US 2015/0084520 A1 · APPARATUS AND METHOD OF ENERGY EFFICIENT ILLUMINATION USING RECEIVED SIGNALS

Abstract

Illumination sources are turned ON and turned OFF in response to detected levels of illumination in an ambient environment reaching respective thresholds, which may be user set. The detection of these turn ON and turn OFF events is verified, for instance against expected events or conditions for the particular location, date and/or time. An alert or log entry may be generated if a detected event or condition appears to be invalid. For instance, if an amount of illumination in the environment is different than predicted by a threshold amount or if a time that the event occurs or is detected is different than expected or predicted by more than a threshold amount. A level of illumination may be decreased to some non-zero level after a specified time after turn ON, and increased at some specified time before turn OFF. Use of information from external sources (e.g., satellites, cell towers) may allow times to be using local time, including daylight savings if applicable.

Claims41

Dependent claims

A method of operating an illumination system including at least one light source and at least one controller, the method comprising:

from time-to-time, detecting a level of light in an ambient environment;
comparing by the at least one controller the detected level of light in the ambient environment to a first threshold;
validating by the at least one controller a result of the comparison of the detected level of light in the ambient environment to the first threshold with respect to at least one expected condition;
and
adjusting by the at least one controller an output of the at least one light source if both the detected level of light in the ambient environment at least satisfies the first threshold and the result of the comparison is valid with respect to the at least one expected condition.

2 more elements

A system to control illumination, the system comprising:

at least one controller that:
from time-to-time, receives a signal indicative of a level of light in an ambient environment;
compares the detected level of light in the ambient environment to an expected level of light for at least one of a current time or a current location;
compares the detected level of light in the ambient environment to a first threshold;
validates a result of the comparison of the detected level of light in the ambient environment to the first threshold with respect to at least one expected condition;
and
adjusts an output of the at least one light source if both the detected level of light in the ambient environment at least satisfies the first threshold and the result of the comparison is valid with respect to the at least one expected condition.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Apparatus and method of energy efficient illumination using received signals

Life of this patent

Apparatus and method of energy efficient illumination using received signals

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims41