Patent ID: 8436556

Claim:
A system for artificially generating sunlight in accordance with a daytime locus using spectral characteristics that resembles sunlight, said system automatically controlling at least one lighting fixture substantially along said daytime locus to generate said artificial sunlight, said system automatically changing brightness levels and color levels of a plurality of lighting element channels within said at least one lighting fixture which generate broad spectrum white light of color temperatures from 1800K to 6500K in accordance with a user-selected input, said system comprising: at least two light sensors that detect the light emitted from said plurality of lighting element channels and generate respective signals of said detected light; and a controller coupled to said plurality of lighting element channels and to said at least two light sensors, said controller using said respective signals of said detected light to drive said plurality of lighting element channels, said controller activating a color match algorithm for automatically creating respective drive signals for said plurality of lighting elements, said drive signals automatically varying a brightness level and a color level for each of said plurality of lighting element channels.