# US 11,306,880 B2 · Systems and methods for connecting and controlling configurable lighting units > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,306,880 B2 - Document ID: US11306880B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/013,461 - Filed: 2020-09-04 - Published: 2020-12-24 - Granted: 2022-04-19 - Earliest claimed: 2016-04-22 - Assignees: Nanogrid Limited - Applicants: Nanogrid Limited - Inventors: Tomas Rodinger; Aliakbar Juzer Eski; Henry Chow; Arash Sadr; John Anders Ohrn; Gimmy Chu - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11306880B2 ## CPC - F21S 2/005: {of modular construction} - F21V 21/005: for several lighting devices in an end-to-end arrangement, i.e. light tracks - F21V 23/06: the elements being coupling devices {, e.g. connectors} - H05B 45/20: Controlling the colour of the light - H05B 45/30: Driver circuits - H05B 47/18: via data-bus transmission - H05B 47/19: via wireless transmission - H05B 47/199: {Commissioning of light sources} - F21Y 2105/18: annular; polygonal other than square or rectangular, e.g. for spotlights or for generating an axially symmetrical light beam - F21Y 2113/10: of different colours - F21Y 2115/10: Light-emitting diodes [LED] - H05B 45/325: Pulse-width modulation [PWM] - H05B 47/12: by detecting audible sound - H05B 47/155: Coordinated control of two or more light sources - H05B 47/187: {using power over ethernet [PoE] supplies} - H05B 47/1965: {using handheld communication devices} - Y02B 20/40: Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection - F21S: NON-PORTABLE LIGHTING DEVICES; SYSTEMS THEREOF; VEHICLE LIGHTING DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR VEHICLE EXTERIORS - F21V: FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OR DETAILS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS THEREOF; STRUCTURAL COMBINATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES WITH OTHER ARTICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H05B: ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL - F21Y: INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO THE FORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THE LIGHT EMITTED - Y02B: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS ## Abstract In some embodiments, a configurable lighting device, connectors, controllers, and methods for layout detection are provided. The configurable lighting devices, suitably connected, form an assembly of configurable lighting devices that can be removably connected with one another and re-arranged. Connectors are provided that form mechanical and electrical connections between configurable lighting devices such that a flow of electricity and control signals may be propagated without the need for direct connection between every configurable lighting device and a controller. The controller or devices connected to the controller are configured to perform layout detection such that pleasing visualizations may be rendered across the assembly that are rendered using at least the detected layout. When the configuration of the configurable lighting devices changes, the layout detection is automatically updated. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A lighting device providing a plurality of coupled lighting components automatically controlled in accordance with an audio signal, the lighting device comprising: an audio receiver configured to provide a digital audio representation based at least on the audio signal; the plurality of coupled lighting components coupled in a physical arrangement, each of the plurality of the coupled lighting components being configured to emit individually controllable light, individually controllable in accordance with one or more received lighting activation instructions; a computer processor configured to: maintain an electronic representation of the physical arrangement based on sensed rearrangements of the physical arrangement or change events occurring in relation to the physical arrangement, the electronic representation including at least linkages indicative of geospatial relations between coupled lighting components of the plurality of coupled lighting components; provide a plurality of lighting activation instructions generated in accordance with the digital audio representation, the plurality of lighting activation instructions comprising timed instruction sets representative of at least one of (i) a color coordinate, (ii) an intensity level, and (iii) a desired geometric position of the lighting activation; for each lighting activation instruction, to select an individual coupled lighting component of the plurality of the coupled lighting components based at least on querying of the electronic representation of the physical arrangement; and individually control each of the coupled lighting components in accordance with the plurality of lighting activation instructions to cause a geometric visualization effect to be co-operatively displayed across one or more coupled lighting components of the plurality of coupled lighting components. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is further configured to an audio visualization conversion unit configured for map or transform the plurality of lighting activation instructions into one or more drive current instructions that are included in one or more control signals used to control each of the plurality of coupled lighting components, the one or more drive current instructions being processed by the each of the plurality of coupled lighting components to modify characteristics of the emitted light. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The lighting device of claim 2, wherein the mapping or transforming utilizes a calibration sequence whereby a secondary device is utilized to record an optical spectrum for one or more given drive current settings, the recorded optical spectrum utilized in downstream processing to generate a reference structure for the mapping or the transforming of the plurality of lighting activation instructions into the one or more drive current instructions. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein a geometry monitoring unit is further configured to periodically determine a center of geometry of the physical arrangement, the center of geometry being used to assign an individual coupled lighting component as a center device, the assignment of the center device being used by the electronic representation of the physical arrangement as a reference index value to identify coupled lighting components based on a corresponding degree of separation from the center device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the audio visualization conversion unit is configured to generate path-based lighting activation instructions where the plurality of lighting activation instructions include at least visually representing a geometric pattern that traverses a path through the one or more coupled lighting components. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the physical arrangement is represented in a coordinate system selected from a group of coordinate systems consisting of 2-D Cartesian coordinates, 3-D Cartesian coordinates, polar coordinates, cylindrical coordinates, and spherical coordinates. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the physical arrangement is represented in a connected graph system selected from a group of connected graph systems consisting of an adjacency matrix, an adjacency list, and a distance matrix. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The lighting device of claim 7, wherein the computer processor is further configured to maintain a coordinate dictionary based at least on the connected graph system, the coordinate dictionary queried by a geometry association unit in selecting the individual coupled lighting component. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The lighting device of claim 8, wherein the coordinate dictionary is modified through input signals received from an interface device, and wherein the coordinate dictionary is emulated and output on a display interface. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the physical arrangement is approximated as an ellipsoid shape determined through at least an evaluation of the covariance of coordinate elements of the plurality of coupled lighting components. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is further configured to generate a second set of lighting activation instructions adapted for causing lighting transition patterns responsive to determined audio transition patterns extracted from the digital audio representation. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of coupled lighting components include at least two lighting components that are wirelessly interconnected. ### Claim 13 A method for controlling a plurality of coupled lighting components in accordance with an audio signal, the method comprising: providing a digital audio representation based at least on the audio signal; emitting, by the plurality of coupled lighting components, individually controllable light, the coupled lighting components physically arranged in a continuous shape, each of the plurality of coupled lighting components configured to emit the individually controllable light, and controllable in accordance with one or more received lighting activation instructions; maintaining an electronic representation of the continuous shape based on sensed rearrangements of or change events occurring in relation to the continuous shape that may result in a different continuous shape, the electronic representation including at least linkages indicative of geospatial relations between coupled lighting components; providing a plurality of lighting activation instructions generated in accordance with the digital audio representation, the plurality of lighting activation instructions comprising timed instruction sets representative of at least one of (i) a color coordinate, (ii) an intensity level, and (iii) a desired geometric position of the lighting activation; for each lighting activation instruction, selecting an individual coupled lighting component of the plurality of coupled lighting components based at least on querying the electronic representation of the continuous shape; and individually controlling each of the coupled lighting components in accordance with the lighting activation instructions, the lighting activation instructions, in combination causing a geometric visualization effect to be co-operatively displayed across one or more coupled lighting components of the plurality of coupled lighting components. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: mapping or transforming the plurality of lighting activation instructions into one or more drive current instructions that are included in one or more control signals used to control each of the plurality of coupled lighting components, the one or more drive current instructions being processed by the each of the plurality of coupled lighting components to modify characteristics of the emitted light. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the mapping or transforming utilizes a calibration sequence whereby a secondary device is utilized to record an optical spectrum for one or more given drive current settings, the recorded optical spectrum utilized in downstream processing to generate a reference structure for the mapping or the transforming of the plurality of lighting activation instructions into the one or more drive current instructions. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising periodically determining a center of geometry of the physical arrangement, the center of geometry being used to assign an individual coupled lighting component as a center device, the assignment of the center device being used by the electronic representation of the physical arrangement as a reference index value to identify neighboring coupled lighting components based on a corresponding degree of separation from the center device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising generating path-based lighting activation instructions where the plurality of lighting activation instructions include at least visually representing a geometric pattern that traverses a path through the one or more coupled lighting components. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the physical arrangement is represented in a coordinate system selected from a group of coordinate systems consisting of 2-D Cartesian coordinates, 3-D Cartesian coordinates, polar coordinates, cylindrical coordinates, and spherical coordinates. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the physical arrangement is represented in a connected graph system selected from a group of connected graph systems consisting of an adjacency matrix, an adjacency list, and a distance matrix. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein a geometry monitoring unit is further configured to maintain a coordinate dictionary based at least on the connected graph system, the coordinate dictionary queried by a geometry association unit in selecting the individual coupled lighting component. ### Claim 21 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a second set of lighting activation instructions adapted for causing lighting transition patterns responsive to determined audio transition patterns extracted from the digital audio representation. ### Claim 22 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of coupled lighting components include at least two lighting components that are wirelessly interconnected. ### Claim 23 A non-transitory computer-readable medium including machine readable instructions, the machine readable instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for controlling a plurality of coupled lighting components in accordance with an audio signal, the method comprising: providing a digital audio representation based at least on the audio signal; emitting, by the plurality of coupled lighting components, individually controllable light, the coupled lighting components provided in a physical arrangement, each of the plurality of coupled lighting components configured to emit individually controllable light, and controllable in accordance with one or more received lighting activation instructions; maintaining an electronic representation of the physical arrangement based on sensed rearrangements of or change events occurring in relation to the physical arrangement, the electronic representation including at least linkages indicative of geospatial relations between coupled lighting components; providing a plurality of lighting activation instructions generated in accordance with the digital audio representation, the plurality of lighting activation instructions comprising timed instruction sets representative of at least one of (i) a color coordinate, (ii) an intensity level, and (iii) a desired geometric position of the lighting activation; for each lighting activation instruction, selecting an individual coupled lighting component of the plurality of coupled lighting components based at least on querying the electronic representation of the physical arrangement; and individually controlling each of the coupled lighting components in accordance with the plurality of lighting activation instructions, the one or more lighting activation instructions in combination causing a geometric visualization effect to be co-operatively displayed across one or more coupled lighting components of the plurality of coupled lighting components.