US 9,756,704 B1Granted

Light control switch

AssigneeThe Noble Company

InventorGuo Bei Xiao

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Abstract

An automatic light control switch includes: a housing configured to receive an optical fiber; a built-in light sensor located in the housing and configured to directly detect light through the housing; an external light sensor located in the housing and shielded from light, the external light sensor being configured to be coupled to the optical fiber and to detect light transmitted by the optical fiber; and a drive controller configured to: determine, automatically, a usage condition as one of an indoor condition and an outdoor condition in accordance with a condition signal; in response to determining that the usage condition is the indoor condition, disable the built-in light sensor and enable the external light sensor; and in response to determining that the usage condition is the outdoor condition, enable the built-in light sensor and disable the external light sensor.

Claims16

Dependent claims

An automatic light control switch comprising:

a housing configured to receive an optical fiber;
a built-in light sensor located in the housing and configured to directly detect light through the housing;
an external light sensor located in the housing and shielded from light, the external light sensor being configured to be coupled to the optical fiber and to detect light transmitted by the optical fiber;
and
a drive controller configured to:
determine, automatically, a usage condition as one of an indoor condition and an outdoor condition in accordance with a condition signal, the indoor condition corresponding to the housing being located indoors, and the outdoor condition corresponding to the housing being located outdoors;
in response to determining that the usage condition is the indoor condition, disable the built-in light sensor, enable the external light sensor, and control outdoor lighting in accordance with the external light sensor;
and
in response to determining that the usage condition is the outdoor condition, enable the built-in light sensor, disable the external light sensor, and control the outdoor lighting in accordance with the built-in light sensor.

6 more elements

A method for controlling an automatic light control switch in accordance with an indoor or an outdoor usage condition, the automatic light control switch comprising a built-in light sensor, an external light sensor configured to be connected to an optical fiber, and a drive controller comprising a processor and memory, the method comprising:

receiving, by the drive controller, a condition signal indicating an indoor condition or an outdoor condition;
determining, by the drive controller, a usage condition as one of the indoor condition and the outdoor condition in accordance with the condition signal, the indoor condition corresponding to the automatic light control switch being located indoors, and the outdoor condition corresponding to the automatic light control switch being located outdoors;
in response to determining that the usage condition is the indoor condition, disabling the built-in light sensor, enabling the external light sensor, and controlling outdoor lighting in accordance with the external light sensor;
and
in response to determining that the usage condition is the outdoor condition, enabling the built-in light sensor, disabling the external light sensor, and controlling the outdoor lighting in accordance with the built-in light sensor.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.