# US 12,112,615 B2 · Identification of load control devices > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,112,615 B2 - Document ID: US12112615B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/466,893 - Filed: 2021-09-03 - Published: 2021-12-23 - Granted: 2024-10-08 - Earliest claimed: 2013-03-12 - Assignees: Lutron Technology Company LLC - Applicants: Lutron Technology Company LLC - Inventors: Rupesh Gajurel; Sandeep Mudabail Raghuram; Rhodes B. Baker; Brian Michael Courtney - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12112615B2 ## CPC - G08B 5/38: using flashing light - H05B 47/165: following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC] - H05B 47/198: {Grouping of control procedures or address assignation to light sources} - H05B 47/19: via wireless transmission - H05B 47/196: {characterised by user interface arrangements} - H05B 47/1965: {using handheld communication devices} - G08B: SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS - H05B: ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL ## Abstract A load control system may include a load control device for providing power to an electrical load and a control device that may send instructions to the load control device for providing the power to the electrical load. The control device may communicate with the load control device using a link address assigned to the load control device. The load control device may provide power to the electrical load in a manner that causes the electrical load to indicate the link address assigned to the load control device. The link address may be identified by a user or a user device. The identified link address may be associated with a load control device identifier that may identify a physical location of a load control device that is assigned the link address. A user may control a load control device at a physical location by sending instructions via the link address. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system, comprising: a plurality of electrical load control circuits, each of the plurality of electrical load control circuits including one or more indicator lamps and operatively coupled to at least one electrical load; system control circuitry communicatively coupled, via a first network using a first network protocol, to each of the electrical load control devices included in the plurality of electrical load control device, the system control circuitry to: assign, to each of the plurality of electrical load control circuits, a respective character sequence representative of a unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit; responsive to receipt of a user input from a user device, via a second network using a second network protocol different from the first network, cause an electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via the one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to the user device; receive, from the user device via the second network, data representative an electrical load identifier associated with the electrical load control circuit; associate the received data representative an electrical load identifier with the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1: wherein the one or more indicator lamps include one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs); and wherein the system control circuitry causes the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using the one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to the user device. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2 wherein the electrical load includes one or more of the following: a thermostat, a keypad, an alternating-current (AC) plug-in load controller, and a window treatment. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The system of claim 3 wherein the electrical load control circuit causes the one or more LEDs to communicate using VLC by transitioning the one or more LEDs between an ON state and an OFF state. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the electrical load includes a luminaire and the one or more indicator lamps include one or more lamps included in the luminaire. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5 wherein the system control circuitry causes the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using the one or more lamps included in the luminaire. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6 wherein electrical load control circuit causes the one or more lamps included in the luminaire to communicate using VLC by altering the luminous output of the luminaire. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6 wherein the electrical load control circuit causes the one or more lamps included in the luminaire to communicate using VLC by transitioning the one or more lamps between an ON state and an OFF state. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the second network includes a Bluetooth communication network. ### Claim 10 A method to communicate configuration information received from an electrical load control circuit to a system control circuit via a user device, the method comprising: assigning, by the system control circuit via a first network using a first network protocol, a character sequence representative of a respective unique address to each of a plurality of electrical load control circuits; causing, by the system control circuit, an electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to a user device responsive to receipt of a user input from the user device, via a second network using a second network protocol different from the first network; receiving, by the system control circuit from the user device via the second network, data representative an electrical load identifier associated with the electrical load control circuit; associating, by the system control circuit, the received data representative an electrical load identifier with the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit; and storing, by the system control circuit in a communicatively coupled memory circuit, data representative of the association of the received data representative an electrical load identifier with the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control further comprises: causing the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using the one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit further comprises: causing the electrical load control circuit in one or more of the following: a thermostat, a keypad, an alternating-current (AC) plug-in load controller, and a window treatment to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using the one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further comprises: causing the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via VLC using one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit by transitioning the one or more LEDs between an ON state and an OFF state. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further comprises: causing, by the system control circuit, the electrical load control circuit included in a luminaire to cause one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to function as the one or more indicator lamps to communicate via visible light communication (VLC), the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further comprise: causing the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC by altering the luminous output of the luminaire. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further comprise: causing the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC by transitioning the one or more lamps between an ON state and an OFF state. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10 wherein causing the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via the one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to the user device via the second network using the second network protocol different from the first network, further comprises: causing, by the system control circuit, the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via the one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to the user device via the second network using a Bluetooth communication network. ### Claim 18 A non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device that includes instructions that, when executed by a system control circuit, cause the system control circuit: assign, via a first network using a first network protocol, a character sequence representative of a respective unique address to each of a plurality of electrical load control circuits; cause an electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to a user device responsive to receipt of a user input from the user device, via a second network using a second network protocol different from the first network; receive, from the user device via the second network, data representative an electrical load identifier associated with the electrical load control circuit; associate the received data representative an electrical load identifier with the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit; and store in a communicatively coupled memory circuit, data representative of the association of the received data representative an electrical load identifier with the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 18 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control further cause the system control circuit: cause the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using the one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit further cause the system control circuit: cause the electrical load control circuit in one or more of the following: a thermostat, a keypad, an alternating-current (AC) plug-in load controller, and a window treatment to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 21 (depends on 19) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via visible light communication (VLC) using the one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further cause the system control circuit to: cause the electrical load control circuit to communicate, via VLC using one or more LEDs, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit by transitioning the one or more LEDs between an ON state and an OFF state. ### Claim 22 (depends on 18) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 18 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further cause the system control circuit to: cause the electrical load control circuit included in a luminaire to cause one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to function as the one or more indicator lamps to communicate via visible light communication (VLC), the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 22 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further cause the system control circuit to: cause the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC by altering the luminous output of the luminaire. ### Claim 24 (depends on 18) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 18 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit, further cause the system control circuit to: cause the electrical load control circuit included in the luminaire to cause the one or more lamps disposed in the luminaire to communicate via VLC by transitioning the one or more lamps between an ON state and an OFF state. ### Claim 25 (depends on 18) The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 18 wherein the instructions that cause the system control circuit to cause the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via the one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to the user device via the second network using the second network protocol different from the first network, further cause the system control circuit to: cause the electrical load control circuit included in the plurality of electrical load control circuits to communicate, via the one or more indicator lamps, the unique address associated with the respective electrical load control circuit to the user device via the second network using a Bluetooth communication network.