# US 2018/0027628 A1 · Interactive user interface functionality for lighting devices or system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0027628 A1 - Document ID: US20180027628A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/720,546 - Filed: 2017-09-29 - Published: 2018-01-25 - Earliest claimed: 2013-05-28 - Assignees: ABL IP Holding LLC - Applicants: Abl IP Holding LLC - Inventors: Januk Aggarwal; Jason W. Rogers; Jack C. Rains, JR.; David P. Ramer - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180027628A1 ## CPC - H05B 47/12: by detecting audible sound - H05B 47/125: by using cameras - H05B 47/155: Coordinated control of two or more light sources - H05B 47/196: {characterised by user interface arrangements} - H05B 47/197: {Sound control or voice control} - H05B 47/1965: {using handheld communication devices} - H05B 47/1975: {Gesture control} - Y02B 20/40: Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection - H05B: ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL - Y02B: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS ## Abstract An example of a lighting system includes intelligent lighting devices, each of which includes a light source, a communication interface and a processor coupled to control the light source. In such a system, at least one of the lighting devices includes a user input sensor to detect user activity related to user inputs without requiring physical contact of the user; and at least one of the lighting devices includes an output component to provide information output to the user. One or more of the processors in the intelligent lighting devices are further configured to process user inputs detected by the user input sensor, control lighting and control output to a user via the output component so as to implement an interactive user interface for the system, for example, to facilitate user control of lighting operations of the system and/or to act as a user interface portal for other services. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system, comprising: intelligent lighting devices, each respective intelligent lighting device comprising: a light source; a communication interface configured to enable communication via a network link; and a processor coupled to control the light source and coupled to communicate via the communication interface and the network link with one or more others of the intelligent lighting devices and configured to control operations of at least the respective intelligent lighting device, wherein: at least one of the intelligent lighting devices includes a user input sensor configured to detect user activity related to user inputs without requiring physical contact of the user; at least one of the intelligent lighting devices includes an output component configured to provide information output to the user; and one or more of the processors of the intelligent lighting devices is further configured to process user inputs detected by the user input sensor, control lighting and control output to a user via the output component so as to implement an interactive user interface, including to selectively: control a lighting operation of at least a plurality of the lighting devices as a function of a processed user input; and obtain and provide information as an output via the output component, in response to a processed user input. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising a data communication network at a premises serviced for lighting by the system, the network interconnecting the links to provide data communications amongst the intelligent lighting devices, wherein: the data communication network is configured to further provide data communications for at least some of the intelligent lighting devices via a wide area network outside the premises, and the function to obtain the information comprises communicating with an information source outside the premises via the data communication network at the premises and the wide area network. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein one of the intelligent lighting devices includes both the input component and the output component. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein: the user input sensor is configured to detect audio as the user activity; and the one or more of the processors configured to process user audio inputs detected by the sensor are configured to detect spoken words in the audio inputs. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein: the user input sensor is configured to detect an optical input; and the one or more of the processors configured to process the detected optical input to identify a gesture of a user. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the user input sensor comprises an image detector. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the user input sensor comprises a device configured for detection of direction and intensity of received light. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the output component is configured to provide the information output to the user in an audio and/or visual format. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system as in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors configured to process user inputs comprises a plurality of the processors of intelligent lighting devices configured to perform the processing in a distributed processing manner. ### Claim 10 A system, comprising: intelligent lighting devices, each respective intelligent lighting device comprising: a light source; a communication interface configured to enable communication via a network link; and a processor coupled to control the light source and coupled to communicate via the communication interface and the network link with one or more others of the intelligent lighting devices, wherein: each processor of a respective intelligent lighting device is configured to control lighting operations of the respective intelligent lighting device; at least one of the intelligent lighting devices includes a user input sensor configured to detect user activity related to user inputs without requiring physical contact of the user; at least one of the intelligent lighting devices includes an output component configured to provide information output to the user; and the processor of at least one of the intelligent lighting devices is further configured to implement a distributed processing procedure to respond to user inputs detected by the user input sensor, control lighting and control output to a user via the output component, in such a manner that the system provides an interactive user interface via one or more of the intelligent lighting devices. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the distributed processing procedure involves distributing portions of a processing task supporting the interactive user interface processors of a plurality of others of the intelligent lighting devices. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further comprising a data communication network at a premises serviced for lighting by the system, the network interconnecting the links to provide data communications amongst the intelligent lighting devices. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the distributed processing procedure involves a distributed server operation involving server functions implemented on a plurality of the intelligent lighting devices and client-server communications through the data communication network with processors of a plurality of others of the intelligent lighting devices. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein: the user input sensor comprises an audio detector; and the processor of at least one of the intelligent lighting devices is configured to process input audio via the distributed processing procedure to recognize spoken user inputs. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein: the user input sensor comprises an optical detector; and the processor of at least one of the intelligent lighting devices is configured to process detected optical inputs via the distributed processing procedure to recognize gestural user inputs. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, wherein the optical detector comprises a camera. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, wherein the optical detector comprises a device configured for detection of direction and intensity of received light. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the output component is configured to provide the information output to the user in an audio and/or visual format.