Abstract:
A power supply and control device intended for retrofitting permanently-installed fixtures. The permanently-installed fixtures include permanently-installed power supplies. This device is a portable device which provides power for a plurality of rental fixtures of the type which otherwise would require being permanently installed. The power supply also includes a logic board in the power supply which separates logic signals.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
       [0001]     Certain lighting units, such as the C-12 light emitting diode (LED) fixture available from Color Kinetics, use special kinds of power supplies with integral logic boards, that are intended for permanent installation. This allows the unit to operate as a permanently installed fixture.  
         [0002]     A block diagram of a specific power supply is shown in  FIG. 1 . The power supply  100  receives both AC power  105 , and industry standard DMX control signals  110 . The DMX control signals may be as described in the DMX 512 standard, in which many time division multiplexed signals are sent on a single line. The enclosure is designed for permanent installation, and hence includes no connectors, but rather only intends for permanent wire connections.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0003]     The present system teaches a special portable power supply and logic control device intended for use with lighting devices of a type which are normally intended to be permanently installed in a location. This power supply is intended for use in temporary installations, such as would be used when a light intended for permanent installation is used in a rental situation.  
         [0004]     The device includes a housing with a first set of connectors to at least one logic board, a power supply which supports operation of multiple units and connectors for the power supply. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]     These and other aspects will now be described in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of a permanently installed power supply device;  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  shows a portable device described according to the present system;  
         [0008]      FIGS. 3 and 4  show connector pins and their pin outs; and  
         [0009]      FIGS. 5 and 6  show diagrams of the walls with connectors. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0010]     A block diagram of the portable interface device disclosed herein is shown in  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  shows a portable housing  205 , including a number of connector portions thereon. A first connector wall  206  includes signal connectors  210 ,  215 . The signal connectors are daisy-chained, industry standard, 5-pin XLR connectors. The first male connector  210  is a daisy-chained to a second female connector  215 . The daisy-chain allows connecting multiple units  200  to be connected together, from a single DMX logic line. An AC power connector assembly  220  includes AC power and a circuit breaker  221 . The input AC power is connected to a power supply, producing power outputs.  
         [0011]     A first logic board  242  receives the DMX signal  212  from the connector  210 . In this embodiment, the logic board  242  can simply be the exact logic board taken from the power supply circuit  100 . Alternatively, logic board  242  can be any logic board which responds to multiplexed signals of any type, and produces specific outputs intended for specific units. For example, the logic board  242  may include a processor that analyzes the DMX signal, and recognizes a signal output for LED light number one, shown as  261  in  FIG. 2 . This disclosure also encompasses other kinds of logic processing of the signal. The signal within the DMX stream intended for LED number one is separated by the logic board  242  as signal  261 .  
         [0012]     A second connector wall  226  includes  12  connectors, shown generically as  230 . Each of the connectors  230  is a 4-pin female connector of the XLR type carrying logic information and power. Note that the input signal connector  210  is a 5-pin connector, while the output signal connector  230  are 4-pin connectors. The power from power supply  225 , and the separated logic signal  261  are coupled to each output connector  230 .  
         [0013]     The DMX signal  212  is also daisy-chained through the logic board as signal line  213 , to a second logic board  243 . The second logic board may be logically identical to the first logic board. In addition, the signal is daisy-chained out through signal line  214 , and sent out on a daisy-chained output signal connector  215 . The signal  215  can be connected to other power supplies using the same DMX signal stream.  
         [0014]     The unit therefore separates the walls into a first connector wall  206  for signal in/out, and a second connector wall  226 , for signal to lamps power outs.  
         [0015]     Power supply  225  may be a 600 W power supply, which supplies power to power the logic boards  242 ,  243 , and also supplies the power to each of the connectors  230  to control the lights themselves. More generally, the power supply  225  needs to have sufficient capability to power all the connectors  230 .  
         [0016]     The pin out of the 5-pin connectors  210 ,  215  are shown in  FIG. 3 . Connectors include a data plus connection, a data minus connection, and a ground connection as shown. Two pins are unused.  FIG. 4  shows the output connectors  230 . These are 4-pin connectors which include a data signal, ground and power. The output voltage  252  of the 600 W power supply is 24 volts DC, to match many standard lighting units. For example, this device may be used not only with Color Kinetics&#39; devices The pin-out arrangement is selected such that if the unit is plugged into other mating connectors, such as those on Wybron or Morpheus units, or visa versa no damage is caused.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  shows a perspective view of the front of the unit  220  showing the output connector wall  226 . All of the output connectors are together on the same wall, along with an on/off switch.  
         [0018]     The power and DMX input and output connectors shown in  FIG. 6  on the opposite wall. This separates the connectors intended for the lamps, on a different wall from those connectors intended for input power and control.  FIG. 6  shows the open case, illustrating the power supply underneath the logic connections.  
         [0019]     Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other modifications are possible. All such modifications are intended to be encompassed within the following claims.