Patent Publication Number: US-10334700-B2

Title: System for integrated lighting control, configuration, and metric tracking from multiple locations

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/190,781, filed Jun. 23, 2016 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/831,249, filed Mar. 14, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,386,665, issued Jul. 5, 2016. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/190,781, filed Jun. 23, 2016, is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/831,249, filed Mar. 14, 2013, is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure pertains to lighting systems, and particularly to controlling of lighting systems. More particularly, the disclosure also pertains to configurations of lighting systems. 
     SUMMARY 
     The disclosure reveals a mechanism for control and configuration of a lighting system from a user interface. For instance, a wall module designed as a user interface for a tenant to control the system may be implemented so as to be used not only to control the lighting system but also to configure it. The lighting system may involve a controller, circuits of lights, relays, motion and ambient light detectors, scenes, schedules, and more. An additional user interface such as a wall module may be connected to the lighting system for control and configuration of the system. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of a wall module that may have multiple uses such as lighting control and configuration, and heating, ventilation and heating control; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic of a present lighting control and configuration system; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram of an example lighting layout of a space for control and configuration; 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram of a configuration that may be used to implement the lighting layout for the space of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram of a list of example circuit settings and scenes; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram of a circuit configuration template; 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram of a scene configuration template; 
         FIG. 8  is a diagram of a schedule configuration template; 
         FIG. 9  is a diagram of example lighting schedules of scenes; and 
         FIG. 10  is a diagram of the present lighting control and configuration system incorporating components for obtaining metrics. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     The present system and approach may incorporate one or more processors, computers, controllers, user interfaces, wireless and/or wire connections, and/or the like, in an implementation described and/or shown herein. 
     This description may provide one or more illustrative and specific examples or ways of implementing the present system and approach. There may be numerous other examples or ways of implementing the system and approach. 
     Related art lighting controls may have a separate configuration tool (other than the controls used to set the current lighting scene) for changing some portion of the system configuration. User controls may typically be located at convenient access locations, but the configuration tools may be located in a different location and require special tools, access or setup to use. If a portion of the system needs to be configured that requires these special tools it may take significant time to change a configuration. 
     In the present approach of configuring a lighting system, one may change virtually any configuration parameter at a tenant user interface. To do so, additional equipment would not necessarily be needed. The tenant user interface may allow configuration changes to be made more quickly since a special setup for configuring is not necessarily needed. In addition, more people may be authorized to make such changes since specialized equipment is not necessarily needed. 
     The present approach may be implemented by providing a user interface at a location where the lighting level is changed (i.e., the tenant user interface) that is also capable of configuring virtually any parameter in the lighting system. The approach may involve having an integrated user interface and configuration mechanism. The tenant in some cases may have limited configuration capabilities but an installer may have all of the available configuration capabilities. 
     Metrics may be observed at the user interface. Relays used for controlling lighting may have a finite lifespan, as may the lighting sources (e.g., bulbs, tubes, and so forth). The lifespan may be based on the total time that a circuit has been on and/or the number of on/off cycles that the circuit has experienced. Without this information, users may be forced to replace components of the lighting system based primarily off the calendar time when the components have been installed or wait until they fail. This approach may cause the components to be replaced prematurely, or to require urgent replacement when they fail, and thus involve increased expenses. 
     By tracking the total on-time for the circuit and the number of connecting cycles, the user may determine when to schedule replacement of the devices. Since no other outside equipment is necessarily needed to track the metrics of on-time and cycles, it may be easy for users to know when to schedule maintenance work for the lighting system. Metrics may incorporate a number of relay connections and disconnections for each circuit, durations of conduction of a load of each circuit, an amount of the load for each duration, and other information as desired. 
     Blocks added to a pre-loaded system may track the number of cycles and total on-time for each circuit. The system may provide a mechanism to reset these values on a per-circuit basis upon certain maintenance activities. 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram of a wall module  11  that may have multiple uses such as control and configuration of lighting systems. Module  11  may also be used as a thermostat in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Module  11  may have a screen  12  with lower labels  13  for softkeys  14 . Keys  15  may be for incrementing or setting values for a displayed parameter. Selection of “SCENE TWO”, as shown, may be attained with keys  14  and  15 . Various kinds of modes may be utilized for lighting control and configuration. 
       FIG. 2  is a diagram of a present lighting control and configuration system. A controller  20  may be connected to wall modules  11  and  21 . Module  21  may be like module  11 . A power supply  22  may be connected to controller  20 . Controller  20  may be connected to a net or network  23  via a JAVA™ application control engine (JACE™)  46 . JAVA is a trademark of Oracle America, Inc. and JACE is a trademark of Tridium, Inc. Control and configuration of the lighting may be operated by the controller in conjunction with wall module  11  or  21 . A user may be limited to controlling lighting at module  11  or  21  in some designs. In such a case, a lock-out of configuring a lighting arrangement may be present. A code may be entered to remove the lock-out so a configuration mode can be accessed at the module. 
     The lighting system may incorporate lights arranged in circuits of one or more lights. A “light” may refer to one source, multiple sources of light, a group of lights, and the like. 
     There may be N lights  25  in a circuit  24  according to the diagram of  FIG. 2 . N may range from one to virtually any number. N may be different for various circuits. Often, there may be one light  25  in a circuit  24 . Although a number of lights  25  may be referred to as one light  25 . There may be M circuits  24  of lights  25  in a lighting arrangement. M may range from one to virtually any number. Each circuit  24  of lights  25  may be turned on or off with a relay  26 . There may be from one to R relays  26 . R may range from one to virtually any number. Often, there may be a one-to-one correlation of a relay to a circuit. However, there can be more than one relay per circuit in that, for example, each light within a group of lights covered by the circuit may have a relay. 
     A circuit  24  may have an associated motion sensor  27 . Not necessarily all of the circuits  24  will have a motion sensor  27  associated with them. There may be from one to T motion sensors  27 . T may range from one to virtually any number. 
     One or more circuits  24  of lights  25  may be selected with one or more relays  26 . The circuits  24  of lights  25  may be situated in various areas of a building. Some circuits may be situated in the same area. Circuits may be configured and controlled at a wall module  11  or  21  by a user, and the control and configuration may be actualized at controller  20 . Circuits  24  may be designated for various scenes at the wall module which indicates designations for the scenes to controller  20 . The scenes may be scheduled by a user via the wall module  11  or  21  with signals to controller  20 . A motion sensor  27  at an area of a circuit  24  of lights  25  may be set to activate circuit  24  of lights  25  when motion is detected in the area. If motion is not detected for a pre-determined amount of time, the respective circuit  24  of lights may be turned off. 
     A circuit  24  may have an associated ambient light sensor  45  which may indicate to controller  20  that light from at least one source is sufficient to result in turning off or dimming a circuit  24  of one or more lights  25  by controller  20 . The thresholds, hystereses and time delays for turning on or off a circuit  24  via the ambient light sensor  45  may be determined by controller  24  and even configured at wall module  11  or  21 . Settings for thresholds, hystereses and time delays of one circuit may be different than the thresholds, hystereses and time delays for another circuit even though just one ambient light sensor  45  is used for the two or more circuits  24 . 
     At wall module  11  or  21 , a user may configure the lighting arrangement for a building. On display  12  there may be different kinds of dialog boxes, menus, and the like, or other ways, for configuring the lighting arrangement. The approach shown in  FIGS. 4-9  may be merely one example among several ways to make selections to effect a particular configuration of a lighting arrangement for a certain period of time. The approach here may be simplified or expanded in detail. Softkeys, increment keys, a keyboard on the display, a touch screen as a display, and other items may be presented in display  12  of module  11  or  21  for controlling and configuring the lighting arrangement. 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram  71  of a space  50  having an area  51  and area  52 . Areas  51  and  52  may be delineated by a dashed line  53 . The space may be entered through a door  59 . Light  61  (L 1 A) and light  62  (L 2 A) may be situated in area  51  and light  64  (L 4 A) and light  65  (L 5 A) may be situated in area  52 . Light  63  (L 3 A) may be situated approximately in the center of space  50 . Lights  61 - 65  may each be single lights or groups of a multitude of lights. 
     Motion detector  53  (M 1 ) may be situated in area  51  and motion detector  54  (M 2 ) may be situated in area  52 . An ambient light sensor  55  (ALS 1 ) may be situated in area  51  where it may detect a combination of light from the lights in area  51  and light through, for example, a west window  57  of structure  50 . Ambient light sensor  55  may detect a high level of ambient light from window  57  due to an afternoon sun and with a signal to the controller resulting in turning off lights  61  and  62  for a time that the ambient light intensity is sufficient to maintain the off condition of the lights. 
     An ambient light sensor  56  (ALS 2 ) may be situated in area  52  where it may detect a combination of light from the lights in area  52  and light through an east window  58  of structure  50 . Ambient light sensor  56  may detect a high level of ambient light from window  58  due to a morning sun and with a signal to the controller resulting in turning off lights  64  and  65  for a time that the ambient light intensity is sufficient to maintain the off condition of the lights. 
     Motion detectors  53  and  54  may send signals to a controller like a controller  20  in  FIG. 2 . Controller  20  may provide turn on signals to lights  61  and  62  relative to signals from motion detector  53 . Controller  20  may provide turn on signals to lights  64  and  65  relative to signals from motion detector  54 . The time out periods for lights  61  and  62  may be determined separately, and could be different durations of time for each of the lights even though the motion detection signal relative to the lights is from the same motion detector  53 . Likewise, the time out periods for lights  64  and  65  may be determined separately, and could be different durations of time for each of the lights even thought the motion detection signal for the lights is from the same motion detector  54 . 
     Controller  20  may provide turn off or turn on signals to lights  61  and  62  relative to intensity signals from ambient light sensor  55 . Controller  20  may provide turn off or turn on signals to lights  64  and  65  relative to intensity signals from ambient light sensor  56 . The turn off and turn on signals to lights  61  and  62  may be determined separately, and could occur for different intensity levels of light for each of the lights even thought the intensity signal is from the same ambient light sensor  55 . Likewise, the turn off and turn on signals to lights  64  and  65  may be determined separately, and could occur for different intensity levels of light for each of the lights even thought the intensity signal is from the same ambient light sensor  56 . In the present example, light  63  is not necessarily connected with respect to any of the motion detectors or ambient light sensors. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram of a schematic  72  that may be used to implement the lighting layout for space  50  of  FIG. 3 . Relays  1 - 5  and corresponding lights  61 - 65  may be a part of circuits  1 - 5 , respectively. Each circuit may be connected or disconnected relative to power with a relay. Each circuit may have one or more lights or groups of lights. Schematic  72  may incorporate motion detectors  53  and  54  and ambient light sensors  55  and  56 . 
       FIG. 5  is a diagram of a table  73  indicating an example of various settings for the components of circuits  1 - 5  of  FIG. 4  and placing the settings into a context of various scenes. Circuits  1 - 3  may be dimmable and circuits  4  and  5  are not necessarily dimmable. Scene off may have the lights of circuits  1 - 3  at zero brightness and the lights of circuits  4  and  5  turned off. Scene on may have the lights of circuits  1 - 3  at 100 percent and the lights of circuits  4  and  5  turned on. These scenes may be fixed. Scenes 1-5 may have a variety of selections for the circuits as the present selections are illustrative examples. Scene 1 may have a brightness of 50 percent for circuits  1 - 3  and off for circuits  4  and  5 . Scene 2 may have a brightness of zero percent, 25 percent and 40 percent for circuits  1 - 3 , respectively, an on for circuit  4  and an off for circuit  5 . Scene 3 may have a brightness of ten percent for circuits  1  and  2 , a brightness of 70 percent for circuit  3 , and off for circuit  4  and an on for circuit  5 . Scene 4 may have a brightness of 60 percent for circuit  1 , zero percent for circuit  2 , 90 percent for circuit  3 , an on for circuit  4  and an on for circuit  5 . Scene 5 may have a brightness of 100 percent for circuit  1 , 40 percent foe circuit  2 , zero percent for circuit  3 , and an off for circuits  4  and  5 . There may be more or less circuits and scenes. 
     Some of the motion detectors may have different time outs. For instance, motion detector  53  may have a time out of ten minutes. Motion detector  54  may have a time out of 15 minutes. 
     There may be ambient light sensors. Ambient light sensor  55  may indicate that light from, for instance, another source, such as the sun, may show that certain lights are not necessarily needed. A signal from an ambient light sensor to controller  20  may indicate that a certain light or lights are no longer needed and thus turned off, or that the brightness of the light or lights may be dimmed in view of another source of light, such as the sun. 
     A setting of an ambient light sensor may be set by controller  20  in response to a signal indicating detected lumens or a percentage of increase in ambient light of brightness over a predetermined setting of brightness in an area covered by lighting of one or more circuits. The same ambient light sensor may be used for the several circuits where the lighting change of each circuit may be affected with a different setting of lumens or percentage, as provided from controller  20 . Controller  20  may also incorporate an appropriate hysteresis for each setting. 
     Configuring may be effected by entering information in templates as viewed in display  12  of module  11  or  21 .  FIG. 6  is a diagram of a circuit configuration template  31 . Separate circuits may be configured for each light or grouping of lights  25 . Circuits incorporating various arrangements of groupings of lights with different settings, such as dimming, may be made with template  31 . 
     Template  31 , in some approaches of configuring, might not necessarily be used or needed although it may be used here for illustrative purposes. A circuit may be designated with a number such as 1, 2 or so on. Circuits  24  of lights  25  may be designated. The circuits may each have virtually any number of lights situated in the same area or various areas. Often, a circuit  24  may consist of or be regarded as revealing one light  25 ; however, in some instances, the one light may represent more than one light such as an array of lights. 
     A dimming or dim percentage may be designated. Motion detector  27  may be designated as having a number of minutes for non-motion time-out or be designated as off in conjunction with controller  20  and wall module  11  or  21 . Or there may not necessarily be a motion detector. A dim percentage may be set in conjunction with controller  20  and wall module  11  or  21  where lights  25  are not needed to operate at their fully rated brightness. Or a circuit may not necessarily be dimmable. There may also be an ambient light detector which may be set to turn off a certain lights if light from, for example, a window or a skylight is sufficient in the particular area where the lights are located. A room or space lit up well with outdoor light and at the same time having many lights on may appear to be an inefficient use of energy. When supplemental light decreases or becomes absent, a signal from the ambient light detector to controller  20  may result in certain in certain lights being turned on. 
     A time delay may be built in for the light ambient detector in conjunction with controller and wall module  11  or  21  to account for sudden changes in significant light levels. Various designs may be implemented to satisfy particular lighting desires for a building. The ambient light detector may be set to be off instead, thus allowing the lights to remain on despite supplemental or other light sources. Or there may not necessarily be an ambient light detector. 
       FIG. 7  is a diagram of a scene configuration template  33 , which may appear on display  12 . A scene number may be designated, such as, for example, one (1). Circuit nos., such as those listed in table  32  of  FIG. 5 , may be indicated in template  33  for a configuration of the respective scene. 
       FIG. 8  is a diagram of a schedule configuration template  35  for controlling lighting in various areas of a building. A period of time may be selected, such as a particular day or days, week, month or year. For instance, a period 1 may be selected. Other periods may be selected. For example, a period “W”, which represents day 1, 2, and so on, may be selected. For an illustrative instance, day 1 of period W may be inserted in template  35 . Also, a time from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM may be inserted and a scene number 4 may be inserted in template  35 . The configuration insertions, designations or selections may be made at display  12  of module  11  for entry into controller  20 . Scenes may be entered for other times of the day or days. If no scenes are entered for the times of the day or days, one or more default scenes may be automatically entered. 
       FIG. 9  is a diagram of lighting schedules  44  for the various times of days of a period. A period may be from a first day to a day X. X may range from one to virtually any desired number. The period may incorporate a day or days, a weekend, a week, a month, a year, or other designated periods. The number of periods may range from one to W. In  FIG. 9 , W may range from two to virtually any desired number. The described example time entry of template  35  of  FIG. 8  for a scene 4 may be from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM for day 1 in period W. Schedule configuration template  35  of  FIG. 8  may be used to schedule the scenes listed in  FIG. 5 . 
     Wall module  11  or  21 , controller  20 , and a relay action indicator  41 , as shown in the diagram of  FIG. 10 , may be utilized to determine metrics such as the amount of time that lights  25  of the lighting arrangement have been on and the number of times that the relay has switched on. The metrics, along with information from net  23 , such as lifetimes of lights  25  and relays  26  may be calculated with controller  20 . Maintenance schedules may be developed by controller  20 . The schedules may indicate when lights  25  and relay  26  should be replaced. Such maintenance may reduce costs in that lights  25  and relays  26  could be replaced before they fail. Disruption of activity, in a lighted area due to a failed relay  26  or light  25 , may be costly in terms of the disruption of work in the corresponding lighted area and emergency arrival of one or more personnel for a replacement of relay  26  or light  25 . With a calculated maintenance schedule, components such as relays  26  and lights  25  may be, for example, replaced in groups before any failures occur. The cost of maintenance per component may be much less than the replacement cost for an individual failed component. 
     Even though an amount of time that a circuit  24  of lights  25  is on may be determined by monitoring relay  26  with relay action indicator  41 , monitoring current with a current meter  42 , as shown in the diagram of  FIG. 13 , may provide a more accurate estimation of lifetimes of lights  25  with an assumption that the lights which are dimmed use less current and thus may last longer than those which are not dimmed. A cost reduction due to current monitoring may result in extending the time due for a scheduled replacement of lights  25 . Applying the same rationale for relays  26  conducting less current may extend the time due for a scheduled replacement of relays  26 . 
     To recap, an integrated lighting control and configuration system for a building, may incorporate a controller, a tenant user wall module connected to the controller, one or more circuits having one or more lights, one or more relays connected the one or more circuits, respectively, and to the controller, and one or more scenes incorporating the one or more circuits. Some of the one or more circuits of the one or more scenes may be configured at the tenant user wall module. 
     The system may further incorporate a motion detector associated with one or more circuits. Upon detection by the motion detector of a person or an object in an area of the one or more lights of one or more circuits, the one or more lights of the one or more circuits may be turned on. The one or more lights of the one or more circuits may be turned off after a predetermined period subsequent to a most recent detection of motion by the motion detector of a person or an object. 
     A predetermined period of time of a motion detector for one circuit may be different than a predetermined period of time of the same motion detector for another circuit. Some of the one or more circuits may be connected to the controller that has a dimmer setting for a predetermined value of brightness in that when one or more lights of the one or more circuits are emitting light, the one or more lights emit light at the predetermined value of brightness that is equal to or less than a maximum brightness of the one or more lights. The predetermined value of brightness may be determined at the tenant user wall module. 
     The system may further incorporate an ambient light detector in an area of the one or more lights of the one or more circuits. If the ambient light detector detects ambient light, in an area of the light or lights of the one or more circuits, having a value of brightness greater than a predetermined value of brightness, then some of the one or more lights of the one or more of circuits may be dimmed or turned off. 
     The system may further incorporate an ambient light detector in an area of one or more lights of two or more circuits. If the ambient light detector detects ambient light, in the area of one or more lights of one of the two or more circuits, having a value greater than a first predetermined value of brightness, then the one or more lights of the one of the two or more of circuits may be dimmed or turned off. If the ambient light detector detects ambient light in an area of one or more lights of another one of the two or more circuits, having a value greater than a second predetermined value of brightness, then the one or more lights of the other one of the two or more of circuits may be dimmed or turned off. The second predetermined value may be different than the first predetermined value. 
     The system may further incorporate a relay action indicator connected to the one or more relays connected to the one or more circuits, respectively, and to the controller. The relay action indicator may count a number of times that the one or more relays switch. 
     A maximum of a number of times that the one or more relays can switch for a lifetime of the one or more relays may be determined. The number of times that the one or more relays have switched may indicate an amount of lifetime of the one or more relays expended. A schedule for maintenance or replacement of the one or more relays before an end of the lifetime of the one or more relays may be determined. 
     The one or more scenes may be placed in a schedule at the tenant user wall module via the controller. A schedule may indicate each portion of a time period when one of the one or more scenes incorporates one or more circuits connected to a power source. 
     A control and configuration apparatus for a lighting system may incorporate one or more tenant user interfaces, a controller connected to the one or more tenant user interfaces and to one or more relays, one or more circuits of one or more lights connected to the one or more relays, respectively, and one or more motion detectors situated in an area of the one or more lights of the one or more circuits. At the one or more tenant user interfaces, some of the one or more circuits of lights may be configurable relative to non-motion turn off durations of the one or more motion detectors. One or more scenes may incorporate one or more circuits of lights. 
     A motion detector of the one or more motion detectors may be proximate to an area of one or more lights of two or more circuits. The motion detector may be connected to the controller and the controller may provide non-motion time-out durations for each of the two or more circuits and activate the respective relays accordingly for turning on and off the circuits in response to a presence and absence of motion detection, respectively. The non-motion time-out durations for each of the two or more circuits may be different from one another. 
     At the one or more tenant user interfaces, the one or more motion detectors may be configurable in terms of non-motion time-out durations at the controller via the one or more tenant user interfaces in terms of non-motion time-out durations. 
     A dimming of one or more circuits of lights may be determined by a selection at the tenant user interface, provided to the controller. 
     A schedule may be configured with the one or more scenes, and the one or more scenes may be activated according to the schedule. The schedule may be provided in terms of minutes, hours, days, weeks, and/or months, for activating the one or more scenes. 
     An approach, for controlling and configuring a lighting arrangement for a building, may incorporate providing one or more circuits of lights, connecting each of the one or more circuits to a controller via one or more relays, and configuring one or more scenes with the one or more circuits at a user control module via corresponding signals to the controller. 
     The approach may further incorporate providing a motion detector situated in an area of lights of two or more circuits, respectively. Non-motion time-out periods from the controller for the motion detector for each circuit may be set at the user control module. The time-out periods for the two or more circuits may differ from one another. 
     The approach may further incorporate providing power having a dimming effect on the lights of the one or more circuits, respectively. The dimming effect on the lights of the one or more circuits may be set at the user control module. 
     The approach may further incorporate providing one or more relay action indicators connected to the one or more relays and the controller. The one or more relay action indicators may count a number of connecting actions and measure durations of connections of the one or more relays to power, over a pre-determined period of time. 
     The approach may further incorporate obtaining lifetime information about the lights of the one or more circuits, calculating estimated lifetimes for the lights of the one or more circuits from the number of connecting actions and durations of connections of the one or more relays to power, over a pre-determined period of time, and from the lifetime information, and scheduling maintenance incorporating replacement of the lights in the one or more circuits before an end of their estimated lifetimes. 
     The approach may further incorporate obtaining lifetime information at the user control module via the controller and the net about the relays of the one or more circuits, calculating estimated lifetimes for the relays in the one or more circuits from a number of connecting actions and durations of connections over a pre-determined period of time and from the lifetime information, and scheduling maintenance incorporating replacement or refurbishment of the relays in the one or more circuits before an end of their estimated lifetimes. 
     The approach may further incorporate configuring a lighting schedule by incorporating the one or more scenes, with the controller via the user control module. The scenes may be selected at the user control module for placement in the lighting schedule. 
     In the present specification, some of the matter may be of a hypothetical or prophetic nature although stated in another manner or tense. 
     Although the present system and/or approach has been described with respect to at least one illustrative example, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification. It is therefore the intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the related art to include all such variations and modifications.