Abstract:
A self-adaptive brightness sensor light performs a brightness level adjusting procedure upon activating a lamp body thereof. The brightness level adjusting procedure has steps of acquiring an ambient brightness level, determining if the ambient brightness level is greater than a daytime bright level, and if positive, generating a new daytime brightness level to make it greater than the ambient brightness level, and deactivating the lamp body according to the new daytime brightness level. The daytime brightness level can be automatically adjusted after the lamp body is activated, so as to avoid repeated on-and-off condition of the sensor lights that occur due to immediate deactivation of the sensor light after the sensor light is turned on.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a sensor light, a brightness sensor module, and a brightness-adjusting method embedded in the brightness sensor module, and more particularly to a self-adaptive brightness sensor light and a brightness sensor module and a brightness-adjusting method thereof. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Rapid technological progress has gradually embodied the concept of intelligent building, and sensor lights rank as the most widespread products among all products used in the intelligent buildings. 
         [0005]    Sensor lights usually have sensors installed therein and use the sensors to turn on and turn off the light. A conventional sensor light has a brightness sensor module that turns on and turns off the sensor light according to an ambient brightness measured by the brightness sensor module, and automatically turns on the sensor light during the nighttime and turns off the sensor light during the daytime. Accordingly, the conventional sensor light achieves not only convenient operation but also energy economics. 
         [0006]    The brightness sensor module of the conventional sensor light is built in with a daytime brightness level, a nighttime brightness level and a control procedure for turning on and off the sensor light. The control procedure has the following steps. 
         [0007]    Detect brightness of an ambient environment to acquire an ambient brightness value. 
         [0008]    Compare the ambient brightness value with the daytime brightness level and the nighttime brightness level and turn on or turn off the sensor light according to the comparison result. When the ambient brightness value is less than the nighttime brightness level, the sensor light is turned on. When the ambient brightness value is greater than the daytime brightness level, the sensor light is turned off. 
         [0009]    Although the sensor light can be automatically turned on/off when the ambient brightness value is lower/higher than the daytime brightness level (a nighttime case), the sensor light has its flaw in operation. If the mounting environment of the sensor light has high reflectance, such as a white wall, an adjacent mirror or the like, after being turned on, the sensor light is immediately turned off upon detecting that the ambient brightness value is higher than the daytime brightness level, and after being turned off, the sensor light is turned on again upon detecting that the ambient brightness value is lower than the nighttime brightness level. The sensor light is repeatedly on and off and operational trouble therefore arises. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    An objective of the present invention is to provide a self-adaptive brightness sensor light, a brightness sensor module, and a brightness-adjusting method thereof capable of eliminating repeated on-and-off issue of sensor lights. 
         [0011]    To achieve the foregoing objective, the self-adaptive brightness sensor light has a lamp body and a control circuit. 
         [0012]    The control circuit is mounted inside the lamp body and has a power supply module and a brightness sensor module. 
         [0013]    The power supply module is connected to the lamp body. 
         [0014]    The brightness sensor module is connected to the power supply module, activates or deactivates the power supply module to turn on or turn off the lamp body, and has a daytime brightness level (day_level) and a brightness level adjusting procedure. 
         [0015]    The day_level is predetermined in the brightness sensor module. 
         [0016]    The brightness level adjusting procedure is built in the brightness sensor module, is performed by the brightness sensor module, and has steps of: 
         [0017]    detecting brightness of an ambient environment to acquire an ambient brightness value after the lamp body is turned on (Lux on ); 
         [0018]    determining if the Lux on  is greater than the day_level, and if positive, generating a new daytime brightness level (day_level_new) being greater than the Lux on ; and 
         [0019]    determining whether the lamp body should be deactivated according to the day_level_new. 
         [0020]    To achieve the foregoing objective, the self-adaptive brightness-adjusting method has steps of: 
         [0021]    presetting a daytime brightness level (day_level); 
         [0022]    activating an external lamp body; 
         [0023]    detecting brightness of an ambient environment to acquire an ambient brightness value after the lamp body is turned on (Lux on ); 
         [0024]    determining if the Lux on  is greater than the day_level, and if positive, generating a new daytime brightness level (day_level_new) being greater than the Lux on ; and 
         [0025]    determining whether to deactivate the lamp body according to the day_level_new. 
         [0026]    As the brightness sensor module of the foregoing brightness sensor light performs the brightness level adjusting procedure after the lamp body is turned on, the brightness sensor module detects the brightness of the ambient environment after the lamp body is turned on, and reconfigures the daytime brightness level so that the daytime brightness level is greater than the brightness of the ambient environment when the lamp body is turned on. Hence, if the self-adaptive brightness sensor light is mounted in an environment with high reflectance, after the self-adaptive brightness sensor light is turned on, the brightness level adjusting procedure automatically increases the daytime brightness level and the self-adaptive brightness sensor light is not turned off due to the high-brightness reflectance. Accordingly, the repeated on-and-off condition occurring to sensor lights can be avoided. 
         [0027]    Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0028]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a self-adaptive brightness sensor light in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0029]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of the self-adaptive brightness sensor light in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0030]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of an activation determination procedure embedded in a brightness sensor module in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0031]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of a brightness level adjusting procedure embedded in the brightness sensor module in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0032]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of steps of the brightness level adjusting procedure in  FIG. 4  for reconfiguring a daytime brightness level; 
           [0033]      FIG. 6  is a graph showing a curve illustrating the daytime brightness level varying with time; 
           [0034]      FIG. 7  is a flow diagram of a deactivation determination procedure embedded in the brightness sensor module in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0035]      FIG. 8  is a flow diagram of a calibration procedure embedded in the brightness sensor module in  FIG. 2 ; and 
           [0036]      FIG. 9  is a graph showing curves illustrating the detected ambient brightness value and the daytime brightness level and a nighttime brightness level in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0037]    With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a self-adaptive brightness sensor light has a lamp body  10  and a control circuit  20 . The control circuit  20  has a brightness sensor module  21  and a power supply module  22 . The power supply module  22  is connected to the lamp body  10 . The brightness sensor module  21  is connected to the power supply module  22  and activates or deactivates the power supply module  22  to turn on or turn off the lamp body  10 . 
         [0038]    The brightness sensor module  21  has a daytime brightness level (day_level) and a nighttime brightness level (night_level) predetermined in the brightness sensor module  21 , and is built in with an activation determination procedure, a brightness level adjusting procedure, a calibration procedure and a deactivation determination procedure. With reference to  FIG. 3 , the activation determination procedure has the following steps. 
         [0039]    Step S 11 : Detect brightness of an ambient environment to acquire an ambient brightness value when the lamp body  10  is turned off (Lux off ). 
         [0040]    Step S 12 : Determine if the Lux off  is lower than the night_level. If negative, perform step S 13 . Otherwise, perform steps S 14  and S 20 . 
         [0041]    Step S 13 : Control the power supply module  22  not to output power so as not to turn on the lamp body  10 . 
         [0042]    Step S 14 : Control the power supply module  22  to output power so as to turn on the lamp body  10 . 
         [0043]    Step S 20 : Perform the brightness level adjusting procedure. 
         [0044]    With reference to  FIG. 4 , the brightness level adjusting procedure has the following steps. 
         [0045]    Step S 21 : Detect the brightness of the ambient environment to acquire an ambient brightness value after the lamp body  10  is turned on (Lux on ). In the present embodiment, the brightness sensor module acquires the Lux on  after constantly detecting the brightness of the ambient environment for a period of detection time (such as 5 to 10 seconds, normally a time required to detect a stable brightness level) to ensure acquisition of a more accurate Lux on . 
         [0046]    Step S 22 : Determine if the Lux on  is greater than the day_level. If positive, perform steps S 23  and S 24 . If negative, perform step S 24 . 
         [0047]    Step S 23 : Generate a new daytime brightness level (day_level_new) being greater than the Lux on . 
         [0048]    Step S 24  Perform the deactivation determination procedure and deactivate the lamp body  10  according to the day_level. 
         [0049]    With reference to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , to further describe step S 23  for reconfiguring the day_level in details, step S 23  further has the following steps. 
         [0050]    Step S 231 : Calculate a brightness-adjusting value ΔLux, which is equal to a difference between the Lux on  and the day_level, that is, ΔLux=Lux on −day_level. 
         [0051]    Step S 232 : Multiply the ΔLux by a number K to obtain a multiplied result and then add the multiplied result to the original day_level to obtain the day_level_new, that is, day_level_new=day_level+KΔLux. The number K is preferably in a range of 0.1˜3. 
         [0052]    The foregoing brightness level adjusting procedure targets at increasing the value of day_level and deactivating the lamp holder  10  according to the increased day_level_new. Hence, after the brightness level adjusting procedure is finished, the deactivation determination procedure can then be performed. With reference to  FIG. 7 , the deactivation determination procedure has the following steps. 
         [0053]    Step S 31 : Preset a daytime determination time, such as 25 seconds. 
         [0054]    Step S 32 : Periodically detect the brightness of the ambient environment after the lamp body  10  is turned on to periodically acquire a new ambient brightness level when the lamp body  10  is turned on (Lux new ). 
         [0055]    Step S 33 : Determine if the Lux new  is greater than the day_level or the day_level_new. If positive, perform step S 34 . If negative, resume step S 32 . 
         [0056]    Step S 34 : Start counting time. 
         [0057]    Step S 35 : Detect a time during which the Lux new  is continuously higher than the day_level_new. 
         [0058]    Step S 36 : Determine if the time during which the Lux new  is continuously higher than the day_level_new is longer than the daytime determination time. If positive, perform step S 37  because the ambient environment is determined to be in the daytime. If negative, resume step S 32 . 
         [0059]    Step S 37 : Stop the power supply module from supplying power and deactivate the lamp body. 
         [0060]    The foregoing brightness level adjusting procedure targets at adjusting the day_level upon detecting sudden increase of the brightness in the ambient environment when the lamp body  10  is just turned on. As a result, if there is other high-brightness light disturbance at the instant when the lamp body  10  is turned on, the adjusted day_level may be higher than expected and it may not be accurate for the deactivation determination procedure to determine if the ambient environment is in the daytime. To tackle this issue, store the Lux on  detected upon performing the brightness level adjusting procedure and perform the calibration procedure in parallel with the execution of the deactivation determination procedure. With reference to  FIG. 8 , the calibration procedure has the following steps. 
         [0061]    Step S 41 : Preset a calibration time, such as 5 seconds. 
         [0062]    Step S 42 : Periodically detect the brightness of the ambient environment after the lamp body  10  is turned on to periodically acquire the Lux new . 
         [0063]    Step S 43 : Determine if the Lux new  is lower than the Lux on  stored by the brightness level adjusting procedure. If positive, perform step S 44 . If negative, resume step S 42 . 
         [0064]    Step S 44 : Start counting a calibration time. 
         [0065]    Step S 45 : Determine if the Lux new  is continuously less than the Lux on  stored by the brightness level adjusting procedure upon counting the calibration time. If positive, perform step S 46 . If negative, resume step S 42 . 
         [0066]    Step S 46 : Lower the day_level_new calculated by the brightness level adjusting procedure. 
         [0067]    The foregoing calibration procedure targets at recalculating the day_level_new, which is used to calculate a difference between the Lux new  and the day_level taken as a new brightness-adjusting value ΔLux_new. The ΔLux_new is multiplied by the number K and the multiplied result is added to the day_level to replace the day_level_new, that is, day_level_new=day_level+KΔLux_new. As the ΔLux_new is less than the ΔLux, the calibration procedure can lower the day_level_new calculated by the brightness level adjusting procedure. 
         [0068]    With reference to  FIG. 9 , all conditions that the self-adaptive brightness sensor light encounters are described as follows. Firstly, during dusk the actual ambient brightness level starts decreasing. When the self-adaptive brightness sensor light detects that the ambient brightness level is lower than the night_level, the brightness sensor module  21  controls the power supply module  22  to output power so as to activate the lamp body  10 . When the lamp body  10  is activated, the brightness sensor module  21  then starts to perform the brightness level adjusting procedure. Meanwhile, if the Lux on  is higher than the day_level after the lamp body  10  is turned on, the brightness sensor module  21  then increases the day_level and activates the lamp body  10  according to the increased day_level_new. Hence, the brightness sensor module  21  will not immediately turn on the lamp body  10  upon performing the deactivation determination procedure. Subsequently, if the brightness level adjusting procedure detects that the time during which the Lux new  detected by the calibration procedure is less than the Lux on  is long enough, that is, longer than 5 seconds, it indicates that high-brightness light disturbance occurs while the brightness sensor module  21  performs the brightness level adjusting procedure and the calibration procedure then lowers the day_level_new. In the meantime the brightness sensor module  21  performs the deactivation determination procedure. When encountering sudden high-brightness light (the time is shorter than 15 seconds), the brightness sensor module  21  will not turn on the lamp body  10 . In the daytime the Lux new  starts to increase. Once the Lux new  has been continuously greater than the day_level_new for 15 seconds, the brightness sensor module  21  determines that the ambient environment is in the daytime and controls the power supply module  22  not to supply power and to turn off the lamp body  10 . Not only can the repeated on-and-off condition of the lamp body  10  arising from excessively high ambient brightness level be prevented when the lamp body  10  is turned on, but also the ambient brightness level over-estimated by the brightness level adjusting procedure because of short-duration and sudden high-brightness light when the lamp body  10  is turned on can be avoided, so as to provide the function of suppressing the short-duration high-brightness light possibly causing misjudgment. Accordingly, the self-adaptive brightness sensor light can reduce the chance of misjudgment arising from short-duration high-brightness light and can turn off the lamp body  10  again in the daytime. 
         [0069]    In sum, as being built in with the brightness level adjusting procedure, the brightness sensor module of the self-adaptive brightness sensor light can automatically adjust the daytime brightness level after being turned on, thereby avoiding the repeated on-and-off problem of the self-adaptive brightness sensor light in operation arising from high light reflectance of the ambient environment after the lamp body is turned on. 
         [0070]    Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.