Color and Intensity Control Over Power Wires

A lighting and control system, comprising:

• a control element comprising:
• a first manually variable non-momentary impedance;
• a second manually variable non-momentary impedance;
• a first time dependent gating circuit responsive to said first manually variable non-momentary impedance and arranged to provide a time dependent gating of a first polarity of an alternating current power signal, the amount of time of said gating of said first polarity reflecting the present value of said first manually variable non-momentary impedance;
• and
• a second time dependent gating circuit responsive to said second manually variable non-momentary impedance and arranged to provide a time dependent gating of a second polarity of the alternating current power signal, said second polarity opposite said first polarity, the amount of time of said gating of said second polarity reflecting the present value of said second manually variable non-momentary impedance;
• and
• a lighting unit arranged to be powered from the gated alternating current power signal over a pair of power carrying wires, said lighting unit comprising:
• a detector arranged on each of said first polarity and said second polarity to output a representation of said present value of said first and said second manually variable non-momentary impedance, respectively;
• and
• a luminaire exhibiting a variable output light intensity and color responsive to said detector,
• wherein the intensity of the light output of said luminaire is thus reflective of the present value of said first variable non-momentary impedance and the color output of said luminaire is thus reflective of the present value of said second variable non-momentary impedance, and
• wherein said first time dependent gating circuit and said second time dependent gating circuit are restrained to maintain a minimum predetermined power towards said lighting unit.

A method of powering and controlling a luminaire over a pair of alternating current carrying wires, said method comprising:

• receiving a first non-momentary input reflective of a desired light intensity;
• receiving a second non-momentary input reflective of a desired light color;
• gating a portion of a first polarity of an alternating current power signal, said portion of said first polarity responsive to said received first non-momentary input;
• gating a portion of a second polarity of the alternating current power signal, said second polarity opposite said first polarity, said portion of said second polarity responsive to said received second non-momentary input;
• detecting the amount of said gating of said first polarity;
• detecting the amount of said gating of said second polarity;
• powering a luminaire with said gated alternating current power signal;
• controlling the intensity of light output by said powered luminaire responsive to said detected amount of said gating of said first polarity;
• and
• controlling the output color of said powered luminaire responsive to said detected amount of said gating of said second polarity.