Patent ID: 8508137

Claim:
A method of operating an illumination system, the method comprising: processing by at least one control subsystem information indicative of a number of levels of illumination in an environment sensed by at least one sensor at respective ones of a plurality of times during each of a plurality of daily cycles; the processing by the at least one control subsystem including: correlating at least one solar time with a clock of the control subsystem, the at least one solar time based at least in part on the information sensed by the at least one sensor and indicative of at least one of: a maximum level of illumination indicative of solar noon or a minimum level of illumination indicative of solar midnight over at least one previous one of the plurality of the daily cycles which occurred prior to a current one of the plurality of daily cycles; determining at least one illumination adjustment time with reference to the clock of the control subsystem at which to adjust a level of illumination produced by at least one illumination source during a current one of the plurality of daily cycles; and adjusting the level of illumination produced by the least one illumination source responsive to the occurrence of the determined at least one illumination adjustment time as indicated by the clock of the control subsystem.