 ,  230 , and  232  are the software implementation of the dimming interfaces that reside in the gateway  102 . In an embodiment, the supported dimming protocol includes several sets of protocols, such as, for example, 0V-10V, 1V-10V, PWM  228  protocols over 0V-10V and/or 1V to 10V, a 24V DALI  230  protocol, and a 5V DMX  232  protocol. DALI is a digital control protocol that allows individual addressable luminaires. The protocols may each include algorithms, which may be implemented in a Micro Controller Unit 2 (MCU-2)  204 . According to an aspect, the MCU-2  204  is powered by an AC to DC 5V, 24V power module  220  via a power line connection  240 . MCU-2  204  may also be connected to a power meter  114  via a Micro Controller Unit e.g., MCU-1 and a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART)  224 . According to an aspect, MCU-2  204  is also connected to a Relay  206 . MCU-2  204  may also be connected to a Wireless Interface Module (WIM)  210  via a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus  212 . In an embodiment, the MCU-2  204  also controls the Relay  206 , which may be designed to be able to cut off/block a current to the luminaire  112  upon a decision by the MCU-2  204 . The power cutoff can be used to disconnect power from the controlled luminaire subsystem (see, for example,  FIG. 1 ). In an embodiment, the WIM  210  is implemented as a Bluetooth Low Power (BLE) device that uses Mesh BLE protocol to connect with other devices, as well having the SPI bus  212  and an Inter-Integrated Circuit Two-Wire Serial Interface bus (TWSI)  216 . The WIM  210  is connected to the Camera Interface System (CIS) module  214 , which may be, for instance, an environmental sensor and a Red, Green, Blue (RGB) sensor combination device. The CIS module  214  can be extended via a second TWSI bus  226  with other sensor modules. The CIS module  214  may require a clock, which is received via an AC Frequency to a clock module interface  218 . The WIM  210  may require power, which is typically received via the AC to DC 5V, 24V power module  220  via the power interface line  240 . According to an aspect, an AC Power 90V-240V power module  222  is relayed to the MCU-2  204  via a Line Control (LNNL)  234 , and relayed from the MCU-2  204  to the soft switch  202  for power selection for the dimming protocol interfaces. The AC Power module  222  may also be relayed to the power meter  114  via the LNNL  234 , which measures all power delivered to the luminaire  112 . The LNNL  234  is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , and according to an aspect, provides the physical electrical line connections. 
         [0076]    According to an embodiment, and as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the system  300  may include one or more sensors  308 ,  310 , typically configured as CIS modules, connected to the gateway  102  via the TWSI connection using a 6 pin or 8 pin FPC cable and a connector  306 .  FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment that includes at least one of a first CIS module  308  and a second CIS module  310 . (Only one connection is actually depicted, but it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that one or both of the sensors  308 ,  310  can be connected to the gateway  102 .) The CIS modules  308 ,  310  may be physically connected at any desired position on the luminaire  112  (not shown). According to an aspect, the CIS module  308  is a linear module that can be adopted to fit on luminaires  112 /devices that require a linear fitting. In an embodiment, the CIS module  310  is circular, and may be designed to fit circular-shaped luminaires  112 . 
         [0077]    In an embodiment, each of the CIS  308  and CIS  310  sensors include at least two sets of sensors (not shown). A first set of sensors (e.g., “environment sensors”), may be dedicated to environment sensing, and may be arranged such that the sensor faces away from and/or extends in a downwardly fashion from the luminaire  112 . According to an aspect, a second set of sensors or a single sensor (e.g., a “color sensor”/“RGB sensor”) is arranged such that it faces the luminaire  112  directly. As described herein, the first set is named the environment sensor and the second set is named the RGB color sensor. The combination of the two sets of sensors, namely the environment sensor and the RGB color sensor, may be combined into a single ASIC or may be arranged as a set of separate devices. According to an aspect, the first and second set of sensors of the CIS  308  and CIS  310  modules may also connect with the gateway  102 . Both sets of sensors may provide real time measurements and assessments to the gateway  102 . In response to the measurements and assessments provided, the gateway  102  may control the dimming device and change the dimming level and a color temperature and RGB/RGBW (Red Green Blue Warm White) color, in devices that allow for color temperature and RGB/RGBW color control. 
         [0078]    According to an aspect, the RGB color sensor may directly face the luminaires  112  (not shown). The RGB sensor may measure both the RGB content of a light source and the color/RGB intensity of the light source. According to an aspect, the RGB sensor or combination of sensors are configured to measure multiple color channels. 
         [0079]    The environment sensor may be a low-resolution imaging sensor, such as an array of sensors combined into a low-resolution imaging device, or a single ASIC that is an imaging sensor. According to an aspect, the environment sensor measures environmental parameters and is/are facing away from the luminaires  112 . The environment sensor can be arranged to monitor the environment of the light source. According to an aspect, the environment sensor includes at least three different types of sensors, such as, a low-resolution image sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a temperature sensor. Without limitation, this disclosure refers to the three sensors included in the environment sensor as “environment sensor”. In an embodiment, the environment sensor includes several environmental sensors. In other words, the environment sensor may include less or more sensors than described herein. Embodiments in accordance with the present system can use other sensors and more types of sensors to sense the environment. The environment sensor can be any sensor that is capable of collecting enough information to measure the environment, including ambient light and temperature. In an embodiment, the temperature sensor measures temperatures relative to the LED temperatures. Embodiments in accordance with present system can correlate between temperature readings by the temperature sensor and the luminaire temperature. In an embodiment, the environment sensor is also an environment color sensor, which provides the color intensity of the environment ambience. The color intensity of the environment ambience may enable the system to tune up the color intensity reading coming from the color sensors facing the luminaire  112 . That is, the system is capable of initializing and tuning up luminaires  112 . As understood herein, “tuning up” refers to resetting of the expected measured sensor ranges in which gateway  102  controls the operation of the luminaire. According to an aspect, the cloud server  106  and/or the gateway  102  continuously monitors the information from the sensors and only triggers the initialization and/or tuning up of the luminaires  112  interface based on a change in the information, and/or a change in hardware or software of the luminaire  112 , the gateway  102  and/or the sensor subsystem  108 . 
         [0080]    In general, aspects of the present disclosure describe a method of predicting the half-life of the luminaire based on color. Embodiments in accordance with the present system also provide a method for the system to identify and control dimming levels of a plurality of luminaires over time. The method may include the system receiving a plurality of sensor readings associated with the dimming levels of the luminaires over time wherein the plurality of luminaires are connected to a plurality of sensors. 
         [0081]    The method includes interfacing by gateway  102  with a plurality of other control systems and/or devices via at least a wired connection, an Ethernet connection, a wireless connection or a combination thereof. According to an aspect, gateway  102  receives instructions to control the dimming level of the plurality of luminaires via its dimming interface. The interface present in the gateway may be a backhaul interface running a backhaul protocol. In an embodiment, the backhaul protocol is responsible for delivering instructions to the gateway to control the dimming level of the plurality of luminaires. The method may further include receiving by the gateway, from a plurality of sensors, information regarding color contents, color intensities and the light sources&#39; environments, which is directly associated with the dimming level instructions. The gateway may further include various methods and/or tools to record received instructions. 
         [0082]    The method includes communicating and handling a plurality of dimming protocols by gateway  102  via its dimming device  100  interface. In an embodiment, the plurality of dimming protocols may be at least a 0V-10V, 1V-10V, DALI, DMX, digital protocols and analog protocols, and so on. 
         [0083]    The method may include controlling a dimming device located inside the plurality of luminaires by the gateway. According to an aspect, controlling the dimming device by the gateway is utilized by the system to change the dimming level and/or the color temperature and/or the RGB/RGBW colors of the plurality of luminaires based on the database of instructions associated with a time schedule. In an embodiment, the gateway receives a set of instructions associated with dimming setups and a plurality of sensor measurements from a plurality of sensors according to a specific moment of any day. The receiving method may record these instructions and a scheduler checks the information on a timely basis and acts on these instructions. 
         [0084]    According to an aspect, a method to program the plurality of sensors controlled by gateway  102  in such a way that the plurality of sensors will provide data to gateway  102  only when the color intensities are outside of a predetermined range is provided. In an embodiment, a method to enable scheduling control in ways/manners that allow measurements to be taken only when environment measurements, as well as the dimming levels, reach certain ranges and within time schedule limitations of the gateway is provided. In an embodiment, the dimming parameters, the sensor parameters, and the reading setups are delivered all or in parts from outside of gateway  102  via at least a cloud server  106 . The gateway  102  may be configured to communicate these parameters, store them on the device in a database and manage their life cycle. 
         [0085]    The method may include measuring real time power by at least one power meter  114  connected to at least one luminaire  112 , wherein the real-time power measurements correlate 1-1 to the power drawn by the plurality of luminaires at any given moment. The interface between the gateway and the power meter may be a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) or other communication interfaces (“power meter interface”). 
         [0086]    The method includes receiving continuously by the gateway real-time performance measurements from a plurality of sensors connected with the gateway via the sensor interface and power measurements from a power meter via a power meter interface. According to an aspect, gateway  102  compresses and sends these said measurements to at least one cloud server  106 . The compressed format may include a baseline message set and an update message set. In an embodiment, the two sets of messages are unique and separate. The baseline message set may include the full sensor readings, power level readings and current dimming state. The update message set may include changes or differentiations from the previous message set. The gateway  102  may identify major changes that require a new baseline message set to be sent. Such major changes may include a change in scheduled dimming level and/or a change in the environment reading that requires a new baseline set. According to an aspect, the gateway includes a system that sends the updates message set at regular intervals. The updates message set may include readings that are significantly different from the previous set. In one embodiment, the updates message set recognizes significance in reading changes based on a table of sensor ranges appropriate to the specific luminaire that is set by the cloud servers. In an embodiment, sensor readings from the plurality of sensors can be averaged over the time interval between two consequent updates. 
         [0087]    According to an aspect, the cloud servers  106  use a method for continuously receiving a plurality of performance measurement information arriving from the gateways. The pluralities of cloud servers may use methods to perform correlation between the received plurality of performance measurements and the specific luminaire characteristics controlled by the gateways. In an embodiment, the present system provides derivations of at least one lumen prediction graph by the plurality of cloud servers. The prediction may be based on the lumen prediction graph, that is, the theoretical lumen degradation prediction graph in ideal known conditions estimated by the luminaire manufacturer and the gateway measurements. In a separate embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure this correlation information can accurately predict L 70  and L 50  for the specific luminaire in its current environment. 
         [0088]    The method may include predicting an accurate lumen degradation graph by the cloud server&#39;s system. The predictions of the lumen degradation graphs may be based on timely correlations between the dimming state changes and the real-time sensor readings of the environment and color sensors, as well as AMP levels used by the luminaires. In an embodiment, cloud server  106  uses the correlated information and predictions to recommends alternative dimming schedules that will extend the half-life (L 50 ) of the luminaires in the system, while maintaining expected luminosity at the appropriate levels. 
         [0089]    Embodiments in accordance with the present system predict accurate lumen degradation or depreciation graph for the specific luminaires  112  attached to the system  100 . The prediction of the lumen depreciation graph may be based on correlation between dimming state changes and real time sensor readings of the environment and color sensors, as well as the AMP level used by the luminaire  112 . System  100  is capable of using these predictions to recommend alternative schedules to extend the half-life (L 50 ) of the luminaires  112  in the system  100  while maintaining expected luminosity at the appropriate level. 
         [0090]    System  100  is optionally capable of providing reverse predictions in which based on a given luminosity dimming schedule for the specific luminaires  112 , and based on real time sensor readings, system  100  can accurately predict the half-life of the luminaire  112 . 
         [0091]      FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chart of a method  400  for system  100  in which system  100  is configured to perform various high-level system operations  402  via the server  106  (see  FIG. 1 ), and in particular is configured to predict lumen depreciation and/or life expectancy, and to make correlations between the two. According to this method, gateway  102  may initialize operation of system  100  based on at least one communication message exchanged with the server  106 . At step  404 , the system checks whether there are events (explained below) that need to be handled. If the result of step  404  is that there are no events that need to be handled by the system, the operation goes to step  424 , during which the system may go back to sleep. If the result of step  404  is that there are events that need to be handled by the system, the operation goes to step  406 . At step  406 , the system checks different events that need to be handled. Exemplary events  408 ,  412 , and  418  may be present, as follows. These events may include a first event at step  408  (“Device is initializing”), a second event at step  412  (“Baseline message received”), and a third event at step  418  (“Updates message received”). 
         [0092]    At step  408 , the system may identify the first event, which may be to initialize and/or handle a current device/luminaire, then move to step  410 . At step  410 , a new/modified device/a new/modified luminaire may be discovered and properly set-up. If the device is already initialized, the system may look for a baseline message at step  412  and/or an update message at step  418 . 
         [0093]    Thus, at step  412 , the system recognizes the second event, which may include receiving baseline messages. The baseline messages include but are not limited to initial settings and/or readings from the dimming control device, sensor subsystem and/or power meter related to the specific luminaire(s). At step  414 , the system may handle the baseline message(s) and simultaneously forward the baseline message(s) to a luminaire and/or driver database (DB)  416  and/or step  422 . According to an aspect, the baseline message(s) are collected/recorded in the luminaire and/or driver DB  416 , which is a repository to receive and store information from the sensor subsystem and/or power meter and/or aspects of the individual luminaire/LED. At step  422 , the baseline message(s) may be used, in conjunction with all other data collected in other steps, to establish and/or update/adjust the half-life and/or end-of-life prediction and requirements for the specific luminaires. The luminaire database  416  is configured to receive and store the information collected from the system and/or luminaires. 
         [0094]    Alternatively, and/or simultaneously, at step  418 , the system recognizes the third event, which may include receiving the updates message(s). The updates message(s) include but are not limited to settings and/or readings from the dimming control device  110 , sensor subsystem  108  and/or power meter  114  related to the specific luminaire(s)  112  that are received at a point in time (other than the initial settings and/or readings received with the baseline messages and are essentially updates to previously recorded settings and/or readings). At step  420 , the system may handle/process the updates message  418  and then forward the updates message simultaneously towards the luminaire  112  and/or driver DB  416  and step  426 . Step  420  is described in detail in  FIG. 15 . The updates message may be received and recorded in the luminaire and/or driver DB  416 . At step  426  the system decides whether to continue with updating the luminaire half-life prediction at step  422  or to skip step  422  since the updates message  418  is conveying a reading that is outside the expectation. If sensor readings are not within expected range, the system will move to step  428  which will trigger a message to the device to start an initialization process at step  550  thereby recalibrating the sensors (as explained further in  FIG. 5 ). At step  422 , the updates message(s) may be used, in conjunction with all other data collected in other steps, to establish and/or update/adjust the half-life and/or end of life prediction and requirements for the specific luminaires. 
         [0095]    After handling incoming messages of any type, such as, for example, the baseline messages or the updates messages (see, for instance,  FIG. 7 ), the measurement updates or changes may be transferred to and recorded in the luminaire and/or driver DB  416 . According to an aspect, the luminaire and/or driver DB  416  also records the handling of the device setup and/or the device discovery. At step  422  (after the handling of the baseline message and the updates message at steps  412  and  418 ), the system may predict the luminaire half-life or adjust its predictions of the luminaire half-life based on the updates, and as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow with reference to  FIG. 8 . A person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that changes in the dimming schedule of any luminaire will impact the luminaire&#39;s half-life expectancy, therefore, over time and based on usage, the predictions will change and become more accurate to the specific point-in-time of the measurements. 
         [0096]    According to one aspect, the server utilized in the system operations  402  is at least one of a cloud server  106  and a local server. In an embodiment, the system performs the system operations  402  via only the cloud server (see, for instance,  FIG. 5 .) The cloud server  106  may primarily be in a sleep mode while waiting to check for the presence and/or status of events. As such, cloud server  106  may be in a reactive mode, during which it waits for the occurrence of events. Alternatively, cloud server  106  may actively/regularly wake up from its sleep mode, to check/assess whether any of the events exist  404 . According to various aspects, the server manages each of the first, second and third events  408 ,  412  and  418  at different stages/through different processes. According to an aspect, the first event  408  is managed/handled during a set up and discovery process, illustrated in  FIG. 4  as ‘Handle device setup and discovery’  410 . (See, for example,  FIG. 5 .) The second event  412  may occur when a baseline message has been received, and is illustrated in  FIG. 4  as ‘Baseline message received’. The handling of baseline messages/‘Baseline Message’ types of messages is described in further detail hereinbelow, with particular reference to, for example,  FIG. 6 . The third event  418  may be associated with the receipt of message updates, and is illustrated in  FIG. 4  as ‘Updates message received’  418 . Creation of updates messages/‘Updates Message’ types of messages is described in further detail hereinbelow, with particular reference to, for example,  FIG. 7 . 
         [0097]      FIG. 5  depicts an embodiment  500  of the system  100  handling of device setup and discovery operations starting at step  410 . Step  410  includes the discovery and proper set-up of the device/the luminaire. The setup and discovery operations may include a flow of information that occurs as two separate parts of the system  500 , each including a request for information (RFI)  516  flow to server  106  and a flow from the server  106  of Information  518 , which may include minimal initialization information from a particular controlled luminaire (as described above with reference to, for example,  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0098]    According to an aspect, the first event after turning on a gateway  102  may include the RFI  516  being sent/transmitted from the gateway  102  to the server  106 . As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , at step  502 , the gateway  102  may send the RFI  516  towards the server  106 . It is also possible to get to step  501  via step  550  which is a re calibration trigger by the server  106 . The gateway  102  may ask the server  106  to provide the minimal initialization information  518 . If server  106  is already familiar with the particular luminaire, the first event  408  may include providing more information  518  based on this knowledge/familiarity/association with the particular luminaire. At step  504 , the cloud server  106  may return the initialization information  518  to the gateway  102 , then proceed to step  506 . At step  506 , the gateway  102  may continue to read sensor feeds, and identify/discover/set the correct dimming protocol/level. According to an aspect, once the gateway  102  has set the appropriate dimming protocol for the luminaire, a “ready” message  520  is sent to the server  106 . The ready message  520  may include identifying the luminaire, the luminaire&#39;s dimming protocol and sensor information, as collected during the dimming protocol test/discovery  506  by the gateway  102 , as described in greater detail in the &#39;263 Application. In an embodiment, the server  106  responds with dimming and sensor information  522  associated with the setup of the sensors for baseline and for tune-up. At step  510 , the gateway  102  may set the luminaire to a pre-defined state and collect the reading of the sensors, such as, for example, the color sensors and the environmental sensors. According to an aspect, the information collected is sent to the server  106  as part of a ‘Sensor Readings’ message  526 . The information collected may include the baseline or early readings of the sensor information. In step  512  the cloud servers  106  may then send back a future reading schedule  528  that includes final tune-up information, a schedule for dimming, and/or a sensor measurement schedule for measurements that need to be done on a regular basis. While sensor measurements may begin upon installation of the luminaire, sensor measurements would not typically impact the predictions of life expectancy until the device had achieved about 1000 hours of service or operation. In other words, the calibration or calculation of the real-world life expectancy of the particular luminaire  112  would not be impacted until after the luminaire had been working for 1000 hours. The cloud server  106  may also look at the calibration values and decide one of the following outcomes: (1) the calibration is successful, in this case in step  552  it will continue with system operations  402 ; or (2) calibration indicated that the sensor was moved or the luminaire was replaced (in this case continues monitoring may indicate a need to send a possible error report to the operator in step  554  while continuing with monitoring and trying to calibrate the system). 
         [0099]    According to an aspect, at step  514 , gateway  102  receives and sets scheduled reading and dimming information associated with the half-life prediction system/lumen prediction system. The server  106  may update the luminaire DB  416  and continue to system operations  402  (see  FIG. 4 ). In an embodiment, the gateway  102  records the scheduling information in a dimming and testing schedule DB  524 . The operation of gateway  102  may continue to the gateway standard operational mode  530  (see  FIG. 6 ). 
         [0100]      FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment  600  of the gateway standard operation mode  530 . At step  602  gateway  102  is primarily in a sleep mode during which it waits for one or more events to occur. In an embodiment, each event may include setting a new dimming level and waiting for a single sensor event or multiple sensor events. According to an aspect, the types of the events the gateway may wait to occur include two types. The first type of event may be associated with existing dimming and testing, including, for example, at a specific/designated time, setting a specific dimming level, and waiting for a set of sensor readings. For instance, at step  622 , a “receive scheduling and parameters updates” process  622  may update the dimming and test schedule DB  524  and may also refresh a sleeping timer (not shown) for the gateway to wake at the next appropriate test schedule. According to an aspect, the second type of event includes current/present sensor readings that need to be read and processed. 
         [0101]    When gateway  102  is out of sleep mode/initialized, the gateway may receive a scheduling message from cloud servers  106  as seen at step  622 . The scheduling message may include parameters to populate the dimming and test schedule DB  524 . At step  604 , the gateway may check for any scheduled tests, which may be waiting in the dimming &amp; testing schedule DB  524 . For instance, when the scheduled test is triggered at step  604 , gateway  102  may set the dimming level to a requested lumen/light percentage. According to an aspect, the gateway does not process or handle events that are not planned for and/or scheduled by the dimming &amp; testing schedule DB  524 . If at step  604  there is no scheduled testing event waiting, e.g., ‘No’, then the operation moves to step  608 , where the gateway checks for any triggered sensor events as described in greater detail below. If at step  604 , the scheduled test is triggered, e.g., ‘Yes’, the operation proceeds/moves to step  606  where gateway  102  sets the dimming protocol to a requested dimming level and reads the sensor status. In an embodiment, after step  606 , the gateway performs step  610  where the gateway starts to monitor sensor and/or driver events—e.g., has the sensor(s) or driver/dimming control device changed? 
         [0102]    Scheduled dimming level and sensor measurements are conducted at step  606 , and include a plurality of sensor readings that are completed at step  610 . The sensor measurement event requests can be, for example, waiting for the temperature readings to reach a specific level/range, waiting for the AMP reading to reach a specific range, reading color intensity for a plurality of colors multiple times, and the like. Such event data is recorded in the sensor and driver events DB at  612 . In an embodiment, when a sensor event occurs, there can be multiple outcomes. For instance, if the sensor reading is the last sensor reading required for this specific scheduled dimming measurement, the gateway may make a decision if the set of measurements requires a new Baseline message at step  614 , and if “No”, moves to create an Updates message at step  620 . In the case of a baseline message, the gateway may format a new baseline message at step  616  and send it to the server, (not shown), update the schedule to wait for the next dimming schedule and go to sleep at step  602 . 
         [0103]    The updates message is described in further detail hereinbelow, and is shown in  FIG. 7 . In one embodiment, after the updates message is handled, the gateway goes back to sleep (see, for instance,  FIG. 4 ). The case may occur when there are more events associated with/chained to the current scheduled dimming that the gateway must wait for. In this case, the gateway may go to sleep/enter a sleep mode while waiting for those events. According to one aspect, before the gateway goes to sleep to wait for the other events, the current event is recorded in the Sensor Events DB  612 , where all accumulated and scheduled events are recorded for future processing. 
         [0104]    At step  608 , gateway  102  may check for any triggered sensor events. If the response is ‘Yes’, than the operation moves to step  614 . If the response is ‘No’, then the operation may go back to the step  602  and wait for an event to occur. According to an aspect, at step  614 , the gateway may decide if the sensor reading requires baseline messages. If the response is ‘Yes,’ then the operation moves to step  616 . If the response is ‘No’, then the operation moves to step  620 . In an embodiment, the decision to move to one of the step  616  and the step  620  is based on multiple factors, which may primarily include differences between the previous baseline message and the current changes in the baseline messages. According to an aspect, the operation may also move to one of step  616  or step  620  if there is no prior baseline message. In an embodiment, at step  616 , the gateway sends baseline messages and then moves to step  618 , where the message status database is updated. When there is a need for an updates message, the operation of gateway  102  may go to step  620 . When message generation/creation of updates message is complete/done, the operation of gateway  102  may move to the step  602  and wait for the next event to occur. 
         [0105]    In an embodiment, each event may include setting a new dimming level and waiting for a single sensor event or multiple sensor events. For every event that occurs, the operation may move to step  612  where the gateway updates the sensor events DB. According to an aspect, monitoring sensor events occurs in parallel/in the background by step  610 , while the gateway proceeds to step  602  where the gateway waits for an event to occur. 
         [0106]      FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment  700  of the creating ‘Updates Message’  620  described hereinabove and illustrated in  FIG. 6 . According to one aspect, the creating of the Updates Message may depend on the accumulation of all prior messages sent and recorded in the Message Status DB  618 . Based on past/previous messages and current event information stored in the events DB  612 , the gateway may identify sensor readings that have changed and may format a message to include those readings only, and send this message to cloud server  106 . According to an aspect shown in  FIG. 6 , once this message is sent, the message status DB  618  may be updated for future analysis, and the gateway may go back to sleep and wait for the occurrence of any next events as part of the standard operational mode  530 . 
         [0107]    As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , step  702  receives messages from the message status DB  618 , and gateway  102  may identify the last baseline message sent and the updates message that followed. At step  704 , gateway  102  may identify which of the events has been triggered and what changes have taken place in the values for the appropriate sensors, after receiving information from the sensor events DB  612 . According to one aspect, gateway  102  generates an updates message at step  706  (which may include only the differences between the previously sent/last sent baseline message and the accumulated updates message information, and the current sensor readings  612 ). The process of creating updates message  620  (see  FIG. 6 ) may proceed to step  530  in which the gateway moves into the standard operational mode  530 . According to one aspect, at step  706 , the gateway may simultaneously update the message status DB  618 . 
         [0108]      FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment  800  of the system  100  including cloud servers (not shown) that are configured to calculate specific luminaire half-life prediction information. According to an aspect, in order to calculate intensity depreciation, color sensors are utilized to demonstrate readings and/or measurements that are linearly correlated to a luminaire light intensity depreciation graph. The color sensors may be consistent in their readings across a plurality of sensors, such that when, for example, a LED light intensity reading is changing by X %, the sensor color intensity reading changes in the same X %. In an embodiment, the sensor readings ‘total intensity readings’ are not equivalent to the actual lumen emission by the luminaire device that the sensors are attached to, which is usually the case. A person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that when this relationship is presented in a graphical format, and exponential graphs are linearly correlated, a change in one (the curve) can fit the curve (change) in the other directly. 
         [0109]    According to an aspect, the system  800  includes an LM-80 luminaire DB database  812 . The LM-80 luminaire DB database  812  may include the manufacture&#39;s specification information as described in detail hereinabove, and the manufacturing data for a plurality of LED light sources, which when paired with a luminaire&#39;s chip running temperature, may provide a theoretical predictive life calculation. According to an aspect, testing the luminaire to LM-80 standards and utilizing any LM-82 data may help to create the luminaire DB database  416 . The luminaire database  416  may include information specific to the fitting and dimming, as well as to the sensor reading ranges, etc., associated with the specific luminaire. According to an aspect, the luminaire database  416  includes all past sensor readings, with associated times of reading, dimming level, temperatures and current readings. The sensor, temperature, and current readings may be normalized based on the original readings received upon installation of the luminaire. 
         [0110]    According to an aspect, the luminaire half-life prediction adjustment  422  begins at step  802  wherein the cloud servers  106  may read the color intensity information for a specific luminaire  112  at a specific power level and temperature after receiving information from the LM-80 luminaire DB  812  and the luminaire DB  416 . The luminaire DB  416  may include information that is specific to the fitting and the dimming, as well as to the sensor reading expected ranges, etc., associated with the specific luminaire. According to an aspect, the luminaire DB  416  includes all past sensor readings, with associated times of reading, dimming levels, temperatures and current readings—each of which may be accumulated, as depicted in  FIGS. 4-7 . The sensor, temperature, and current readings can be normalized based on the original readings received upon installation of the luminaire, as described hereinabove, with reference to  FIG. 5 . According to an aspect, the multiple sensor readings associated with color intensity can first be normalized using an equation, where the present reading is divided by the initial reading taken when the luminaire was first initialized. 
         [0111]    At step  804 , the cloud servers  106  may decide if the collected accumulated information is sufficient to continue with calculations. If the response is ‘Yes’, then the operation moves to step  806 . If the response is ‘No’, then the operation instead moves to step  402 , which is the system operation&#39;s main loop and as shown in  FIG. 4 . According to an embodiment, the system  800  includes a TM-28 luminaire. According to an aspect, the TM-28 luminaire is the luminaire equivalent of an (Illuminating Engineering Society) IES TM-21 calculator, and the TM-28 takes data collected over time in the luminaire DB  416  for use as test samples. This information may be plotted after normalization of the information/data of the TM-28 luminaire, which may facilitate accurate prediction of lumen maintenance over time. The standard information within LM-80 DB  812 , provided by the LM-80 manufacturer, is typically insufficient to make such predictions as it may be dependent on a fixed temperature and the current state of the luminaire for the readings. In an embodiment, the system  800  may use the sensor readings at specific temperatures and dimming levels to extrapolate the place of the luminaire color intensity readings on the LM-80, given curves of this specific luminaire. Using this information, and knowing the time period elapsed between readings, and after correlating this information with previous readings, the system  800  can extrapolate a new curve that more accurately represents the current luminaire&#39;s behavior and report this new curve and/or new/updated half-life prediction to a user. This new curve may be based on information collected from the system and sensor subsystem of the luminaire&#39;s true environment and usage over time, such as, for example, dimming schedule, power and temperature levels, degradation of the lens, and degradation of the luminaire&#39;s physical fittings. According to an aspect, this information is stored in the luminaire half-life prediction database  810  for future use (e.g., to be provided to the user to modify, for instance, a replacement schedule), and the next step may include waiting for the next event as part of the system operations  402 . According to an aspect, at step  806 , the TM-28 luminaire equivalent of IES TM-21 calculator takes data that was collected over time in the luminaire DB for a test sample and plots this information after normalization into TM-28. This step may allow for prediction of lumen maintenance over time. The information generated in step  806  may be stored in the Luminaire Half-life Prediction DB  810  for future use. According to an aspect, it is possible for the server to store and access information collected from large numbers of luminaires that are not limited in geographical location. In other words, it is possible for the system contemplated herein to collect information/data from installations around the globe, and to thus compare data received from luminaire systems installed and operating in China, the United States, Japan, and the like. Providing new curves and/or new/updated half-life predictions to the user (e.g. the manufacturer of the specific luminaire and/or other luminaire manufacturers) allows compilation and comparative analysis of data collected across diverse regions at various environments, barometric pressures, humidity, electrical grid conditions, locations and the like, all of which impacts actual performance of the luminaire. 
         [0112]      FIG. 9  illustrates an embodiment  900  of the sensor interface data structures. According to an aspect, the sensor interface data structure includes the Sensor Global Configuration Registers Interface  902 , the Environment Sensor Configuration Registers Interface  904 , and the Color Sensor Configuration Registers Interface  906 . Each of the data structure interfaces  902 ,  904 ,  906  may be memory mapped registers that include an application. In order to send information via a memory mapped register, the applications of each of the registers&#39; interfaces  902 ,  904 ,  906  may write to a memory address allocated for the respective register. To receive information, the application may read the memory address allocated for the specific register. In  FIG. 9 , the relative address of each register is identified/labeled/marked in boxed brackets ‘[ ]’. In an embodiment, the size of each address is one byte (8-bit). 
         [0113]    According to an aspect, the Sensor Global Configuration Registers Interface  902  may include a plurality of global configuration registers configured to perform a plurality of activities. According to an aspect, available Sensors [0x01]  908  identify which sensors are available for the particular device. The Available Sensors [0x01]  908  may show a Temperature Sensor (TEMP), an Ambient Light Sensor (ALS), a color sensor (RGB), a Motion detector sensor based on PIR, a Motion detector and direction sensor based on frame capture, and the like. Sensor Alarm [0x02]  910  may show which sensors have generated an interrupt. In an embodiment, Sensor Alarm Interrupts [0x03]  912  enables and/or disables interrupt from each available sensor whenever an alarm is generated. Power Management [0x04]  914  controls power up and/or power down functions for the different sensors. Configure Management [0x05]  916  may store register values in a non-volatile memory. Hardware Register Access Address (HRAA) [0x06]  918  may hold the address for accessing the internal hardware registers of sensors, and Hardware Register Access Data (HRAD) [0x07]  920  may hold the data to load and/or store in the address given in the register HRAA [0x06] 918. The Sensor Global Configuration Registers Interface  902  may include Direct Hardware Register Access RW [0x08]  922 , and if it holds a value “1”, then the data in the register HRAD [0x07]  920  may be written to the address in register HRAA [0x06]  918 . If Direct Hardware Register Access RW [0x08]  922  holds a value “0”, then the data pointed to by register HRAA [0x06]  918  may be read in register HRAD [0x07]  920 . 
         [0114]    As also illustrated in  FIG. 9 , the Environment Sensor Configuration Registers Interface  904  may include a plurality of environment specific sensor registers. According to an aspect, the Environment Sensor Configuration Registers Interface  904  may include ALS Range [0x20]  924 , and if it holds a value “1”, the ALS Range [0x20]  924  may enable a high measurement range of 1000-10000 Lux for the ALS. If ALS Range [0x20]  924  holds a value “0”, then a low measurement range of 1-1.500 Lux may be enabled. ALS Measurement Interval—[0x21]  926  may record the elapsed time between subsequent ALS measurements. ALS Lower Threshold MSB [0x22]  928  may display Most Significant Byte (MSB) for ALS lower threshold for triggering an alarm. In an embodiment, ALS Lower Threshold LSB [0x23]  930  displays List Significant Byte (LSB) for ALS lower threshold for triggering an alarm, and ALS Higher Threshold MSB [0x24]  932  displays MSB for ALS higher threshold for triggering an alarm. According to an aspect, ALS Higher Threshold LSB [0x25]  934  displays LSB for ALS higher threshold to trigger an alarm. ALS Result MSB [0x2A]  936  may display MSB for ALS measurement results. According to an aspect, ALS Result LSB [0x2B]  938  may display LSB for ALS measurement results. TEMP Threshold [0x90]  940  may display upper threshold value for when an interrupt is triggered. According to an aspect, TEMP Measurement Interval [0x91]  942  displays a temperature measurement interval in seconds, and TEMP Data [0x92]  944  displays temperature values in degrees Celsius. 
         [0115]    As also illustrated in  FIG. 9 , the Color Sensor Configuration Registers Interface  906  may include a plurality of color specific sensors. In an embodiment, the colors are Red, Green and Blue (RGB). According to an aspect, RGB Conf. [0x50]  946  controls both calibration configuration and report when a sensor reading is available. RGB Red Cal. [0x51]  948  may display a calibration constant for red value from RGB sensor, RGB Green Cal. [0x52]  950  may display a calibration constant for green value from RGB sensor, and RGB Blue Cal. [0x53]  952  may display a calibration constant for blue value from RGB sensor. According to an aspect, Red Value MSB [0x54]  954  displays MSB result of Red value from RGB sensor. Red Value LSB [0x55]  956  may display LSB result of Red value from RGB sensor. Green Value MSB [0x56]  958  may display MSB result of Green value from RGB sensor. According to an aspect, Green Value LSB [0x57]  960  displays LSB result of Green value from RGB sensor. Blue Value MSB [0x58]  962  may display MSB result of Blue value from RGB sensor. Blue Value LSB [0x59]  964  may display LSB result of Blue value from RGB sensor. To be sure, a person of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that any of a plurality of colors can be used for color intensity measurements. The sensor chosen may depend on the LED/luminaire color utilization. According to an aspect, luminaire devices may include designs that are based on preferences to emit specific colors, and the color sensor used in each case may be based on those colors. The RGB provided herein is illustrative, and other arrangements and colors are contemplated by the disclosure. 
         [0116]      FIG. 10  illustrates an embodiment  1000  of a message structure for messages delivered from gateway  102  to cloud servers  106 . In an embodiment, the message  1002  going to the cloud server is of a single structure. This structure may include Message type  1004 , the sender gateway unique identification (Source: gateway ID)  1006 , a unique Reference ID  1008  and the Message body  1010 . According to an aspect, the Message type  1004  informs the receiver about the type of the message. The reference ID  1008  may be an internal number that is used when there is a conversation between the cloud servers and the gateway. The message body  1010  can be a baseline message or an updates message, and may be structured the same in both cases. 
         [0117]    In an embodiment, ‘Message types’  1004  is a ‘Request for Information’ (RFI)  516 , which is sent upon initialization of the luminaire. A ‘Ready’ message  520  may be sent during initializations of the luminaire after discovering the dimming protocol, and when the gateway is ready for further instructions. According to an aspect, sensor readings message  526  is sent to the cloud servers during the initialization period. The ‘Baseline’  412  and the ‘Updates’  418  message types may be used when sending baseline or updates messages that are based on the cloud servers prior scheduled sensor readings by the specific gateway. 
         [0118]    In an embodiment, the ‘Baseline or Updates and Sensor Readings Message’  1030  is a ‘Message body’, which may be sent for the baseline  412 , updates  418  and sensor readings  526  message types. According to an aspect, the message structure is the same. For every ‘action’  1012 , which may be a dimming level set, there is ‘Start’  1014  which is the actual start time, ‘End’  1016  which is the time the action was terminated, ‘Reason’  1018  which is why the action terminated, and sensor readings for all sensors participating in the action as they were scheduled by the cloud server. In an embodiment, the ‘Reason’  1018  is success or failure, which may occur for multiple reasons. 
         [0119]    The sensor reading  526  part of the message may include a ‘Sensor type’  1020  field to indicate the sensor reading, such as, for example, TEMP, ALS, and RGB. In an embodiment, the sensor reading  526  includes a ‘Time taken’  1022  field to indicate when the sensor reading  526  was taken, and a ‘Vector of readings’  1024 , which includes multiple readings centered around the ‘Time taken’  1022  field. In an embodiment, the number of readings can be based on the sensor type. According to an aspect, the number of readings is three, including shortly before the ‘time taken’  1022  reading/field value, at the same time of the ‘time taken’  1022  field value, and shortly after the ‘time taken’  1022  field value. 
         [0120]      FIG. 11  illustrates an embodiment  1100  of a message structure for messages delivered from the cloud server  106  to gateway  102 . In an embodiment, the structure of the message  1102  is constant. This structure may include message types  1104 , a target gateway unique identification  1106 , a unique Reference ID  1108  and the message body  1110 . According to an aspect, the message type  1104  lets a receiver know what type/kind of message it is. The reference ID  1108  may be an internal number that is used when there is a conversation/communication between the cloud server and the gateway. According to an aspect, the message body  1110  is a Sensor Reading Schedule  528 . 
         [0121]    In an embodiment, the Message types  1104  are ‘Information’  518 , ‘Sensor Setup Info’  522  and ‘Test Schedule’  1112 . The ‘Information’  518  and the ‘Sensor Setup Info’ 522 messages may provide the gateway with information about valid ranges for sensor readings at different dimming levels. According to an aspect, the Message body  1110  is a ‘Sensor Reading Schedule’  528  that is a baseline for the gateway in its internal measurement and initialization cycle. The gateway may include a default setup, and this message can update this default. 
         [0122]    In an embodiment, the ‘Sensor Reading Schedule’  528  includes an ‘Action’  1120  field, which is the dimming level. The ‘Sensor Reading Schedule’  528  may include a ‘Start’  1122  field, which is the start time for the test, and a ‘Wait’  1124  field, which is the duration to wait before any measurement commences. The ‘Sensor Reading Schedule’  528  may also include a list of sensors that participate in the measurements  1126 . According to an aspect, the list of sensors is given as a list of Sensor ranges per sensor  1126 . 
         [0123]    In an embodiment, the Sensor range  1126  includes a ‘Sensor Type’  1156  field, which identifies the sensor, and a ‘Test Type’  1158  field, which informs the gateway how to run the test. The Sensor range  1126  may also include a ‘Min Value’  1160  field and a ‘Max Value’  1162  fields, which are configured to provide the valid range for the sensor in this test. According to an aspect, the ‘Test Type’  1158  directs the gateway to handle different sensor values. When Test Type  1158  is ‘Read Only’  1166  the value of the sensor may be retrieved regardless of range. When Test Type  1164  is ‘Outside of Range’  1168  the value of the sensor must be outside of the range to be retrieved. In an embodiment, when the Test Type  1158  is ‘Wait for in range’  1170  the gateway does not continue with other readings until the specific sensor is in given range. According to an aspect, when Test Type  1158  is ‘Wait for outside range’  1172 , the gateway will not continue to read sensor values until this sensor value is outside the given range. 
         [0124]      FIG. 12  depicts an embodiment  1200  of the luminaire DB database structure. According to an aspect, the luminaire DB includes three types of records for every connected luminaire in the system. The records may include a Sensor Baseline Information  1202 , a Sensor Reading Schedule  1212  and a Sensor Reading Result Record  1228 . In an embodiment, each luminaire includes a single Sensor Baseline Information  1202  and a single Sensor Reading Schedule  1212  record. The Sensor Reading Result Record  1228  may be numbered between 1 and N. This type of record may be added for every reading result and may be being kept for as long as needed, e.g., N can be very large. 
         [0125]    The Sensor Baseline Information  1202  may include sensor range information for all possible dimming levels that may be tested for this specific luminaire. Each dimming action field  1206  may include the minimal Wait time  1208 , during which the gateway must wait before taking sensor measurements. Each dimming action field  1206  may include a list of Sensor range fields  1210 , one list per sensor that needs to be monitored. According to an aspect, the Luminaire ID  1204  field identifies the luminaire that this record belongs to. 
         [0126]    In an embodiment, the Sensor Reading Schedule  1212  record is identical to the Sensor Reading Schedule  528  (see  FIG. 11 ), except for one additional field—the Luminaire ID  1204  field. The Luminaire ID  1204  field may be used to identify the luminaire that this record belongs to. 
         [0127]    According to an aspect, the Sensor Reading Result Record  1228  is an accumulation of the Sensor Reading Message  1030  as described in  FIG. 10 , except for one additional field—the Luminaire ID  1204  field which is used to identify the luminaire that this record belongs to. In an embodiment, every time the cloud server receives a Sensor Reading Message  1030  that might be a Baseline message or an Updates message, the cloud server stores this message as a Sensor Reading Result Record  1228  for the specific luminaire. 
         [0128]      FIG. 13  illustrates an embodiment  1300  of the Events Database  1302  and the Message Status Database  1314  in server  106 . (Note: the data in Events Database  1302  can be mirrored in the database  612  in gateway  102  in  FIG. 6 . Similarly, the data in Message Status Database  1314  can be mirrored in database  618  in gateway  102  in  FIG. 6 ). The Message Status DB  618  may be an accumulation of all sensor events associated with the reporting of scheduled test results. The Sensor Events DB  612  may be used to record events in real-time, such that the information is recorded into the appropriate structures for future messages to be generated. In an embodiment, the Message Status Database  618  contains two records as shown in  FIG. 13 . The first record may be a Sensor Readings Message Status Previous View  1302 , and the second record may be a Sensor Readings Message Status Current View/Current Events Status  1314 . According to an aspect, when reading events are triggered, the appropriate fields in the Readings Message Status Current View/Current Events Status  1314  record are being updated. When an Updates message is being sent or before a Baseline message is being sent, the content of the Sensor Readings Message Status Current View/Current Events Status  1314  may be copied into the Sensor Readings Message Status Previous View  1302 . According to an aspect, when the Baseline message is being sent, the entire Sensor Readings Message Status Previous View  1302  record may be sent as is. The Sensor Readings Message Status Previous View  1302  and the Readings Message Status Current View/Current Events Status  1314  are described in further detail hereinabove, with reference to  FIG. 10 . 
         [0129]      FIG. 14  illustrates an embodiment  1400  of the Luminaire Half-Life Prediction Database structure (also seen in  FIG. 8  as database  810 ). This Database may be a log for all Normalized Color Intensity Measurements per luminaire in the system. According to an aspect, each Color Intensity Log  1402  record (one per luminaire) includes the Luminaire ID  1204  field to uniquely identify the luminaire that this record belongs to. The Color Intensity Log  1402  record may be composed of N Normalized Color Intensity Measurement  1406  records one per Date/Time in which this measurement was received. In an embodiment, the Normalized Color Intensity Measurement  1406  record is composed of a list of Temperature fields  1420 . The Temperature field  1420  may include the temperature in which a measurement was taken and a list of normalized color intensity measurements  1422 , one per color being measured in this system. 
         [0130]      FIG. 15  illustrates an embodiment  1500  in which the server handles an ‘updates message’  1030  [add number  1030  to  FIG. 15 ] at step  420 . At step  702 , after receiving an ‘updates message’  1030  the server stores the updates in the ‘Luminaire Database’  416 . At step  1502  the server checks the receive data and the accumulated prior ‘Updates Message’ to create a current state view of the luminaire. With the knowledge of the current state, the cloud server compares the current state and sensor readings with previous known state. In step  424  the server makes a decision how to proceed. When the accumulated readings are within expecting range, the cloud server continues with normal operations and move to step  422  (see  FIG. 4 ) to adjust the luminaire half-life prediction based on the latest sensor measured inputs. At step  424 , in case were the newly arrive information is outside the expert range of readings, the cloud server will trigger the gateway to start an initialization process which will tune-up the sensor readings (i.e.: adjust the new baseline measurements coming from the new initialization process results) back into normal ranges with the assumption that sensor repositioning caused the anomaly in the readings. 
         [0131]    The present disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations and aspects, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/or apparatus substantially developed as depicted and described herein, including various embodiments, sub-combinations, and subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how to make and use the present disclosure after understanding the present disclosure. The present disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations and aspects, includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items not depicted and/or described herein or in various embodiments, configurations, or aspects hereof, including in the absence of such items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g., for improving performance, achieving ease and/or reducing cost of implementation. 
         [0132]    As used herein, the terms “may” and “may be” indicate a possibility of an occurrence within a set of circumstances; a possession of a specified property, characteristic or function; and/or qualify another verb by expressing one or more of an ability, capability, or possibility associated with the qualified verb. Accordingly, usage of “may” and “may be” indicates that a modified term is apparently appropriate, capable, or suitable for an indicated capacity, function, or usage, while taking into account that in some circumstances the modified term may sometimes not be appropriate, capable, or suitable. For example, in some circumstances an event or capacity can be expected, while in other circumstances the event or capacity cannot occur—this distinction is captured by the terms “may” and “may be.” 
         [0133]    The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at least one of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B, or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together. 
         [0134]    In this specification and the claims that follow, reference will be made to a number of terms that have the following meanings. The terms “a” (or “an”) and “the” refer to one or more of that entity, thereby including plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein. Furthermore, references to “one embodiment”, “some embodiments”, “an embodiment” and the like are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Approximating language, as used herein throughout the specification and claims, may be applied to modify any quantitative representation that could permissibly vary without resulting in a change in the basic function to which it is related. Accordingly, a value modified by a term such as “about” is not to be limited to the precise value specified. In some instances, the approximating language may correspond to the precision of an instrument for measuring the value. Terms such as “first,” “second,” “upper,” “lower”, etc. are used to identify one element from another, and unless otherwise specified are not meant to refer to a particular order or number of elements. 
         [0135]    As used in the claims, the word “comprises” and its grammatical variants, such as “including”, and “having” logically also subtend and include phrases of varying and differing extent such as for example, but not limited thereto, “consisting essentially of” and “consisting of.” Where necessary, ranges have been supplied, and those ranges are inclusive of all sub-ranges therebetween. It is to be expected that variations in these ranges will suggest themselves to a practitioner having ordinary skill in the art and, where not already dedicated to the public, the appended claims should cover those variations. 
         [0136]    The terms “determine”, “calculate” and “compute,” and variations thereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique. 
         [0137]    The foregoing discussion of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intended to limit the present disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In the foregoing Detailed Description for example, various features of the present disclosure are grouped together in one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations, or aspects of the present disclosure may be combined in alternate embodiments, configurations, or aspects other than those discussed above. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the present disclosure requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment, configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         [0138]    Moreover, the description of the present disclosure has included descriptions of one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects, and certain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations, and modifications that are within the scope of the present disclosure, as may be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, after understanding the present disclosure. Furthermore, it is intended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments, configurations, or aspects, to the extent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not such alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter.