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1. modules or bulbs adapted for use in conventional sockets or fixtures as well as a variety of consumer and or household products e g night lights toys games or game components entertainment components or systems utensils appliances kitchen aids cleaning products etc and architectural components e g lighted panels for walls floors ceilings lighted trim and ornamentation components etc 0050 In one embodiment the lighting unit 100 shown in FIG 1 may include one or more light sources 104A 104B 104C and 104D shown collectively as 104 wherein one or more of the light sources may be an LED based light source US 2006 0273741 Al that includes one or more light emitting diodes LEDs In one aspect of this embodiment any two or more of the light sources may be adapted to generate radiation of different colors e g red green blue in this respect as discussed above each of the different color light sources generates a different source spectrum that constitutes a different chan nel of a multi channel lighting unit Although FIG 1 shows four light sources 104A 104B 104C and 104D it should be appreciated that the lighting unit is not limited in this respect as different numbers and various types of light sources all LED based light sources LED based and non LED based light sources in combination etc adapted to generate radiation of a variety of different colors including essentially white
2. LEDs that are adapted to generate radiation having any of a variety of spectra i e wavelengths or wavelength bands including but not limited to various visible colors includ ing essentially white light various color temperatures of white light ultraviolet or infrared LEDs having a variety of spectral bandwidths e g narrow band broader band may be employed in various implementations of the lighting unit 100 0057 In another aspect of the lighting unit 100 shown in FIG 1 the lighting unit 100 may be constructed and US 2006 0273741 Al arranged to produce a wide range of variable color radiation For example in one embodiment the lighting unit 100 may be particularly arranged such that controllable variable intensity i e variable radiant power light generated by two or more of the light sources combines to produce a mixed colored light including essentially white light having a variety of color temperatures In particular the color or color temperature of the mixed colored light may be varied by varying one or more of the respective intensities output radiant power of the light sources e g in response to one or more control signals 106 output by the controller 105 Furthermore the controller 105 may be particularly config ured to provide control signals to one or more of the light sources so as to generate a variety of static or time varying dynamic multi color or multi color temperature lighting effe
3. should be appreciated that LEDs may be configured and or controlled to generate radiation having various bandwidths e g full widths at half maximum or FWHM for a given spectrum e g narrow bandwidth broad bandwidth and a variety of dominant wavelengths within a given general color categorization 0027 For example one implementation of an LED con figured to generate essentially white light e g a white LED may include a number of dies which respectively emit different spectra of electroluminescence that in combina tion mix to form essentially white light In another imple mentation a white light LED may be associated with a phosphor material that converts electroluminescence having a first spectrum to a different second spectrum In one example of this implementation electroluminescence hav ing a relatively short wavelength and narrow bandwidth Dec 7 2006 spectrum pumps the phosphor material which in turn radiates longer wavelength radiation having a somewhat broader spectrum 0028 It should also be understood that the term LED does not limit the physical and or electrical package type of an LED For example as discussed above an LED may refer to a single light emitting device having multiple dies that are configured to respectively emit different spectra of radiation e g that may or may not be individually controllable Also an LED may be associated with a phosphor that is considered as an integral
4. wherein the at least one LED includes at least one first LED configured to generate first radiation having a first spectrum and at least one second LED configured to generate second radiation having a second spectrum different than the first spectrum 5 The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the at least one first LED includes at least one first white LED and the at least one second LED includes at least one second white LED 6 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to a network commu nications protocol 7 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to a DMX protocol 8 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to an Ethernet proto col US 2006 0273741 Al 9 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to a DALI protocol 10 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one of the controllable dimmer and the controllable relay includes the controllable relay 11 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one of the controllable dimmer and the controllable relay includes the controllable dimmer 12 The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the at least one control signal includes only a first type of control signal in response to which the controllable dimmer outputs zero power and a second type of control signal in response to which the controllable d
5. RMS voltage of the dimmer output and hence the mean power provided to the lighting device it is possible to vary the brightness of the light output between zero i e light off to full on 0003 Dimmers range in size from small units having dimensions on the order of a normal light switch used for domestic lighting to larger high power units used in theatre or architectural lighting installations Small domestic dim mers generally are directly controlled via some user inter face e g a rotary knob or slider potentiometer although remote control systems for domestic and other uses are available For example X10 is an industry standard com munication protocol for home automation applications to facilitate remote programmed control of a variety of devices including dimmers X10 was developed by Pico Electronics of Glenrothes Scotland X10 primarily uses power line wiring for control signals that involve brief radio frequency bursts representing digital information wherein the radio frequency bursts are superimposed on the line voltage and used to control various devices coupled to the power line such as dimmers In particular via the X10 communication protocol an appropriately configured dimmer may be remotely controlled to vary the light output of a lighting device coupled to the dimmer at virtually any level between full off and full on Using the X10 protocol multiple dimmers configured to receive X10 control signals may b
6. as a combination of dedicated hardware to perform some func tions and a processor e g one or more programmed micro processors and associated circuitry to perform other func tions Examples of controller components that may be employed in various embodiments of the present disclosure include but are not limited to conventional microproces sors application specific integrated circuits ASICs and field programmable gate arrays FPGAs 0037 In various implementations a processor or control ler may be associated with one or more storage media generically referred to herein as memory e g volatile and non volatile computer memory such as RAM PROM EPROM and EEPROM floppy disks compact disks opti cal disks magnetic tape etc In some implementations the storage media may be encoded with one or more programs that when executed on one or more processors and or controllers perform at least some of the functions discussed herein Various storage media may be fixed within a pro cessor or controller or may be transportable such that the one or more programs stored thereon can be loaded into a processor or controller so as to implement various aspects of the present disclosure discussed herein The terms pro gram or computer program are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code e g software or microcode that can be employed to program one or more processors or controllers
7. as a network command interface for the power cycle control lighting device 0020 In one embodiment a controllable dimmer is par ticularly controlled by lighting commands formatted accord ing to any of a variety of communications protocols which instruct the controllable dimmer to output one or more power cycles rather than gradual increases or decreases in power to the power cycle control lighting device In essence the controllable dimmer is operated as a control lable relay In response to the power cycle s output by the controllable dimmer or controllable relay the power cycle control lighting device may alter some aspect of the gener ated light e g change one or more of color color tempera ture overall brightness dynamic effect etc In this manner a power cycle control lighting device may be made respon sive via the controllable dimmer relay to lighting control commands formatted according to any of a variety of industry standard e g DMX Ethernet DALI X10 or proprietary protocols Accordingly in one aspect network controllability is afforded to a power cycle control lighting device which may be easily retrofitted into a conventional socket or non conventional socket that provides only oper ating power to the lighting device 0021 As discussed in greater detail below one embodi ment of the present disclosure is directed to an apparatus comprising at least one lighting unit configured to generate va
8. constituting lighting programs that when executed by the lighting device con troller provide a variety of possible states for the light generated by the lighting device For example one or more particular lighting control signals or programs stored in the memory may dictate a corresponding static color or bright ness level of generated light while other control signals or programs may provide for dynamic multicolor lighting effects In response to a power cycle the controller may be configured to select one or more pre programmed control signals stored in the memory select and execute a new lighting program from memory or otherwise affect the light generated by the lighting device In one exemplary imple mentation multiple lighting programs may be stored in the memory and the controller may be configured to select and execute a new lighting program based on a succession of power cycles In this manner a user operating the one or more switches that apply power to the lighting device may sequentially toggle through the available lighting programs by turning the switch from on to off to on again within a predetermined duration a number of times until a desired program is selected at which point the switch may be left in the on position to permit execution of the selected lighting program Dec 7 2006 SUMMARY 0017 Applicants have recognized and appreciated that a power cycle control lighting device as described above may
9. dimmer relay may be configured to provide power to multiple lighting units 100 0081 In the system of FIG 3 each LUC in turn may be coupled to a central controller 202 that is configured to communicate with one or more LUCs Although FIG 3 shows four LUCs coupled to the central controller 202 via a generic connection 204 which may include any number of a variety of conventional coupling switching and or net working devices it should be appreciated that according to various embodiments different numbers of LUCs may be coupled to the central controller 202 Additionally accord ing to various embodiments of the present disclosure the LUCs and the central controller may be coupled together in a variety of configurations using a variety of different communication media and protocols to form the networked lighting system 200 Moreover it should be appreciated that the interconnection of LUCs and the central controller and the interconnection of controllable dimmers relays to respective LUCs may be accomplished in different manners e g using different configurations communication media and protocols 0082 For example according to one embodiment of the present disclosure the central controller 202 shown in FIG 3 may by configured to implement Ethernet based commu nications with the LUCs and in turn the LUCs may be configured to implement DMX based communications with the controllable dimmers relays 500 i e the control si
10. improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art Such alterations modifications and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of this disclosure While some examples presented herein involve specific combinations of functions or structural elements it should be understood that those functions and elements may be combined in other ways according to the present disclo sure to accomplish the same or different objectives In particular acts elements and features discussed in connec tion with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from similar or other roles in other embodiments Accord ingly the foregoing description and attached drawings are by way of example only and are not intended to be limiting 1 An apparatus comprising at least one lighting unit configured to generate variable color or variable color temperature radiation based at least in part on at least one interruption of power supplied to the at least one lighting unit and one of a controllable dimmer and a controllable relay coupled to the at least one lighting unit and configured to generate the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal 2 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one lighting unit includes at least one LED 3 The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the at least one LED includes at least one white LED 4 The apparatus of claim 2
11. interchangeably herein Additionally a light source may include as an integral component one or more filters e g color filters lenses or other optical components Also it should be understood that light sources may be configured for a variety of applications including but not limited to indication display and or illumination An illumination source is a light source that is particularly configured to generate radia tion having a sufficient intensity to effectively illuminate an interior or exterior space In this context sufficient inten sity refers to sufficient radiant power in the visible spectrum generated in the space or environment the unit lumens often is employed to represent the total light output from a light source in all directions in terms of radiant power or luminous flux to provide ambient illumination i e light that may be perceived indirectly and that may be for example reflected off of one or more of a variety of intervening surfaces before being perceived in whole or in part 0031 The term spectrum should be understood to refer to any one or more frequencies or wavelengths of radiation produced by one or more light sources Accordingly the term spectrum refers to frequencies or wavelengths not only in the visible range but also frequencies or wave lengths in the infrared ultraviolet and other areas of the overall electromagnetic spectrum Also a given spec
12. lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs when executed causes the lighting unit to generate essentially white light 30 The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least a first lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs when executed causes the lighting unit to generate first white light having a first color temperature 31 The apparatus of claim 30 wherein at least a second lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs when executed causes the lighting unit to generate second white light having a second color temperature different than the first color temperature 32 The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least one lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs when executed causes the lighting unit to generate a dynamic lighting effect 33 The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least one lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs when executed causes the lighting unit to generate light having at least one property based at least in part on a monitored detectable condition US 2006 0273741 Al Dec 7 2006 14 34 The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the monitored 36 The method of claim 35 wherein the at least one detectable condition includes at least one of a brightness and control signal is formatted according to a DMX protocol a spectral content of ambient light in proximity to the at least one lighting unit 37 The method of claim 35 wherein the at least one 35 A me
13. lighting unit is monitored and one or more of the color color temperature and brightness of the light generated by the lighting unit is determined or varied based at least in part on the monitored parameter s of the ambient light 0069 To this end the lighting unit 100 of FIG 1 may include any of a variety of signal sources 124 in the form of sensors or transducers that generate one or more signals 122 in response to some stimulus Examples of such sensors include but are not limited to various types of environmen tal condition sensors such as thermally sensitive e g temperature infrared sensors humidity sensors motion sensors photosensors light sensors e g photodiodes sen sors that are sensitive to one or more particular spectra of electromagnetic radiation such as spectroradiometers or spectrophotometers etc various types of cameras sound or vibration sensors or other pressure force transducers e g microphones piezoelectric devices and the like Additional examples of a signal source 124 include various metering detection devices that monitor electrical signals or charac teristics e g voltage current power resistance capaci tance inductance etc or chemical biological characteristics e g acidity a presence of one or more particular chemical or biological agents bacteria etc and provide one or more signals 122 based on measured values of the signals or characteristics 0070 While not sho
14. part of the LED e g some types of white LEDs In general the term LED may refer to packaged LEDs non packaged LEDs surface mount LEDs chip on board LEDs T package mount LEDs radial pack age LEDs power package LEDs LEDs including some type of encasement and or optical element e g a diffusing lens etc 0029 The term light source should be understood to refer to any one or more of a variety of radiation sources including but not limited to LED based sources including one or more LEDs as defined above incandescent sources e g filament lamps halogen lamps fluorescent sources phosphorescent sources high intensity discharge sources e g sodium vapor mercury vapor and metal halide lamps lasers other types of electroluminescent sources pyro luminescent sources e g flames candle luminescent sources e g gas mantles carbon arc radiation sources photo luminescent sources e g gaseous discharge sources cathode luminescent sources using electronic satia tion galvano luminescent sources crystallo luminescent sources kine luminescent sources thermo luminescent sources triboluminescent sources sonoluminescent sources radioluminescent sources and luminescent polymers 0030 A given light source may be configured to generate electromagnetic radiation within the visible spectrum out side the visible spectrum or a combination of both Hence the terms light and radiation are used
15. program includes a plurality of lighting programs wherein the at least one memory stores the plurality of lighting programs and wherein the at least one lighting unit is configured to select and execute a particular lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs based on the at least one interruption in the power 20 The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the at least one interruption includes a plurality of interruptions and wherein the at least one lighting unit is configured to select and execute different lighting programs of the plurality of lighting programs based on successive interruptions of the plurality of interruptions 21 The apparatus of claim 20 wherein each interruption of the plurality of interruptions has a corresponding dura tion and wherein the at least one lighting unit is configured to select and execute a different lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs if the corresponding duration of at least one interruption is less than or equal to a predetermined duration Dec 7 2006 22 The apparatus of claim 20 wherein each lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs is associated with one identifier in a sequence of identifiers and wherein the at least one lighting unit is configured to sequentially select and execute the different lighting programs based on the sequence of identifiers and the successive interruptions 23 A method comprising acts of A generating variable color o
16. second lighting commands are received by the control lable dimmer should be such that the resulting power cycle of the power 108 has a suitable duration for effecting a change in the light generated by the lighting unit 100 0076 In yet another implementation a controllable dim mer relay 500 designed primarily as a controllable dimmer may be particularly configured to accept incoming lighting US 2006 0273741 Al commands representing output powers throughout the range from zero to 100 and process the incoming lighting commands according to some predetermined threshold such that commands above the threshold cause a full power output and commands below the threshold cause a zero power output In this manner the controllable dimmer is configured to function a controllable relay notwithstanding the full range of possible lighting commands that it might receive For example a predetermined threshold may be set at 40 such that full output power is provided when received lighting commands represent values that exceed 40 and zero power is provided for incoming commands representing values less than 40 0077 Some examples of a controllable dimmer relay 500 suitable for use in connection with the power cycle control lighting unit 100 shown in FIG 2 include but are not limited to DMX controllable dimmers relays available from Chauvet of Hollywood Fla e g the DMX 1 or DMX 4 dimmer relay packs see www chauvetlighting com vari
17. this particular example 0085 One issue that may arise in implementations in which multiple power cycle controlled lighting units are coupled to the same controllable dimmer relay relates to synchronization amongst the lighting units This issue is discussed in U S Pat No 6 801 003 issued Oct 5 2004 to Dowling et al and entitled Systems and Methods for Synchronizing Lighting Effects which patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference For example it may be desirable to select and execute an identical lighting program in each of multiple lighting units coupled to the same dimmer that generates the same dynamic time varying lighting effect from each lighting unit Upon initial selection of the lighting program essentially simultaneously in each of the lighting units e g by one or more power cycles provided identically and essentially simultaneously to all of the lighting units and subsequent execution of the program the generation of the lighting effect indeed may appear synchronized amongst the lighting units at least initially However over time the lighting effects generated by the respective lighting units may gradually become out of phase with one another and may no longer be synchronous This may be due to slight variations over time or drift in the timing elements common to the respective processors con trollers of the lighting units which may be subject to variation because of differences to due manufacturin
18. 0038 The term addressable is used herein to refer to a device e g a light source in general a lighting unit or fixture a controller or processor associated with one or more light sources or lighting units a controllable dimmer or controllable relay associated with a lighting unit other non lighting related devices etc that is configured to receive information e g data intended for multiple devices including itself and to selectively respond to par ticular information intended for it The term addressable often is used in connection with a networked environment or a network discussed further below in which multiple devices are coupled together via some communications medium or media 0039 In one network implementation one or more devices coupled to a network may serve as a controller for one or more other devices coupled to the network e g ina master slave relationship In another implementation a networked environment may include one or more dedicated controllers that are configured to control one or more of the devices coupled to the network Generally multiple devices coupled to the network each may have access to data that is US 2006 0273741 Al present on the communications medium or media however a given device may be addressable in that it is configured to selectively exchange data with 1 e receive data from and or transmit data to the network based for example on one or more
19. D output that may arise if a variable LED drive current were employed In another aspect the controller 105 may control other dedicated cir cuitry not shown in FIG 1 which in turn controls the light sources so as to vary their respective intensities 0052 In general the intensity radiant output power of radiation generated by the one or more light sources is proportional to the average power delivered to the light source s over a given time period Accordingly one tech nique for varying the intensity of radiation generated by the one or more light sources involves modulating the power delivered to i e the operating power of the light source s For some types of light sources including LED based sources this may be accomplished effectively using a pulse width modulation PWM technique 0053 In one exemplary implementation of a PWM con trol technique for each channel of a lighting unit a fixed predetermined voltage V ource 1S applied periodically across a given light source constituting the channel The application of the voltage V ource May be accomplished via one or more switches not shown in FIG 1 controlled by the controller 105 While the voltage V ourse 18 applied across the light source a predetermined fixed current Louce e g deter mined by a current regulator also not shown in FIG 1 is allowed to flow through the light source Again recall that Dec 7 2006 an LED based light source may include one o
20. US 20060273741A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2006 0273741 Al Stalker II 43 Pub Date Dec 7 2006 54 75 73 METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING POWER CYCLE CONTROL OF LIGHTING DEVICES BASED ON NETWORK PROTOCOLS Inventor John C Stalker III Wilmington MA US Correspondence Address WOLF GREENFIELD amp SACKS PC FEDERAL RESERVE PLAZA 600 ATLANTIC AVENUE BOSTON MA 02210 2206 US Assignee Color Kinetics Incorporated Boston Publication Classification 51 Int Cl HOSB 41736 2006 01 DY TIS e ESA ie ols econo nda ohare 315 291 57 ABSTRACT A controllable dimmer relay used in combination with a power cycle control lighting device wherein the control lable dimmer relay serves as a network interface for the power cycle control lighting device The controllable dim mer relay is controlled by lighting commands formatted according to any of a variety of communications protocols which instruct the controllable dimmer relay to output one or more power cycles interruptions in power rather than MA US gradual increases or decreases in power In response to the power cycle s output by the controllable dimmer relay the 21 Appl No 11 422 589 power cycle control lighting device alters some aspect of the generated light e g change one or more of color color 22 Filed Jun 6 2006 temperature overall brightness dy
21. be employed as a retrofit lighting device in virtually any circumstance involving a conventional light bulb and socket arrangement for delivering power to the light bulb In this manner a simple toggle of a light switch used to control the light bulb may be used in the case of the retrofit power cycle control lighting device to generate a variety of different colors of light or color temperatures of white light as well as preprogrammed dynamic lighting effects 0018 Applicants have also recognized and appreciated that a variety of controllable dimmers or relays which may be controlled via any of a variety of network communication protocols to provide variable output power e g from zero to 100 available power or switched output power to lighting devices may be particularly operated via appropriate commands to provide power cycles or interruptions in power constituting relatively quick transitions between 100 and zero power rather than gradual increases or decreases in output power in the case of conventionally operated controllable dimmers 0019 In view of the foregoing various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods and apparatus for implementing power cycle control of lighting devices based on network communication protocols For example in one embodiment a controllable dimmer or controllable relay is employed together with a power cycle control lighting device wherein the controllable dimmer relay serves
22. by the lighting unit etc Alternatively such identifiers may be determined at the time of initial use of the lighting unit in the field and again may be alterable or non alterable thereafter 0061 In another aspect as also shown in FIG 1 the lighting unit 100 optionally may include or otherwise be associated with one or more user interfaces 118 that are provided to facilitate any of a number of user selectable settings or functions e g generally controlling the light output of the lighting unit 100 changing and or selecting various pre programmed lighting programs that when executed cause various lighting effects to be generated by the lighting unit changing and or selecting various param eters of selected lighting programs setting particular iden tifiers such as addresses or serial numbers for the lighting unit etc 0062 In one implementation the user interface 118 may constitute one or more switches e g a standard wall switch that are coupled to an AC line voltage 160 as a source of power which switch es is are toggled to provide operating power 108 to the controller 105 In one aspect of this implementation the controller 105 is configured to monitor the operating power 108 as controlled by the user interface 118 and in turn control one or more of the light sources based at least in part on a duration of a power interruption or power cycle caused by operation of the user interface As discussed above the
23. controller may be particularly configured to respond to a predetermined duration of a power interruption by for example selecting one or more pre programmed control signals stored in memory modify ing control signals generated by executing one or more lighting programs 170 1 or 170 2 selecting and executing a new lighting program from memory or otherwise affecting the light generated by one or more of the light sources 0063 In one aspect of a power cycle control implemen tation the controller 105 may be configured to control the US 2006 0273741 Al light sources 104 based on one or more interruptions in the operating power 108 having an interruption duration that is less than or equal to a predetermined duration In another aspect of this embodiment if the interruption duration of an interruption in the power 108 is greater than the predeter mined duration the controller 105 does not effect any changes in the radiation output by the light sources 104 More specifically according to one embodiment the con troller 105 may include a timing circuit 150 that monitors operating power 108 wherein the processor 102 is config ured to provide one or more control signals 106 to the light sources 104 based on the monitored power 108 In another aspect the timing circuit 150 may include an RC circuit not shown explicitly in FIG 1 having one or more capacitors that maintain a charge based on the application of the power 108 to the timin
24. cts To this end in one embodiment the controller may include a processor 102 e g a microprocessor pro grammed to provide such control signals to one or more of the light sources In one aspect discussed further below the processor 102 may be programmed to provide such control signals in response to one or more interruptions in the power or power cycles applied to the lighting unit 0058 Thus the lighting unit 100 may include a wide variety of colors of LEDs in various combinations including two or more of red green and blue LEDs to produce a color mix as well as one or more other LEDs to create varying colors and color temperatures of white light For example red green and blue can be mixed with amber white UV orange IR or other colors of LEDs Additionally multiple white LEDs having different color temperatures e g one or more first white LEDs that generate a first spectrum corre sponding to a first color temperature and one or more second white LEDs that generate a second spectrum corre sponding to a second color temperature different than the first color temperature may be employed in an all white LED lighting unit or in combination with other colors of LEDs Such combinations of differently colored LEDs and or different color temperature white LEDs in the lighting unit 100 can facilitate accurate reproduction of a host of desirable spectrums of lighting conditions examples of which include but are not li
25. e deployed in a given environment and controlled remotely 0004 In addition to some domestic and other architec tural applications a number of dimmers also may be employed in entertainment venues e g theaters concert halls etc to facilitate variable brightness control of several lighting devices e g used to provide stage lighting Mul Dec 7 2006 tiple dimmers deployed in such environments as well as other controllable devices may be controlled in a networked fashion via a central control interface sometimes referred to as a control console using a communication protocol commonly referred to as DMX512 often shortened to DMX In the DMX protocol dimming instructions are transmitted from the central control interface to multiple dimmers as control data that is formatted into packets including 512 bytes of data in which each data byte is constituted by 8 bits representing a digital value of between zero and 255 These 512 data bytes are preceded by a start code byte An entire packet including 513 bytes start code plus data is transmitted serially at 250 kbit s pursuant to RS 485 voltage levels and cabling practices wherein the start of a packet is signified by a break of at least 88 microseconds 0005 In the DMX protocol each data byte of the 512 bytes in a given packet is intended as a dimming instruction for a particular dimmer wherein a digital value of zero indicates no power output from th
26. e dimmer to the lighting device i e light off and a digital value of 255 indicates full power output 100 available power from the dimmer to the lighting device 1 e light on Thus a given commu nication channel employing the DMX protocol convention ally can support up to 512 addresses DMX dimmers A given DMX dimmer generally is configured to respond to only one particular data byte of the 512 bytes in the packet and ignore the other packets based on a particular position of the desired data byte in the overall sequence of the 512 data bytes in the packet To this end conventional DMX dimmers often are equipped with an address selection mechanism that may be manually set by a user installer to determine the particular position of the data byte that the dimmer responds to in a given DMX packet 0006 Some examples of commercially available DMX dimmers include the DMX 1 or DMX 4 Dimmer Relay Packs manufactured by Chauvet of Hollywood Florida see www chauvetlighting com the DMX 1 User Manual at www chauvetlighting com system pdfs DMX 1_UG pdf is hereby incorporated herein by reference These products may be operated to provide gradually variable output power between zero to 100 based on a corresponding input DMX command that may vary between digital values of zero and 255 In one mode of operation these products may be selected to function as an addressable controllable relay wherein full power output is provided when the rece
27. e s Examples of user interfaces that may be employed in various implementations of the present disclo sure include but are not limited to switches potentiometers buttons dials sliders a mouse keyboard keypad various types of game controllers e g joysticks track balls dis play screens various types of graphical user interfaces GUIs touch screens microphones and other types of sensors that may receive some form of human generated stimulus and generate a signal in response thereto 0042 It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater detail below are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein In particular all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein It should also be appreciated that terminology explicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosure incorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most consistent with the particular concepts disclosed herein BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0043 FIG 1 illustrates an example of a power cycle control lighting unit that may be used in combination with a controllable dimmer or relay according to one embodi ment of the present disclosure 0044 FIG 2 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus including a power cycle control lightin
28. es essentially the same spec trum as the radiation sample in question Black body radiator color temperatures generally fall within a range of from approximately 700 degrees K typically considered the first visible to the human eye to over 10 000 degrees K white light generally is perceived at color temperatures above 1500 2000 degrees K 0034 Lower color temperatures generally indicate white light having a more significant red component or a warmer feel while higher color temperatures generally indicate white light having a more significant blue component or a cooler feel By way of example fire has a color tempera ture of approximately 1 800 degrees K a conventional incandescent bulb has a color temperature of approximately 2848 degrees K early morning daylight has a color tem perature of approximately 3 000 degrees K and overcast midday skies have a color temperature of approximately 10 000 degrees K A color image viewed under white light having a color temperature of approximately 3 000 degree K has a relatively reddish tone whereas the same color image viewed under white light having a color temperature of approximately 10 000 degrees K has a relatively bluish tone 0035 The terms lighting unit and lighting fixture are used interchangeably herein to refer to an apparatus includ ing one or more light sources of same or different types A given lighting unit may have any one of a variety of mounting ar
29. g circuit 150 In this aspect a time constant of the RC circuit may be particularly selected based on a desired predetermined duration of an interruption in the power 108 that causes the controller 105 e g via the processor 102 to effect some change in the light output by the light sources 104 0064 For example according to one aspect of this embodiment the controller may be adapted to modify one or more variable parameters of one or more lighting programs 170 1 or 170 2 based on one or more interruptions in the power 108 having less than or equal to the predetermined duration Alternatively in another aspect of this embodi ment if a number of lighting programs are stored in the memory 114 the controller 105 may be adapted to select and execute a particular lighting program based on one or more interruptions in the power 108 having less than or equal to the predetermined duration 0065 In particular the controller 105 may be configured to select and execute different lighting programs stored in the memory 114 based on successive interruptions in the power 108 i e successive power cycles In this aspect each lighting program stored in the memory may be asso ciated with one identifier in a sequence of identifiers e g program 1 program 2 program 3 etc The controller 105 may be adapted to sequentially select and execute a different lighting program based on the sequence of identifiers assigned to the programs by toggl
30. g pro cesses temperature changes etc This process of drifting out of phase while perhaps slow in some cases ultimately may become visibly observable in the respective lighting effects 0086 In view of the foregoing according to yet another embodiment with reference again to FIG 1 the controller 105 of the lighting unit 100 may be configured to monitor the operating power 108 provided by a controllable dimmer relay and synchronize the execution of a given selected lighting program and hence the corresponding generated lighting effect with a parameter of the operating power For example in one aspect the processor 102 may be configured so as coordinate the timing of execution of the lighting program with the frequency of the signal providing the Dec 7 2006 operating power 108 an A C line voltage In other aspects the processor 102 may be configured so as to coordinate the execution of the lighting program with a transient parameter of the operating power 108 or other randomly periodically or otherwise occurring parameter of the power 108 e g a zero crossing of the A C line voltage In this manner the respective lighting effects generated by multiple lighting units coupled to the same operating power i e the output of the same controllable dimmer relay may be synchro nized 0087 Having thus described several illustrative embodi ments it is to be appreciated that various alterations modi fications and
31. g unit similar to that discussed above in connection with FIG 1 in combination with a controllable dimmer relay according to one embodi ment of the disclosure Dec 7 2006 0045 FIG 3 is a diagram illustrating a networked light ing system according to one embodiment of the disclosure that employs the controllable dimmer relay power cycle control lighting unit combination shown in FIG 2 DETAILED DESCRIPTION 0046 Various embodiments of the present disclosure are described below including certain embodiments relating particularly to LED based light sources It should be appre ciated however that the present disclosure is not limited to any particular manner of implementation and that the vari ous embodiments discussed explicitly herein are primarily for purposes of illustration For example the various con cepts discussed herein may be suitably implemented in a variety of environments involving LED based light sources other types of light sources not including LEDs environ ments that involve both LEDs and other types of light sources in combination and environments that involve non lighting related devices alone or in combination with various types of light sources 0047 FIG 1 illustrates one example of a power cycle control lighting unit 100 that may be used in combination with a controllable dimmer or relay according to one embodiment of the present disclosure Some general examples of LED based lighting uni
32. gen erate a color changing effect in each lighting unit coupled to a given controllable dimmer relay so as to generate the US 2006 0273741 Al appearance of an evolving rainbow of colors e g time varying change of colors throughout the visible spectrum In this example the operator may provide a simple instruc tion to the central controller 202 to accomplish this and in turn the central controller may communicate to one or more LUCs using an Ethernet based protocol high level command to generate a rainbow When a given LUC receives such a command it may then interpret the command and com municate further commands to one or more controllable dimmers relays using a DMX protocol for the control sig nals 120 based on knowledge of a particular stored program in the lighting units that when selected and executed generates the rainbow effect Accordingly the control sig nals 120 issued to the DMX controllable dimmers relays result in an appropriate number sequence of power cycles output by the controllable dimmer relays such that the program representing the rainbow effect is selected and executed in the lighting units 0084 It should again be appreciated that the foregoing example of using multiple different communication imple mentations protocols e g Ethernet DMX in a lighting system according to one embodiment of the present disclo sure is for purposes of illustration only and that the disclo sure is not limited to
33. ghting functions across the network Examples of such DALI compatible control devices include local wall mounted controls that enable manual push button switching to select programmed dimming scenes a computer for centralized lighting control local PCs for individual occu pant control as well as occupancy sensors photosensors and other controls 0010 In one exemplary implementation from a central PC configured to communicate with devices pursuant to the DALI protocol a user operator e g lighting manager for a facility can individually address each DALI based ballast in a building or gang them in groups then program each ballast or group to dim from 100 to 1 either on a scheduled basis or in reaction to preset conditions such as available day light In another aspect the DALI based controllable bal lasts dimmers themselves may provide information back to a control device such as a PC which information may be used to identify lighting device and or ballast failure and generate general energy consumption information Some common examples of DALI based lighting network deploy ments include small and open offices where users can control their own lighting conference rooms and classrooms that require different lighting scenes for multiple types of use supermarkets and certain retail spaces where merchandising and layout changes frequently hotel lobbies and meeting spaces to accommodate times of day events and functions and res
34. gnals 120 represent lighting commands formatted according to a DMX protocol In particular in one aspect of this embodi ment each LUC may be configured as an addressable Ethernet based controller and accordingly may be identifi able to the central controller 202 via a particular unique address or a unique group of addresses using an Ethernet based protocol In this manner the central controller 202 may be configured to support Ethernet communications throughout the network of coupled LUCs and each LUC may respond to those communications intended for it In turn each LUC may communicate lighting control informa tion to one or more controllable dimmers relays coupled to it for example via a DMX protocol based on the Ethernet communications with the central controller 202 In one aspect one or more controllable dimmers relays coupled to a given LUC would have appropriate addresses selected so as to receive a particular data byte of the 512 data bytes typically present in a DMX packet 0083 More specifically according to one embodiment the LUCs 208A 208B and 208C shown in FIG 3 may be configured to be intelligent in that the central controller 202 may be configured to communicate higher level com mands to the LUCs that need to be interpreted by the LUCs before lighting control information can be forwarded to the controllable dimmers relays 500 as the control signals 120 For example a lighting system operator may want to
35. grating function of the eye perceives essen tially continuous light generation By adjusting the pulse width i e on time or duty cycle of on off cycles of the control signal the controller varies the average amount of time the light source is energized in any given time period and hence varies the average operating power of the light source In this manner the perceived brightness of the generated light from each channel in turn may be varied 0055 As discussed in greater detail below the controller 105 may be configured to control each different light source channel of a multi channel lighting unit at a predetermined average operating power to provide a corresponding radiant output power for the light generated by each channel Alternatively the controller 105 may be configured to vary the operating powers for one or more channels By varying operating powers for different channels different perceived colors and brightness levels of light may be generated by the lighting unit 0056 In one embodiment of the lighting unit 100 as mentioned above one or more of the light sources 104A 104B 104C and 104D shown in FIG 1 may include a group of multiple LEDs or other types of light sources e g various parallel and or serial connections of LEDs or other types of light sources that are controlled together by the controller 105 Additionally it should be appreciated that one or more of the light sources may include one or more
36. immer outputs essentially full power 13 The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the first and second types of control signals are formatted according to a DMX protocol 14 The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the first and second types of control signals are formatted according to an Ethernet protocol 15 The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the first and second types of control signals are formatted according to a DALI protocol 16 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one lighting unit is configured to control at least one property of the variable color or variable color temperature radiation based on the least one interruption in the power having a duration that is less than or equal to a predetermined duration 17 The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the at least one lighting unit is configured such that the at least one property of the variable color or variable color temperature radiation is not changed if the duration of the at least one interruption in the power is greater than the predetermined duration 18 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one lighting apparatus comprises at least one memory to store at least one lighting program and at least one processor configured to execute the at least one lighting program based on the at least one inter ruption in the power so as to control the variable color or variable color temperature radiation 19 The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the at least one lighting
37. in the lighting unit 100 include but are not limited to reflective materials refractive materials translu cent materials filters lenses mirrors and fiber optics The optical element 130 also may include a phosphorescent material luminescent material or other material capable of responding to or interacting with the generated radiation 0060 As shown in FIG 1 the lighting unit 100 also may include a memory 114 to store various information For example the memory 114 may be employed to store one or more lighting commands or programs for execution by the processor 102 e g to generate one or more control signals for the light sources as well as various types of data useful for generating variable color radiation e g calibration information FIG 1 depicts two lighting programs 170 1 and 170 2 LP1 and LP2 stored in the memory 114 for purposes of illustration although it should be appreciated that virtually any number of lighting programs may be stored in the memory The memory 114 also may store one or more particular identifiers e g a serial number an address etc that may be used either locally or on a system level to identify the lighting unit 100 In various embodi ments such identifiers may be pre programmed by a manu facturer for example and may be either alterable or non alterable thereafter e g via some type of user interface located on the lighting unit via one or more data or control signals received
38. ined duration the lighting unit does not vary the generated radiation In response to power cycle s of an appropriate duration output by the controllable dimmer relay 500 the power cycle control lighting unit 100 may be configured to alter various aspects of the generated light e g change one or more of color color temperature overall brightness dynamic effect etc As discussed above in connection with FIG 1 in some implementations changes in the generated light may be accomplished via selection and execution of different lighting programs stored in the lighting unit 100 in response to one or more power cycles 0073 In yet another aspect the controllable dimmer relay 500 serves as a network command interface for the power cycle control lighting unit 100 For example in various implementations the controllable dimmer relay 500 is particularly configured as an addressable network device that is controlled by one or more control signals 120 in the form of lighting commands formatted according to any of a variety of communications protocols In this manner the power cycle control lighting unit 100 may be made respon Dec 7 2006 sive via the controllable dimmer relay 500 to lighting control commands formatted according to any of a variety of industry standard e g DMX Ethernet DALI X10 or proprietary protocols Accordingly in yet another aspect network controllability is afforded to a power cycle control lighting u
39. ing through the different lighting programs with each successive power cycle having a duration of less than or equal to the predetermined dura tion Furthermore according to another aspect of this embodiment if a power cycle is greater than the predeter mined duration the controller 105 may be configured not to select and execute a different lighting program but rather execute or continue executing the last lighting program selected before the power cycle that was greater than the predetermined duration i e the lighting program selection does not change on a power up following interruption in the power signal of a significant duration 0066 More specifically in one exemplary implementa tion of the embodiment shown in FIG 1 upon power up the processor 102 periodically monitors the timing circuit 150 If the processor detects a logic high value output by the timing circuit 150 i e the most recent power cycle was less than the predetermined duration such that an RC circuit of the timing circuit 150 remained charged up the proces sor selects a new lighting program from the memory 114 However if the processor 102 detects a logic low value output by the timing circuit 150 i e the most recent power Dec 7 2006 cycle was greater than the predetermined duration such that an RC circuit of the timing circuit 150 was able to signifi cantly discharge the processor does not select a new lighting program but rather e
40. ived DMX command exceeds 40 1 e a digital value of greater than 102 and zero power is provided for incoming DMX commands less than 40 i e a digital value of less than 102 0007 In some lighting applications an Ethernet protocol also may be employed to control various lighting devices including dimmers Ethernet is a well known computer networking technology for local area networks LANs that defines wiring and signaling requirements for intercon nected devices forming the network as well as frame formats and protocols for data transmitted over the network Devices coupled to the network have respective unique addressess and data for one or more addressable devices on the network is organized as packets Each Ethernet packet includes a header that specifies a destination address to where the packet is going and a source address from where the packet came followed by a payload including several US 2006 0273741 Al bytes of data e g in Type II Ethernet frame protocol the payload may be from 46 data bytes to 1500 data bytes A packet concludes with an error correction code or check sum Some dimming control systems involving multiple dimmers may be configured for control via an Ethernet protocol or include multiple layers of control involving both Ethernet and DMX protocols Some examples of such systems are provided by Electonic Theatre Controls ETC of Middleton Wis see www etcconnect com inc
41. light may be employed in the lighting unit 100 as discussed further below 0051 As shown in FIG 1 the lighting unit 100 also may include a controller 105 that is configured to output one or more control signals 106 to drive the light sources so as to generate various brightness levels intensities of light from the light sources For example in one implementation the controller 105 may be configured to output at least one control signal for each light source so as to independently control the brightness or intensity of light e g radiant power in lumens generated by each light source alterna tively the controller 105 may be configured to output one or more control signals to collectively control a group of two or more light sources identically Some examples of control signals that may be generated by the controller to control the light sources include but are not limited to pulse modulated signals pulse width modulated signals PWM pulse ampli tude modulated signals PAM pulse code modulated sig nals PCM analog control signals e g current control signals voltage control signals combinations and or modu lations of the foregoing signals or other control signals In one aspect particularly in connection with LED based sources one or more modulation techniques provide for variable control using a fixed current level applied to one or more LEDs so as to mitigate potential undesirable or unpredictable variations in LE
42. lly these types of lighting devices require multiple electrical connections including multiple wires cables and or connectors or multiple contact pin connectors to accommodate the pro vision of both the operating power and the lighting com mands to the lighting device Accordingly these types of lighting devices generally cannot be employed in conven tional types of lighting sockets or lighting fixtures including conventional sockets that provide only operating power to the device some examples of such conventional sockets include but are not limited to incandescent Edison base screw type sockets halogen or MR 16 bi pin sockets fluo rescent sockets etc US 2006 0273741 Al 0014 However other types of variable color lighting devices suitable for a variety of applications have been implemented that require only a conventional power source e g an AC line voltage and accordingly may be config ured for use with conventional types of lighting sockets or lighting fixtures equipped with conventional sockets In one aspect such lighting devices may be further configured such that a color or other property of light generated by the device may be changed in response to one or more interruptions of power provided to the device Examples of such lighting devices are described in U S Pat No 6 967 448 entitled Methods and Apparatus for Controlling Illumination hereby incorporated herein by reference Such lighting device
43. luding model CEM control modules and model Sensor dimmer modules designed to operate based on input control signals formatted according to Ethernet or DMX protocols 0008 In yet other lighting applications the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface DALI protocol also may be employed to control various lighting devices including dimmers The DALI protocol has been employed exten sively primarily in Europe and Asia to facilitate variable brightness control of multiple fluorescent lighting devices via addressable ballasts coupled together in a network configuration and configured to be responsive to lighting commands formatted according to the DALI protocol Con ventionally a digital fluorescent lighting network employing a DALI protocol is based on digital 120 277V fluorescent electronic ballasts typically available in one and two lamp models that operate linear T5 TSHO and T8 fluorescent lamps as well as compact fluorescent lamps DALI based ballasts and controllable dimmers also are available for high intensity discharge HID incandescent and low volt age halogen systems 0009 As with DMX or Ethernet based lighting net works each controllable device in a DALI based network is given an address so that it can be individually controlled or grouped in multiple configurations One or more DALI compatible control device s are then coupled to the network of interconnected controllable ballasts dimmers to control li
44. mited to a variety of outside daylight equivalents at different times of the day various interior lighting conditions lighting conditions to simulate a complex multicolored background and the like Other desir able lighting conditions can be created by removing par ticular pieces of spectrum that may be specifically absorbed attenuated or reflected in certain environments Water for example tends to absorb and attenuate most non blue and non green colors of light so underwater applications may benefit from lighting conditions that are tailored to empha size or attenuate some spectral elements relative to others 0059 In one embodiment the lighting unit 100 shown in FIG 1 also may include one or more optical elements 130 to optically process the radiation generated by the light sources 104A 104B 104C and 104D For example one or more optical elements may be configured so as to change one or both of a spatial distribution and a propagation direction of the generated radiation In particular one or more optical elements may be configured to change a diffusion angle of the generated radiation In one aspect of this embodiment one or more optical elements 130 may be particularly configured to variably change one or both of a spatial distribution and a propagation direction of the gen erated radiation e g in response to some electrical and or Dec 7 2006 mechanical stimulus Examples of optical elements that may be included
45. namic effect etc In this manner a power cycle control lighting device may be made Related U S Application Data responsive via the controllable dimmer relay to lighting control commands formatted according to any of a variety of 60 Provisional application No 60 687 772 filed on Jun industry standard e g DMX Ethernet DALI X10 or 6 2005 proprietary protocols ee 1350 OPTICAL FACILITY il SIGNAL CONTROLLER SOURCE rofe MEMORY 104D 170 1 PROCESSOR 104 150 118 ned TIMING CIRCUIT USER OPERATING INTERFACE POWER 108 US 2006 0273741 A1 Patent Application Publication Dec 7 2006 Sheet 1 of 3 Of ALMOV4A WOLdO L OW LINODYIO ONIWLL OGI YOSS390Nd YITIOYNLNOOD YaMOd ONILVYSdO o 0L 1 Zdi td l OL1 AYOWAN 201 JOV4X3LNI HASN ADYENOS TWWNOIS ool 9 Ll ll Patent Application Publication Dec 7 2006 Sheet 2 of 3 US 2006 0273741 A1 500 100 Lighting Unit Controllable Dimmer Relay 120 160 FIG 2 US 2006 0273741 A1 Patent Application Publication Dec 7 2006 Sheet 3 of 3 OOL LINA ONILHOMN oo LINN ONLLHOM oo LINN NLH N 00 LINN ONILH N ogl 80 80l 80 801 AVT3Y MaWNiG 00S AYTAY Y3WNIG AYTAY Y3WNIia J TIOYLNOO LINN ONILH N YATIONLNOOD LINA ONILH N YITIONLNOO LINA ONILHON YATIONLNOOD LINA ONILH N ago
46. nd lighting units 100 similar to those discussed above in connection with FIGS 1 and 2 are coupled together to form the networked lighting system It should be appreciated however that the particular configuration and arrangement of controllable dimmers relays and lighting units shown in FIG 3 primarily is for purposes of illustra tion and that the disclosure is not limited to the particular system topology shown in FIG 3 0080 As shown in the embodiment of FIG 3 the lighting system 200 may include one or more lighting unit controllers hereinafter LUCs 208A 208B 208C and 208D wherein each LUC is responsible for communicating with and generally controlling one or more controllable dimmers relays 500 coupled to it via the control signals 120 Although FIG 3 illustrates one controllable dimmer relay coupled to each LUC it should be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited in this respect as different numbers Dec 7 2006 of controllable dimmers relays 500 may be coupled to a given LUC in a variety of different configurations serially connections parallel connections combinations of serial and parallel connections etc using a variety of different communication media and protocols for the control signals 120 Additionally while FIG 3 illustrates one lighting unit 100 coupled to each controllable dimmer relay is should be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited in this respect as a given controllable
47. nit which may be easily retrofitted into a conven tional socket or non conventional socket that provides only the operating power 108 to the lighting unit 0074 In various implementations the controllable dim mer relay 500 may be particularly designed as a controllable relay also referred to as a controllable switch wherein there are only two possible states for the operating power 108 provided as an output to the lighting unit 100 namely zero power or 100 power based on the available line voltage 160 In one aspect of such an implementation the controllable relay may be responsive to control signals 120 corresponding to only two different lighting commands namely a first command representing zero output power and a second command representing 100 output power In another aspect the timing with which these respective first and second lighting commands are received by the control lable relay may in turn determine whether or not a resulting power cycle of the power 108 has a suitable duration for effecting a change in the light generated by the lighting unit 100 In another implementation a controllable relay may be configured to receive a single lighting command requesting the output of a power cycle and generate the power cycle having an appropriate duration for effecting some change in the light generated by the lighting unit In this manner the timing of lighting commands received by the controllable relay may not necessaril
48. om prising acts of A executing a particular lighting program of a plurality of lighting programs based at least in part on at least one interruption of power and B generating the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal formatted according to a network communi cation protocol 0025 As used herein for purposes of the present disclo sure the term LED should be understood to include any electroluminescent diode or other type of carrier injection junction based system that is capable of generating radiation in response to an electric signal Thus the term LED includes but is not limited to various semiconductor based structures that emit light in response to current light emit ting polymers organic light emitting diodes OLEDs elec troluminescent strips and the like 0026 In particular the term LED refers to light emitting diodes of all types including semi conductor and organic light emitting diodes that may be configured to generate radiation in one or more of the infrared spectrum ultraviolet spectrum and various portions of the visible spectrum generally including radiation wavelengths from approxi mately 400 nanometers to approximately 700 nanometers Some examples of LEDs include but are not limited to various types of infrared LEDs ultraviolet LEDs red LEDs blue LEDs green LEDs yellow LEDs amber LEDs orange LEDs and white LEDs discussed further below It also
49. ous DMX and or Ethernet controllable products available from Electonic Theatre Controls ETC of Middleton Wis e g the model CEM control modules and model Sen sor dimmer modules designed to operate based on input control signals or lighting commands formatted according to Ethernet or DMX protocols see www etcconnect com DALI based controllable dimmers available from a number of manufacturers and other controllable dimming products based on proprietary protocols such as the GRAFIK Eye line of dimming products available from Lutron Incorpo rated see www lutron com 0078 For example in one embodiment the interruption of power power cycle feature discussed above may be combined with DMX control In particular a DMX based controllable dimmer relay 500 may be configured to provide one or more power cycles i e power on off control signals to a lighting unit 100 in response to the receipt of particular instructions formatted in a DMX protocol e g an 8 bit digital value within a frame of 512 data bytes wherein a digital value of zero represents power off and a digital value of 255 represents full power on 0079 FIG 3 is a diagram illustrating a networked light ing system according to one embodiment of the disclosure that employs the controllable dimmer relay power cycle control lighting unit combination shown in FIG 2 In the embodiment of FIG 3 a number of controllable dimmers relays 500 a
50. particular identifiers e g addresses assigned to it 0040 The term network as used herein refers to any interconnection of two or more devices including control lers or processors that facilitates the transport of informa tion e g for device control data storage data exchange etc between any two or more devices and or among mul tiple devices coupled to the network As should be readily appreciated various implementations of networks suitable for interconnecting multiple devices may include any of a variety of network topologies and employ any of a variety of communication protocols Additionally in various networks according to the present disclosure any one connection between two devices may represent a dedicated connection between the two systems or alternatively a non dedicated connection In addition to carrying information intended for the two devices such a non dedicated connection may carry information not necessarily intended for either of the two devices e g an open network connection Furthermore it should be readily appreciated that various networks of devices as discussed herein may employ one or more wireless wire cable and or fiber optic links to facilitate information transport throughout the network 0041 The term user interface as used herein refers to an interface between a human user or operator and one or more devices that enables communication between the user and the devic
51. r more LEDs such that the voltage V ource may be applied to a group of LEDs constituting the source and the current I e may be drawn by the group of LEDs The fixed voltage V ource across the light source when energized and the regulated current Loure drawn by the light source when energized determines the amount of instantaneous operating power P___ of the light source P ource V source lsource AS men tioned above for LED based light sources using a regulated current mitigates potential undesirable or unpredictable variations in LED output that may arise if a variable LED drive current were employed 0054 According to the PWM technique by periodically applying the voltage V ource to the light source and varying the time the voltage is applied during a given on off cycle the average power delivered to the light source over time the average operating power may be modulated In par ticular the controller 105 may be configured to apply the voltage Vource to a given light source in a pulsed fashion e g by outputting a control signal that operates one or more switches to apply the voltage to the light source preferably at a frequency that is greater than that capable of being detected by the human eye e g greater than approximately 100 Hz In this manner an observer of the light generated by the light source does not perceive the discrete on off cycles commonly referred to as a flicker effect but instead the inte
52. r variable color temperature radiation based at least in part on at least one interrup tion of power and B generating the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal formatted accord ing to a network communication protocol 24 The method of claim 23 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to a DMX protocol 25 The method of claim 23 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to an Ethernet proto col 26 The method of claim 23 wherein the at least one control signal is formatted according to a DALI protocol 27 An apparatus comprising at least one lighting unit including a processor and a memory having a plurality of lighting programs stored therein the at least one lighting unit being configured to select and execute a particular lighting program of the plurality of programs based at least in part on at least one interruption of power supplied to the at least one lighting unit and at least one of a controllable dimmer and a controllable relay coupled to the at least one lighting unit and configured to generate the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal 28 The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least one lighting program of the plurality of lighting programs when executed causes the lighting unit to generate light having a static non white color 29 The apparatus of claim 27 wherein at least one
53. rangements for the light source s enclosure housing arrangements and shapes and or electrical and mechanical connection configurations Additionally a given lighting unit optionally may be associated with e g include be coupled to and or packaged together with vari ous other components e g control circuitry relating to the operation of the light source s An LED based lighting unit refers to a lighting unit that includes one or more LED based light sources as discussed above alone or in combination with other non LED based light sources A multi channel lighting unit refers to an LED based or non Dec 7 2006 LED based lighting unit that includes at least two light sources configured to respectively generate different spec trums of radiation wherein each different source spectrum may be referred to as a channel of the multi channel lighting unit 0036 The term controller is used herein generally to describe various apparatus relating to the operation of one or more light sources A controller can be implemented in numerous ways e g such as with dedicated hardware to perform various functions discussed herein A processor is one example of a controller which employs one or more microprocessors that may be programmed using software e g microcode to perform various functions discussed herein A controller may be implemented with or without employing a processor and also may be implemented
54. riable color or variable color temperature radiation based at least in part on at least one interruption of power supplied to the at least one lighting unit and one of a controllable dimmer and a controllable relay coupled to the at least one lighting unit and configured to generate the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal US 2006 0273741 Al 0022 Another embodiment is directed to a method com prising acts of A generating variable color or variable color temperature radiation based at least in part on at least one interruption of power and B generating the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal formatted according to a network communication protocol 0023 Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus comprising at least one lighting unit including a processor and a memory having a plurality of lighting programs stored therein The at least one lighting unit is configured to select and execute a particular lighting program of the plurality of programs based at least in part on at least one interruption of power supplied to the at least one lighting unit The appa ratus further comprises at least one of a controllable dimmer and a controllable relay coupled to the at least one lighting unit and configured to generate the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal 0024 Another embodiment is directed to a method c
55. s alternatively may be configured to process lighting control commands that are formatted according to a DMX protocol 0012 Inaddition to merely varying the brightness of light generated by a lighting device some types of lighting devices may be configured to generate different colors of light wherein both the color and the brightness of light generated at any given time may be varied One example of a multicolor lighting device based on LED light sources that may be controlled via lighting commands formatted accord ing to a DMX protocol so as to vary the color and or brightness of generated light is described in U S Pat No 6 016 038 entitled Multicolored LED Lighting Method and Apparatus hereby incorporated herein by reference In some implementations such multicolor lighting devices also may be controlled by lighting commands formatted accord ing to an Ethernet protocol for example in one implemen tation a translation device may be employed that receives lighting commands formatted according to an Ethernet pro tocol from a local area network and translates the Ethernet lighting commands to lighting commands formatted accord ing to a DMX protocol which are in turn processed by the lighting device so as to control the color and or brightness of the generated light 0013 Because the DMX or Ethernet based multicolor lighting devices described above need to receive both oper ating power and lighting commands genera
56. s may be coupled to a source of power via one or more switches that are conventionally employed to turn the light ing device s on and off e g a standard wall switch However beyond merely turning the lighting device s on and off the switch es may be further employed to generate one or more power cycles or periodic interruptions of power e g on off on power transitions having particular durations which in turn affect some aspect of light generated by the lighting device For purposes of the present disclo sure such lighting devices are referred to accordingly as power cycle control lighting devices 0015 More specifically in one exemplary implementa tion a power cycle control lighting device may include a controller e g a microprocessor configured to monitor the power provided to the device so as to detect one or more power cycles in response to which the controller takes some action that affects the generated light For example while power is applied to the lighting device the controller may be particularly configured to detect a power cycle an on off on transition having a predetermined duration and respond to the power cycle by changing the color and or some other property of the generated light 0016 In some implementations power cycle control lighting devices may be equipped with memory in which is stored one or more pre programmed lighting control signals or sequences of lighting control signals
57. taurants to match the lighting to time of day break fast to lunch to dinner DALI based components including Dec 7 2006 controllable ballasts dimmers are available from several manufacturers some examples of which include Advance Transformer Osram Sylvania Quicktronic DALI dimming ballasts Tridonic DigialDIM and other products HUNT dimming Eclipsis PS D4 Leviton CD250 DALI Dim ming Scene Controller and Lightolier Controls Agili T network fixtures 0011 Yet other lighting applications relating to dimming may provide for dimming and brightness control via pro prietary communication protocols other than the DMX Ethernet or DALI examples discussed above For example Lutron Electronics Inc www lutron com provides a vari ety of systems under the name GRAFIK Eye that implement preset lighting brightness conditions in multiple lighting zones via programmed control of multiple dimmers see www lutron com grafikeye The Lutron GRAFIK Eye systems typically receive lighting control commands that are formatted according to a proprietry Lutron GRAFIK Eye protocol wherein the lighting control commands correspond to various preset lighting brightness conditions in different lighting zones In one implementation lighting control commands for the Lutron GRAFIK Eye systems are generated via a personal computer PC running propri etary Windows based software In some implementations the GRAFIK Eye system
58. thod comprising acts of control signal is formatted according to an Ethernet proto A executing a particular lighting program of a plurality al i of lighting programs based at least in part on at least 38 The method of claim 35 wherein the at least one one interruption of power and control signal is formatted according to a DALI protocol B generating the at least one interruption of power in response to at least one control signal formatted accord ing to a network communication protocol koko okoko
59. tion with FIG 1 in combination with a controllable dimmer relay 500 In particular the lighting unit 100 is configured to generate variable color or variable color temperature radiation based at least in part on one or more interruptions of the power 108 supplied to the lighting unit As shown in FIG 2 the controllable dimmer relay 500 provides as an output the power 108 for the lighting unit 100 and receives as an input the line voltage 160 as a source of power The controllable dimmer relay 500 also receives as an input at least one electrical control signal 120 in response to which the controllable dimmer relay 500 generates the one or more interruptions of power While FIG 2 illustrates one lighting unit 100 coupled to the controllable dimmer relay 500 it should be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited in this respect as a given controllable dimmer relay may be configured with an appro priate power rating to provide operating power 108 to multiple power cycle control lighting units 100 0072 In one aspect as discussed above in connection with FIG 1 the lighting unit 100 may be configured to generate the variable color or variable color temperature radiation based on one or more interruptions in the operating power 108 i e one or more power cycles having an duration that is less than or equal to a predetermined duration In another aspect of this embodiment if the duration of power cycle is greater than the predeterm
60. trum US 2006 0273741 Al may have a relatively narrow bandwidth e g a FWHM having essentially few frequency or wavelength compo nents or a relatively wide bandwidth several frequency or wavelength components having various relative strengths It should also be appreciated that a given spectrum may be the result of a mixing of two or more other spectra e g mixing radiation respectively emitted from multiple light sources 0032 For purposes of this disclosure the term color is used interchangeably with the term spectrum However the term color generally is used to refer primarily to a property of radiation that is perceivable by an observer although this usage is not intended to limit the scope of this term Accordingly the terms different colors implicitly refer to multiple spectra having different wavelength com ponents and or bandwidths It also should be appreciated that the term color may be used in connection with both white and non white light 0033 The term color temperature generally is used herein in connection with white light although this usage is not intended to limit the scope of this term Color tempera ture essentially refers to a particular color content or shade e g reddish bluish of white light The color temperature of a given radiation sample conventionally is characterized according to the temperature in degrees Kelvin K of a black body radiator that radiat
61. ts similar to those that are described below in connection with FIG 1 may be found for example in U S Pat No 6 967 448 issued Nov 22 2005 to Morgan et al entitled Methods and Apparatus for Controlling Illumination which patent is hereby incor porated herein by reference 0048 In various embodiments of the present disclosure the lighting unit 100 shown in FIG 1 may be used alone or together with other similar lighting units in a system of lighting units e g as discussed further below in connection with FIG 2 Used alone or in combination with other lighting units the lighting unit 100 may be employed in a variety of applications including but not limited to interior or exterior space e g architectural lighting and illumina tion in general direct or indirect illumination of objects or spaces theatrical or other entertainment based special effects lighting decorative lighting safety oriented lighting illumination of liquids such as in pools and spas and lighting associated with or illumination of displays and or merchandise e g for advertising and or in retail consumer environments 0049 Additionally one or more lighting units similar to that described in connection with FIG 1 may be imple mented in a variety of products including but not limited to various forms of light modules or bulbs having various shapes and electrical mechanical coupling arrangements including replacement or retrofit
62. wn explicitly in FIG 1 the lighting unit 100 may be implemented in any one of several different structural configurations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure Examples of such configurations include but are not limited to an essentially linear or curvilinear configuration a circular configuration an oval configuration a rectangular configuration combinations of the foregoing various other geometrically shaped configu US 2006 0273741 Al rations various two or three dimensional configurations and the like A given lighting unit also may have any one of a variety of mounting arrangements for the light source s enclosure housing arrangements and shapes to partially or fully enclose the light sources and or electrical and mechanical connection configurations In particular in some implementations a lighting unit may be configured as a replacement or retrofit to engage electrically and mechani cally in a conventional socket or fixture arrangement e g an Edison type screw socket a halogen fixture arrangement a fluorescent fixture arrangement etc Additionally one or more optical elements as discussed above may be partially or fully integrated with an enclosure housing arrangement for the lighting unit 0071 FIG 2 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus according to one embodiment of the disclosure that com prises a power cycle control lighting unit 100 similar to that discussed above in connec
63. xecutes the lighting program that was selected prior to the most recent power cycle 0067 Upon execution by the processor 102 a given lighting program may be configured to generate any of a variety of possible lighting states from the lighting unit 100 For example multiple lighting programs may be stored in the memory 114 that when executed generate respective static states of different light colors as well as different color temperatures of white light e g program 1 purple light program 2 warm white program 3 cool white program 4 sky blue etc Additionally one or more lighting pro grams may be stored in the memory 114 that when executed generate one or more dynamic time varying lighting effects e g flashing a single color at some prede termined rate cycling through multiple colors at some predetermined rate toggling between two or more colors at some predetermined rate etc 0068 Additionally sensor responsiveness may be inte grated into a given lighting program for example a lighting program stored in the memory 114 may be configured such that when executed some detectable condition is monitored e g Via one or more sensors coupled to the controller 105 and one or more states of light are generated based at least in part on the monitored detectable condition For example a lighting program may be configured such that a brightness level and or spectral content of ambient light in proximity to the
64. y affect the duration of power cycles generated by the controllable relay 0075 In yet another implementation the controllable dimmer relay 500 may be particularly designed as a con trollable dimmer wherein the operating power 108 provided as an output to the lighting unit 100 may be varied between zero and 100 based on a corresponding value represented by a given control signal 120 Stated differently the con trollable dimmer may be responsive to control signals hav ing a variety of values representing intermediate output powers between zero and 100 In one aspect of this implementation to ensure appropriate operation in combi nation with the power cycle control lighting unit 100 the control signals 120 sent to the controllable dimmer accord ingly should be limited to only two different lighting com mands e g representing the extreme possibilities namely a first command representing zero output power and a second command representing essentially 100 output power without any other commands representing interme diate powers being sent to the controllable dimmer In this manner the controllable dimmer may be instructed to output one or more power cycles rather than gradual increases or decreases in output power in essence the controllable dimmer is operated as a controllable relay As in the case with the controllable relay implementation described above in another aspect the timing with which these respective first and
65. z V807 v0E YAITIONLNOO WHYLNAD cog ooz US 2006 0273741 Al METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING POWER CYCLE CONTROL OF LIGHTING DEVICES BASED ON NETWORK PROTOCOLS CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 The present application claims the benefit under 35 U S C 119 e of U S Provisional Application Ser No 60 687 772 filed Jun 6 2005 entitled Controlled Lighting Methods and Apparatus which is incorporated herein by reference BACKGROUND 0002 A conventional dimmer is a device that is used to vary the brightness of light generated by a lighting device Historically dimmers have been used perhaps most com monly with incandescent lighting devices wherein the dim mer is employed to vary the average power provided to the lighting device and the resulting brightness of light gener ated by the lighting device varies in relation to the power provided to the lighting device More specifically a con ventional dimmer typically is coupled to an input signal that provides a source of power e g an A C mains or line voltage such as 110 VAC or 220 VAC An output of the dimmer is coupled to the lighting device and may be varied between essentially zero and a maximum value correspond ing to the input signal i e between essentially zero and 100 of available power in response to some user variable control mechanism associated with the dimmer By increas ing or decreasing the

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