Networked light control system

A system for transmitting and receiving radio signals to street light assemblies (20) including light emitting diodes (22) and spaced over a geographical territory defined by a central dispatch of public service personnel operating in the geographical territory, said system comprising:

• a central transceiver (24) located in the geographical territory transmitting and receiving voice and tones and digital packets encoded with digital data on channels of radio frequencies reserved for public safety personnel,
• a plurality of repeaters (26) spaced from one another throughout the geographical territory for receiving said voice and said tones and said digital packets on a first radio frequency and re-transmitting said voice and said tones and said digital packets on a different second radio frequency,
• a plurality of personnel transceivers (28) located throughout the geographical area with public safety personnel for receiving said voice and said tones on said second radio frequency from said repeaters (26) and for transmitting said radio signals having said voice and tones on said first radio frequency reserved for public safety personnel to said repeaters (26) for re-transmission to said central transceiver (24),
• a plurality of light assemblies (20) spaced throughout the geographical territory and each including a plurality of light emitting diodes (22) for emitting light,
• each of said light assemblies (20) including a housing (30) for covering and protecting said light emitting diodes (22),
• an electrical power grid (40) in the geographical territory for supplying electrical energy to said light assemblies (20),
• a plurality of electrical transformers (48) in said electrical power grid (40) for controlling the flow of electricity to said light assemblies (20),
• said light assemblies (20) being divided into electrical groups (38) by said electrical transformers (48) with each electrical group (38) being supplied electrical energy from one of said electrical transformers (48),
• each of said light assemblies (20) including a light control module (46) disposed within said housing (30) for controlling the flow of electricity supplied to said light emitting diodes (22) of said light assemblies (20),
• each of said light assemblies (20) including a microprocessor (34) disposed within said housing (30) and having a fixed digital address different from the fixed digital addresses of the other microprocessors (34) and a dynamic digital address for being assigned the same dynamic digital address as at least one other microprocessor (34) for operationally grouping said light assemblies (20) in operational groups (38) for independently actuating said light control module (46) of said light assemblies (20) in each operational group (38),
• a central system controller (52) including a video display (56) for displaying a street map (60) showing the geographical locations on streets of each of said light assemblies (20),
• said central system controller (52) including a selection device (58) for selecting and assigning a dynamic digital address to at least two of said microprocessors (34) of the selected light assemblies (20) displayed in said street map (60) to segregate at least two of said selected light assemblies (20) into one of said operational groups (38),
• each of said microprocessors (34) including a storage unit (44) for storing digital data including said digital addresses and the geographical location in latitude and longitude of said light assemblies (20),
• said central system controller (52) including a computer (54) interfacing with said central transceiver (24) for initiating the transmission of LED radio signals having digital packets encoded with digital data including said digital addresses on said different second radio frequency to said repeaters (26),
• each of said light assemblies (20) including a light transceiver (32) disposed in said housing (30) and interfacing with said microprocessor (34) of said light assembly (20) for receiving said LED radio signals having said digital packets encoded with said digital data including said digital addresses of said microprocessors (34) for processing by said microprocessors (34) to actuate the associated light control module (46) in response to said digital data including said digital addresses independently of the other light assemblies (20),
• each of said microprocessors (34) including a condition sensor (42) for sensing the condition of said light assembly (20) and storing digital data representing the condition of said light assembly (20) and initiating digital radio signals having digital packets encoded with said digital data representing the condition of said light assembly (20) for transmission from the associated light transceiver (32) on said first radio frequency reserved for public safety personnel to said repeaters (26) and ultimately to said central system controller (52),
• said central system controller (52) including a condition survey unit (62) for initiating an LED radio signal having digital packets encoded with digital data from said central transceiver (24) to said light transceivers (32) and ultimately to the associated condition sensors (42) for obtaining said digital data representing the condition of the associated light assembly (20) from said condition sensor (42) and storing said digital data representing the condition of said light assembly (20) in said computer (54),
• a plurality of emergency signaling devices (36) each having a personal digital address different from the personal digital address of the other emergency signaling devices (36) for broadcasting an emergency digital radio signal on said channels of radio frequencies reserved for public safety personnel to the nearest light transceivers (32) to actuate said microprocessor (34) of at least one of said nearest light assemblies (20) for actuating said light control module (46) and for initiating an emergency LED radio signal having a digital packet and encoded with said personal digital address and said fixed digital address therein on said channels of frequency reserved for public safety personnel from said light transceivers (32) to said repeaters (26) and ultimately to said central system controller (52),
• each of said light transceivers (32) including a signal strength measurement device (50) for measuring the strength of said emergency digital radio signal and for generating emergency digital data representing said signal strength for transmission via said emergency LED radio signals to said repeaters (26) and ultimately to said central system controller (52), and
• said central system controller (52) including a signal strength voting algorithm program or device (64) for comparing and determining the one light transceiver (32) receiving the strongest emergency digital radio signal to provide the proximate geographical location in latitude and longitude of said emergency signaling device (36) broadcasting said emergency digital radio signal.

A method for transmitting and receiving radio signals to street light assemblies (20) including light emitting diodes (22) and spaced over a geographical territory defined by a central dispatch of public service personnel operating in the geographical territory, said method comprising:

• transmitting voice and tones and digital packets on channels of frequencies reserved for public safety personnel from a central transceiver to a plurality of repeaters (26) spaced throughout the geographical territory,
• re-transmitting the voice and the tones on channels of frequencies reserved for public safety personnel from the repeaters to personnel transceivers (28) located with public safety personnel throughout the geographical territory,
• assigning a fixed digital address to a microprocessor (34) associated with a light assembly (20) having light emitting diodes (22) and spaced throughout the geographical territory and assigning a different fixed digital address to the other microprocessors (34) each of the other light assemblies (20) spaced throughout the geographical territory,
• assigning a dynamic digital address to one of the microprocessors (34) and assigning the same dynamic digital address to at least one of the other microprocessor (34) by the central system controller (52) to segregate the light assemblies (20) into operational groups (38),
• transmitting an LED radio signals having the digital packets and encoded with digital data including digital data representing at least one of the digital addresses on the channels of frequencies reserved for public safety personnel to a light transceiver (32) associated with each of the light assemblies (20) having light emitting diodes (22) spaced throughout the geographical territory,
• actuating the microprocessors (34) of the light assemblies (20) having the digital addresses encoded in the radio signals independent of the other light assemblies (20),
• actuating the light emitting diodes (22) of the light assembly (20) by a light control module (46) interfacing the microprocessor (34) having the digital address in response to the digital data encoded in the radio signals,
• broadcasting an emergency digital radio signal on the channels of radio frequencies reserved for public safety personnel from an associated emergency signaling device (36) to the nearest light transceivers (32),
• actuating the microprocessors (34) of the light assemblies (20) receiving the emergency digital radio signal,
• measuring the strength of the emergency digital radio signals received by the light transceivers (32) by a signal strength measurement device (50) in the light transceiver (32) and generating emergency digital data representing the signal strength by the microprocessor (34) interfacing the light transceiver (32),
• transmitting an emergency LED radio signal encoded with signal strength and the fixed digital addresses of the associated microprocessors (34) therein on the channels of frequencies reserved for public safety personnel from the light transceiver (32) to the central system controller (52), and
• determining the one light transceiver (32) receiving the strongest emergency digital radio signal to provide the proximate geographical location of the emergency signaling device (36) broadcasting the emergency digital radio signal by a signal strength voting algorithm program or device (64) in the central system controller (52).

A method for transmitting and receiving radio signals to street light assemblies (20) including light emitting diodes (22) and spaced over a geographical territory defined by a central dispatch of public service personnel operating in the geographical territory, said method comprising:

• transmitting voice and the tones and digital packets encoded with digital data on a first radio frequency reserved for public safety personnel from a central transceiver (24) to a plurality of repeaters (26) located in the geographical territory,
• re-transmitting the voice and the tones on a different second radio frequency reserved for public safety personnel to a plurality of personnel transceivers (28) located in the geographical territory with public safety personnel,
• transmitting the digital packets encoded with the digital data on the first radio frequency reserved for public safety personnel from the personnel transceivers (28) to the repeaters (26),
• re-transmitting the voice and the tones on the different second radio frequency from the repeaters (26) to the central transceiver (24),
• supplying electrical power to a plurality of electrical transformers (48) disposed throughout an electrical power grid (40),
• supplying power from each electrical transformer (48) to a plurality of light assemblies (20) in an electrical group (38) and each including electrically driven light emitting diodes (22) and spaced over the geographical area,
• controlling the flow of electricity to the light emitting diodes (22) of each light assembly (20) with a light control module (46) associated therewith,
• displaying a street map (60) showing the geographical location on streets of each of the light assemblies (20) on a video display (56) of a central system controller (52),
• assigning a fixed digital address to a microprocessor (34) associated with each light assembly (20) and assigning a different fixed digital address to the other microprocessors (34) of the light assemblies (20),
• selecting and assigning a dynamic digital address to the microprocessors (34) of the light assemblies (20) displayed in the street map (60) by a selection device (58) of the central system controller (52) to segregate the light assemblies (20) into operational groups (38),
• selecting and assigning the same dynamic digital address to at least two of the microprocessors (34) of the light assemblies (20) displayed in the street map (60) to segregate at least two of the selected light assemblies (20) into one operational group (38),
• storing the digital addresses of the microprocessors (34) in a computer (54) included in the central system controlled (52),
• storing the digital addresses of the microprocessors (34) and the geographical location of the microprocessors (34) in a storage unit (44) in the microprocessor (34),
• initiation the transmission of LED radio signals having the digital packets encoded with digital data including the digital address of at least one of the light assemblies (20) by a central system controller (52) ultimately for the light assemblies (20),
• initiating the transmission of LED radio signals having the digital packets encoded digital data including the digital addresses of at least one of the microprocessors (34) by the computer (54) of the central system controller (52) to actuate the light control modules (46) of the light assemblies (20) having the microprocessors (34) having the digital addresses encoded in the LED radio signals independent of the other light assemblies (20),
• transmitting the LED radio signals having the digital packets initiated by the computer (54) on the first radio frequency from the central transceiver (24) to the repeaters (26),
• re-transmitting the LED radio signals having with the digital packets on the different second radio frequency from the repeaters (26) to the light transceivers (32) of the light assemblies (20),
• rejecting the LED (22) radio signals encoded with digital addresses of other light assemblies (20) by the microprocessor (34) of each light assembly (20),
• processing the digital packets encoded with the digital data including the digital addresses by the microprocessors (34) having the digital addresses encoded in the LED radio signal received by the light transceivers (32) of the assemblies independent of the other light assemblies (20),
• actuating the light control module (46) by the microprocessor (34) having the digital address encoded in the LED radio signal in response to the digital packets with the digital data,
• sensing the condition of the light assemblies (20) represented by digital data in a condition sensor (42) of the microprocessor (34) and storing the digital data representing the condition of the light assembly (20) in the microprocessor (34),
• initiating digital radio signals having a digital packet encoded with the digital data representing the condition of the light assembly (20) by the associated microprocessor (34),
• transmitting the digital radio signals having digital packets encoded with the digital data representing the condition of the light assembly (20) and the digital addresses on the first radio frequency from the light transceiver (32) to the repeaters (26),
• re-transmitting the digital packet encoded with the digital representing the condition of the light assembly (20) and the digital addresses on the different second radio frequency from the repeaters (26) to the central transceiver (24),
• electronically transferring the digital data representing the condition of the light assembly (20) encoded in the digital packets from the central transceiver (24) to the central system controller (52),
• storing the digital data representing the condition of the light assembly (20) in the computer (54) of the central system controller (52),
• assigning a personal digital address to a plurality of emergency signaling devices (36) and assigning a different personal digital address to the other emergency signaling devices (36),
• broadcasting an emergency digital radio signal from one of the emergency signaling devices (36) without the voice and the tones and encoded with the associated personal digital address on the channels of radio frequencies reserved for public safety personnel to the nearest light transceivers (32) of the light assemblies (20),
• actuating the microprocessor (34) of at least one of the nearest light assemblies (20) in response to the emergency digital radio signal,
• actuating the light control modules (46) to supply electrical power to the light emitting diodes (22) of the light assemblies (20) receiving the emergency digital radio signal,
• measuring the strength of the emergency digital radio signal received by the light transceiver (32) by a signal strength measurement device (50) in the light transceiver (32) and generating emergency digital data representing the signal strength by the microprocessor (34) interfacing the light transceiver (32),
• initiating an emergency LED (22) radio signal having a digital packet encoded with the digital data representing the signal strength and the personal address of the emergency signaling device (36) and the fixed digital address of the microprocessor (34) by the microprocessors (34) of the nearest light assemblies (20) ultimately for the central system controller (52),
• transmitting the emergency LED radio signal having the digital packet encoded with digital data initiated by the microprocessor (34) on the channel of radio frequencies reserved for public safety personnel from the light transceiver (32) to the repeaters (26),
• re-transmitting the emergency LED radio signals having the digital packet on the channels of radio frequencies reserved for public safety personnel from the repeaters (26) to the central transceiver (24),
• electronically transferring the digital data encoded in the emergency LED radio signals from the central transceiver (24) to the central system controller(52),
• determining the one light transceiver (32) receiving the strongest emergency digital radio signal to provide the proximate geographical location in latitude and longitude of the emergency signaling device (36) broadcasting the emergency digital radio signal by a signal strength voting algorithm program or device (64) in the central system controller (52),
• displaying the geographical location of the light transceiver (32) receiving the strongest emergency digital radio signal on the video display (56) included in the central system controller (52), and
• transmitting instructions to the public safety personnel to proceed to the latitude and longitude of the light transceiver (32) receiving the strongest emergency digital radio signal.