Patent ID: 7798669

Claim:
A lighting device comprising: (a) a marine lantern positioned within a Fresnel lens to substantially uniformatize the light emitted from the marine lantern, wherein the marine lantern has an adjustable luminosity and an adjustable flash pattern; (b) a rechargeable battery; (c) a solar panel, wherein the battery is recharged by solar energy collected by the solar panel; and (d) a controller in communication with the marine lantern, the battery, and the solar panel, the controller having a global positioning receiver for acquiring the geographic location of the lighting device, a processor that calculates an amount of solar energy available to the solar panel based on a current date, a sunset time, a sunrise time, and a solar insolation value corresponding to the specific geographic location of the lighting device; and a system for adjusting the luminosity and the flash pattern of the marine lantern as a function of the amount of solar energy available to the solar panel.