WO2019006065A1

WO2019006065A1 - Accessing storage embedded in led lamps

Info

Publication number: WO2019006065A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/039909
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ajay Malik; Ritesh ANAND
Original assignee: Lunera Lighting Inc.
Priority date: 2017-06-29
Filing date: 2018-06-28
Publication date: 2019-01-03

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system and a method to integrate storage capacity such as flash memory in Lighting Device and then aggregating the storage capacity available in one or more Lighting Devices to a single storage space for use by applications that run inside the Lighting Device or external to the Lighting Device. An external application establishes connectivity with each Lighting Device using the communication port such as Wi-Fi and then implements Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) on top of the storage space in the Lighting Device.

Description

ACCESSING STORAGE EMBEDDED IN LED LAMPS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[001] This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/526,359, filed June 29, 2017, entitled "Accessing Storage Embedded in LED Lamps", the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[002] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of utilizing memory in lighting devices and, more particularly, to aggregate the storage available in one or more lighting devices in a single abstracted pool of storage.

BACKGROUND

[003] Today's the computing devices, such as the personal computers and various machine learning applications rely on microprocessors, associated chip sets, and memory chips to perform most of their processing functions. Because these devices are integrated circuits formed on semiconducting substrates, the technological improvements of these devices have essentially kept pace with one another over the years. In contrast to the dramatic improvements of the processing portions of a computer system, the mass storage portion of a computer system has experienced only modest growth in speed and reliability. As a result, computer systems failed to capitalize fully on the increased speed of the improving processing systems due to the dramatically inferior capabilities of the mass data storage devices coupled to the systems.

[004] Additionally, today's organizations deal with big data, analytics and machine learning applications. For these applications to succeed, they need large amount of storage space. Not only that, they need this storage space as close to the application as possible. [005] With the rise of cloud computing, widespread use of cloud storage is taking place. However, there is latency to access the memory stored in cloud. And, there may be times, when the owner of the data has concern about privacy or the data may not want be even send out of the premises.

[006] While the speed of the mass storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, has not improved much in recent years, the size of such disk drives has become smaller while maintaining the same or greater storage capacity and such disk drives have become less expensive. To capitalize on these benefits, it was recognized that a high capacity data storage system could be realized by organizing multiple small disk drives into an array of drives. However, it was recognized that large numbers of smaller disk drives dramatically increased the chance of a disk drive failure which, in turn, increases the risk of data loss.

[007] The present invention provides a solution that overcomes the aforementioned problems in the field of storage technology. Since an intelligent lighting devices have a built-in storage and are installed in high density throughout a facility, the present invention provides a method and a system to aggregate the storage available in the lighting devices in a single abstracted pool of storage that can be used by other applications or computing devices in the facility.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[008] The present invention relates to adding storage such as flash memory inside the Lighting Device and then aggregating that memory as a single space for use by applications that run inside the Lighting Device or external to the Lighting Device. There is a possibility that the Lighting Device may fail over the time, hence, the aggregation of the memory is done in such a way that there is no loss of data in case one or more Lighting Device fail. [009] In a first aspect of present invention, a lighting device for utilizing storage space is provided. The lighting device comprising: a lighting device embedded computing resources comprising a processor, a memory and a storage; a lighting device embedded Wi-Fi radio to connect the lighting device to a Wi-Fi access point; a lighting device embedded client application that connects with an external server to share the lighting device embedded storage to the external server. The lighting device registers with the external server to share the storage.

[0010] In a second aspect of present invention, a system for utilizing storage space in a lighting device. The system comprising: a plurality of lighting devices having storage space arranged in a mesh network in a facility; a lighting device embedded client application in each of the plurality of lighting device that enable access of the storage space to an external application; an external server that provides aggregated view of storage space in the plurality of lighting devices to one or more applications that interact with the external server. The plurality of lighting devices are in communication through Wi-Fi radio, or Bluetooth protocol, or Zigbee network topology. The lighting device embedded client application has an ability to participate with computing resources of other lighting devices as a distributed kernel so as to abstract persistent storage memory as one pool. The persistent storage memory can be used for running internal application in other lighting devices or can be shared with external resources. The external application requests the client application in lighting device to share the embedded storage space. The request for writing a block in the storage space contains the offset, the length of data and the data that need to be needed to written in the storage. The request to read a block in the storage space contains the offset and the length of data. The external application may either reside in the facility or located in a cloud server. The external application is connected to the mesh network through Wi-Fi access point. The external application access the storage space of two or more lighting device in RAID-1 manner.

[0011] In a third aspect of present invention, a method for utilizing storage space in a lighting device is provided. The method comprising: connecting a plurality of lighting devices arranged in a mesh network in a facility with an access point; monitoring by a lighting device embedded client application, storage space running idle in a lighting device; aggregating the embedded storage space in each of the plurality of lighting device by an external application; providing access to the idle embedded storage space to an external server; providing aggregated view of embedded idle storage space in plurality of lighting devices to other applications that interact with the external server. The plurality of lighting devices are in communication through Wi-Fi radio, or Bluetooth protocol, or Zigbee network topology. The lighting device embedded client application has an ability to participate with computing resources of other lighting devices as a distributed kernel so as to abstract persistent storage memory as one pool. The persistent storage memory can be used for running internal application in other lighting devices or can be shared with external resources. The external application requests the client application in lighting device to share the embedded storage space. The external application access the storage space of two or more lighting device in RAID-1 manner.

[0012] Other aspects and advantages of the described embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the described embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0013] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a lighting device and its components in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating the use of memory of a lighting device by an external application present in a local network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating the use of memory of a lighting device by an external application through connectivity over internet, in accordance with an embodiment of present invention.

[0017] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram where an external application utilizes memory of two lighting devices in accordance with an embodiment of present invention.

[0018] FIG. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating sharing of storage space from three lighting devices by two external applications in accordance with an embodiment of present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment of invention. However, it will be obvious to a person skilled in art that the embodiments of invention may be practiced with or without these specific details. In other instances well known methods, procedures and components have not been described in details, so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments of the invention. [0020] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0021] It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

[0022] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

[0023] In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claims. [0024] The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below. For example, Wi-Fi is used as a wireless communication protocol from the Lighting Device however; other wireless or wired communication protocols could be employed without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0025] Furthermore, it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these embodiments only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0026] The present invention provides a method and a system for adding and utilizing storage such as Flash memory inside the Lighting Device. It aggregates the storage available in one or more lighting devices in a single abstracted pool of storage that can be used by an external applications. The external applications may be run inside the Lighting Device or external to the Lighting Device. The external application may be a computer program designed to run on computing devices. The computing devices may include, but not limited to computer, mobile phone device, tablet, data processor, information processing system, touchpad, microphone etc. The preferred process configuration and operating conditions are described in the following without limiting the present invention to the specific examples used to illustrate the process design.

[0027] The lighting devices such as LED lamps, LED bulbs, CFLs and tubelights are installed in high density throughout the building, and thus it is easy to form a mesh network of the lighting devices present in the building. The inter-communication between the lighting devices as well as with the external application can be using a communication means which can be Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Radio network, local area network, wide area network, Zigbee network topology, Near-field communication as well as other known communication protocol. It allows the lighting device to share the different components within the network.

[0028] In one configuration, the Lighting Devices comprises an application running inside, a storage means such as a flash memory and a communication port such as a Wi-Fi Radio. The Wi-Fi radio is used to create a mesh network of all the lighting devices. The network can then be utilized to aggregate the memory present in all the lighting devices as one pool of memory that can be accessed by any of the lighting device or other devices in the facility.

[0029] In another configuration, a distributed kernel application is run across a group or all the lighting devices. The kernel application abstracts the storage away from the lighting devices that enables building a fault-tolerant and elastic distribution systems easily which can run effectively.

[0030] In another configuration, an external application establishes connectivity with each of the lighting devices installed in the facility, using a communication port such as Wi-Fi and then implementing Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) on top of the storage space in the lighting devices, and, then using the communication protocol to get, set or build data that can be used by the application.

[0031] Other aspects and advantages of the described embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the described embodiments.

[0032] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a lighting device and its components in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The Lighting Device 100 may include, but not limited to, LED lamp or LED light bulb, incandescent lamp, Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), Halogen lamp, Metal halide Lamp, tube light, Neon lamp, High intensity discharge lamp, Low pressure sodium lamp etc. The Lighting Device 100 comprises a Lamp Share Client 102 application that enables the Lighting Device 100 to share its different components with an external applications running either inside or outside the Lighting Device 100. The Lamp Share Client 102 also allows the Lighting Device 100 to share the different components within the network. The Lighting Device 100 comprises an application running inside it, a storage such as a flash memory as well as a communication port such as Wi-Fi Radio 114. The Wi-Fi radio 114 enables the lighting devices to connect to a Wi-Fi access point and helps in forming a mesh network of two or more lighting devices in the facility. The mesh network of the lighting devices can be formed by other communication protocols, which can be either through Bluetooth, Zigbee, Radio network Identification protocol, Near-field communication and other similar protocols. An Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) can be used to aggregate memory in the Lighting Devices in the facility as one pool of memory that can be accessed by an active application in one or more Lighting Device. The external application running inside or outside of the Lighting Device 100 is a computer program designed to run on computing devices. The computing devices may include, but not limited to computer, mobile phone device, tablet, data processor, information processing system, touchpad, microphone etc. The Lamp Share Client 102 allows the external applications to access its different components (such as but not limited to storage, processor, Wi-Fi etc.) by using communication means like Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth etc. The Other Lamp Apps 104 in the Lighting device 100 may performs various functions such as but not limited to, control the intensity and color of light, control the input that Lighting Device 100 receives, control operating voltage or current or temperature, turn on-off etc. It may have the ability to change the complete application of the lighting device on demand. The Lighting device 100 may also comprise an Operating System 106 and a Memory 110. The Memory 110 may be any type of device for storing application data as well as other data. The application data and other signals or data are received by the system controller or processor 108 for configuring it to perform operation acts in accordance with the present systems and methods. The Memory 110 may be implemented as electrical, magnetic or optical memory, or any combination of these or other types of storage devices. Moreover, the term "memory" should be construed broadly enough to encompass any information able to be read from or written to an address in the addressable space accessed by a processor. With this definition, information on a network is still within Memory 110, for instance, because the processor 108 may retrieve the information from the network.

[0033] The Operating System 106 is a program that manages the various resources of the Lighting Device 100. Typically the resources include the Central processing Unit (CPU) 108 that handles all instructions it receives from hardware and software running in the Lighting Device 100, Storage 112, Wi-Fi radio 114 and Sensors/ Actuators 116. The processing unit 108 is capable of providing control signals and/or performing operations in response to input signals from Other Lamp Apps 104 and executing instructions stored in the Memory 110.

[0034] The Storage 112 may be a computer-readable medium and/or memory may be any recordable medium (e.g., ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, removable memory, CD- ROM, hard drives, DVD, floppy disks or memory cards) or may be a transmission medium (e.g., a network comprising fiber-optics, the world-wide web, cables, and/or a wireless channel using, for example, time-division multiple access, code-division multiple access, or other wireless communication systems). Any medium known or developed that can store information suitable for use with a computer system may be used as the computer-readable medium and/or memory. Wi-Fi 114 makes the Lighting Device 100 compatible to the Internet via a WLAN and a Wi-Fi access point in the facility. The Lighting Device 100 may have one or more Wi-Fi 114 radios. Wi-Fi 114 most commonly uses the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz radio bands. Sensors/ Actuator 116 monitors/checks the Wi-Fi network available in the facility. It is equipped with Wi-Fi radios designed to measure the RF environment as well as perform network connectivity and other tests against the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. It continuously monitors the Wi-Fi performance when connected through the APs deployed in their vicinity. The Sensors/ Actuator 116 may include, but not limited to, RF sensors, IR sensors, light sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, proximity sensors, LDR sensors, ultrasonic sensors, touch sensors, motion sensors etc.

[0035] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating the use of memory of a lighting device by an external application present in a local network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the Facility 200 is the location where one or more Lighting Devices 100 are installed. The Facility 200 may include, but is not limited to a residential or commercial or office space, medical or educational institution, industrial or government owned or any other kind of property. An External Application 204 is resides in the same Facility 200 and is connected to the same network as the Lighting Device 100 through a Wi-Fi Access Point 202. The External Application 204 as shown in FIG. 2 is a computer program designed to run on computing devices. The Lighting Device 100 has a Lamp Share Client 102 that allows the Lighting Device 100 to share the different components within the network. The Lamp Share Client 102 application enables the Lighting Device 100 to share its different components with the other devices or applications running inside or outside the Lighting Device 100. The Lamp share client application 102 provides access to the External Application 204 to use or share various resources (like storage, processor etc.) embedded in the Lighting Device 100. For example, the External Application 204 needs storage to complete its computing operation then it connects with the Lamp Share Client 102 for the purpose of sharing the Storage 112 embedded in the Lighting Device; step 1. After the connection, whenever the External Application 204 needs to write a block of memory at a specific offset, it sends the request to write that block respectively to the Lamp Share Client 102 of the concerned Lighting Device 100. The request contains the offset, the length of data as well as the data that needs to be written in the Storage 112. On receiving the request to write, the Lamp Share Client 102 writes that block of memory at the specific offset in the storage memory of the Lighting Device 100; step 2. Similarly, whenever the External Application 204 needs to read a block of memory at a specific offset, it sends the request to read that block to the Lamp Share Client 102 of corresponding Lighting Device 100; as shown in step 3. The request contains the offset and the length of data. On receiving the request to read, the Lamp Share Client 102 reads that block of memory at the specific offset in the storage memory of the Lighting Device 100 and returns it to the External Application 204; Step 4.

[0036] FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating the use of memory of a lighting device by an external application through connectivity over internet, in accordance with an embodiment of present invention. The External Application 204 is located in a cloud server and connected to the network via internet. The Lighting Device 100 has a Lamp Share Client 102 application that allows the Lighting Device 100 to share the different components within the network. The External Application 204 connects with the Lamp Share Client 102 via internet for the purpose of sharing storage embedded in the Lighting Device 100; step 1. After the connection, whenever the External Application 204 needs to write a block of memory at a specific offset, it sends the request to write that block respectively to the Lamp Share Client 102 of the concerned Lighting Device 100. The request contains the offset, the length of data as well as the data that needs to be written in the storage. On receiving the request to write, the Lamp Share Client 102 writes that block of memory at the specific offset in the storage memory of the Lighting Device 100; step 2. Similarly, whenever the External Application 204 needs to read a block of memory at a specific offset; step 3, it sends the request to read that block to the Lamp Share Client 102 of the concerned Lighting Device 100. The request contains the offset and the length of data. On receiving the request to read, the Lamp Share Client 102 reads that block of memory at the specific offset in the storage memory of the Lighting Device 100 and returns it to the External Application 204; step 4.

[0037] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram where an external application utilizes memory of two lighting devices in accordance with an embodiment of present invention. In this embodiment, the External Application 204 is located outside the Facility 400 and connected to Lamp 1 and Lamp 2 via internet. The Lamp Share Client 102 allows the Lighting Device A 402 and Lighting Device B 404 to share the different components within the network. The External Application 204 connects with the Lamp Share Client 102 of Lighting Device A and Lighting Device B via internet for the purpose of sharing storage embedded in the Lighting Device 100 in Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) manner. The RAID is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redundancy, performance improvement, or both. RAID works by placing data on multiple disks and allowing input/output (I/O) operations to overlap in a balanced way, improving performance. Because the use of multiple disks increases the mean time between failures (MTBF), storing data redundantly also increases fault tolerance. Hence, it is advantageous to share storage of two or more Lighting Devices as one Redundant Array of Independent Disks or Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) system. [0038] After the connection of External Application 204 with Lamp Share Client 102 of Lighting Device A and Lighting Device B, whenever the External Application 204 needs to write a block of memory at a specific offset, it sends the request to write that block to the Lamp Share Client of Lighting Device A and Lighting Device B respectively; Step 1. Similarly, whenever the External Application 204 needs to read a block of memory at a specific offset, it sends the request to read that block to the Lamp Share Client of Lighting Device A and Lighting Device B; Step 2. The request contains the offset and the length of data. The read request can be served by one of the Lamp Share Client who request first. On receiving the request to read, the Lamp Share Client of Lighting Device A and Lighting Device B reads that block of memory at the specific offset in the storage memory of the Lighting Device; step 3, and returns it to the External Application 204 using the RAID system; step 4. In other arrangements of the present invention all type of RAID storage method can be implemented using two or more Lighting Devices 100.

[0039] FIG. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating sharing of storage space from three lighting devices by two external applications in accordance with an embodiment of present invention. There are two external applications executing instruction for utilizing storage space in three lighting device in the facility 500. The two External Applications Al and A2 may either reside in facility or in cloud server. In another possible combination, one external application is residing in the facility whereas the other one in the cloud server. The two External Applications 204 Al and A2 connect with the Lamp Share Client 102 of LAMP 1, LAMP 2 and LAMP 3 via internet for the purpose of sharing storage embedded in the Lighting Devices. After the connection, whenever the External Application Al or A2 needs to write a block of memory, it sends the reservation request with size of the block to the Lamp Share Client of LAMP 1, LAMP 2 and LAMP 3 respectively. Once reservation is accepted by any of the Lighting Device, then External Application Al or A2 sends the block of data. Similarly, whenever the External Application Al and A2 need to read a block of memory from the reserved lamp, it sends the request to read that block to the Lamp Share Client. The request contains the offset and the length of data. On receiving the read request from External Application, the Lamp Share Client of corresponding Lighting Device holding data for that particular application, External Application reads required block of memory from the specific offset in the storage memory of the Lighting Device and returns.

[0040] Referring now to further embodiments of the present invention:

A. An embodiment of a lighting device comprising:

a) a lighting device embedded computing resources comprising a processor, a memory and a storage;

b) a lighting device embedded Wi-Fi radio to connect the lighting device to a Wi-Fi access point;

c) a lighting device embedded client application that connects with an external server to share the lighting device embedded storage to the external server.

B. The lighting device of embodiment A, wherein the lighting device registers with the external server to share the storage.

C. An embodiment of a system for utilizing storage space in a lighting device, said embodiment of the system comprising:

a) a plurality of lighting devices having storage space arranged in a mesh network in a facility;

b) a lighting device embedded client application in each of the plurality of lighting device that enable access of the storage space to an external application; c) an external server that provides aggregated view of storage space in the plurality of lighting devices to one or more applications that interact with the external server.

D. The system of embodiment C, wherein the plurality of lighting devices are in communication through Wi-Fi radio, or Bluetooth protocol, or Zigbee network topology.

E. The system of embodiment C, wherein the lighting device embedded client application has an ability to participate with computing resources of other lighting devices as a distributed kernel so as to abstract persistent storage memory as one pool.

F. The system of embodiment C, wherein the persistent storage memory can be used for

running internal application in other lighting devices or can be shared with external resources.

G. The system of embodiment C, wherein the external application requests the client application in lighting device to share the embedded storage space.

H. The system of embodiment G, wherein the request for writing a block in the storage space contains the offset, the length of data and the data that need to be needed to written in the storage.

I. The system of embodiment G, wherein the request to read a block in the storage space

contains the offset and the length of data.

J. The system of embodiment C, wherein the external application may either reside in the

facility or located in a cloud server.

K. The system of embodiment C, wherein the external application is connected to the mesh network through Wi-Fi access point. L. The system of embodiment C, wherein the external application access the storage space of two or more lighting device in RAID-1 manner.

M. An embodiment of a method for utilizing storage space in a lighting device, said embodiment of the method comprising:

a) connecting a plurality of lighting devices arranged in a mesh network in a facility with an access point;

b) monitoring by a lighting device embedded client application, storage space running idle in a lighting device;

c) aggregating the embedded storage space in each of the plurality of lighting device by an external application;

d) providing access to the idle embedded storage space to an external server;

e) providing aggregated view of embedded idle storage space in plurality of lighting devices to other applications that interact with the external server.

N. The method of embodiment M, wherein the plurality of lighting devices are in

communication through Wi-Fi radio, or Bluetooth protocol, or Zigbee network topology. O. The method of embodiment M, wherein the lighting device embedded client application has an ability to participate with computing resources of other lighting devices as a distributed kernel so as to abstract persistent storage memory as one pool.

P. The method of embodiment O, wherein the persistent storage memory can be used for

Q. The method of embodiment O, wherein the external application requests the client

application in lighting device to share the embedded storage space. R. The method of embodiment M, wherein the external application access the storage space of two or more lighting device in RAID-1 manner.

[0041] Although specific embodiments have been described and illustrated, the described embodiments are not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A lighting device comprising:

d) a lighting device embedded computing resources comprising a processor, a memory and a storage;

e) a lighting device embedded Wi-Fi radio to connect the lighting device to a Wi-Fi access point;

f) a lighting device embedded client application that connects with an external server to share the lighting device embedded storage to the external server.

2. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the lighting device registers with the external server to share the storage.

3. A system for utilizing storage space in a lighting device, said system comprising:

d) a plurality of lighting devices having storage space arranged in a mesh network in a facility;

e) a lighting device embedded client application in each of the plurality of lighting device that enable access of the storage space to an external application;

f) an external server that provides aggregated view of storage space in the plurality of lighting devices to one or more applications that interact with the external server.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of lighting devices are in communication

through Wi-Fi radio, or Bluetooth protocol, or Zigbee network topology.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the lighting device embedded client application has an ability to participate with computing resources of other lighting devices as a distributed kernel so as to abstract persistent storage memory as one pool.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the persistent storage memory can be used for running internal application in other lighting devices or can be shared with external resources.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the external application requests the client application in lighting device to share the embedded storage space.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the request for writing a block in the storage space contains the offset, the length of data and the data that need to be needed to written in the storage.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the request to read a block in the storage space contains the offset and the length of data.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the external application may either reside in the facility or located in a cloud server.

11. The system of claim 3, wherein the external application is connected to the mesh network through Wi-Fi access point.

12. The system of claim 3, wherein the external application access the storage space of two or more lighting device in RAID-1 manner.

13. A method for utilizing storage space in a lighting device, said method comprising:

f) connecting a plurality of lighting devices arranged in a mesh network in a facility with an access point;

g) monitoring by a lighting device embedded client application, storage space running idle in a lighting device;

h) aggregating the embedded storage space in each of the plurality of lighting device by an external application;

i) providing access to the idle embedded storage space to an external server; j) providing aggregated view of embedded idle storage space in plurality of lighting devices to other applications that interact with the external server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of lighting devices are in communication

through Wi-Fi radio, or Bluetooth protocol, or Zigbee network topology.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the lighting device embedded client application has an ability to participate with computing resources of other lighting devices as a distributed kernel so as to abstract persistent storage memory as one pool.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the persistent storage memory can be used for running internal application in other lighting devices or can be shared with external resources.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the external application requests the client application in lighting device to share the embedded storage space.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the external application access the storage space of two or more lighting device in RAID-1 manner.