Patent Description:
Most drivers for lighting means comprise a control circuit, e.g. for controlling the core functions of the driver.

In order to program or configure such a driver control circuit, it is known to use existing communication ports of the driver, e.g. for an initial wire bound programming during a production process, or for an additional wireless configuration / reprogramming. For example, this programming is carried out with one of the following technologies: DALI, NFC, or PLC.

If the driver is housed during the production process, especially in a metal housing, the usage of an external wired interface (e.g., DALI) can be necessary for further programming. For example, during such programming a fixed output current is stored in the driver (depending on the luminaire). This fixed output current is programmed either in the last production step, or at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

However, in some drivers such external interfaces are either no longer accessible or are already occupied after the housing. Adding additional connection terminals or interfaces to the driver just for this programming leads to increased cost and complexity and is, therefore, disadvantageous.

Thus, it is an objective to provide for an improved driver for lighting means, an improved system comprising such a driver and an improved method for supplying a programming signal to a control circuit of a driver.

<CIT> discloses a driver for lighting means, wherein an antenna port of the driver is connected to an input terminal of a radio circuit of the driver to facilitate a reduction of energy use by various sensors.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates to a driver for lighting means, having output terminals for supplying lighting means and further comprising: a casing; and a wireless communication antenna port exposed to an outside of the driver, wherein the antenna port is connected to an input terminal of an integrated programmable control circuit of the driver, wherein the control circuit is arranged to receive a programming signal supplied from the outside of the driver to the antenna port by an electrically conducting connection, being connectable to the antenna port, at the input terminal of the control circuit and the control circuit is further arranged to process such programming signal supplied by direct electrical contact on the antenna port (i.e. not by a wireless reception by the antenna port).

(In addition, the control circuit is also arranged to process wireless signals received by the antenna port).

This provides the advantage that the control circuit of the driver for lighting means can easily be programmed from the outside even if it is arranged in a casing.

Preferably, the lighting means comprises LED luminaires. The lighting means can also comprise other lighting technology devices, such as sensors, control device such as light switches, or emergency luminaires.

The integrated programmable control circuit of the driver can comprise a microcontroller or an ASIC. The microcontroller or ASIC can be configured to process the control signal received at the antenna port.

In an embodiment, operating parameters for the driver are encoded in the programming signal and the control circuit is adapted to decode such programming signal. The operating parameters programmed may be e.g. one or more, even all, of:.

The operating parameters of the driver can comprise an output current or voltage provided to the lighting means, a dimming range of the lighting means, commissioning information or licensing information.

In an embodiment, the control circuit is adapted to decode the programming signal which is a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal supplied in a direct electrical contact (as opposed to wirelessly) at the antenna port.

In an embodiment, the control circuit is adapted to apply the information encoded in the programming signal for setting a nominal value for an operation current or voltage that can be provided by the driver at its output terminals.

This provides the advantage that the operation current, which can be provided by the driver, can easily be set. In particular, the operating current can be set after the driver is housed.

In an embodiment, the driver comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) and the antenna port is arranged on the PCB.

For example, the housing is arranged to cover most of the PCB and comprises an opening for the antenna port or does not cover the antenna port.

In an embodiment, the antenna port is connected to the control circuit via an optocoupler.

In particular, the antenna port is galvanically isolated from the control circuit. The optocoupler can facilitate a transmission of the programming signal via the galvanic isolation.

In an embodiment, the casing is a metal casing.

According to a second aspect, the invention relates to a use of an external wireless communication antenna port of a driver for lighting means for supplying external programming signals to an interface of an integrated control circuit of the driver.

According to a third aspect, the invention relates to a system, comprising: a driver according to the first aspect; and a driver programming device, comprising a probe for electrically conducting contact to a wireless communication antenna port of the driver.

For example, the driver programming device can be a handheld device, such as a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop. The driver programming device can further be a dedicated electronic device. The driver programming device, preferably, comprises a processor and a memory.

According to a fourth aspect, the invention relates to a method for supplying a programming signal to an integrated control circuit comprised in a housing of a driver for lighting means, comprising: electrically contacting a wireless communication antenna port of the driver; supplying the programming signal to the antenna port; and forwarding said signal to an input terminal of the control circuit.

In an embodiment, operating parameters for the driver are encoded in the programming signal and the control circuit is adapted to decode such programming signal.

In an embodiment, the programming signal is a PWM signal.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises programming the driver, in particular a microcontroller of the driver, based on the programming signal.

The programming port offers the opportunity to directly communicate with the main controller or ASIC. Therefore, a <NUM>rd party wireless software can be stacked on an independent or additional RF chip.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein in the context of a driver for lighting means.

Various aspects of a driver for lighting means will be presented. However, as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, these aspects may be extended to aspects of drives for lighting means without departing from the invention.

The term "LED luminaire" shall mean a luminaire with a light source comprising one or more LEDs or OLEDs. LEDs are well-known in the art, and therefore, will only briefly be discussed to provide a complete description of the invention.

Now referring to <FIG>, a driver <NUM> for lighting means comprising an antenna port 302a according to an embodiment is shown.

The driver <NUM> for lighting means comprises output terminals +LED, -LED for supplying lighting means, for example, an LED load. Moreover, the driver <NUM> for lighting means comprises a casing and a wireless communication antenna port 302a exposed to the outside. The antenna port 302a is connected to an integrated programmable control circuit <NUM> of the driver <NUM> such that a programming signal supplied from the external to the antenna port 302a by an electrically conducting connection is received at an input terminal of the control circuit <NUM> and processed by the control circuit <NUM> of the driver <NUM>.

The casing or housing of the driver <NUM> can be a metal casing.

Due to the fact that metal housed drivers are dependent on external antennas or recesses provided in the housing, they possess a physically connectable external antenna port 302a. This antenna port 302a can be used for fast programming of the control circuit <NUM> if no additional physical interface is available.

To carry out this programming via the antenna port 302a, the port 302a can be contacted by a probe, e.g., a needle probe or similar of a driver programming device, during a production step of the driver. In this way wire bound programming of parameters of the driver <NUM>, such as nominal operation currents, licensing, etc., can be carried out after the housing of the driver.

In other words, the driver <NUM> for the lighting means can be designed such that the control circuit <NUM>, e.g., a microcontroller, can receive at an input pin a programming signal, which has been input in a wire bound manner at the antenna port 302a of the driver <NUM>.

The programming signal can be a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. For example, the microcontroller of the control circuit <NUM> converts such a supplied PWM signal to a nominal value for the operation current supplied by the driver <NUM> to the lighting means.

A further advantage of this approach is that OEMs can use the existing tools for programming, no further software tools like DLLs or back ends are needed.

Preferably, the antenna port 302a is accessible from the outside, even if the control circuit, which is configured to be programmed by means of the programming signal, is already housed. This is a state in which, potentially, other interfaces of the control circuit <NUM> or microcontroller, are no longer accessible from the outside.

<FIG> shows a driver <NUM> comprising an antenna port 302a according to an embodiment.

The driver <NUM> shown in <FIG> can comprise a housing (not shown in <FIG>), in particular a metal housing. A communication antenna <NUM> can be connected to the antenna port 302a of the driver <NUM>.

To program the driver <NUM>, the antenna port 302a can be contacted by a programming device <NUM>, e.g. by means of a needle adapter. A PWM signal can be modulated to transmit the programming signals, for instance current values, to the control circuit <NUM> or microcontroller of the driver <NUM> via an optocoupler <NUM>.

This programming can be carried out for all drivers <NUM> with suitable antenna ports and control circuits. The possibility of programming via the antenna port after manufacture/installation of the driver <NUM> also leads to considerable simplifications on the software side.

It is, for instance not necessary to implement the exact current adjustment for a specific driver / lighting means combination in the driver software or firmware. This information can be programmed at a later stage via the antenna port 302a. Thus, less software efforts are required for the driver <NUM>.

Further, the output current of the driver <NUM> can be provided via a software package, which supports luminaire manufacturers with the generation, transmission and control of the settings of the driver <NUM>.

Moreover, no setting/programming via wireless interfaces of the driver is necessary. This means that costs can be saved, at the software side, because OEMs do not have to create the additional options for making the settings via wireless interfaces.

In addition, the driver type and the security key of the driver <NUM> do not have to be known. The driver <NUM> can be programmed after manufacture and even installation without this knowledge.

The antenna <NUM> is soldered onto the main printed circuit board, PCB. The antenna port 302a can be connected to the optocoupler <NUM>. The optocoupler <NUM> can be connected to the microcontroller.

The driver programming device <NUM> can be used to program the driver <NUM> after housing via the wired connection to the antenna port 302a. Therefore, a PWM signal can be used. Advantageously, no wireless communication will be necessary and the process can easily be implemented in a costumer manufacturing process.

The driver programming device <NUM> can, further, comprise a probe for electrically conducting contact to the wireless communication antenna port 302a of the driver <NUM>.

<FIG> shows communication channels between the driver <NUM> and a programming device <NUM> according to an embodiment.

Different communication channels between a manufacturing system or programming device <NUM> and the periphery of the print circuit board (PCB) of the driver <NUM> are shown in <FIG>.

For example, in case of a driver with wireless communication interface only, the wired communication connection channel <NUM> is no longer available or applicable in its previous way after the driver is housed and is replaced by a wireless communication channel as such driver (with wireless communication interface only does) not comprise terminals for a wired communication interface. To program the driver <NUM>, the available antenna port 302a of a wireless antenna <NUM> is therefore used to electrically contact and to transfer the wired communication <NUM>. Such wired communication <NUM> may make use of pulsed signals, e.g. PWM (one wire), or digital signals, e.g. DALI, UART or I2C. The programming of the control circuit <NUM> of the driver <NUM> can be performed in a wired manner via the antenna port 302a.

The driver <NUM> may further comprise a RF IC <NUM> which can communicate with other RF devices over a wireless RF communication <NUM>. The programming device <NUM> may be also designed to communicate with the RF IC <NUM> of the driver <NUM> by wireless RF communication <NUM>.

<FIG> shows the driver <NUM> for lighting means according to an embodiment.

In this embodiment, the driver <NUM> comprises a wireless communication interface. The external DALI interface is removed such that the space of the connections can be used for the external antenna <NUM> with antenna port 302a. Furthermore, a RF IC <NUM> is used for Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE, communication.

An example of the communication concept between the driver <NUM> and a PC or programming device <NUM> can be seen in <FIG>, wherein the mapping of a lighting control command, e.g. DALI command, using a Dynamic Link Library, DLL, and a memory bank is shown (the product has no housing). During production, third-party software (e.g. BLE stack developer) can communicate with the driver <NUM> for lighting means via an RF module using the DLL communicating with the RF IC <NUM> via the wireless RF communication <NUM>. The DLL can run on a computer <NUM> with specific software.

For example, a software is installed on the microcontroller and a wireless software is installed on the RF IC <NUM> (BLE chip). The driver <NUM> for lighting means does not enable wired communication when it is housed or placed in a luminaire. In order to be able to make e.g., a current adjustment of the driver <NUM>, a communication is carried out, e.g., via wireless RF communication <NUM>, e.g. BLE. Therefore, this function for the current setting of the driver <NUM> should be incorporated in the software on the microcontroller. However, this generates high costs for the implementation.

Therefore, in order to be able to make e.g., a current adjustment of the driver <NUM>, an external antenna port 302a may be used, as described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>.

In short, when the driver <NUM> is housed, only the wireless RF module (may be the antenna <NUM> or the RF IC <NUM>) to establish a wireless communication is available for programming. However, this option is difficult to implement, as explained above. Instead, the programming of the control circuit <NUM> of the driver <NUM> can be performed in a wired manner via the antenna port 302a of the RF module or antenna <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a method <NUM> for supplying a programming signal to an integrated control circuit <NUM> comprised in a housing of a driver <NUM> for lighting means according to an embodiment.

Preferably, the operating parameters for the driver <NUM> are encoded in the programming signal and the control circuit <NUM> is adapted to decode such programming signal. The programming signal can be a PWM signal.

Claim 1:
A driver (<NUM>) for lighting means, having output terminals for supplying lighting means and further comprising:
- a casing; and
- a wireless communication antenna port (302a) exposed to an outside of the driver,
characterised in that
the antenna port (302a) is connected to an input terminal of an integrated programmable control circuit (<NUM>) of the driver (<NUM>),
- wherein the control circuit (<NUM>) is arranged to receive a programming signal supplied from the outside of the driver to the antenna port (302a) by an electrically conducting connection, being connectable to the antenna port, at the input terminal of the control circuit (<NUM>),
- wherein the control circuit (<NUM>) is further arranged to process such programming signal supplied by direct electrical contact on the antenna port (302a).