DE102017109247B4 - Method for determining the physical position of a group of luminaires within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of luminaires - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for determining the physical position of a group of lamps within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of lamps - wherein the light strip has at least one control processor (IC) and - wherein the control processor is designed to receive an initial processor software address by means of an auto-addressing method, and - wherein the light strip has n, but at least two or at least three groups of lamps (LED#1 to LED#n) including the group of lamps whose physical position is to be determined, and - wherein each group of lamps (LED#1 to LED#n) comprises at least one lamp and - wherein each lamp can emit at least light with at least two different brightness or color values - hereinafter referred to as the on state and the off state - and - wherein hereinafter bringing one of these groups of lamps into the on state is referred to by switching on this one group of lamps and - wherein hereinafter bringing one of these groups of lamps into the off state is referred to by switching off this one group of lamps and - wherein the on state and the off state are hereinafter referred to together as the operating state and - wherein hereinafter, each distribution of on and off states among the light source groups of the light strip is referred to as a light pattern and- wherein each light source group (LED#j) of the n light source groups, hereinafter referred to as the j-th light source group LED#j, is assigned to exactly one of the control processors (IC), which is the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th light source group (LED#j), and- wherein the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th light source group (LED#j) controls the j-th light source group (LED#j) assigned to it and- wherein each light source group (JED#j) is influenced by the light of another light source group when this light from the other light source group falls on light sources of this light source group, and- wherein this influence of the light source group by the other light source group can be assigned an influence value with the aid of the at least one light source of the light source group and- wherein the influence value depends on the distance between this light source group and the other light source group in a monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing manner and- wherein the control processor in the Is able to measure the influence value in at least one operating state of the lamp group, comprising the steps of - carrying out the method for assigning an initial processor software address for all control processors (IC) of the light strip, whereby no processor software address is assigned twice; - assigning a provisional lamp group address for each lamp group (LED#j) of each control processor (IC), whereby this provisional lamp group address is assigned only once, individually or as overall information as a pair of provisional lamp group address and processor software address, at least within the light strip; - creating at least one light pattern and recording the influence value of at least the lamp group whose physical position is to be determined; - repeating the previous step once or multiple times, if necessary with creating a different light pattern that is different from all light patterns used up to that point; - calculating the physical position of the lamp group.

Description

Generic term

The invention relates to a method for determining the physical position of a group of illuminants within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of illuminants. The groups of illuminants each comprise at least one illuminant, preferably at least one light-emitting diode (LED) as illuminant.

General introduction

For use in the interiors of vehicles and aircraft, as well as in living rooms and furniture, light strips with linear arrangements of light sources in the form of light-emitting diodes are provided. Instead of these linear arrangements of light sources, there are also solutions with surface arrangements of light sources. The light sources are preferably microsystems made up of three light-emitting diodes in three complementary colors, so that the color space that is perceptible to humans can be perceived. In addition, the use of a fourth color, typically not perceptible to humans, is conceivable in order to support and control the release of melatonin. The use of such a fourth color is known, for example, from the EN 10 2007 011 155 A1 , EN 10 2009 011 688 A1 , EN 10 2012 213 046 A1 and DE 20 2009 018 852 U1 and from the paper by L. Udovicic, F. Mainusch et al. “Photobiological safety of light-emitting diodes” of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health from 2013.

Light bands or planar arrangements are known, for example, from the documents that were still unpublished at the time of filing this disclosure EN 10 2017 106 811 A1 , EN 10 2017 106 813 A1 , EN 10 2017 106 812 A1 , as well as from the writings DE 103 37 940 A1 , EN 10 2005 052 005 A1 , US 2016 / 0 284 177 A1 , US 8 299 719 B1 and WO 2003/ 048 953 A2 known.

These light strips usually have the aforementioned lamps as actuators. Control processors IC control the actuators, i.e. the lamps. The control processors IC are connected to one another by at least one data bus DB and are connected to a positive supply voltage line VCC and a negative supply voltage line GND in order to be able to supply the actuators with electrical energy in a controlled manner. It is conceivable that the data is also transmitted via the supply voltage lines (VCC, GND). In this case, separate lines for the data bus DB are not required.

Preferably, the control processors IC are able to return information to a central control unit. This data may include error messages and other types of status information.

Therefore, it is also known from the state of the art to use sensors in addition to the aforementioned actuators, which can record a wide variety of data.

In order to be able to specifically address a sensor or control an actuator, it is necessary to be able to assign a unique actuator or sensor address to this actuator or sensor.

The problem here is that not only the individual control processors IC or integrated control circuits IC must be addressed with a software address, but each of the actuators and sensors connected to these control processors IC receives an individual software address and that this software address can be clearly assigned to a real physical position fully automatically.

For the self-addressing of linear systems, various documents are known that suggest suitable systems. For example, the documents EP 1 490 772 B1 and EN 10 2010 026 431 B4 , EN 10 2013 212 954 EN, EP 1 603 282 B1 , EN 10 2014 003 066 A1 , EN 10 2016 100 847 B3 , EN 10 2017 106 811 A1 , EN 10 2017 106 813 A1 , EN 10 2017 106 812 A1 referred to.

Currently, determining the physical positions of the lamps in light strips, for example the LEDs in LED light strips, requires increased effort within the production or during the installation process, since this correlation has to be predetermined.

In the case of remote central control units, however, a predefined position determination of the LEDs in the light strip is no longer reliably possible during electronics production. This means that the individual control processors IC and the connected lamps must be addressed when installed. Current methods, such as those mentioned, only offer an electronic localization of the physical position of the control processors IC.

From the EP 2 869 670 A1 A method for addressing a lamp using a thermal gradient within the lamp is known. This takes advantage of the fact that light modules with light-emitting diodes typically have to be controlled with temperatures ture sensors. The EP 2 869 670 A1 The disclosed method is not suitable for assigning addresses in motor vehicles if, for example, the light strip has to be mounted near other heat sources or on well-cooled surfaces or surfaces with good thermal conductivity (e.g. car sheet metal). In addition, the method requires a temperature sensor. A suitable method would therefore have to manage without this temperature sensor and use a gradient other than the thermal gradient along a light strip.

Object of the invention

The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a solution which enables the position-specific addressing of lighting devices and has further advantages.

This object is achieved by a method according to claim 1.

Solution to the inventive problem

Laboratory measurements show that the light emission of one LED results in a measurable signal at a neighboring LED within an LED light band.

The emission of light from a group of lamps generates a photocurrent in neighboring LEDs that are lamps in a neighboring group of lamps, which in turn leads to an LED voltage. Thus, a lamp in a neighboring group of lamps is influenced by irradiation with the light from another group of lamps. Since many control processors ICs already have measuring devices for measuring the voltage drop across an LED that is a lamp in a group of lamps in order to be able to detect fault conditions, these measuring devices can be used to determine the real relative physical position. The absorption and the resulting photocurrent or photovoltage generation on neighboring LEDs can be measured using clever algorithms and used to determine the position of the lamp group.

In contrast to the electronic addressing methods mentioned above, the physical position of the individual lamp group is realized via an optical process.

The light emission of an LED, as an example of a light source in a group of light sources, can be detected on a neighboring LED, as a neighboring light source in a neighboring group of light sources, within a light band. Due to the different number of directly neighboring groups of light sources, as well as the use of a suitable light modulation algorithm, conclusions can be drawn about the real relative physical position of the individual groups of light sources to one another.

In order to be able to control the LEDs as light sources of the light source groups individually via the data bus DB, an initial, unique light source address of the individual LEDs as light sources of the light source groups is required, which is typically not available for identical parts in the delivery state. To this end, it is proposed that a collision on the bus be deliberately caused by the control unit as the bus master querying a unique, control processor-specific, individual property (e.g. a serial number of the control processor IC). In a dominant/recessive bus system of the data bus DB, for example, exactly one response prevails on the data bus DB whose sender (control processor IC) has not detected a collision. In the next step, the control unit as the bus master transmits a network address that is ignored by control processors IC as bus slaves that have detected a collision and is received and stored by exactly one control processor IC without a collision. The previously mentioned methods and devices from the state of the art are also suitable for assigning a control processor software address.

After this step, the control unit (bus master) can assign and address each LED as a light source in each light source group individually with any individual light source address, but does not yet know its real physical position - also referred to here as the physical light source address. The detection of the final alignment of the light strips is carried out, for example, by means of supply voltage drops within the linear supply line. Basic procedure:

A method is proposed here for determining the physical position of a group of lamps within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of lamps. The light strip has at least one control processor IC. In the example of the 1b There is one control processor IC for every four groups of lamps. Other ratios are conceivable. The control processor IC is preferably designed to receive an initial processor software address from the control unit (bus master) or to determine it in some other way using an auto-addressing method. This enables the control unit (bus master) of the overall device in the vehicle to address the individual control processors IC as bus slaves. This capability is assumed here, as the literature provides sufficient information on this. processes for the auto-addressing of processors. For the process described here, it is sufficient if the processor address for addressing the control processor IC via the data bus DB by the control unit (bus master) is a random but unique processor software address. The light strip comprises n, but at least two, preferably three light source groups (LED#1 to LED#n) including the light source group whose physical position is to be determined. Each of these n light source groups (LED#1 to LED#n) comprises at least one light source. These are preferably RGB LEDs whose brightness and color can be set by the control processor IC. For the process, each light source group (LED#1 to LED#n) should be able to emit light with at least two different brightness or color values - hereinafter referred to as on and off. Preferably, all light sources in a light source group are switched on in their on state and emit light. In the off state, all light sources in a light source group are preferably switched off and then emit no light. In the following, the transition from the off state to the on state is referred to as switching on and the reverse transition from the on state to the off state is referred to as switching off. The on state and the off state are generally referred to together as the operating state. In the following, any distribution of on and off states among the light source groups of the light strip is referred to as a lighting pattern. Each lamp group LED#j of the n lamp groups (j-th lamp group LED#j is assigned to exactly one of the control processors IC. This is referred to as the control processor IC assigned to the j-th lamp group LED#j. The control processor IC assigned to the j-th lamp group LED#j controls the j-th lamp group LED#j assigned to it. This control can consist of regulating or setting the brightness, color temperature, luminous color or other parameters of the lamp group, such as setting temporal flashing patterns, etc. If the radiation from the lamps of one lamp group in the on state hits the lamps of another lamp group in the off state, the lamps of this other lamp group in the off state can be influenced by light absorption in this lamp. This can happen in particular if light-emitting diodes are used as the lamps of the other lamp group. If these are irradiated with light, the PN junctions of the light-emitting diodes generate a photocurrent and a photovoltage that can be measured. There are basically two possible ways of modulating the light emitted by the group of lamps when they are on. The most obvious way is to modulate the brightness of the lamps in the group of lamps when they are on, which results in a corresponding modulation of the photovoltage signal received by a lamp in the other group of lamps. However, it is also possible to modulate the color angle of the light signal emitted by the group of lamps when they are on instead of the brightness modulation. This can be done, for example, by having the group of lamps when they are on with a red, green and blue LED as lamps, and by modulating, for example, to switch between the red LED and the green LED at the same brightness. In this example, this means that there is only a color change but no brightness change. In this example, the other group of lamps when they are off should also have a red, green and blue LED as lamps. If the blue LED is used as a receiver LED, it is generally more sensitive to the signal from the green LED of the lighting group when it is on than to the signal from the red LED. This also results in a modulation of the photovoltage signal of this blue LED, which can be evaluated. Various methods are known in the state of the art for this. One method involves measuring the voltage drop across the LED of a lighting group when it is switched off and illuminated or not illuminated with light from another lighting group when it is off. This requires that the voltage drop between the lighting group closest to the supply voltage and the lighting group furthest away is sufficient to make a significant distinction. With only two lighting groups, this voltage drop is only small. The voltage drop can be maximized by operating as many lighting devices as possible from all lighting groups with a maximum light energy output or maximum energy consumption for this measurement in order to determine the lighting group that is closest to the power supply or the lighting group that is furthest away from the power supply. In addition, sufficient lead resistance must be ensured for this measurement to be feasible. If the forward current of the diode is in balance with the photocurrent, this potential difference is a very good measure of the light output emitted by the LED of the lighting group in the off state. It is proposed that the control processors IC of the lighting groups be equipped with an analog-to-digital converter that is suitable and intended to measure this photocurrent of the LEDs or the voltage drop as a result of such a photocurrent. Preferably, an amplifier and possibly also a filter are inserted between the analog-to-digital converter and the LED in order to avoid EMC problems. and to improve the resolution. For the actual measurement, it is often useful to carry out this measurement for a lamp several times, if necessary, and to modulate the radiation of the lamps in the on state and thus the illumination of the lamps in the off state in a predetermined manner and to determine the modulation pattern using a correlation method, for example by forming a discrete autocorrelation signal by forming a convolution integral or its discrete equivalent between the modulation pattern and the received pattern in the lamps of the lamp groups in the off state.

Thus, each of the light source groups (JED#j) in the off state is influenced by the light of another light source group in the on state if this light from the other light source group in the on state falls on the light sources of this respective light source group in the off state. Since the radiation density is inversely proportional to the distance between the irradiated LED of the respective light source group in the off state and the light sources of the other light source group in the on state, the immediately adjacent light source groups in the on state of a respective light source group in the off state typically dominate in influencing the light sources of this light source group in the off state, i.e. in generating the photocurrent in the LEDs of this respective light source group in the off state.

Thus, by influencing the respective lamp group in the off state by the other lamp group in the on state, an influence value can be assigned to this pair, which is formed from the other lamp group and the influenced lamp group.

The physical order of the light source groups, also called their physical light source group address, can be determined as follows: With n light source groups, this results in n ² possible influence values that can be arranged in an nxn matrix. This matrix is referred to below as the influence matrix. If the columns and rows of the influence matrix are assigned appropriately, the non-influence of more distant light source groups results in a weakly diagonal influence matrix that mainly contains zeros. The diagonal is not useful in this sense. Since the influence value depends on the distance between this other light source group in the on state and the respective light source group in the off state, monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing, the influence matrix can be brought into this diagonal form at any time by swapping rows and columns using the influence values. Once this has been done, the values are sorted in the physical order. This is explained later in the figure description.

For this to happen, the control processor IC must be able to measure the influence value in at least one operating state of the lamp group. Typically, this is the "off" state.

In order to be able to carry out the proposed method at all, it is proposed to first carry out a process for assigning an initial processor software address for all control processors IC of the light strip. In order to rule out collisions, the process must be designed in such a way that no processor software address is assigned twice. This is also the case if the processor software addresses used are unique at any time. If the process starts in such a way that at the beginning after a reset all control processors IC have a preset processor software base address, but only the control processor IC immediately next to the control unit can be addressed, this then receives a new processor software address from the control unit and then the next control processor IC of the light strip is switched to be accessible and cannot be addressed before then, this is always guaranteed. This means that a processor software address is never assigned twice. This precondition for the proposed method is therefore always met.

In order to be able to address the light source groups, a second step is to assign a provisional light source group address for each light source group LED#j of each control processor IC. This provisional light source group address enables the light source group to be clearly identified within the light strip. For this purpose, this light source group address can be unique either for the entire light strip or for several light strips. However, it can also be unique only in relation to the control processor IC. In this case, when the light source is addressed by the control unit, the processor software address of the control processor IC must also be addressed. In this case, the overall information as a pair of provisional light source group address and processor software address is only assigned once, at least within the light strip. This uniqueness of the light source group address also includes cases with more than one light strip, if in addition to the processor software address, an associated light strip address is added, which For the sake of simplicity, we will consider this to be part of the processor software address. The lamp group addresses can be made more complex using additional hierarchy levels. In this sense, the processor software address should include all address elements that are not lamp group addresses and do not include individual lamps within a lamp group.

In order to record at least one influence value of at least the group of lamps whose physical position is to be determined, at least one lighting pattern for the groups of lamps of the light strip is specified by the control unit or another control device when the method is carried out. Preferably, the lamps of one group of lamps are switched to the on state, while all other lamps are switched to the off state. This is followed by the recording of at least one influence value of at least the group of lamps whose physical position is to be determined. Preferably, all influence values of all lamps are determined in the off state. This is described here. This results in a row or column vector of the said influence matrix.

The influence matrix is square. Therefore, this measurement is now repeated so that each group of lamps is measured once in the on state, while all other groups of lamps are in the off state in each of these measurements.

Theoretically, it is possible to achieve the same results with other lighting patterns than one group of lamps in the on state and all other groups of lamps in the off state. However, simply rearranging the influence matrix is then no longer sufficient to achieve the diagonal-like shape. A correspondingly more complex transformation is then necessary. The basis of such a method is the assumption that the maximum range of the radiation of a group of lamps is limited in relation to the metrological relevance when influencing another group of lamps. This can be exploited when constructing simpler lighting patterns and is application-dependent.

The measurement described above is therefore preferably repeated with the said different light patterns until all rows or columns of the influence matrix have been determined. If patterns are used with only one group of lamps in the on state, the influence matrix only needs to be rearranged into a diagonal-like form. The light patterns created must therefore differ from measurement to measurement, otherwise the same rows or columns would result and the rank of the matrix would no longer be n.

In the particularly advantageous variant of the proposed method, each lighting pattern is selected in such a way that each group of lamps that is influenced in this way and for which the physical position is to be determined is always influenced in the on state by exactly one group of lamps that is in the on state.

Before reordering, each row or column can be assigned the previously assigned lamp group address. These are then reordered along with the columns and rows. If the matrix is now made into a diagonal-like shape, the order of the lamp groups is obtained by counting from left to right or vice versa. The numerical value of the respective column or row is assigned as the physical position. This gives you a pair of physical position and lamp group address. This calculates the physical position of the lamp group with a lamp group address.

The lighting patterns are therefore preferably created in such a way that for each group of lamps in the light strip, this group of lamps is switched on using a lighting pattern and all other groups of lamps are switched off using this lighting pattern. Other patterns are conceivable. However, the evaluation is then more difficult. All influence values of all other groups of lamps in the light strip are then recorded. Either the influence matrix mentioned is created or it can be determined immediately whether one or two of the other groups of lamps in the light strip are adjacent to the group of lamps, since the range of the radiation from a group of lamps is limited. If two groups of lamps in the light strip are recognized as neighboring groups of lamps as neighboring the group of lamps in the on state, since they are influenced by the group of lamps in the on state, this information that the group of lamps in the on state and these two groups of lamps are neighboring can be saved. This information is saved about the proximity of these neighboring groups of lamps to this group of lamps and the proximity of this group of lamps to these neighboring groups of lamps. At the ends of the light strip, it will happen that only one group of lamps is adjacent to the other and is recognized as such. This is where the information about the proximity of these adjacent lamp group to this lamp group in the on state and the proximity of this lamp group in the on state to this adjacent lamp group. In addition, in this case, this lamp group in the on state is marked as one of two light strip ends.

In contrast to the use of an influence matrix, the physical lamp position is now determined based on the previously stored information about the proximity of the lamp groups to neighboring lamp groups and the two markings of the light strip ends, starting from one light strip end.

In another variant of the proposed method, the control processors IC are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage VCC and to determine a supply voltage measurement value. Accordingly, the method then comprises, as the first of three further steps, determining a first supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip. As a second further step, the proposed method comprises determining a second supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip and that is not the first of the two lamp groups to have received a marking as the end of the light strip. On this basis, the third further step then involves assigning a marking as the end of the entire light strip to the first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is smaller than the amount of the second supply voltage value.

In a further variant of the method, the control processors IC are also equipped with means to measure their supply voltage VCC and to determine a supply voltage measurement value. As the first of three further steps, the first further step in this further variant of the method is to determine a first supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip. As the second further step, the second step in this further variant of the method is to determine a second supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip and that is not the first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip. In contrast to the previous method variant, however, a marking is now assigned as the start of the overall light strip to the first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is greater than the amount of the second supply voltage value.

In a third variant of the proposed method, the control processors IC are also equipped with means to measure their supply voltage VCC and to determine a supply voltage measurement value. The first of three further method steps in this variant of the proposed method is again to determine a first supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip. The second step is again to determine a second supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip and that is not the first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip. The third step of this variant is again different from the two previous variants of the proposed method. It includes assigning a marking as the end of the overall light strip to the second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is greater than the amount of the second supply voltage value.

In the fourth variant of the proposed method, the control processors IC are also equipped with means to measure their supply voltage VCC and to determine a supply voltage measurement value. The first additional step of this fourth variant of the proposed method comprises, as a first additional step, the determination of a first supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a first group of lamps of the two groups of lamps that has been marked as the end of the light strip, and, as a second additional step, the determination of a second supply voltage value for the supply voltage VCC for a second group of lamps of the two groups of lamps that has been marked as the end of the light strip and that is not the first group of lamps of the two groups of lamps that has a marking as the end of the light strip. As before, this fourth variant of the proposed method differs in the fourth step. It includes assigning a marking as the beginning of the overall light strip to the second group of lamps of the two groups of lamps that has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is smaller than the amount of the second supply voltage value.

• • Durchführen einer oder mehrerer der zuvor beschriebenen vier Verfahrensvarianten.
• • Berechnen der physikalischen Position der Leuchtmittelgruppen relativ zu einer Leuchtmittelgruppe die als Leuchtbandende oder Leuchtbandanfang markiert ist, wobei die Steuerprozessoren IC mit Mitteln ausgestattet sind, um ihre Versorgungsspannung VCC zu vermessen und einen Versorgungsspannungsmesswert zu ermitteln.
• • Ermitteln eines ersten Versorgungsspannungswertes für eine erste Leuchtmittelgruppe der beiden Leuchtmittelgruppen, die eine Markierung als Leuchtbandende erhalten hat.
• • Ermitteln eines zweiten Versorgungsspannungswertes für eine zweite Leuchtmittelgruppe der beiden Leuchtmittelgruppen, die eine Markierung als Leuchtbandende erhalten hat und die nicht die erste der beiden Leuchtmittelgruppen ist, die eine Markierung als Leuchtbandende erhalten hat.
• • Zuordnen einer Markierung als Gesamtleuchtbandanfang an diejenige Leuchtmittelgruppe der beiden Leuchtmittelgruppen, die eine Markierung als Leuchtbandende erhalten hat, bei der der Betrag des für diese Leuchtmittelgruppe ermittelten Versorgungsspannungswertes ihres Steuerprozessors IC größer ist als der Betrag des ermittelten Versorgungsspannungswertes der anderen Leuchtmittelgruppe, die ebenfalls eine Markierung als Leuchtbandende erhalten hat.

A method for determining the physical position of the light source groups within a one-dimensional light strip with several light source groups is thus proposed, which comprises the following steps:

• • Carry out one or more of the four procedure variants described above.
• • Calculating the physical position of the lamp groups relative to a lamp group marked as the end of the light strip or the beginning of the light strip, wherein the control processors IC are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage VCC and to determine a supply voltage measurement value.
• • Determining a first supply voltage value for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip.
• • Determining a second supply voltage value for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip and that is not the first of the two lamp groups that has been marked as the end of the light strip.
• • Assigning a marking as the start of the overall light strip to that lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip, where the amount of the supply voltage value determined for this lamp group of its control processor IC is greater than the amount of the supply voltage value determined for the other lamp group which has also received a marking as the end of the light strip.

Advantage of the invention (only for individual applications)

Such a [generic term] allows for [name advantages] at least in some realizations.

The currently used methods (e.g. LIN bus shunt, bus switch) require additional effort within the electronic circuit.

These are applications in which the control unit (bus master) is separated from the light strips and a combination is therefore only possible during installation. Since the methods currently used require additional effort and, depending on the conditions, are not applicable at all, localization of the physical lamp group position (physical lamp group address) via the optical path is an option here.

However, the advantages of the proposed method are not limited to this.

List of characters

• 1a shows a section of the light strip with a control processor IC.
• 1b shows the arrangement of several sections of the light strip according to 1a to a longer light strip for clarification.
• 2a shows the light strip 1b and the intensity distribution of the light of a single lamp group in the on state along the light band and the irradiation intensities for affected lamp groups in the off state within the light band.
• 2 B shows the light strip 1b and the intensity distribution of the light of a single lamp group in the on state along the light strip and the irradiation intensities for affected lamp groups in the off state at the end of the light strip.

Description of the characters

Figure 1

shows a section of the light strip with a control processor IC. The control processor IC and the other electronic components (LED_A, LED_B, LED_C, LED_D) receive their electrical energy directly or indirectly via a positive supply voltage line VCC and a negative supply voltage line GND, which is typically the reference potential line. In this example, the data for the control processor IC is fed into the light strip via a two-wire data bus DB from the left or right by a control unit (bus master) of the vehicle (not shown) and delivered to the control processor IC. Depending on this, the control processor IC changes one or more PWM signals, for example, which in this example are used to control the LEDs of the four example light source groups (LED_A, LED_B, LED_C, LED_D) of this section. In this example, each of the example four light groups (LED_A, LED_B, LED_C, LED_D) of this section have three LEDs that preferably correspond to the RGB colors (e.g. red LED, green LED, blue LED), whereby the control processor IC can set a specific color, color temperature and brightness for each of the example four light groups (LED_A, LED_B, LED_C, LED_D) of this section. The brightness of an individual one of these LEDs is preferably set via the duty cycle of the PWM control of this LED. The color of the light group is preferably set by regulating the three brightnesses of the three LEDs in the individual colors (e.g. red, green, blue). The brightness of the radiation of the light group is set via the total brightness of the three LEDs in the three colors. The color temperature of the individual LEDs is set via the amplitude of the PWM signal. The supply voltage VCC is stabilized in this example by two buffer capacitors CB.

Figure 1b

1b shows the arrangement of several sections of the light strip according to 1a to a longer light strip for clarification.

Figures 2a and 2b

• • „-„ für die Leuchtmittelgruppe im AN-Zustand und
• • „2“ für eine stark beeinflusste Leuchtmittelgruppe im Aus-Zustand und
• • „1“ für eine schwach beeinflusste Leuchtmittelgruppe im Aus-Zustand und
• • „0“ für eine nicht beeinflusste Leuchtmittelgruppe im Aus-Zustand.

2a shows the light strip 1b and the intensity distribution of the light of a single group of lamps that is in the on state along the light strip and the irradiation intensities for affected groups of lamps in the off state within the light strip. As described above, the control processors IC are first provided with a unique, individual processor software address using a method from the prior art. This allows the control processors IC to be addressed in a targeted manner. The groups of lamps then receive a unique, individual group of lamps address. This can be a random address that is assigned by the control unit, for example. The example group of lamps address is shown in the 2a above the light strip is shown as an example in order to be able to explain the process by way of example. The process can then be continued in such a way that a single group of lamps is brought into the on state and thus lights up, while all other groups of lamps are brought into the off state. In the example of the 2a the lamp group with the lamp group address 3 is in the on state. This lamp group 3 influences the right lamp group 4 and the lamp group 1. The lamp group 4 is influenced more strongly than the lamp group 1. In the specific example, this means that the photovoltage generated in the lamp group 4 or the photocurrent generated in the lamp group 4 is greater in magnitude than the photovoltage generated in the lamp group 1 or the photocurrent generated in the lamp group 1. On the other hand, the lamp group 7 is influenced more strongly by the lamp group 3 in an analogous manner than the lamp group 5. All other lamp groups are not influenced in this example. "Not influenced" here means that the voltage amount of the generated photovoltage or the current amount of the generated photocurrent is below a predeterminable threshold value. An example influence vector could be: (1,0,-,2,1,0,2,0). Example codes are available here

• • “-“ for the lamp group in the ON state and
• • “2” for a strongly influenced lamp group in the off state and
• • “1” for a weakly influenced lamp group in the off state and
• • “0” for an unaffected lamp group in the off state.

If further measurements are now carried out for all groups of lamps, the influence matrix is obtained by writing the individual influence vectors one below the other as matrix rows:

The first row of this influence matrix corresponds to the situation in 2 B and the known influence vector (-,0,1,2,0,2,0,1).

This influence matrix is now supplemented with the lamp group addresses in an additional top row and the numbering of the influence vectors in the rows of the influence matrix is supplemented with letters for our orientation when discussing this example:

We see that the influence vectors in rows b and e of the light source groups in the on state are directed to end positions at the end of the light strip or at the beginning of the light strip. We sort these to one end by swapping the columns. Which end we choose is still random at this point.

Note the changed order of lines b and e. The order of the lamp addresses in the top line has also been swapped.

Based on line h, it is clear that columns 1 and 4 must be swapped, since the 1 must be next to the 2 (i.e. in column 4 above). After swapping, we get:

Since all rows at a position have an order of “12-21” unless they are marginal systems, we are done with the swapping.

Now the physical position can be determined by counting from left or right. If the supply voltage of the right control processor IC is higher than that of the left control processor IC, you must count up from right to left. As an example, let's assume that the supply voltage of the right control processor is higher than that of the left control processor. You must then count up from right to left. We get:

That is, the lamp address 5 in this example corresponds to the physical address 8 in bold and italics (from the right), the lamp address 7 in this example corresponds to the physical address 7 in bold and italics, the lamp address 3 in this example corresponds to the physical address 4 in bold and italics, the lamp address 4 in this example corresponds to the physical address 5 in bold and italics, the lamp address 1 in this example corresponds to the physical address 4 in bold and italics, the lamp address 6 in this example corresponds to the physical address 3 in bold and italics, the lamp address 9 in this example corresponds to the physical address 2 in bold and italics, and the lamp address 2 in this example corresponds to the physical address 1 in bold and italics.

glossary

Lamp group

In the sense of this proposal, a group of lamps comprises at least one lamp, preferably an LED. If several lamps belong to a group of lamps, preferably no lamp from another group of lamps is located between the lamps in the group of lamps. Preferably, all groups of lamps are designed in the same way.

Total light band end and total light band start

In terms of disclosure, each light strip has one overall light strip end and exactly one overall light strip beginning.

Light strip end

For the purposes of this disclosure, each light strip has two light strip ends, namely an overall light strip start and an overall light strip end.

List of reference symbols

Section

Absorption;

CB

blocking capacities;

DB

data bus;

Ems

Emission;

GND

Reference potential line or negative supply voltage line;

IC

control processor;

LED

light emitting diode;

LED_A

first group of luminaires of the section of the light strip under consideration;

LED_B

second group of illuminants of the section of the light strip under consideration;

LED_C

third group of luminaires of the section of the light strip under consideration;

LED_D

fourth group of luminaires of the section of the light strip under consideration;

LED#1

Lamp with lamp address 1 of the light strip;

LED#2

Lamp with lamp address 2 of the light strip;

LED#3

Lamp with lamp address 3 of the light strip;

LED#4

Lamp with lamp address 4 of the light strip;

LED#5

Lamp with lamp address 5 of the light strip;

LED#6

Lamp with lamp address 6 of the light strip;

LED#7

Lamp with lamp address 7 of the light strip;

LED#8

Lamp with lamp address 8 of the light strip;

VCC

Supply voltage line for the positive supply voltage;

List of cited writings

• DE 103 37 940 A1 ,
• EN 10 2005 052 005 A1 ,
• EN 10 2007 011 155 A1 ,
• EN 10 2009 011 688 A1 ,
• EN 10 2010 026 431 B4 ,
• EN 10 2012 213 046 A1 ,
• DE 20 2009 018 852 U1
• EN 10 2013 212 954 EN,
• EN 10 2014 003 066 A1 ,
• EN 10 2016 100 847 B3 ,
• EN 10 2017 106 811 A1 ,
• EN 10 2017 106 812 A1 ,
• EN 10 2017 106 813 A1 ,
• EP1490772B1 ,
• EP1603282B1 ,
• WO 2003/ 048 953 A2 .

Non-patent literature

• L. Udovicic, F. Mainusch et al. “Photobiological safety of light-emitting diodes” of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Berlin, 2013

Claims (8)

Method for determining the physical position of a group of lamps within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of lamps - wherein the light strip has at least one control processor (IC) and - wherein the control processor is designed to receive an initial processor software address by means of an auto-addressing method, and - wherein the light strip has n, but at least two or at least three groups of lamps (LED#1 to LED#n) including the group of lamps whose physical position is to be determined, and - wherein each group of lamps (LED#1 to LED#n) comprises at least one lamp and - wherein each lamp can emit at least light with at least two different brightness or color values - hereinafter referred to as the on state and the off state - and - wherein hereinafter bringing one of these groups of lamps into the on state is referred to by switching on this one group of lamps and - wherein hereinafter bringing one of these groups of lamps into the off state is referred to by switching off this one group of lamps and - wherein the on state and the off state are hereinafter referred to jointly as the operating state and - wherein hereinafter, each distribution of on and off states among the light source groups of the light strip is referred to as a light pattern and - each light source group (LED#j) of the n light source groups, hereinafter referred to as the j-th light source group LED#j, is assigned to exactly one of the control processors (IC), which is the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th light source group (LED#j), and - the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th light source group (LED#j) controls the j-th light source group (LED#j) assigned to it, and - each light source group (JED#j) is controlled by the Light from another group of lamps is influenced when this light from the other group of lamps falls on lamps of this group of lamps, and - wherein this influence on the group of lamps by the other group of lamps can be assigned an influence value with the aid of the at least one lamp of the group of lamps, and - wherein the influence value depends on the distance between this group of lamps and the other group of lamps in a monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing manner, and - wherein the control processor is able to measure the influence value in at least one operating state of the group of lamps, comprising the steps of - carrying out the method for assigning an initial processor software address for all control processors (IC) of the light strip, wherein no processor software address is assigned twice; - carrying out the assignment of a provisional lamp group address for each group of lamps (LED#j) of each control processor (IC), wherein this provisional lamp group address is assigned only once, individually or as overall information as a pair of provisional lamp group address and processor software address, at least within the light strip; - Creating at least one light pattern and recording the influence value of at least the group of lamps whose physical position is to be determined; - Repeating the previous step once or several times, if necessary by creating another light pattern that is different from all the light patterns used up to that point; - Calculating the physical position of the group of lamps. Method for determining the physical position of groups of illuminants within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of illuminants - wherein the light strip has at least one control processor (IC) and - wherein the control processor (IC) is designed to receive an initial processor software address by means of an auto-addressing method and - wherein the light strip has n, but at least two or at least three groups of illuminants (LED#1 to LED#n) including the group of illuminants whose physical position is to be determined and - wherein each group of illuminants (LED#1 to LED#n) comprises at least one illuminant and - wherein each illuminant can emit at least light with at least two different brightness or color values - hereinafter referred to as the on state and the off state - and - wherein hereinafter bringing one of these groups of illuminants into the on state is referred to as switching on and - wherein hereinafter bringing one of these groups of illuminants into the off state is referred to as switching off and - wherein the on state and the off state are hereinafter referred to jointly as the operating state and - wherein hereinafter any distribution of on and Off states among the light source groups of the light strip is referred to as a light pattern and - each light source group (LED#j) of the n light source groups, hereinafter referred to as the j-th light source group LED#j, is assigned to exactly one of the control processors (IC), which is the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th light source group (LED#j), and - the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th light source group (LED#j) controls the j-th light source group (LED#j) assigned to it, and - each light source group (JED#j) is influenced by the light of another light source group when this light from the other light source group falls on light sources of this light source group, and - this influence of the light source group by the other light source group by means of the at least one light source of the light source group can be assigned an influence value and - the influence value depends on the distance between this light source group and the other light source group in a monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing manner and - the control processor (IC) is able to, in at least an operating state of the lighting group to measure the influence value, and - wherein each lighting pattern is selected such that each lighting group that is influenced in this way and for which the physical position is to be determined is always influenced only by exactly one lighting group that is in the on state, comprising the steps - carrying out the method for assigning an initial processor software address for all control processors (IC) of the lighting strip, wherein no processor software address is assigned twice; - carrying out the assignment of a provisional lighting group address for each lighting group (LED#j) of each control processor (IC), wherein this provisional lighting group address individually or as total information as a pair of provisional lighting group address and processor software address at least is only assigned once within the light strip; - Creating at least one light pattern and recording the influence value for each light group in the off state of the light groups of the light strip for which the physical position is to be determined; - Repeating the previous step once or several times if necessary with creating another light pattern that is different from all light patterns used up to that point; - Calculating the physical position of the light groups of the light strip for which the physical position is to be determined. Method for determining the physical position of groups of lamps within a one-dimensional light strip with several groups of lamps - wherein the light strip has at least one control processor (IC) and - wherein the control processor is designed to obtain an initial processor software address by means of an auto-addressing method and - wherein the light strip has n, but at least two or at least three groups of lamps (LED#1 to LED#n) including the group of lamps whose physical position is to be determined and - wherein each group of lamps (LED#1 to LED#n) comprises at least one lamp and - wherein each lamp can emit at least light with at least two different brightness or color values - hereinafter referred to as the on state and the off state - and - wherein hereinafter bringing the group of lamps into the on state is referred to as switching on and - wherein hereinafter bringing the group of lamps into the off state is referred to as switching off and - wherein the on state and the off state are hereinafter referred to jointly as the operating state and - wherein each Lighting group (LED#j) of the n lighting groups, hereinafter referred to as j-th lighting group LED#j, is assigned to exactly one of the control processors (IC), which is the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th lighting group (LED#j), and - wherein the control processor (IC) assigned to the j-th lighting group (LED#j) controls the j-th lighting group (LED#j) assigned to it, and - wherein each lighting group (JED#j) is influenced by the light of another lighting group when this light from the other lighting group falls on lighting elements of this lighting group, and - wherein this influence of the lighting group by the other lighting group can be assigned an influence value by means of the at least one lighting element of the lighting group, and - wherein the influence value depends on the distance between this lighting group and the other lighting group in a monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing manner, and - wherein the control processor (IC) is able to measure the influence value in at least one operating state of the lighting group and comprising the steps - carrying out the method for assigning an initial processor software address for all control processors (IC) of the light strip, whereby no processor software address is assigned twice; - carrying out the assignment of a provisional lamp group address for each lamp group (LED#j) of each control processor (IC), whereby this provisional lamp group address is assigned only once, either individually or as a total information as a pair of provisional lamp group address and processor software address, at least within the light strip; - carrying out the following 5 of 6 steps for each lamp group of the light strip depending on the course • switching the lamp group to the on state; • switching all other lamp groups of the light strip to the off state; • recording the influence values of all other lamp groups of the light strip in the on state; • determining whether one or two of the other lamp groups of the light strip in the on state are adjacent to the lamp group in the on state; ▪ If two groups of lamps of the lamp groups are adjacent as neighboring lamp groups, this information is stored about the proximity of these neighboring lamp groups to this lamp group and the proximity of this lamp group to these neighboring lamp groups; ▪ If only one group of lamps of the lamp groups is adjacent as a neighboring lamp group, this information is stored about the proximity of this neighboring lamp group to this lamp group and the proximity of this lamp group to this neighboring lamp group and this lamp group is marked as one of two light strip ends; - Determination of the physical lamp position based on the previously stored information about the proximity of the lamp groups to neighboring lamp groups and the two markings of the light strip ends. Procedure according to Claim 3 - Wherein the control processors (IC) are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage and to determine a supply voltage measured value , characterized by the step of - determining a first supply voltage value for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip; - determining a second supply voltage value for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip and which is not the first of the two lamp groups to have received a marking as the end of the light strip; - assigning a marking as the end of the overall light strip to the one first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is less than the amount of the second supply voltage value; Procedure according to Claim 3 - Wherein the control processors (IC) are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage and to determine a supply voltage measured value , characterized by the step of - determining a first supply voltage value for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip; - determining a second supply voltage value for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip and which is not the first of the two lamp groups to have received a marking as the end of the light strip; - assigning a marking as the start of the overall light strip to the one first lamp group of the two lamp groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is greater than the amount of the second supply voltage value; Procedure according to Claim 3 - Wherein the control processors (IC) are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage and to determine a supply voltage measured value , characterized by the step of - determining a first supply voltage value for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip; - determining a second supply voltage value for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip and which is not the first of the two lamp groups to have received a marking as the end of the light strip; - assigning a marking as the end of the overall light strip to the second lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is greater than the amount of the second supply voltage value; Procedure according to Claim 3 - Wherein the control processors (IC) are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage and to determine a supply voltage measured value, characterized by the step of - determining a first supply voltage value for a first lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip; - determining a second supply voltage value for a second lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip and which is not the first lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip; - assigning a marking as the start of the overall light strip to the second lamp group of the two lamp groups which has received a marking as the end of the light strip if the amount of the first supply voltage value is less than the amount of the second supply voltage value; Method for determining the physical position of the light source groups within a one-dimensional light strip with several light source groups, comprising the steps - carrying out a method according to one of the Claims 4 until 7 ; - Calculating the physical position of the light source groups relative to a light source group that is marked as the end of the light strip or the beginning of the light strip. - Wherein the control processors (IC) are equipped with means to measure their supply voltage and to determine a supply voltage measured value , characterized by the step - Determining a first supply voltage value for a first light source group of the two light source groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip; - Determining a second supply voltage value for a second light source group of the two light source groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip and that is not the first of the two light source groups to have received a marking as the end of the light strip; - Assigning a marking as the start of the overall light strip to that of the two light source groups that has received a marking as the end of the light strip. if the magnitude of its supply voltage value is greater than the magnitude of the second supply voltage value of the other group of lamps;