Patent Publication Number: US-9897297-B2

Title: Moving light with follow spot

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 12959095 filed Dec. 2, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,845,150 issued Sep. 30, 2014, which claims priority from provisional application No. 61/266,698, filed Dec. 4, 2009, the disclosures of these parent applications are hereby incorporated by reference, in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Stage lights are often used in entertainment venues. 
     Stage lights use very high intensity bulbs, for example 500 to 1500 W, and also have electronics therein to control their effects. All of this is housed within a housing. 
     A commonly used stage light is a moving light, which is typically a luminaire that is remotely controlled to move in pan and tilt directions based on a desired location of pointing. For example, this may be used to follow a performer on a stage, whereas the performer moves, the luminaire pans and tilts in order to follow the performer&#39;s movement. Remote control of motors in the luminaire control the pan and tilt operation. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present application describes a moving light which has both automated pan and tilt capabilities and also allows operating in a follow spot mode in which the users such as a stage hand can manually move the pointing location of the luminaire. In the follow spot mode, however, all the automated functions of the luminaire can still be used, even though the luminaire is in manual mode. For example, this allows remote control of a light effect: e.g., a light output, color or gobo or other, even though the pointing of the light becomes done manually. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows diagram of the luminaire, and different parts of the luminaire including handle location; 
         FIGS. 2 and 3  show detailed close-ups of different handle locations and brackets; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates the connection of the handles to the lamp body; 
         FIG. 5  shows a menu that controls operation of allowing the luminaire to operate in its different modes; and 
         FIGS. 6-9  show exploded views of different handles and brackets and how they attach to the luminaire housing. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Moving lights typically operate in pan and tilt mode where they are commanded according to a remote command, such as over a DMX control, to move to a desired location. Motors control the housing of the moving light, also called a luminaire, to move between the different positions. Once at the desired position, there are typically brakes that are engaged so that the light stays exactly where it is pointed, rather than drifting from that location. 
     In an embodiment, the lamp in the luminaire can be one or more high intensity bulbs which project, or the luminaire can use emitting type lamps such as LED or fluorescent, or any other light source. 
     According to an embodiment, a moving light/luminaire can also be used as a manual follow spot. The luminaire has locations where it can be modified by attaching handles, and selecting an “enable pan/tilt free mode”. In that enable/free mode, the user can control the luminaire to have a freely movable mode, and to move the housing of the luminaire manually to point at a desired location. In the freely movable mode, the pan/tilt motors, and pan/tilt brakes are disengaged and the device can be manually aimed. Brakes can also be manually reinitiated once manually pointed, so that once pointed in the right location, the luminaire can be held in that location. 
     In the follow spot mode, however, all the automated functions of the luminaire can still be used, even though the luminaire is in manual mode. For example, this allows remote control of a light effect: e.g., a light output, color or gobo or other, even though the pointing of the light becomes done manually. When the luminaire is in the manually attended follow spot mode, with pan and tilt disabled, that all other automatic functions of the light are still functional and controlled by the console and its operator. This is a major feature, since all of the color, gobo, beam size and other parameters are synchronized with the rest of the lighting system, thereby eliminating any errors or delays introduced by the manual operator. The manual operation occurs on the pointing only, with other features of the luminaire still being remotely controlled. 
     When “free” mode is turned off, the device can again be remotely controlled to remotely-commanded pan and tilt directions by remotely controlling the motors. 
     Throughout this description, the entire machine that is used to create the light and move is referred to as a “luminaire”. The bulb which actually emits the light is referred to as a “lamp”. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates the moving luminaire with the manual handles. The assembly  100  includes a yoke portion  105  and a head portion  110  moves relative to the yoke. There can be motors within the yoke and/or head that move the yoke and/or head. In one embodiment, the head may move in the up-and-down direction in  FIG. 1 , the so-called pan direction, using motors in the head. The brakes are generically shown as  141  in  FIG. 1 . 
     The yoke may swivel in the side to side direction in  FIG. 1  relative to a base  120  that is either attached to a stage floor or to an overhead truss. The yoke movement from side to side may be considered “tilt” in the embodiment. 
     When the moving head is going to be remotely controlled, it is provided in the configuration shown in  FIG. 1 , that is without any handles or the like. However, the moving head includes mounts for multiple different handles that facilitate the use of this device with one or more removable handles. 
     The mount area  130 , shown in further detail in  FIG. 2 , is a rear handle mount, that provides a location to which the handle can attach. This may provide one side of the handle attachment, with the other side being attached at  135 . 
     The attachment  140  may provide an attachment for a front handle mount.  FIG. 3  shows more detail about the area  140 , including the removable mount, also shown in more detail in  FIG. 8 . 
     The follow spot handles  502 ,  520 ,  530  may be substantially cylindrical handles as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 7-9 , that screw into the handle mount such as  200 . Handle  500  screws into the handle mount  200 . Since the handle is substantially cylindrical, it can be easily attached without leaving any extra space for the attachment. That is, the cylindrical handle can be rotated to screw into the handle mount  500 , with the rotation not requiring any additional space other than that for the handle itself. 
     The handle itself  500  includes the cylindrical knob  502 , and a screw portion  504  at the end of the cylindrical knob. The handle also includes a cable attachment  506  that attaches to a safety cable  508 . The safety cable may, in operation, loop around the yoke handle  510  in this embodiment, the yoke handle  510  is integral with the yoke, and extends beyond a distal surface of the yoke, making a substantially half cylinder shaped area at the end of the yoke. However, the safety cable can loop around other parts in other embodiments. For example, in an alternative embodiment, the safety cable may be looped around any part of luminaire housing. 
     The inventors have found that it is important to have a safety cable attached to these handles, since these handles are intended to be removed from the luminaires and could come loose. Often, the luminaires are on trusses, above the stage, for example 20 to 100 feet above the stage. Since the handles are removable, the handle could fall if not permanently attached to the luminaire. However, the safety cables may be attached via loops, so that the handles can be removed when the luminaire is not going to be used for manual operation. 
     In a similar way, handle  520  may be on the other side of the back of the luminaire, on the other side from the handle  502 . Handle  530  may be on one side in the front of the luminaire, without there being a corresponding handle on the other side of the front of the luminaire. The use of these three handles allows moving the follow spot in any of the pan and tilt directions using any two of the three handles. A first pair of handles  500 ,  530  can be used to move in the pan direction, for example, and a different pair of handles  500 ,  520  that can be used to move in the tilt direction. One of the handles, here  500 , is used for both moving in the pan direction and in the tilt direction. 
     In one embodiment, the luminaire has an internal processor, and there is a control screen which can be seen and may be controlled from a touchscreen controller  125  on the base  120 . Different functions of the luminaire can be locally controlled from that screen. One possible menu is the pan and tilt menu, and users can advance through the different possible menus to get to any of these menu. 
     The pan and tilt menu is shown in  FIG. 5 . The different options available in pan and tilt mode include whether the pan is inverted at  600  and whether tilt is inverted at  605 . This inverts the signal that is received, which might be used when the light has been mounted upside down. Swap may swap pan and tilt. Free mode at  615  disconnects the brakes and the motors so that the lamp can be freely moved using the handles as described above. The opposite of free mode is the lock mode, where pan can be locked at  620  and tilt can be locked at  625 . This lock mode can be used, for example, after the handles have been used to properly configure the pointing of the lamp to the proper location. 
     As described above, in the follow spot mode, all the automated functions of the luminaire can still be used, even though the luminaire is in manual mode. For example, this allows remote control of a light effect with manual control over the light pointing. 
     As an alternative, these controls can be operated using any of the control channels, for example this can be done using DMX channels. 
     Further detail of the handle and the mounts is shown in  FIGS. 6-9 .  FIG. 6  shows the mount  200 , and the handle  500  attached to the mount  200  via a screw portion  702  at the end. In a similar way, the handle  520  is shown attached attaching to a corresponding mount  710  in  FIG. 7 . Each mount may include a screw opening such as  715  which receives a screw  720  that holds the mount into the housing of the luminaire. 
       FIG. 8  shows the front handle  530 , and the corresponding mount  900 . Note that the mount  900  is surface mounted using two screws  902 ,  904 . In this embodiment, the front mount in this embodiment may be surface mounted, while the two rear mounts are mounted in indentations within the housing for example the indentation  205  shown in  FIG. 2 . All of the handles may be the same configuration, however. 
       FIG. 10  shows an exploded view of the handle including the substantially cylindrical part  1000  which is slightly narrower at the front end closer to the screw  1002  than it is at its rear end  1004 . The screw  1010  is screwed into one of the ends of the handle. The handle also includes a stop flange  1015  which forms a surface that presses against the luminaire housing when the handle is completely screwed in. In the embodiment, the screw receives a first washer  1020 , and then the loop portion of the safety cable  1025 . A bearing flange  1030  holds the safety cable, which is covered by another washer  1035  and the nut  1040 . 
     The luminaire may be operated by a computer, both inside the luminaire and external to the luminaire. The computer may include a processor that operates to accept user commands, execute instructions and produce output based on those instructions. The processor is preferably connected to a communication bus. The communication bus may include a data channel for facilitating information transfer between storage and other peripheral components of the computer system. The communication bus further may provide a set of signals used for communication with the processor, including a data bus, address bus, and/or control bus. 
     The computer may operate as described above. A storage medium provides storage of instructions and data for programs executing on a processor. 
     At least one possible storage medium is preferably a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable code (i.e., software) and/or data thereon in a non-transitory form. The computer software or data stored on the removable storage medium is read into the computer system as electrical communication signals. 
     The computer system may also include a communication interface. The communication interface allows&#39; software and data to be transferred between computer system and external devices (e.g. printers), networks, or information sources. For example, computer software or executable code may be transferred to the computer to allow the computer to carry out the functions and operations described herein. The computer system can be a network-connected server with a communication interface. The communication interface may be a wired network card, or a Wireless, e.g., Wifi network card. 
     Software and data transferred via the communication interface are generally in the form of electrical communication signals. 
     Computer executable code (i.e., computer programs or software) are stored in the memory and/or received via communication interface and executed as received. The code can be compiled code or interpreted code or website code, or any other kind of code. 
     A “computer readable medium” can be any media used to provide computer executable code (e.g., software and computer programs and website pages), e.g., hard drive, USB drive or other. The software, when executed by the processor, preferably causes the processor to perform the inventive features and functions previously described herein. 
     A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. These devices may also be used to select values for devices as described herein. 
     Also, the inventors intend that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The programs may be written in C, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein. 
     Where a specific numerical value is mentioned herein, it should be considered that the value may be increased or decreased by 20%, while still staying within the teachings of the present application, unless some different range is specifically mentioned. Where a specified logical sense is used, the opposite logical sense is also intended to be encompassed. 
     The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.