Patent ID: 8836243

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 comprising: a plurality of lighting elements 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; at least two light sensors that detect the light emitted from said plurality of lighting elements and generate respective signals of said detected light; and a controller coupled to said plurality of lighting elements and to said at least two light sensors, said controller using said respective signals of said detected light to drive said plurality of lighting elements, 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 elements, and wherein the controller controls a total flux of blue light from a relative level of 1 to 100% of a maximum blue light flux within said broad spectrum white light produced by each lighting element.