ES2253274T5 - System and procedure for generating and modulating lighting conditions - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a lighting fixture (300, 5000) for generating white light, said fixture comprising a plurality of component illumination sources (320, 5007), said plurality including component illumination sources arranged to produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectrums (1201, 1301) and a mounting (5005) holding said plurality, said mounting designed to allow said spectrums of said plurality to mix and form a resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) that is continuous within the photopic response of the human eye and/or continuous in the region from 400 nm to 700 nm. The plurality of component illumination sources consists of only LEDs, the LEDs including a first white LED, including a phosphor, to produce a first spectrum (1201) of the at least two different spectrums, and a second white LED, including a phosphor, to produce a second spectrum (1301) of the at least two different spectrums. The lighting fixture further comprises a processor (316) responsive to data and configured to independently control the first white LED and the second white LED based on the data such that an intensity of the first white LED and the second white LED may be varied thereby to vary a color temperature of the resulting spectrum within a preselected range of color temperatures and the lighting fixture is adapted to be connected to a data network and provided with a data connection (350) of the data network over which data from an external device is received by the processor of the lighting fixture.

Description

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DESCRIPTION

System and procedure for generating and modulating lighting conditions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Human beings have grown accustomed to controlling their environment. Nature is unpredictable and often presents conditions that are far from the ideal living conditions of the human being. Therefore, the human race has tried for years to modify the environment within a structure so that the external environment emulates a perfect set of conditions. This has involved temperature control, air quality control and lighting control.

The desire to control the properties of light in an artificial environment is easy to understand. Humans are primarily visual creatures. Visually performing much of our communication. We can identify friends and loved ones primarily on the basis of visual cues and communicate through many visual means, such as this printed page. At the same time, the human eye requires light to see and the eyes (unlike those of some other creatures) are especially sensitive to color.

With the increasing number of hours of work and current time constraints, the average human being increasingly uses less hours of the day is in natural sunlight. In addition, humans spend about a third of their lives sleeping, and when the economy increases to 24/7/365, many employees no longer have the luxury of spending their hours walking in the light of day. Therefore, most of the half-life of the human being is spent in interior enclosures, illuminated by artificial light sources.

Visible light is a group of electromagnetic waves (electromagnetic radiation) of different frequencies, of which each wavelength represents a particular "color" of the light spectrum. It is generally thought that visible light includes light waves with a wavelength between approximately 400 and approximately 700 nm. Each of the wavelengths within this spectrum includes a light color other than intense blue / purple at about 400 nm to dark red at about 700 nm. Mixing these light colors produces additional light colors. The distinctive color of a neon sign results from a number of discrete wavelengths of light. These wavelengths are combined additively to produce the resulting wave or spectrum that constitutes a color. Said color is white light.

Because of the importance of white light, and since white light is the mixture of multiple wavelengths of light, multiple techniques for characterizing white light have emerged that refer to how humans interpret a specific white light . The first is the use of color temperature that refers to the color of the light within the white. The correlated color temperature is characterized by color reproduction fields according to the Kelvin temperature (K) of a black body radiator that radiates light of the same color as the light in question. Figure 1 is a chromaticity diagram in which the Planck site (or place of black body or white lmea) (104) gives white temperatures from approximately 700 K (generally considered the first visible to the human eye) to essentially the terminal point. The color temperature of the vision light depends on the color content of the vision light represented by the line (104). Thus, the light of the early hours of the morning has a color temperature of approximately 3,000 K while the skies covered at noon have a white temperature of approximately 10,000 K. A fire has a color temperature of approximately 1,800 K and an incandescent bulb approximately 2848 K. A color image seen at 3,000 K will have a relatively reddish hue, while the same color image seen at 10,000 K will have a relatively bluish tone. All this light is called "white", but it has a variable spectral content.

The second classification of white light implies its quality. In 1965 the Commission Internationale de I'Eclairage (CIE) recommended a method to measure the color performance properties of light sources based on a color sample test method. This method has been updated and is described in the technical report CIE 13.3-1995 "Method of Measuring and Specifying Color Rendering Properties of Light Sources", the description of which is incorporated herein by reference. In essence, this method involves the spectroradiometric measurement of the light source under test. These data are multiplied by the reflectance spectra of eight color samples. The resulting spectra are converted to tri-stimulus values based on the standard CIE 1931 observer. The displacement of these values with respect to a reference light is determined for the uniform color space (UCS) recommended in 1960 by the CIE. The average of the eight color shifts is calculated to generate the General Color Performance index, called CRI. Within these calculations, the CRI is scaled so that a perfect score is equal to 100, where it is perfect to use a spectral source equal to the reference source (often sunlight or full spectrum white light). For example, a source of tungsten-halogen compared to full-spectrum white light could have a CRI of 99 while a warm white fluorescent lamp has a CRI of 50.

Artificial lighting generally uses the standard CRI to determine the quality of white light. If a light produces a high CRI compared to full spectrum white light, it is considered to generate better quality white light (light that is more "natural" and allows colored surfaces to yield more). This method has been used since 1965 as a point of comparison for all different types of light sources.

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The correlated color temperature, and CRI, of vision light can affect the way an observer perceives a color image. An observer will perceive the same color image differently when viewed under lights that have different correlated color temperatures. For example, a color image that seems normal when viewed in the early hours of the morning will appear bluish and unattended when viewed under overcast skies at noon. In addition, a white light with a poor CRI can make color services appear distorted.

The color temperature and / or CRI of light is critical for image creators, such as photographers, film and television producers, painters, etc., as well as for observers of paintings, photographs and other images. Ideally, both the creator and the observer use the same color of ambient light, ensuring that the appearance of the image for the observer matches that of the creator.

In addition, the ambient light color temperature affects how observers perceive an exhibitor, such as a retail or merchandising display, changing the perceived color of such items such as fruits and vegetables, clothing, furniture, cars, and others. products containing visual elements that can greatly affect how people see and react to such exhibitions. An example is a principle of theatrical lighting design that the intense green light in the human body (although the general lighting effect is white light) tends to make the human appear unnatural, repulsive, and often a bit disgusting. Thus, variations in the color temperature of the lighting can affect how attractive or attractive an exhibitor can be to customers.

In addition, the ability to see a decorative color element, such as furniture covered with cloth, clothing, paint, wall paper, curtains, etc., in an environment of lighting or color temperature condition that matches or closely approximates conditions in which the element will be seen, allow to marry and coordinate more precisely these color items. Typically, the lighting used in an exhibition environment, such as an exhibition hall, cannot be varied and is often chosen in order to highlight a specific facet of the color of the item, allowing the buyer to find out if the item in question will retain an attractive appearance in the lighting conditions where the element is eventually placed. Differences in lighting can also let a customer wonder if the color of the element collides with other elements that cannot be conveniently seen under identical lighting conditions or directly compared otherwise.

In addition to white light, the ability to generate specific light colors is also very desirable. Because of the sensitivity of humans to light, visual arts and similar professions want colored light that is specifiable and reproducible. In elementary film classes it is taught that those who go to the cinema have been told that the light usually more orange or red means the morning, while light generally more blue means night or sunset. We have also learned that sunlight filtered through water has a certain color, while sunlight filtered through glass has a different color. For all these reasons it is desirable that those involved in visual arts be able to produce exact light colors and reproduce them later.

Current lighting technology makes such adjustment and control difficult, because ordinary light sources, such as halogen, incandescent and fluorescent sources, generate light of a fixed color and spectrum temperature. In addition, the alteration of the color temperature or spectrum will generally undesirably alter other lighting variables. For example, increasing the voltage applied to an incandescent light may raise the color temperature of the resulting light, but also results in a general increase in brightness. In the same way, placing an intense blue filter in front of a white halogen lamp will dramatically decrease the overall brightness of the light. The filter itself will also get quite hot (and potentially melt) when it absorbs a large percentage of the light energy of white light.

In addition, achieving some color conditions with incandescent fonts can be difficult or impossible since the desired color can cause the filament to burn quickly. In fluorescent lighting sources, the color temperature is controlled by the phosphorus composition, which may vary from one lamp to another, but cannot be physically altered with respect to a given lamp. Thus, modulating the color temperature of light is a complex procedure that is often avoided in scenarios where such adjustment can be beneficial.

In artificial lighting, it is desirable to control the range of colors that a lighting device can produce. Many lighting devices known in the art can only produce a single color of light instead of a range of colors. That color can be varied by lighting devices (for example, a fluorescent lighting device produces a different light color from that of a sodium vapor lamp). The use of filters in a lighting device does not allow a lighting device to produce a range of colors; It only allows a lighting device to produce its unique color, which is then partially absorbed and partially transmitted by the filter. Once the filter is placed, the device can only produce a single color of light (now different), but still cannot produce a range.

It is also desirable in the artificial lighting control to be able to specify a point within the color range that can be produced by a lighting device that will be the highest intensity point. Even in the lighting devices of the current technology whose colors can be altered, the user cannot specify the maximum point

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intensity, but this is generally determined by the unchanging physical characteristics of the device. Thus ^ an incandescent light device can produce a range of colors, but the intensity necessarily increases when the color temperature increases which does not allow color control to the point of maximum intensity. In addition, the filters lack control of the maximum intensity point since the maximum intensity point of a lighting device will be the unfiltered color since the entire filter absorbs part of the intensity.

Reference is made to US-A-5,803,579 which describes a lighting assembly for generating white light, including a plurality of lighting sources including a plurality of LEDs of two types, arranged respectively to produce visible emissions having different lines or spectra. The illuminator assembly also includes a support element that supports the plurality of LEDs, the support element being arranged to allow the spectra of the plurality to mix and form a resulting spectrum. An electronic control circuit controls the operation of the LEDs. More specifically, it energizes, controls and protects the LEDs. The respective spectra of the LEDs of two different types are complementary to each other and combine to form a white metamerican illumination.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for generating and / or modulating lighting conditions to generate light of a desired and controllable color, to create lighting devices to produce light in desirable and reproducible colors, and to modify the color temperature or color tone of light produced by a lighting device within a prespecified range after building a lighting device. In one embodiment, LED lighting units capable of generating light of a range of colors are used to provide light or complement the ambient light to obtain suitable lighting conditions for a wide range of applications.

According to one aspect of the invention, an illumination device for generating white light, including said device, is provided: a plurality of components of lighting sources, said plurality including components of lighting sources arranged to produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two spectra. different, including at least one of said plurality of lighting source components an LED including a phosphor; and an assembly that supports said plurality, said assembly being arranged to allow said spectra of said plurality to mix and form a resulting spectrum; where the visible portion of said resulting spectrum has intensity greater than the background noise in its lowest spectral valley.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for generating light is provided, including the steps of: assembling a plurality of components of lighting sources that produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectra such that the spectra are mixed, including the at least one of said plurality of lighting sources at least one LED including phosphorus; and choosing said at least two different spectra in such a way that the mixture of spectra forms a resulting spectrum that in a lower spectral valley has an intensity that is greater than the background noise.

A first embodiment is described that includes a lighting device for generating white light including a plurality of components of lighting sources (such as LEDs), producing electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectra (including embodiments with exactly two or exactly three), each of the spectra having a maximum spectral peak outside the region of 510 nm to 570 nm, allowing the illumination sources mounted in a set that the spectra be mixed so that the resulting spectrum is substantially continuous in the photopic response of the eye human and / or wavelengths from 400 nm to 700 nm.

In one embodiment, the lighting device may include lighting sources that are not LEDs possibly with a maximum spectral peak within the region of 510 nm to 570 nm. In another embodiment the device may produce white light within a range of color temperatures such as, but not limited to, the range of 500K to 10,000K and the range of 2300K to 4500 K. The specific color in the range can be controlled. by a controller In one embodiment, the device contains a filter in at least one of the lighting sources that can be selected, possibly from a range of filters, to allow the device to produce a particular band of colors. The lighting device may also include in an embodiment lighting sources with wavelengths outside the range explained above from 400 nm to 700 nm.

In another embodiment, the lighting device may include a plurality of LEDs that produce three spectra of electromagnetic radiation with maximum spectral peaks outside the region of 530 nm to 570 nm (such as 450 nm and / or 592 nm) where additive interference of the spectra gives rise to white light. The lighting device may produce white light within a range of color temperatures such as, but not limited to, the range of 500K to 10,000K and the range of 2300K to 4500 K. The lighting device may include a controller and / or a processor to control the intensities of the LEDs to produce various color temperatures in the range.

Another embodiment includes a lighting device to be used in a lamp designed to take fluorescent tubes, the lighting device having at least one lighting source component (frequently two or more) such as LEDs mounted in a set, and having in the set set a connector that can be attached with a lamp

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fluorescent and receive lamp power. It also contains a control or electrical circuit to be able to use the lamp's reactor voltage to power or control the LEDs. This control circuit could include a processor, and / or could control the lighting provided by the device based on the power provided to the lamp. The lighting device, in one embodiment, is contained in a box, the box could be generally cylindrical, could contain a filter, and / or could be partially transparent or translucent. The device may produce white or other color light.

Another embodiment includes a lighting device for generating white light including a plurality of components of lighting sources (such as LEDs, lighting devices containing a phosphorus, or LEDs containing a phosphorus), including components of lighting sources that produce radiation spectra. electromagnetic The lighting source component is mounted in a set designed to allow the spectra to mix and form a resulting spectrum, where the resulting spectrum has intensity greater than the background noise in its lower valley. The lowest spectral valley within the visible range can also have an intensity of at least 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, or 75% of the intensity of its maximum spectral peak. The lighting device may be able to generate white light in a range of color temperatures and may include a controller and / or processor to allow the selection of a particular color in that range.

Another embodiment of a lighting device could include a plurality of lighting source components (such as LEDs), producing the lighting source components electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectra, the lighting sources being mounted in a set designed to allow that the spectra mix and form a resulting spectrum, where the resulting spectrum does not have a spectral valley at a wavelength longer than the maximum spectral peak within the photopic response of the human eye and / or in the area of 400 nm at 700 nm

Another embodiment includes a method for generating white light including the steps of assembling a plurality of components of lighting sources that produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectra such that the spectra are mixed; and choose the spectra so that the mixture of the spectra has intensity greater than the background noise in its lowest spectral valley.

Another embodiment includes a system for controlling lighting conditions including, a lighting device for obtaining illumination of any of a range of colors, the lighting device being constructed from a plurality of components of lighting sources (such as LEDs and / or potentially of three different colors), a processor coupled to the lighting device to control the lighting device, and a controller coupled to the processor to specify lighting conditions to be obtained by the lighting device. The controller could be computer hardware or computer software; a sensor such as, but not limited to a photodiode, a radiometer, a photometer, a color meter, a spectral radiometer, a camera; or a manual interface such as, but not limited to, a slide, a dial, a joystick, a mouse or trackball. The processor could include a memory (such as a database) of predetermined color conditions and / or an interface provisioning mechanism to obtain a user interface potentially including a color spectrum, a color temperature spectrum, or a chromaticity diagram.

In another embodiment the system could include a second source of illumination such as, but not limited to, a fluorescent lamp, an incandescent bulb, a mercury vapor lamp, a sodium vapor lamp, an arc discharge lamp, sunlight , moonlight, candle, an LED display system, an LED, or a lighting system controlled by pulse width modulation. The second source could be used by the controller to specify lighting conditions for the lighting device based on the lighting of the lighting device and the second lighting source and / or the combined light of the lighting device and the second source could be a desired color temperature.

Another embodiment includes a method with steps that include generating light that has color and brightness using an illumination device capable of generating light of any of a range of colors, measuring the lighting conditions, and modulating the color or brightness of the light generated to achieve a white lighting condition. Measuring lighting conditions could include detecting color characteristics of lighting conditions using a light sensor such as, but not limited to, a photodiode, a radiometer, a photometer, a color meter, a spectral radiometer, or a camera; visually assess the lighting conditions, and modulate the color or brightness of the generated light includes varying the color or brightness of the generated light using a manual interface; or measure the lighting conditions including detecting color characteristics of the lighting conditions using a light sensor, and modulating the color or brightness of the light generated including varying the color or brightness of the light generated using a processor until the characteristics of The color of the lighting conditions detected by the light sensor match the color characteristics of the white lighting conditions. The method could include selecting a white lighting condition such as, but not limited to, selecting a white color temperature and / or providing an interface including an illustration of a range of colors and selecting a color within the range of colors. The method could also have the steps of obtaining a second source of illumination, such as, but not limited to, a fluorescent lamp, an incandescent bulb, a mercury vapor lamp, a sodium vapor lamp, an arc discharge lamp , sunlight, moonlight, candle, an LED lighting system, an LED, or a lighting system controlled by pulse width modulation. The method could measure the

lighting conditions including detecting light generated by the lighting device and by the second lighting source.

In another modular embodiment the color or brightness of the generated light includes varying the lighting conditions to achieve a white temperature or the lighting device could include one of a plurality of 5 lighting devices, capable of generating a range of colors.

Another embodiment is a method for designing a lighting device including selecting a desired band of colors to be produced by the lighting device, choosing a selected color of light to be produced by the lighting device when the lighting device is at maximum intensity, and design the lighting device from a plurality of lighting sources (such as LEDs) such that the lighting device can produce the range of colors, and produce the selected color when it is at maximum intensity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The following figures illustrate some illustrative embodiments of the invention in which analog reference numbers refer to analog elements. These illustrated embodiments are to be understood as illustrative of the invention and not as limiting in any way. The invention will be more fully appreciated by the following additional description, with reference to the attached drawings, where:

Figure 1 is a chromaticity diagram including the black body site.

Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of a lighting device suitable for use in this invention.

Figure 3 illustrates the use of multiple lighting devices according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of a box for use in an embodiment of this invention.

20 Figures 5a and 5b illustrate another embodiment of a box for use in an embodiment of this invention.

Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of a computer interface that allows the user to design a lighting device capable of producing a desired spectrum.

Figure 7 shows an embodiment for calibrating or controlling the light device of the invention using a sensor.

Figure 8a shows a general embodiment of the control of a lighting device of this invention.

Figure 8b shows an embodiment of the control of a lighting device of this invention in conjunction with a second light source.

Figure 9 shows an embodiment for controlling a light device of the invention using a computer interface.

Figure 10a shows another embodiment for controlling a lighting device of this invention using a manual control.

Figure 10b illustrates a detail of a control unit such as that used in Figure 10a.

Figure 11 shows an embodiment of a control system that allows multiple lighting control to simulate an environment.

Figure 12 illustrates the CIE VA spectral luminosity function that indicates the receptivity of the human eye.

35 Figure 13 illustrates spectral distributions of black body sources at 5,000 K and 2,500 K.

Figure 14 illustrates an embodiment of a white light source of nine LEDs.

Figure 15a illustrates the output of an embodiment of a lighting device including nine LEDs and producing 5,000 K white light.

Figure 15b illustrates the output of an embodiment of a lighting device including nine LEDs and producing 40 white light of 2,500 K.

Figure 16 illustrates an embodiment of the component spectra of a three LED light device.

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Figure 17a illustrates the output of an embodiment of a lighting device including three LEDs and producing 5,000 K white light.

Figure 17b illustrates the output of an embodiment of a lighting device including three LEDs and producing 2,500 K white light.

Figure 18 illustrates the spectrum of a white Nichia LED, NSP510 BS (box A).

Figure 19 illustrates the spectrum of a white Nichia LED, NSP510 BS (box C).

Figure 20 illustrates the spectral transmission of an embodiment of a high pass filter.

Figure 21a illustrates the spectrum of Figure 18 and the spectrum displaced by passing the spectrum of Figure 18 through the high pass filter in Figure 20.

Figure 21b illustrates the spectrum of Figure 19 and the spectrum displaced by passing the spectrum of Figure 19 through the high pass filter in Figure 20.

Figure 22 is a chromaticity map showing the place of black body (white lmea) enlarged in a temperature portion between 2,300 K and 4,500 K.

Figure 23 is the chromaticity map also showing the range of light produced by three LEDs in an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 24 shows a graphical comparison of the CRI of a lighting device of the invention compared to existing white light sources.

Figure 25 shows the light output of a lighting device of the invention at various color temperatures.

Figure 26a illustrates the spectrum of an embodiment of a white light device according to the invention that produces light at 2300K.

Figure 26b illustrates the spectrum of an embodiment of a white light device that produces light at 4500K.

Figure 27 is a spectrum diagram of a compact fluorescent light device with the function of spectral luminosity as a dashed line.

Figure 28 shows a lamp for using fluorescent tubes as is known in the art.

Figure 29 illustrates a possible LED lighting device that could be used to replace a fluorescent tube.

Figure 30 illustrates an embodiment of how a series of filters could be used to enclose different portions of the black body site.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

The following description refers to several illustrative embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art will contemplate many variations of the invention, which fall within the scope of the claims. Thus, the scope of the invention should not be limited in any way by the following description.

In the sense that they are used in this document, the following terms generally have the following meanings; however, these definitions are in no way intended to limit the scope of the term as understood by those skilled in the art.

The term "LED" generally includes photoelectric diodes of all types and also includes, but is not limited to, photo-emitting polymers, semiconductor dice that produce light in response to a current, organic LEDs, electroluminescent strips, super-luminescent diodes (SLDs) and other devices analogs The term LEDs does not limit the physical or electrical gasket of any of the foregoing and said gasket may include, but is not limited to, surface mount, chip board, or T-pack mounted LEDs.

"Lighting source" includes all lighting sources, including, but not limited to, LEDs; incandescent sources including filament lamps; pyroluminescent sources such as llamas; luminescent candle sources such as gas sleeves and carbon arc radiation sources; photoluminescent sources including gaseous discharges; fluorescent sources; phosphorescence sources; lasers; electroluminescent sources

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such as electroluminescent lamps; luminescent cathode sources using electronic satiation; and miscellaneous luminescent sources including galvanoluminescent sources, crystal-luminescent sources, quinoluminescent sources, thermoluminescent sources, triboluminescent sources, sonoluminescent sources, and radioluminescent sources. Lighting sources may also include luminescent polymers. A source of illumination can produce electromagnetic radiation within the visible spectrum, outside the visible spectrum, or a combination of both. A lighting source component is any lighting source that is part of a lighting device.

"Illumination device" or "device" is any device or box that contains at least one source of illumination for the purpose of providing illumination.

"Color", "temperature" and "spectrum" are used interchangeably within this document unless otherwise indicated. The three terms refer in general to the resulting combination of wavelengths of light that give rise to the light produced by a lighting device. This combination of wavelengths defines a color or temperature of light. The color is generally used for light that is not white while the temperature is for white light, but the term could be used for any type of light. A white light has a color and a non-white light could have a temperature. A spectrum will generally refer to the spectral composition of a combination of individual wavelengths, while a color or temperature will generally refer to the properties of said light perceived by a human being. However, the above uses are not intended to limit the scope of these terms.

The recent arrival of brightly colored LEDs to provide lighting has suggested a revolution in lighting technology because of the ease with which the color and brightness of these light sources can be modulated. Such a modulation method is explained in US Patent 6,016,038, the full description of which is incorporated herein by reference. The systems and methods described herein explain how to use and construct LED light devices or systems, or other light devices or systems that use components of lighting sources. These systems have some advantages over other lighting devices. In particular, the systems described herein allow a previously unknown control of the light that can be produced with a lighting device. In particular, the following description describes systems and methods for predetermining the range of light, and the type of light, which can be produced by a lighting device and the systems and methods for using the predetermined band of said lighting device in various Applications.

To understand these systems and methods it is useful to first understand a lighting device that could be constructed and used in embodiments of this invention. Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of a lighting module that could be used in an embodiment of the invention; a lighting device (300) is illustrated in block diagram format. The lighting device (300) includes two components, a processor (316) and a group of lighting source components (320), which is illustrated in Figure 2 as a series of light emitting diodes. In one embodiment of the invention, the lighting source component group includes at least two lighting sources that produce different light spectra. The group of lighting source components (320) is disposed within said lighting device (300) in an assembly (350) such that the light of the different lighting source components can be mixed to produce a spectrum of resulting light that is basically the additive spectrum of the different components of lighting sources. In Figure 2, this is done by placing the lighting source components (320) in a generally circular area; It could also be done in some other way as those skilled in the art will understand, such as a line of lighting source components, or another geometric form of lighting source components. The term "processor" is used here to refer to any method or processing system, for example, those that process in response to a signal or data and / or those that process autonomously. It should be understood that a processor encompasses microprocessors, microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors, integrated circuits, computer software, computer hardware, electrical circuits, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, programmable door networks, programmable logic, personal computers, chips, and any other combination of discrete analog, digital or programmable components, or other devices capable of performing processing functions.

The lighting source group (320) is controlled by the processor (316) to produce controlled lighting. In particular, the processor (316) controls the intensity of different individual color LEDs in the series of LEDs, which make up the group of lighting sources (320) to produce illumination in any color within a range defined by the spectra of the Individual LEDs and any filters or other associated spectrum alteration devices. Instant color changes, strobe and other effects can also occur, with lighting devices such as the light module (300) illustrated in Figure 2. The lighting device (300) can be made capable of receiving power and data from an external source in an embodiment of the invention. The reception of such data is carried out by a data line (330) and the power by a power line (340). The lighting device (300), through the processor (316), can be made to perform the various functions attributed to the various embodiments of the invention described herein. In another embodiment, the processor (316) can be replaced by hard wiring or other control so that the lighting device (300) produces only a single color of light.

With reference to Figure 3, the lighting device (300) can be constructed for use alone or as part of a

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set of such lighting devices (300). An individual lighting device (300) or a set of lighting devices (300) may be provided with a data connection (350) to one or more external devices, or, in some embodiments of the invention, with other light modules (300). In the sense that aqm is used, it should be understood that the term "data connection" encompasses any system for providing data, such as a network, a data bus, a cable, a transmitter and receiver, a circuit, a tape video, a compact disc, a DVD disc, a video tape, a tape, a computer tape, a card, or analogs. A data connection may thus include any system or method for sending data by a method or system of radio frequency, ultrasonic, audio, infrared, optical, microwave, laser, electromagnetic, or other method or system of transmission or connection. That is, any use of the electromagnetic spectrum or other energy transmission mechanism could provide a data connection such as the one described here. In one embodiment of the invention, the lighting device (300) can be equipped with a transmitter, receiver, or both to facilitate communication, and the processor (316) can be programmed to control the communication capabilities in a conventional manner. The light devices (300) can receive data by the data connection (350) of a transmitter (352), which can be a conventional transmitter of a communications signal, or can be part of a circuit or network connected to the device lighting (300). That is, it should be understood that the transmitter (352) encompasses any device or method for transmitting data to the light device (300). The transmitter (352) can be connected or be part of a control device (354) that generates control data to control the light modules (300). In an embodiment of the invention, the control device (354) is a computer, such as a laptop. The control data may be in any form suitable for controlling the processor (316) to control the lighting source component group (320). In one embodiment of the invention, the control data is formatted according to the DMX-512 protocol, and conventional software is used to generate DMX-512 instructions on a laptop or personal computer such as the control device (354) to control the devices. lighting (300). The lighting device (300) can also be provided with memory for storing instructions for controlling the processor (316), so that the lighting device (300) can act autonomously according to preprogrammed instructions.

The above embodiments of a lighting device (300) will generally reside in one of any number of different boxes. Said box, however, is not necessary, and the lighting device (300) can be used without a box still forming a lighting device. A box can perform denticulation of the resulting light produced and can provide protection to the lighting device (300) and its components. A box can be included in a lighting device in the sense that this term is used throughout this document. Figure 4 shows an exploded view of an embodiment of a lighting device of the present invention. The illustrated embodiment includes a substantially cylindrical body section (362), a lighting device (364), a conductive sleeve (368), a power module (372), a second conductive sleeve (374), and an enclosure plate ( 378). It will be assumed that the lighting device (364) and the power module (372) contain the electrical and software structure of the lighting device (300), a different power module and lighting device (300) as is known in the technique, or as described in US Patent Application serial number 09 / 215.624 whose complete description is incorporated herein by reference. Screws (382), (384), (386), (388) allow the entire device to be mechanically connected. The body section (362), the conductive sleeves (364) and (374) and the enclosure plate (378) are preferably made of a heat conducting material, such as aluminum. The body section (362) has an emission end (361), a reflecting inner portion (not shown) and an illumination end (363). The lighting module (364) is mechanically fixed to said lighting end (363). Said emission end (361) may be open, or, in one embodiment, a filter (391) may be attached. The filter (391) can be a clear filter, a diffusion filter, a color filter, or any other type of filter known in the art. In one embodiment, the filter will be permanently attached to the body section (362), but in other embodiments the filter could be detachably attached. In another embodiment, the filter (391) does not have to be attached to the emission end (361) of the body portion (362), but can be introduced anywhere in the light emission direction of the lighting device ( 364). The lighting device (364) may have a disk shape with two sides. The lighting side (not shown) includes a plurality of component light sources that produce a predetermined selection of different light spectra. The connection side may contain a set of male electrical connection pins (392). The lighting side and the connection side can be coated with aluminum surfaces to better allow heat conduction out of the plurality of component light sources to the body section (362). Similarly, the power module (372) generally has a disk shape and can have each available surface covered with aluminum for the same reason. The power module (372) has a connection side that supports a set of female electrical connection pins (394) adapted to fit the pins of the assembly (392). The power module (372) has a power terminal side that supports a terminal (398) for connection to a power source such as an AC or DC electrical source. Any standard AC or DC plug that is suitable can be used.

Between the lighting device (362) and the power module (372) there is a conductive aluminum sleeve (368), which substantially encloses the space between modules (362) and (372). As shown, a disk-shaped enclosure plate (378) and screws (382), (384), (386) and (388) can seal all components together, and the conductive sleeve (374) is thus interposed between the enclosure plate (378) and power module (372). Alternatively, a connection method other than screws (382), (384), (386) and (388) can be used to seal the structure. Once sealed as a unit, the lighting device (362) can be connected to a data network as described above and can be mounted in any convenient way to illuminate an area.

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Figures 5a and 5b show an alternative lighting device including a box that can be used in another embodiment of the invention. The illustrated embodiment includes a lower body section (5001), an upper body section (5003) and a lighting device (5005). Again, the lighting device may contain the lighting device (300), a different lighting device known in the art, or a lighting device described elsewhere in this document. The lighting device (5005) shown here is designed to have a linear track of component lighting devices (in this case LEDs (5007)) although such a design is not necessary. However, such a design is desirable for an embodiment of the invention. In addition, the linear track of lighting source components is illustrated in Figure 5a as a single track; multiple linear tracks can be used as those skilled in the art will understand. In one embodiment of the invention, the upper body section (5003) may include a filter as explained above, or it may be translucent, transparent, semi-translucent or semi-transparent. Also shown in Figure 5a is the optional support (5010) that can be used to maintain the lighting device (5000). This support (5010) includes staple devices (5012) that can be used to frictionally engage the lighting device (5000) to allow a particular alignment of the lighting device (5000) relative to the support (5010). The assembly also contains a union plate (5014) that can be attached to the clamp devices (5012) by any type of union known in the art, whether permanent, removable or temporary. The union plate (5014) can then be used to attach the entire apparatus to a surface such as, but not limited to, a wall or ceiling.

In one embodiment, the lighting device (5000) is generally cylindrical in shape when mounted (as shown in Figure 5b) and therefore can be moved or "rolled" on a surface. In addition, in one embodiment, the lighting device (5000) can only emit light by the upper body section (5003) and not by the lower body section (5001). Without a support (5010), directing the light emitted by said lighting device (5000) could be difficult and the movement could cause the directionality of the light to be undesirably altered.

In an embodiment of the invention, it is recognized that pre-specified ranges of available colors may be desirable and it may also be desirable to construct lighting devices in such a way as to maximize the illumination of the lighting apparatus for a particular color. This is well represented by a numerical example. Assume that a lighting device contains 30 components of lighting sources in three different wavelengths, primary red, primary blue, and primary green (such as individual LEDs). Suppose also that each of these sources of illumination produces the same intensity of light, only that they produce it in different colors. There are multiple different ways to choose the thirty lighting sources for any given lighting device. There could be 10 of each of the lighting sources, or alternatively there could be 30 primary blue lighting sources. It will be readily apparent that these light devices are useful for different types of lighting. The second light fixture produces more intense primary blue light (there are 30 blue light sources) than the first light source (which only has 10 primary blue light sources, the remaining 20 light sources having to be turned off to produce blue light primary), but only limited to producing primary blue light. The second light device can produce more light colors, because the spectra of the lighting source components can be mixed in different percentages, but they cannot produce such intense blue light. It will be readily apparent from this example that the selection of the components of individual lighting sources can change the resulting light spectrum that the device can produce. It will also be apparent that the same selection of components can produce lights that can produce the same colors, but can produce colors at different intensities. In other words, the maximum full point of a lighting device (the point where all the components of lighting sources are at the maximum) will be different depending on whether they are the components of lighting sources.

Therefore, a lighting system can be specified using a maximum maximum point and a range of selectable colors. This system may have potential applications such as, but not limited to, lighting of exhibitors in retail stores and lighting of theaters. Many lighting devices of a plurality of different colors are often used to present a stage or other area with interesting shadows and desirable features. Problems may arise, however, because the lamps used regularly have similar intensities before using light filters to specify device colors, due to the transmission differences of the various filters (for example, blue filters often lose considerably intensity greater than the red filters), the intensity of the illumination devices for compensation must be controlled. For this reason, lighting devices often operate at less than full capacity (to allow mixing), which requires the use of additional lighting devices. With the lighting devices of the present invention, lighting devices can be designed that produce particular colors at identical intensities of selected colors when operating at their full potential; This may allow for easier mixing of the resulting light, and may result in more options for a lighting design scheme.

Such a system allows a person to build or design lighting devices to generate lights that can produce a preselected range of colors, while maximizing the intensity of light to a certain more desirable color. Therefore, these lighting devices allow the user to select some color (s) of lighting devices for an application independent of the relative intensity. The lighting devices can then be constructed so that the intensities to these colors are the same. Only the spectrum is altered. It also allows the user to select lighting devices that produce a specific high intensity light color, and also have the ability to select nearby light colors in a range.

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The range of colors that the lighting device can produce can be specified instead, or also, of the maximum full point. The lighting device can then be provided with control systems that allow the user of the lighting device to intuitively and easily select a desired color from the available range.

An embodiment of such a system works by storing the spectra of each of the lighting source components. In this exemplary embodiment, the lighting sources are LEDs. By selecting different component LEDs with different spectra, the designer can define the color range of a lighting device. An easy way to visualize the range of colors is to use the CIE diagram that shows the entire illumination range of all the colors of light that may exist. An embodiment of a system provides a light autona interface such as an interactive computer interface. Figure 6 shows an embodiment of an interactive computer interface that allows the user to see a CIE diagram (508) in which the color spectrum that a lighting device can produce is displayed. In Figure 6 the individual LED spectra are stored in memory and can be reclaimed from memory to be used to calculate a combined color control zone. The interface has several channels (502) to select LEDs. Once selected, by varying the intensity slider bar (504) you can change the relative number of LEDs of that type in the resulting lighting device. The color of each LED is represented in a color chart such as a ClE diagram (508) as a point (for example, point (506)). A second LED can be selected on a different channel to create a second point (for example, point (509)) in the CIE chart. A line that connects these two points represents the degree to which the color of these two LEDs can be mixed to produce additional colors. When a third and fourth channel is used, a zone (510) representing the possible combinations of the selected LEDs can be represented in the CIE diagram. Although the area (510) represented here is a four-sided polygon, those skilled in the art will understand that the area (5l0) could be a dotted line or a polygon with any number of sides depending on the LEDs chosen.

In addition to specifying the range of colors, the intensities at any given color can be calculated from the LED spectra. Knowing the number of LEDs for a given color and the maximum intensity of any of these LEDs, the total light output at a particular color is calculated. A diamond or other symbol (512) can be represented in the diagram to represent the color when all the LEDs are in full brightness or the point can represent the current intensity parameter.

Since a lighting device can be formed by a plurality of lighting source components, when designing a lighting device, the most desirable color can be selected, and a lighting device that maximizes the intensity of that color can be designed. Alternatively, a device can be chosen, and the maximum intensity point can be determined from this selection. A tool can be provided to allow the calculation of a particular color at a maximum intensity. Figure 6 shows said tool as the symbol (512), where the CIE diagram has been placed in a computer and the calculations can be performed automatically to calculate a total number of LEDs needed to produce a particular intensity, as well as the ratio of LEDs of different spectra to produce particular colors. Alternatively, a selection of LEDs can be chosen and the point of maximum intensity can be determined; both directions of calculation are included in embodiments of this invention.

In Figure 6, when the number of LEDs is altered, the points of maximum intensity move so that a user can design a light that has a maximum intensity at a desired point.

Therefore, in one embodiment of the invention the system contains a group of the spectra of a number of different LEDs, provides an interface for the user to select LEDs that will produce a color range that includes the desirable zone, and allows the user Select the number of each type of LED so that when the unit is complete, a desired color will be produced. In an alternative embodiment, the user will simply have to provide a desired spectrum, or color and intensity, and the system could produce a lighting device that could generate light according to the requests.

Once the light has been designed, in one embodiment, it is also desirable to make the light spectrum easily accessible to the user of the lighting device. As explained above, the lighting device may have been chosen with a specific series of lighting sources such that a particular color is obtained at maximum intensity. However, there may be other colors that can be produced by varying the relative intensities of the lighting source components. The spectrum of the lighting device can be controlled within the predetermined range specified by the zone (510). To control the color of illumination within the range, it is recognized that each color within the polygon is the additive mixture of the component LEDs, each color contained in the components having a varied intensity. That is, to move from a point in Figure 6 to a second point in Figure 6, the relative intensities of the component LEDs must be altered. This may be less than intuitive for the end user of the lighting device who simply wants a particular color, or a particular transition between colors and not knowing the intensities relative to moving. This is particularly true if the LEDs used do not have spectra with a single well-defined color peak. A lighting device may be able to generate 100 shades of orange, but how to obtain each of the tones may require control.

In order to carry out said control of the light spectrum, it is desirable in one embodiment to create a system and method to link the color of the light to a control device to control the color of the light. Since a device of

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lighting can be custom designed, in one embodiment it may be desirable to have the intensities of each of the lighting source components "applied" to a desirable resulting light spectrum and let the controller select a point on the map. That is, a method with which, with the specification of a particular color of light made by a controller, the lighting device can turn on the appropriate lighting sources at the appropriate intensity to create said light color. In one embodiment, the lighting device design software shown in Figure 6 can be configured such that it can generate a mapping between a desirable color that can be produced (within the zone (510)), and the intensities of the component LEDs that make up the lighting device. This mapping will generally have one of two forms: 1) a query table, or 2) a parametric equation, although other forms may be used as those skilled in the art know. The software included in the lighting device (such as in the previous processor (316)) or in a lighting controller, such as one of those known in the art, or described above, can be configured to accept user input when selecting a color, and producing a desired light.

This mapping can be done by several methods. In one embodiment, statistics are known about the components of individual lighting sources within the lighting device, so that mathematical calculations can be made to produce a relationship between the resulting spectrum and the component spectra. Those skilled in the art will understand these calculations well.

In another embodiment, an external calibration system can be used. An arrangement of said system is described in Figure 7. The calibration system includes here a lighting device (2010) that is connected to a processor (2020) and that receives input from a light sensor or transducer (2034). The processor (2020) can be a processor (316) or it can be an additional or alternative processor. The sensor (2034) measures color characteristics, and optionally the brightness, of the light output by the lighting device (2010) and / or the ambient light, and the processor (2020) changes the output of the lighting device (2010 ). Between these two devices that modulate the brightness or color of the output and measure the brightness and color of the output, the lighting device can be calibrated where the relative values of the lighting source components (or processor parameters (2020)) they are directly related to the output of the device (2010) (the parameters of the light sensor (2034)). Since the sensor (2034) can detect the net spectrum produced by the lighting device, it can be used to provide a direct mapping by relating the output of the lighting device with the parameters of the component LEDs.

Once the mapping is finished, other methods or systems can be used to control the light device. Such methods or systems will allow the determination of a desired color, and the production of said color by the lighting device.

Figure 8a shows an embodiment of the system (2000) where a control system (2030) can be used in conjunction with a lighting device (2010) to allow control of the lighting device (2010). The control system (2030) can be automatic, it can receive input from a user, or it can be any combination of these two. The system (2000) may also include a processor (2020) which may be the processor (316) or another processor to allow the light to change color.

Figure 9 shows a more concrete embodiment of a system (2000). As a control system (2030) a user computer interface control system (2032) is used with which a user can select a desired color of light. This can be the user interface (401) or it could be a separate interface. The interface could allow any kind of user interaction in the color determination. For example, the interface can provide a palette, chromaticity diagram, or other color scheme from which a user can select a color, for example, by clicking with a mouse on a suitable color or color temperature on the interface, changing a variable using a keyboard, etc. The interface may include a display screen, a computer keyboard, a mouse, a trackpad, or other system suitable for interaction between the processor and a user. In some embodiments, the system may allow a user to select a set of colors for repeated use, which can be accessed quickly, for example, by giving a simple code, such as a single letter or digit, or by selecting one from a set of preset colors through an interface as described above. In some embodiments, the interface may also include a query table capable of correlating color names with approximate tones, converting color coordinates of a system (for example, RGB, CYM, YIQ, YUV, HSV, HLS, XYZ, etc.) to a different color coordinate system or to a screen or lighting color, or any other conversion function to help the user manipulate the lighting color. The interface may also include one or several equations in a closed form to convert, for example, from a user-specified color temperature (associated with a particular white light color) to signals suitable for the different components of device lighting sources of illumination (2010). The system may also include a sensor as explained below to provide information to the processor (2020), for example, to automatically calibrate the color of light emitted from the lighting device (2010) to achieve the color selected by the user in the interface .

In another embodiment a manual control system (2036) is used in the system (2000), as illustrated in Figure 10a, such as a dial, slide, switch, multi-pole switch, console, another lighting control unit, or any other controller or combination of controllers to allow the user to modify the lighting conditions until the lighting conditions or the appearance of a lighted subject are desirable. For example, a dial or a slide can be used in a system to modulate the net color spectrum produced, the illumination along

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of the color temperature curve, or any other color modulation of the lighting device. Alternatively, a joystick, ball, trackpad, mouse, thumb wheel, touch sensitive surface, or a console with two or more slides, dials or other controls can be used to modulate color, temperature or spectrum. These manual controls can be used in conjunction with a computer interface control system (2032) as explained above, or they can be used independently, possibly with related marks to allow the user to explore an available range of colors.

Said manual control system (2036) is detailed in Figure 10b. The illustrated control unit includes a dial marked to indicate a range of color temperatures, for example, from 3000K to 10,500K. This device will be useful in a lighting device used to produce a range of temperatures ("colors") of white light, such as explained below. Those skilled in the art will understand that wider, narrower or overlapping ranges can be used, and a similar system could be used to control lighting devices that can produce light of a spectrum beyond white, or not including white. A manual control system (2036) can be included as part of a processor that controls a series of lighting units, coupled to a processor, for example, as a peripheral component of a lighting control system, arranged in a remote control capable of transmitting a signal, such as infrared or microwave signal, to a system that controls a lighting unit, or using or configuring it in some other way, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. In addition, instead of a dial, a manual control system (2036) may employ a slide, a mouse, or any other control or input device suitable for use in the systems and methods described herein.

In another embodiment, the calibration system illustrated in Figure 7 can function as a control system or as a portion of a control system. For example, the user could enter a selected color and the calibration system could measure the ambient light spectrum, compare the measured spectrum with the selected spectrum, adjust the color of light produced by the lighting device (2010), and repeat the procedure to minimize the difference between the desired spectrum and the measured spectrum. For example, if the measured spectrum is deficient in red wavelengths compared to the desired spectrum, the processor can increase the brightness of the red LEDs on the lighting device, decrease the brightness of the blue and green LEDs on the device of illumination, or both, to minimize the difference between the measured spectrum and the desired spectrum and potentially to also achieve a desired brightness (ie, such as the maximum possible brightness of said color). The system can also be used to match a color produced by a lighting device with a natural color. For example, a film director might find light in a position where it is not filmed and measure it with the sensor; This could then provide the desired color to be produced with the lighting device. In one embodiment, these tasks can be performed simultaneously (potentially using two separate sensors). In another embodiment, the director can remotely measure a lighting condition with a sensor (2034) and store said lighting condition in a memory associated with said sensor (2034). The sensor memory can then be transferred to the processor (2020) that the lighting device can prepare to mimic the recorded light. This allows the director to create a "desired lighting memory" that can be stored and recreated later with lighting devices such as those described above.

The sensor (2034) used to measure the lighting conditions may be a photodiode, a phototransistor, a photoresistor, a radiometer, a photometer, a colonometer, a spectral radiometer, a camera, a combination of two or more of the above devices, or any other system capable of measuring the color or brightness of the lighting conditions. An example of a sensor can be the IL2000 SpectroCube Spectroradiometer that International Light Inc. offers for sale, although any other sensor can be used. A spectral radiometer or radiometer is advantageous because several wavelengths can be detected simultaneously, allowing exact measurements of color and brightness simultaneously. A color temperature sensor that can be used in the systems and methods described herein is described in US Patent No. 5,521,708.

In embodiments where the sensor (2034) detects an image, for example, includes a camera or other video capture device, the processor (2020) can modulate the lighting conditions with the lighting device (2010) until an illuminated object appears substantially the same, for example, substantially the same color, as in a previously recorded image. Such a system simplifies the procedures employed by the cameras, for example, when trying to produce a consistent aspect of an object to promote continuity between scenes of a movie, or by photographers, for example, when trying to reproduce the lighting conditions of a previous shot. .

In some embodiments, the lighting device (2010) can be used as the only light source, although in other embodiments, as illustrated in Figure 8b, the lighting device (2010) can be used in combination with a second light source (2040), such as an incandescent, fluorescent, halogen source, other LED sources or component light sources (including with and without control), lights that are controlled with pulse modulation in width, sunlight, sunlight the moon, candle, etc. This use may have the purpose of complementing the output of the second source. For example, a fluorescent light that emits weak illumination in red portions of the spectrum can be complemented with an illumination device that primarily emits red wavelengths to provide illumination conditions that most closely resemble natural sunlight. Likewise, such a system can also be useful in situations of taking pictures outdoors, because the color temperature of natural light changes when the position of the sun changes. A lighting device (2010) can be used in conjunction with a sensor (2034) as a controller (2030) to compensate for changes in sunlight to keep constant the

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lighting conditions during a session.

In the system described in Figure 11, any of the previous systems could be deployed. A lighting system for a position may include a plurality of lighting devices (2301) that are controllable by a central control system (2303). Now it is desired that the light within the position (or in a specific position such as the scenario (2305) illustrated here) imitate another type of light such as sunlight. A first sensor (2307) is taken outside and the natural sunlight (2309) is measured and recorded. This register is subsequently sent to the central control system (2303). A second sensor (which may be the same sensor in one embodiment) (2317) is present on stage (2305). The central control system (2309) now controls the intensity and color of the plurality of devices of

lighting (2301) and attempts to match the introduced spectrum of said second sensor (2317) with the spectrum of light

pre-registered natural solar (2309). In this way, the interior lighting design can be drastically simplified since the desired light colors can be reproduced or simulated in a closed environment. This can be a theater (as illustrated here), or any other position such as a house, an office, a sound studio, a retail store, or any other position where artificial lighting is used. It could also be used in conjunction with other secondary light sources to create a desired lighting effect.

The previous systems allow the creation of lighting devices with virtually any type of spectrum. It is often desirable to produce light that appears "natural" or high quality light, especially white light.

An illumination device that produces white light according to the above invention may include any group of lighting source components such that the area defined by the lighting sources can cover at least a portion of the black body curve. The black body curve (104) in Figure 1 is a

Physical construction that shows white light of a different color with respect to the white light temperature. In a

preferred embodiment, the entire black body curve would be covered, which allows the lighting device to produce any white light temperature.

For a white light of variable color with the maximum possible intensity, a considerable portion of the black body curve may be enclosed. Then the intensity can be simulated to whites of different color along the black body curve. The maximum intensity produced by this light could be placed along the black body curve. By varying the number of each color LED (in figure 6 red, blue, amber, and blue-green) it is possible to change the position of the maximum point (the symbol (512) in figure 6). For example, the full color would be placed at approximately 5400K (midday sunlight shown by point (106) in Figure 1), but any other point could be used (two other points are shown in Figure 1, corresponding to glow of a fire and an incandescent bulb). Such lighting apparatus would be capable of producing 5400K light at high intensity; In addition, the light can adjust the temperature differences (for example cloudy sunlight) by scrolling through the defined area.

Although this system generates white light with a variable color temperature, it is not necessarily a high quality white light source. You can choose various color combinations of lighting sources that enclose the black body curve, and the quality of the resulting lighting devices may vary depending on the chosen lighting sources.

Since white light is a mixture of different wavelengths of light, it is possible to characterize white light based on the component light colors that are used to generate it. You can combine red, green and blue (RGB) to form white; the same as blue light, amber and lavender; or cyan, magenta and yellow. Natural white light (sunlight) contains a virtually continuous spectrum of wavelengths across the human visible band (and beyond it). This can be seen by examining sunlight through a prism, or observing the rainbow. Many artificial white lights are technically white for the human eye; however, they may appear quite different when displayed on colored surfaces because they lack a virtually continuous spectrum.

As an extreme example, a white light source could be created using two lasers (or other narrow band optical sources) with complementary wavelengths. These sources would have an extremely narrow spectral width, perhaps 1 nm wide. To exemplify it, we will choose wavelengths of 635 nm and 493 nm. These are considered complementary since they will be combined additively to make light that the human eye perceives as white light. The intensity levels of these two lasers can be adjusted to some power ratio that will produce white light that appears to have a color temperature of 5000K. If this source is directed to a white surface, the reflected light will appear as a 5000K white light.

The problem with this type of white light is that it will seem extremely artificial when displayed on a colored surface. A color surface is produced (as opposed to color light) because the surface absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of light. If white light includes a full spectrum (light with all wavelengths of the band visible at reasonable intensity), the surface will absorb and reflect perfectly. However, the previous white light does not provide the full spectrum. To use an extreme example again, if a surface only reflects light of 500-550 nm, it will appear to be quite intense green in full spectrum light, but it will appear black (absorbs all the spectra present) in the artificial white light generated by laser before described.

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In addition, since the CRI index is based on a limited number of observations, there are mathematical gaps in the method. Since the spectra for CRI color samples are known, it is a relatively simple exercise to determine the optimal wavelengths and the minimum numbers of narrowband sources necessary to achieve high CRI. This source will deceive the CRI measurement, but not the human observer. The CRI method is at most an estimator of the spectrum that the human eye can see. A daily example is the modern compact fluorescent lamp. It has a fairly high CRI of 80 and a color temperature of 2980K, but it still seems unnatural. The spectrum of a compact fluorescent is represented in Figure 27.

Due to the desire for high quality light (in particular high quality white light) that can be varied in different temperatures or spectra, another embodiment of this invention includes systems and method for generating a higher quality white light by mixing the electromagnetic radiation of a plurality of lighting source components such as LEDs. This is done by choosing LEDs that provide a white light aimed at the interpretation of human eye light, as well as the mathematical CRI index. Said light can be subsequently maximized in intensity using the previous system. In addition, since the color temperature of the light can be controlled, this high quality white light can still have, therefore, the control explained above and can be a controllable, high quality light, which can produce high light quality through a range of colors.

To produce a high quality white light, you have to examine the ability of the human eye to see light of different wavelengths and determine what makes a light of high quality. In its simplest definition, a high quality white light provides low distortion to colored objects when viewed under it. Therefore, it makes sense to start by examining a high quality light based on what the human eye sees. In general, the best quality white light is considered sunlight or full spectrum light, since this is the only "natural" light source. For the purposes of this description, it will be accepted that sunlight is a high quality white light.

The sensitivity of the human eye is called the photopic response. The photopic response can be considered as a spectral transfer function for the eye, which means that it indicates how much of each wavelength of light introduced is seen by the human observer. This sensitivity can be expressed graphically as the spectral luminosity function VA (501), which is represented in Figure 12.

The photopic response of the eye is important since it can be used to describe the limits of the problem of generating white light (or any color of light). In one embodiment of the invention, a high quality white light will have to include only what the human eye can "see." In another embodiment of the invention, it can be recognized that high quality white light may contain electromagnetic radiation that cannot be seen by the human eye, but which can give rise to a photobiological response. Therefore, a high quality white light can include only visible light, or it can include visible light and other electromagnetic radiation that can give rise to a photobiological response. This will generally be electromagnetic radiation less than 400 nm (ultraviolet light) or greater than 700 nm (infrared light).

Using the first part of the description, the source does not have to have any power greater than 700 nm or less than 400 nm since the eye has only minimal response to these wavelengths. A high quality source will preferably be substantially continuous between these wavelengths (otherwise colors may be distorted), but may fall towards higher or lower wavelengths due to the sensitivity of the eye. In addition, the spectral distribution of different white light temperatures will be different. To illustrate, Figure 13 shows spectral distributions for two black body sources with temperatures of 5000K (601) and 2500K (603) together with the spectral luminosity function (501) of Figure 12.

As seen in Figure 13, the 5000K curve is smooth and centered around 555 nm with only a slight brown in both directions increasing and decreasing wavelengths. The 2500K curve is strongly oriented towards higher wavelengths. This distribution makes sense intuitively, since lower color temperatures appear to be yellow to reddish. A point that arises from the observation of these curves, against the spectral luminosity curve, is that the photopic response of the eye is “full”. This means that each color illuminated by one of these sources will be perceived by a human observer. Holes, that is, areas without spectral power, will make some objects appear abnormal. That is why many sources of “white” light seem to disturb the colors. Since the black body curves are continuous, even the drastic change from 5000K to 2500K will only shift the colors towards red, making them appear warmer, but devoid of color. This comparison shows that an important specification of any high quality artificial light device is a continuous spectrum through the photopic response of the human observer.

Having examined these relationships of the human eye, a device for producing controllable high quality white light should have the following characteristic. Light has a substantially continuous spectrum at the wavelengths visible to the human eye, with holes or intervals located in areas where the human eye is less sensitive. In addition, to make a high quality white light controllable over a range of temperatures, it is desirable to produce a spectrum of light that can have relatively equal values of each wavelength of light, but can also make different wavelengths dramatically more or less intense with respect to other wavelengths depending on the desired color temperature. The clearest waveform that said control had would have to reflect the scope of the photopic response of the eye, although it is still controllable at the various different wavelengths.

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As explained above, traditional mixing methods that create white light can create light that is technically "white!" But still produce an abnormal appearance for the human eye. The CRI rating for these values is usually extremely low or possibly negative. This is because if there is no wavelength of light in the generation of white light, it is impossible for an object of a color to reflect / absorb that wavelength. In a further case, since the classification of the CRI is based on eight particular color samples, it is possible to obtain a high CRI, although without having a particularly high quality light because the white light works well for the particular color samples specified by the classification of CRI. That is, a high CRI index can be obtained with a white light composed of eight 1 nm sources perfectly aligned with the eight CRI color structures. However, this will not be a high quality light source to illuminate other colors.

The fluorescent lamp shown in Figure 27 offers a good example of a high CRI light that is not of high quality. Although the light of a fluorescent lamp is white, it consists of many peaks (such as (201) and (203)). The position of these peaks has been carefully designed so that, when measured using CRI samples, they produce a high regimen. In other terms, these peaks deceive the CRI calculation, but not the human observer. The result is a white light that can be used, but not optimal (that is, it seems artificial). Drastic peaks in the spectrum of a fluorescent light are also clear in Figure 27. These peaks are part of the reason why the fluorescent light seems very artificial. Although light is produced within the spectral valleys, it is so dominated by the peaks that a human eye has difficulty seeing it. A high quality white light can be produced according to this description without the drastic peaks and valleys of a fluorescent lamp.

A spectral peak is the point of intensity of a particular light color that has less intensity at points immediately on its two sides. A maximum spectral peak is the highest spectral peak within the region of interest. Therefore, it is possible to have multiple peaks within a chosen portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, only a single peak, or not have peaks. For example, Figure 12 in the region of 500 nm to 510 nm has no spectral peaks because there is no point in said region that has lower points on both sides.

A valley is the opposite of a peak and is a point that is minimal and has points of greater intensity on both sides (an inverted plateau is also a valley). A special plateau can also be a spectrum peak, a plateau implies a series of concurrent points of the same intensity with the points on both sides of the series that have less intensity.

It should be clear that black body sources that simulate high quality white light do not have significant peaks and valleys within the area of the photopic response of the human eye, as depicted in Figure 13.

However, most of the artificial light has some peaks and valleys in this region as shown in Figure 27; However, the smaller the difference between these points, the better. This is especially true for higher temperature light, while for lower temperature light the continuous line has a positive upward slope without peaks or valleys and shallow valleys in areas of shorter wavelength are less observable, such as light peaks at longer wavelengths.

To take into account this relationship of high quality white light peaks and valleys, the following is desirable in a high quality white light of an embodiment of this invention. The lower valley in the visible range should have a greater intensity than the intensity attributable to background noise as understood by those skilled in the art. In addition, it is desirable to close the interval between the lowest valley and the maximum peak, and other embodiments of the invention have lower valleys with at least 5%, 10%, 25%, 33%, 50%, and 75% of the intensity of the maximum peaks. Those skilled in the art will observe that other percentages can be used at any point up to 100%.

In another embodiment, it is desirable to mimic the shape of the black body spectra at different temperatures; for higher temperatures (4,000k to 10,000k) this may be similar to the analysis of peaks and valleys above. For lower temperatures, another analysis indicates that most valleys should be at a shorter wavelength than the highest peak. This will be desirable in an embodiment for color temperatures below 2500k. In another embodiment it would be desirable to have it in the region of 500k to 2500k.

According to the previous analysis, high quality artificial white light should therefore have a substantially continuous spectrum between 400 nm and 700 nm without drastic peaks. In addition, to be controllable, light must be able to produce a spectrum that looks like natural light at various color temperatures. Due to the use of mathematical models in the industry, it is also desirable that the source produces a high CRI indicative that the reference colors are being preserved and show that the high quality white light of the present invention does not fail in the previously known tests .

To construct a high quality white light illumination device that uses LEDs as the components of lighting sources, it is desirable in one embodiment to have LEDs with particular maximum spectral peaks and spectral widths. It is also desirable to make the lighting device allow for controllability, that is, that the color temperature can be controlled to select a particular spectrum of "white" light or even have a color light spectrum in addition to white light. It is also desirable that each of the LEDs produce equal intensities of light to allow easy mixing.

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A system for creating white light includes a large number of LEDs (for example, about 300), each of which has a narrow spectral width and each of which has a maximum spectral peak that covers a predetermined portion of the range of approximately 400 nm to approximately 700 nm, possibly with some overlap, and possibly beyond the limits of visible light. This light source can produce essentially white light, and can be controllable to produce any color temperature (and also any color). It allows less variation than the human eye can see and therefore the light device can make changes more finely than a human can perceive. Therefore, said light is an embodiment of the invention, but other embodiments may use fewer LEDs when human perception is the central point.

In another embodiment of the invention, a considerably smaller number of LEDs can be used with the spectral width of each LED increased to generate a high quality white light. An embodiment of said light device is shown in Figure 14. Figure 14 shows the spectra of nine LEDs (701) with spectral widths of 25 nm spaced every 25 nm. It should be recognized here that a nine-LED lighting device does not necessarily contain exactly nine lighting sources in total. It contains some number from each of the nine different color lighting sources. This number will generally be the same for each color, but it doesn't have to be. High brightness LEDs with a spectral width of approximately 25 nm are generally available. The continuous line (703) indicates the additive spectrum of all the LED spectra at the same power as that which could be created using the lighting device of the previous method. The powers of the LEDs can be adjusted to generate a color temperature range (and also colors) by regulating the relative intensities of the nine LEDs. Figures 15a and 15b are spectra for the 5000K (801) and 2500K (803) white light of this lighting device. This nine LED lighting device has the ability to reproduce a wide range of color temperatures as well as a wide range of colors when the area of the CIE diagram enclosed by the component LEDs covers most of the available colors. It allows control over the production of non-continuous spectra and the generation of high quality particular colors by choosing to use only a subset of the available LED lighting sources. It should be noted that the choice of the dominant wavelength position of the nine LEDs can be shifted without considerable variation in the ability to produce white light. In addition, you can add LEDs of different colors. Such additions can improve the resolution as explained in the previous example of 300 LEDs. Any of these light devices can meet the above quality standards. They can produce a spectrum that is continuous in the photopic response of the eye, that is, without drastic peaks, and that can be controlled to produce a white light of multiple desired color temperatures.

The white light source of nine LEDs is effective since its spectral resolution is sufficient to accurately simulate spectral distributions within the limits perceptible by humans. However, fewer LEDs can be used. If the specifications of making high quality white light are followed, fewer LEDs can have an increased spectral width to maintain the substantially continuous spectrum that fills the photopic response of the eye. The decrease could be of any number of LEDs from 8 to 2. The case of 1 LED does not allow the mixing of colors and therefore neither the control. To have a white light device with a controllable temperature, at least two-color LEDs may be necessary.

An embodiment of the present invention includes three LEDs of different colors. Three LEDs allow to have a two-dimensional zone (a triangle) as the spectrum for the resulting device. Figure 16 shows an embodiment of a source of three LEDs.

The additive spectrum of the three LEDs (903) offers less control than the nine LED lighting device, but it can meet the criteria for a high quality white light source as explained above. The spectrum can be continuous without drastic peaks. It is also controllable, since the available white light triangle encloses the black body curve. This source may lose fine control over some colors or temperatures that were obtained with a greater number of LEDs when the area enclosed in the CIE diagram is a triangle, but the power of these LEDs can still be controlled to simulate sources of different color temperatures. . Such alteration is represented in Figures 17a and 17b for sources of 5000K (1001) and 2500K (1003). Those skilled in the art will observe that alternative temperatures can also be generated.

Both examples of nine LEDs and three LEDs demonstrate that combinations of LEDs can be used to create high-quality white lighting devices. These spectra fill the photopic response of the eye and are continuous, which means that they appear more natural than artificial light sources such as fluorescent lights. Both spectra can be characterized as of high quality since the CRIs indicate 90 high.

In the design of a white lighting device, an impediment is the lack of current availability for LEDs with a maximum spectral peak of 555 nm. This wavelength is at the center of the photopic response of the eye and is one of the lightest colors for the eye. The introduction of an LED with a dominant wavelength at or near 555 nm will simplify the generation of white light based on LEDs, and a white light device with such an LED includes an embodiment of this invention. In another embodiment of the invention, a light source without LEDs that produce light with a maximum spectral peak from about 510 nm to about 570 nm may also be used to fill this specific spectral range. In another embodiment, this source without LED could include an existing white light source and a filter to make the resulting light source have a maximum spectral peak in this general area.

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In another embodiment, high quality white light can be generated using LEDs without spectral peaks around 555 nm to fill the range in the photopic response left by the absence of green LEDs. One possibility is to fill the interval with a light source without LED. Another, as described below, is that a controllable high quality white light source can be generated using a group of one or more LEDs of different colors where none of the LEDs have a maximum spectral peak in the range of approximately 510 nm at 570 nm.

To construct a white light illumination device that can be controlled in a desired general range of color temperatures, first of all the desired temperature criteria must be determined.

In one embodiment, it is chosen so that they are color temperatures from about 2300K to about 4500K that lighting designers ordinarily use in the industry. However, any range could be chosen for other embodiments including the 500K to 10,000K range that covers most of the variation of visible white light or any subrange of it. The general output spectrum of this light can achieve a CRI comparable to existing standard light sources. Specifically, you can specify a high cRl (greater than 80) at 4500K and a lower CRI (greater than 50) at 2300K although again you could choose any value. The peaks and valleys can also be minimized as much as possible in the range and in particular so that they have a continuous curve where the zero intensity is 0.

In recent years, white LEDs are available. These LEDs operate using a blue LED to pump a phosphor layer. Phosphorus converts part of the blue to green and red light. The result is a spectrum that has a broad spectrum and is approximately centered around 555 nm, and is called "cold white". An exemplary spectrum of said white LED (in particular for a Nichia NSPW510 BS LED (box A)), is shown in Figure 18 as the spectrum (1201).

The spectrum (1201) depicted in Figure 18 differs from the Gaussian type spectra for some LEDs. This is because not all of the blue LED pump energy is turned down. This has the effect of cooling the general spectrum since the highest portion of the spectrum is considered hot. The resulting CRI for this LED is 84 but it has a color temperature of 20,000K. Therefore, the LED itself does not meet the above lighting criteria. This spectrum (1201) contains a maximum spectral peak at approximately 450 nm and does not accurately fill the photopic response of the human eye. A single LED also does not allow color temperature control and therefore a system of the desired color temperature band cannot be generated with this LED alone.

Nichia Chemical currently has three boxes (A, B, and C) of white LEDs available. The LED spectrum (1201) depicted in Figure 18 is the coldest of these boxes. The hottest LED is box C (whose spectrum (1301) is presented in Figure 19). The CRI of this LED is also 84; It has a maximum spectral peak of about 450 nm, and has a CCT of 5750K. Using a combination of the LEDs in box A or C will allow the source to fill the spectrum around the center of the photopic response, 555 nm. However, the lowest attainable color temperature will be 5750K (if using C-box LED only) that does not cover the full range of color temperatures explained above. This combination will appear abnormally hot (blue) in itself since the additive spectrum will still have a significant peak around 450 nm.

The color temperature of these LEDs can be shifted using an optical high-pass filter placed over the LEDs. This is essentially a piece of transparent tinted glass or plastic to let only light of higher wavelength pass through. An example of such a high pass filter transmission is shown in Figure 20 as a line (1401). Optical filters are known in the art and the high pass filter will generally include a translucent material, such as plastic, glass, or other transmission media that have been tinted to form a high pass filter such as the one depicted in the figure. 20. An embodiment of the invention includes generating a filter of a desired material (to obtain particular physical properties) by specifying the desired optical properties. This filter can be placed directly on the LEDs, or it can be the filter (391) of the lighting device box.

An embodiment of the invention allows the existing device to have a preselection of component LEDs and a selection of different filters. These filters can shift the range of resulting colors without altering the LEDs. In this way, a filter system can be used in conjunction with the selected LEDs to fill a CIE zone enclosed (area (510)) by a light device that travels with respect to the LEDs, thus allowing an additional degree of control . In one embodiment, this series of filters could allow a single light device to produce white light of any temperature by specifying a series of ranges for several filters that, when combined, enclose the white line. An embodiment of this is shown in Figure 30 where a selection of zones (3001, 3011, 3021, 3031) depends on the choice of filters that move the surrounding area.

This spectral transmission measurement shows that the high pass filter in Figure 20 absorbs spectral power less than 500 nm. It also shows an expected overall loss of approximately 10%. The dashed line (1403) in Figure 20 shows the transmission loss associated with a standard polycarbonate diffuser that is frequently used in light devices. It is expected that the light that passes through any substance will lead to a certain decrease in intensity.

The filter whose transmission is shown in Figure 20 can be used to shift the color temperature of the two Nichia LEDs. The filtered ((1521) and (1531)) and unfiltered ((1201) and (1301)) spectra for LEDs of boxes A and C are

shown in figures 21a and 21b.

The addition of the yellow filter shifts the color temperature of the A box LED from 20,000K to 4745K. Its chromaticity coordinates shift from (0.27, 0.2a) to (0.35, 0.37). Box LED C moves from 5750K to 3935K and from chromaticity coordinates (0.33, 0.33) to (0.40, 0.43).

5 The importance of chromaticity coordinates is evident when the colors of these sources are compared on the CIE 1931 chromaticity map. Figure 22 is a detailed view of the chromaticity map around the Plank site (1601). This place indicates the perceived colors of ideal sources called black bodies. The thickest line (1603) highlights the section of the place that corresponds to the range of 2300K to 4500K.

Figure 22 illustrates how much displacement can be achieved with a simple high pass filter. By effectively "heating" the set of Nichia LEDs, they are placed in a chromaticity range that is useful for the specified color temperature control range and are suitable for an embodiment of the invention. The original position was the dashed line (1665), while the new color is represented by the line (1607) that is within the correct region.

In one embodiment, however, a non-linear range of color temperatures can be generated using more than two LEDs.

15 It could even be argued that a linear variation that closely approximates the desired band would suffice. However, this embodiment would claim an LED near 2300K and an LED near 4500K. This could be achieved in two ways. First: you could use a different LED that has a color temperature of 2300K. Second: the output of the Nichia LED of box C could be passed through an additional displacement filter even closer to the 2300K point. Each of these systems includes an additional embodiment of the present invention. However, the following example uses a third LED to meet the desired criteria.

This LED should have a chromaticity to the right of the 2300K point in the black body place. The Agilent HLMP-EL1 8 amber LED, with a dominant wavelength of 592 nm, has chromaticity coordinates (0.60, 0.40). The addition of amber Agilent to the set of white LEDS Nichia gives rise to the range (1701) represented in Figure 23.

The range (1701) produced using these three LEDs completely encompasses the black body location in the range of 23 2300K to 4500K. A light device manufactured using these LEDs can meet the requirement of producing white light

with the correct chromaticity values. The spectra of the light at 2300K (2203) and 5000K (2201) in figures 26a and b

they show spectra that meet the desired criteria for high quality white light, both spectra are continuous and the 5000k spectrum does not show the peaks present in other lighting devices, with reasonable intensity at all wavelengths. The 2300K spectrum has no valleys at wavelengths lower than its maximum peak. The light is also controllable in these spectra. However, to be considered high quality white light by the lighting communication, the CRI must be greater than 50 for low color temperatures and higher than 80 for high color temperatures. According to the software program that accompanies the ICD 13.3-1995 specification, the CRI for the simulated spectrum of 2300K is 52 and is similar to an incandescent bulb with a CRI of 50. The CRI for the simulated spectrum of 4500K is 82 and is Consider high quality white light. These spectra are also similar in shape to the natural light spectra as depicted in Figures 26a and 26b.

Figure 24 shows the CRI represented with respect to the CCT for the previous white light source. This comparison

shows that the previous high quality white light device will produce higher quality white light than the three standard fluorescent lights (1803), (1805), and (1809) used in Figure 24. In addition, the previous light source is considerably more controllable than a fluorescent light since the color temperature can be selected as any of the points of the curve (1801) while the fluorescent ones are limited to the particular points shown. The luminous output of the white light illumination device described was also measured. The light output represented with respect to the color temperature is given in Figure 25, although the graph in Figure 25 is based on the types and levels of power used to produce it, the relationship can remain constant with the relative number of the different Exterior LEDs selected. The maximum point (maximum intensity point) can be moved by altering the color of each of the LEDs present.

Those skilled in the art will understand that prior embodiments of white light devices and methods could also include LEDs or other components of lighting sources that produce light not visible to the human eye. Therefore, any of the above embodiments could also include sources of illumination with a maximum spectral peak less than 400 nm or greater than 700 nm.

50 A high quality LED-based light can be configured to replace a fluorescent tube. In one embodiment, a high quality LED light source useful for replacing fluorescent tubes would work in an existing device designed to use fluorescent tubes. Such a device is depicted in Figure 28. Figure 28 shows a typical fluorescent lighting device or other device configured to receive fluorescent tubes (2402). The lighting device (2402) may include a reactor (2410). The reactor (2410) can be a magnetic or electronic type reactor to supply the power to at least one tube (2404) that has traditionally been a fluorescent tube. The reactor (2410) includes power input connections (2414) to be connected to a power source.

external power The external power source can be the building's AC network or any other power source known in the art. The reactor (2410) has tube connections (2412) and (2416) that are attached to a coupler tube (2408) for easy introduction and removal of tubes (2404). These connections provide the necessary power to the tube. In a magnetic reactor system, the reactor (2410) can be a transformer with a predetermined impedance to supply the necessary voltage and current. The fluorescent tube (2404) short-circuits so that the impedance of the reactor is used to establish the current of the tube. This means that each tube wattage requires a particular reactor. For example, a forty-watt fluorescent tube will only operate with a forty-watt reactor because the reactor is adapted for the tube. Other fluorescent lighting devices use electronic reactors with a high frequency sine wave output to the lamp. 10 Even in these systems, the internal impedance of the electronic reactor still regulates the current through the tube.

Figure 29 shows an embodiment of a lighting device according to this description that could be used as a replacement fluorescent tube in a box such as that of Figure 28. The lighting device may include, in one embodiment, a variation of the device of illumination (5000) of figures 5a and 5b. The lighting device may include a lower portion (1101) with a generally rounded bottom side (1103) and a generally flat connection surface (1105). The lighting device also includes an upper portion (1111) with a generally rounded upper portion (1113) and a generally flat connection surface (1115). The upper portion (1111) will generally be composed of a translucent, transparent, or similar material that allows light transmission and may include a filter similar to the filter (391). The flat connection surfaces (1105) and (1115) can be placed together to form a generally cylindrical lighting device and can be joined by any method known in the art. Between the upper portion (1111) and the lower portion (1101) there is a lighting device (1150) that includes a generally rectangular assembly (1153) and a strip of at least one lighting source component such as an LED (1155) . This construction is not necessary and the lighting device does not have to have a box or it could have a box of any type shown in the art. Although a single strip is depicted, those skilled in the art will understand that multiple strips, or other arrangement configurations of the lighting sources may be used. The strips generally have component LEDs in a sequence that separates the colors of LEDs if there are multiple colors of LEDs, but such an arrangement is not necessary. The lighting device will generally have lamp connectors (2504) to connect the lighting device to the existing lamp couplers (2008). The LED system can also include a control circuit (2510). This circuit can convert the reactor voltage to DC for LED operation. The control circuit (2510) can control LEDs 30 (1155) with constant DC voltage or the control circuit (2510) can generate control signals to operate the LEDs.

In a preferred embodiment, the control circuit (2510) includes a processor for generating pulse width modulated control signals, or other similar control signals, for the LEDs.

Therefore, these white lights are examples of how a high quality white light device can be generated with components of lighting sources, even where the sources have dominant wavelengths outside the region of 530 nm to 570 nm.

The previous white light may contain programming that allows the user to easily control the light and select any desired color temperature that is available in the light. In one embodiment, the ability to select the color temperature can be included in a computer program using, for example, the following mathematical equations:

40 Amber LED intensity (T) = (5.6 * 10-8) T3- (6.4 * 10-4) T2 + (2.3) T-2503.7, [1]

Hot Nichia LED intensity (T) = (9.5 * 10-3) T3- (1.2 * 10-3) T2 + (4.4) T-5215.2, [2]

LED intensity Nichia fno (T) = (4.7 * 10-8) T3- (6.3 * 10-4) T2 + (2.8) T-3909.6 [3] where T = Temperature in degrees K.

These equations can be applied directly or can be used to create a query table so that the binary values corresponding to a particular color temperature can be determined quickly. This table may reside in any form of programmable memory for use in controlling the color temperature (such as, but not limited to, the control described in US Patent 6,016,038). In another embodiment, the light could have a selection of switches, such as DIP switches that allow it to operate in an autonomous mode, where a desired color temperature can be selected using the switches, and changed by alteration of the autonomous product 50. The light can also be programmed remotely to operate in an autonomous mode as explained above.

The lighting device in Figure 29 may also include a program control switch (2512). This switch can be a selector switch to select the color temperature, the color of the LED system, or any other lighting conditions. For example, the switch can have multiple values for different colors. The “one” position can cause the LED system to produce 3200K white light, the “two” position can cause it to produce 4000K white light, the “three” position can be for blue light and a fourth position can be to allow that the system receives external signals for color or other lighting control. This external control is

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could provide for any of the drivers explained above.

Some fluorescent reactors also perform attenuation where a dimmer switch on the wall will change the output characteristics of the reactor and as a result will change the illumination characteristics of the fluorescent light. The LED lighting system can use this as information to change the lighting characteristics. The control circuit (2510) can verify the reactor characteristics and adjust the LED control signals accordingly. The LED system may have lighting control signals stored in memory within the LED lighting system. These control signals may be preprogrammed to perform dimming, color change, a combination of effects or any other lighting effects when the reactor characteristics change.

A user may want different colors in a room at different times. The LED system can be programmed to produce white light when the dimmer is at the maximum level, blue light when it is at 90% of the maximum, red light when it is at 80%, flashing effects at 70% or continuously changing effects when changing the attenuator The system may change the color or other lighting conditions with respect to the dimmer or any other input. A user may also wish to recreate the lighting conditions of incandescent light. One of the characteristics of such lighting is that the color temperature changes when its power is reduced. The incandescent light can be 2800K at full power but the color temperature will be reduced when the power is reduced and it can be 1500K when the lamp is greatly dimmed. Fluorescent lamps do not reduce the color temperature when they are dimmed. Typically, the color of the fluorescent lamp does not change when the power is reduced. The LED system can be programmed to reduce the color temperature when lighting conditions are dimmed. This can be achieved using a query table for selected intensities, by a mathematical description of the relationship between intensity and color temperature, any other method known in the art, or any combination of methods. The LED system can be programmed to provide virtually any lighting conditions.

The LED system may include a receiver to receive signals, a transducer, a sensor or other device to receive information. The receiver could be any receiver such as, but not limited to, a wire, cable, network, electromagnetic receiver, IR receiver, RF receiver, microwave receiver or any other receiver. A remote control device could be provided to change the lighting conditions remotely. You can also receive lighting instructions from a network. For example, a building may have a network where information is transmitted through a wireless system and the network could control the lighting conditions of the entire building. This could be done from a remote place as well as on site. This can provide greater security to the building or energy savings or convenience.

The LED lighting system may also include optics to perform uniformly distributed lighting conditions of the fluorescent lighting device. The optics can be attached to the LED system or be associated with the system.

The system has applications in environments where variations in available lighting can affect aesthetic options.

In an exemplary embodiment, the lighting device can be used in a retail embodiment to sell paint or other color sensitive items. A sample of paint can be seen in a retail store in the same lighting conditions as where the paint is used last. For example, the lighting device can be set for outdoor lighting, or it can be tuned more finely for sunny conditions, cloudy conditions, or analogs. The lighting device can also be adjusted for different forms of interior lighting, such as halogen, fluorescent or incandescent lighting. In another embodiment, a portable sensor (as explained above) can be taken to a place where the paint is to be applied, and the light spectrum can be analyzed and recorded. The lighting device can subsequently reproduce the same spectrum of light, so that the paint can be seen in the same lighting conditions present in the place where the paint is to be used. The lighting device can also be used for clothing decisions, where the appearance of a particular type and color of fabric may be strongly influenced by the lighting conditions. For example, a wedding dress (and the bride) can be seen in the lighting conditions expected at the wedding ceremony, to avoid unpleasant surprises. The lighting device can also be used in any of the applications, or in conjunction with any of the systems or methods explained elsewhere in this description.

In another exemplary embodiment, the lighting device can be used to accurately reproduce visual effects. In some visual arts, such as photography, cinematography, or theater, makeup is typically applied in a locker room or room, where the lighting may be different from that of the stage or other place. The lighting device can thus be used to reproduce the lighting that is expected to be where the photographs are taken, or the performance is carried out, so that suitable makeup can be chosen for predictable results. As with the previous retail applications, a sensor can be used to measure the actual lighting conditions so that the lighting conditions can be reproduced during makeup application.

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In theater or movie presentations, the colored light often corresponds to the colors of specific filters that can be placed on white illumination instruments to generate a resulting specific shadow. In general there is a large selection of such filters in specific shades marketed by selected companies. These filters are often classified by a spectrum of the resulting light, by numerical classifications of property, and / or by names that give an implication of the resulting light such as "primary blue", "straw" or "chocolate". These filters allow the selection of a reproducible concrete light color, but, at the same time, limit the director to the colors of available filters. In addition, the mixing of colors is not an exact science that can lead to slight variations in colors when the lighting devices move, or even change the temperature, during a performance or filming. Thus, in one embodiment a system has been provided to control the lighting in a theatrical environment. In another embodiment, a system for controlling lighting in cinematography is provided.

The wide variety of available light sources creates significant problems for the production of particular films. Differences in lighting between adjacent scenes can disturb the continuity of a movie and create discordant effects for the observer. Correcting the lighting to overcome these differences can be a very demanding task, because the lighting available in an environment is not always under the complete control of the filming staff. Sunlight, for example, varies at color temperature during the day, very obviously at dawn and dusk, when yellows and reds abound, decreasing the color temperature of ambient light. Fluorescent light does not generally fall in the color temperature curve, often having extra intensity in blue-green regions of the spectrum, and is thus described by a correlated color temperature, which represents the point in the color temperature curve that It better approaches the incident light. Each of these lighting problems can be solved using the systems described above.

The availability of several different types of fluorescent lamps, each providing a different color temperature through the use of a particular phosphor, makes predicting color temperature and adjustment even more complicated. High pressure sodium vapor lamps, used primarily for street lighting, produce a bright yellow-orange light that drastically disrupts the color balance. At even higher internal pressures, mercury vapor lamps operate, sometimes used for large interior areas, such as gyms. These can give rise to a greenish-blue tone pronounced in video and movies. Thus, a system to simulate mercury vapor lamps, and a system to complement light sources, such as mercury vapor lamps, is provided to produce a desired resulting color. These embodiments may have specific use in cinematography.

To try to recreate all these types of lighting, it is often necessary for the theater director or designer to put these specific types of lights in their design. At the same time, the need to use these lights can distort the theatrical intent of the director. The lights of a gymnasium that flash rapidly in a suspenseful movie is a surprising effect, but it cannot be achieved naturally by mercury vapor lamps that take up to five minutes to warm up and produce the light of the appropriate color.

Other visually sensitive fields depend on the light of a specific color temperature or spectrum. For example, the operating room staff and dental technicians need colored light that highlights the contrasts between different tissues, as well as between healthy and diseased tissue. Doctors also frequently rely on tracers or markers that reflect, radiate or fluoresce color of a wavelength or specific spectrum that allows them to detect blood vessels or other small structures. You can see these structures focusing light of the specific wavelength in the general area where the plotters are, and see the resulting reflection or fluorescence of the plotters. In many cases, different procedures can benefit from using a particular color temperature or color of light adapted to the needs of each specific procedure. Thus, a system for the visualization of conditions for the formation of medical, dental or other images is provided. In one embodiment, the system uses LEDs to produce a controlled range of light within a predetermined spectrum.

In addition, it is often desired to alter the lighting conditions during an activity, a scenario should change the colors when the sun is supposed to rise, a color change may occur to change the color of a fluorescent tracer, or in a room the color it could be altered slowly to make a visit feel more uncomfortable with the lighting when the length of its stay is increased.

Lighting systems and methods can be especially useful in these previous applications as well as in other applications as those skilled in the art will understand.

Although the invention has been described in connection with the embodiments shown and described in detail, several equivalents, modifications, and improvements will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the above description. It is intended that said equivalents, modifications and improvements be encompassed by the following claims.

Claims (19)

I. A lighting device (300, 5000) to generate white light, said device comprises: a plurality of lighting source components (320, 5007), said plurality including components of 5 lighting sources arranged to produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectra (1201, 1301), and an assembly (5005) that supports said plurality, said assembly being arranged to allow said spectra of said plurality to mix and form a resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) that is continuous between 400 and 700 nanometers; characterized in that said plurality of lighting source components is composed of only LEDs, the LEDs 10 includes a first white LED including a phosphor, to produce a first spectrum (1201) of the at least two different spectra and a second white LED, including a phosphorus, to produce a second spectrum (1301) of the at least two different spectra; Y The lighting device further comprises a data sensitive processor (316) and configured to independently control the first white LED and a second white LED based on the data such that a intensity of the first white LED and the second white LED is it can vary to thereby vary a color temperature of the resulting spectrum within a pre-selected range of color temperatures; where the visible portion of said resulting spectrum has intensity greater than the background noise in its lowest spectral valley. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 1, wherein said resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) has an intensity in its lowest spectral valley that is at least 5% of its intensity at its maximum spectral peak 3. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 1, wherein said resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) has a lower spectral valley intensity that is at least 10% of its intensity at its maximum spectral peak. 4. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 1, wherein said resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) has an intensity in its lowest spectral valley that is at least 25% of its intensity at its maximum spectral peak. 5. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 4, wherein said resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) has a lower spectral valley intensity that is at least 50% of its intensity at its maximum spectral peak. 6. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 1, wherein said resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) has a lower spectral valley intensity that is at least 75% of its intensity at its maximum spectral peak. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 1, wherein the CRI of the lighting device at 4800K It is at least 80. 8. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 7, wherein the CRI of the 2300K lighting device is at least 50. 9. A lighting device (300, 5000) according to claim 1, wherein: Each of said first and second spectra has a maximum spectral peak outside the region of 510 nm to 570 nm; Y The processor (316) is arranged to control the operation of the lighting source components (320, 5007) to produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two electromagnetic spectra (1201, 1301), such that said resulting spectrum is continuous within The photopic response of the human eye. 40 10. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 1, wherein said color temperature range extends from about 2300K to about 4500K. II. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 9, wherein said at least two different spectra 45 (1201, 1301) comprise exactly two different spectra. 12. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 9, wherein said at least two different spectra (1201, 1301) comprise exactly three different spectra. 13. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 9, further includes a filter (391) to effect the spectrum of at least one of said plurality. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 13, wherein said filter (391) is selected to allow that said lighting device (300, 5000) produces a preselected range of color. 5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 15. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 13, wherein said filter (391) is selected from a plurality of different filters. 16. A lighting device (320, 5007) according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of lighting source components (320, 5007) is arranged to produce one of three preselected spectra, each of said spectra having a peak spectral peak outside the region bounded by 530 nm and 570 nms, giving rise to the additive interference of said spectra in white light. 17. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 16, wherein at least one of said preselected spectra has a maximum spectral peak of approximately 450 nm. 18. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 16, wherein at least one of said preselected spectra has a maximum spectral peak of approximately 592 nm. 19. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 16, wherein said color temperature range extends from about 2300K to about 4500K. 20. The lighting device (300, 5000) of claim 16, which further comprises control means that are arranged so as to allow selecting a particular color temperature within said color temperature range, the control means being arranged to generate a signal representing said color temperature; and said processor (316) being able to receive said signal from said control means and to control the intensity of each of said plurality of LEDs. 21. A method of generating light, which comprises the steps of: assembling a plurality of lighting source components (320, 5007) that produce electromagnetic radiation of at least two different spectra (1201, 1301) such that they mix the spectra, characterized in that said plurality of lighting sources (320, 5007 ) consists of only LEDs, where a first LED including phosphor emits a first radiation and a second LED including phosphor emits a second radiation, the first radiation has a first spectrum of at least two different spectra and this second radiation has a second spectrum of at least two different spectra, the second spectrum being different from the first spectrum; choosing said at least two different spectra (1201, 1301) such that the spectral mixture forms a resulting spectrum (2201, 2203) that has in its visible part a lower spectral valley intensity that is greater than the noise of background; Y adjust the relative intensities of the first white LED and the second white LED. 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of: arrange a filter (319) to shift the color temperature of at least one lighting source component. 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the second spectrum includes green and red light.