Wireless lighting control

Abstract

An illumination level control assembly (10) includes a plurality of light bulbs (20), and a main power switch (30) for supplying electrical power to the bulbs (20). The assembly (10) includes a remote control (32) with a single button for producing a single signal, and a controller (50) responsive to the remote control (32) for sequentially and in numeric order changing the supply of electrical power to the bulbs (20), whereby successive actuations of the single button changes by one the number of bulbs (20) illuminated. The remote control (32) produces a radio frequency signal, and the controller (50) includes a radio frequency receiver (52) to receive signals from the remote control (32). The controller (50) includes a sequencer (54) for sequentially terminating electrical power to the bulbs (20) to successively terminate electric power to the bulbs (20) one at a time. The sequencer (54) includes a counter (56) for sequencing through predetermined steps, and a series of switches (58) each responsive to one of the steps for terminating electrical power to one of the bulbs (20). The assembly (10) can also include a plurality of fixtures (12,14) with each fixture (12,14) including a plurality of bulbs (20) and a plurality of ballasts (22,24,26,28) with each ballast (22,24,26,28) interconnecting two bulbs (20). Ballasts (22,24,26,28) from different fixtures (12,14) can be electrically connected to be controlled by the controller (50) in unison. In this configuration, each ballast (22,24,26,28) controls one bulb from each fixture (12,14).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.