JP2019507459A - Touch-based lighting control using thermal images - Google Patents

Abstract

In various embodiments, the lighting control device 100 includes controllers 102, 202, 302, 502 and logic circuits such as thermal image sensors 108, 208, 308, 408a, 408b, 508 operably coupled to the controller. Can be included. The thermal image sensor may have at least one field of view 110, 210, 310, 410 a, 410 b, 510 that is directed toward surfaces 112, 212, 312, 412 a, 412 b, 512, 612. The surface can exhibit varying degrees of thermal conductivity. The controller may be configured to receive a signal from the thermal image sensor that is heat 114 captured by the surface, indicating the heat detected by the thermal image sensor. The controller may cause one or more light sources 104, 204, 304, 504 to emit light having one or more selected characteristics based on the signal received from the thermal image sensor.

Description

  The present invention is broadly directed to lighting control. More particularly, the various inventive methods and apparatus disclosed herein relate to touch-based lighting control using thermal imaging.

  There are various techniques for controlling the light output using a human touch. The resistive touch interface detects when a human touch has caused contact between the resistive circuit layers to close the switch. In a capacitive touch interface, a voltage is applied to the surface, small changes in current to the surface caused by a human touch are detected, and the position of those touches is calculated by the controller. In a surface acoustic interface, acoustic waves are applied in one or more directions across the surface, and then the blockage of those acoustic waves caused by a human touch is detected. In a light (or infrared) interface, a human touch on a surface provides one or more detectable interruptions to one or more light beams that are emitted across the surface. Incorporating these technologies into lighting units, lighting fixtures, and / or lighting fixtures to facilitate lighting control may be economically impractical and / or technically cumbersome. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide touch-based lighting control in a more economical and technically feasible manner.

  The present disclosure is directed to the method and apparatus of the present invention for touch-based lighting control using thermal images. For example, a lighting control system may include a thermal image sensor with a field of view (“FoV”) directed at a particular surface. The thermal image sensor may be configured to detect heat captured at least temporarily at the thermally conductive surface and provide a signal indicative thereof to the controller. The controller may be configured to operate one or more light sources based on the signal. For example, a user may, for example, in the heat conducting surface to cause the controller to operate the one or more light sources to emit light in a particular manner having a particular hue, intensity, color temperature, dynamic pattern, etc. Various touch gestures such as swipes, taps, etc. may be performed.

  In general, in certain aspects, a lighting control device may include a controller and a thermal image sensor operably coupled to the controller. The thermal image sensor may have at least one field of view directed to a surface. The controller receives a signal from the thermal image sensor that is heat captured by the surface and is detected by the thermal image sensor, and at least partially in the signal to one or more light sources. It may be configured to emit light in a selected manner. In various versions, the surface can be thermally conductive.

  In various embodiments, a lighting unit may include the lighting control device described above, for example, with the one or more light sources and an envelope surrounding the one or more light sources. The envelope may include the heat conducting surface. In various embodiments, the surface may be independent of the lighting control device. For example, the surface may include a wall, ceiling, or floor of a room to which the lighting control device is attached.

  In various embodiments, a luminaire may include a body with a lighting controller as described above and a socket adapted to receive a lighting unit. In some versions, the luminaire can further include a lamp shade attached to the body, and the lamp shade can include the thermally conductive surface. In some versions, a lighting unit attached to the socket may be communicatively coupled to the lighting control device. In some versions, the lighting control device may be attached to the housing of the luminaire.

  In various embodiments, the controller is selected for the one or more light sources based on the shape of heat captured by the surface or the position of heat captured by the surface in the at least one field of view. It can be configured to emit light having one or more characteristics. In various embodiments, the thermal image sensor can include a first thermal image sensor having a first field of view directed to a first surface, and the illumination controller is a second directed to a second surface. A second thermal image sensor having a field of view may further be included. In some such embodiments, the controller includes a first signal to the one or more light sources in response to a signal from the first thermal image sensor indicating heat captured by the first surface. Emit light having a characteristic and emit light having a second characteristic to the one or more light sources in response to a signal from the second thermal image sensor indicating heat captured by the second surface. Can be configured. In various versions, the first characteristic may be task lighting and the second characteristic may be general lighting.

  In some embodiments, a mobile computing device may include one or more of the lighting control devices described above and a memory that stores instructions configured to cause the controller to implement a lighting control software application. In various embodiments, the lighting control application may cause the one or more light sources to emit light having one or more characteristics selected based on a signal provided by the thermal image sensor.

  The term “LED” as used herein for the purposes of this disclosure refers to any electroluminescent diode or other type of carrier injection / junction base that can generate radiation in response to an electrical signal. Should be understood to include the system. Thus, the term “LED” includes, but is not limited to, various semiconductor-based structures that emit light in response to current, light emitting polymers, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), electroluminescent strips, and the like. The term LED generates radiation in one or more of various parts of the infrared spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum, and visible spectrum (generally including radiation wavelengths from about 400 nanometers to about 700 nanometers), among others. Refers to all types of light emitting diodes (including semiconductor and organic light emitting diodes). Some examples of LEDs include various types of infrared LEDs, ultraviolet LEDs, red LEDs, blue LEDs, green LEDs, yellow LEDs, amber LEDs, orange LEDs and white LEDs (described further below) It is not limited to these. LEDs have different bandwidths for a given spectrum (eg, narrow bandwidth, wide bandwidth) (eg, full width at half maximum, or FWHM), and different dominant wavelengths within a given general color classification It should also be understood that it may be configured and / or controlled to produce radiation having:

  The term “light source” refers to LED-based light sources (including one or more LEDs as defined above), incandescent light sources (eg filament lamps, halogen lamps), fluorescent sources, phosphorous light sources, high intensity discharge sources (E.g., sodium vapor, mercury vapor and metal halide lamps), lasers, other types of electroluminescent sources, pyro-luminescent sources (e.g., flames), candle-luminescent sources (e.g., Gas mantle, carbon arc radiation source), photo-luminescent source (eg gas discharge source), cathode luminescent source using electron saturation, galvano-luminescent sources, crystalloro Luminescence source (crystallo-luminescent source) A variety of sources including, but not limited to, kine-luminescent sources, thermoluminescent sources, triboluminescent sources, sonoluminescent sources, radioluminescent sources, and luminescent polymers It should be understood to refer to any one or more of the radiation sources.

  A given light source may be configured to generate electromagnetic radiation within the visible spectrum, electromagnetic radiation outside the visible spectrum, or a combination of both. Accordingly, the terms “light” and “radiation” are used interchangeably herein. Furthermore, the light source may include one or more filters (eg, color filters), lenses, or other optical components as an integral component. It should also be understood that the light source may be configured for a variety of applications including, but not limited to, indication, display, and / or illumination. An “illumination light source” is a light source that is configured to generate, among other things, radiation having sufficient intensity to effectively illuminate an interior or exterior space. In this context, “sufficient intensity” refers to ambient illumination (ie, light that can be perceived indirectly, eg, one of the various intervening surfaces before being totally or partially perceived). Refers to sufficient radiant power in the visible spectrum generated in space or environment to provide light (which can be reflected by more than one) (representing the total light output from the light source in all directions with respect to radiant power or "flux" For this reason, the unit “lumen” is often used).

  The term “lighting fixture” is used herein to refer to the implementation or configuration of one or more lighting units in a particular form factor, assembly or package. The term “lighting unit” is used herein to refer to a device that includes one or more light sources of the same or different types. A given lighting unit may have any one of a variety of mounting configurations, housing / housing configurations and shapes for the light sources, and / or electrical and mechanical connection configurations. Further, a given lighting unit can optionally be associated (eg, include, combined, and / or packaged together) with various other components (eg, control circuitry) related to the operation of the light source. ). An “LED-based lighting unit” refers to a lighting unit that includes one or more LED-based light sources, as described above, alone or in combination with other non-LED-based light sources. A “multi-channel” illumination unit refers to an LED-based or non-LED-based illumination unit that includes at least two light sources each configured to generate radiation of a different spectrum, each different light source spectrum It may be referred to as a “channel”.

  The term “controller” is used herein broadly to describe various devices related to the operation of one or more light sources. The controller may be implemented to perform various functions described herein in a number of ways (eg, using dedicated hardware). A “processor” is an example of a controller that uses one or more microprocessors that can be programmed using software (eg, microcode) to perform various functions described herein. A controller may be implemented with or without a processor, and dedicated hardware for performing some functions and a processor for performing other functions. (E.g., one or more programmed microprocessors and associated circuitry). Examples of controller components that may be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, conventional microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Not.

  In various embodiments, a processor or controller may include one or more storage media (commonly referred to herein as “memory”, eg, RAM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM, floppy disk, compact disk, optical disk, magnetic Volatile and non-volatile computer memory such as tape). In some embodiments, the storage medium performs one or more of performing at least some of the functions described herein when executed on one or more processors and / or controllers. It can be coded with Various storage media may be installed within a processor or controller, or one or more programs stored on the storage medium may implement various aspects of the invention described herein. It may be portable so that it can be loaded into a processor or controller for the purpose. The term “program” or “computer program” is generally used herein to refer to any type of computer code (eg, software, microcode) that can be used to program one or more processors or controllers. Is used in a typical sense.

  The term “user interface” as used herein is an interface between a human user or operator and one or more devices, which communicates between the user and the device. Refers to the interface to be enabled. Examples of user interfaces that may be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure include switches, potentiometers, buttons, dials, sliders, mice, keyboards, keypads, various types of game controllers (eg, joysticks), trackballs, displays Including, but not limited to, screens, various types of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), touch screens, microphones, and other types of sensors that are capable of generating signals in response to some form of human-generated stimulation. .

  All combinations of the above concepts and further concepts described in more detail below (if such concepts do not conflict with each other) are part of the subject matter of the present invention disclosed herein. It should be understood that this is intended. In particular, all combinations of claimed subject matter at the end of this disclosure are intended to be part of the subject matter of the present invention disclosed herein. Technical terms that are explicitly used in this specification and that may appear in any disclosure incorporated by reference are specific terms disclosed in this specification. It should also be understood that the most consistent meaning should be given.

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, and instead, the general emphasis is placed on illustrating the principles of the invention.
FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a lighting control apparatus configured in selected aspects of the present disclosure, according to various embodiments. Fig. 4 schematically illustrates an example of how an apparatus configured in selected aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented according to various embodiments. Fig. 4 schematically illustrates an example of how an apparatus configured in selected aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented according to various embodiments. Fig. 4 schematically illustrates an example of how an apparatus configured in selected aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented according to various embodiments. FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an example of how a heat transfer surface can be utilized to control illumination using various techniques and apparatus described herein. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a lighting control method according to various embodiments.

  There are various techniques for controlling light using touch. These technologies include capacitive interfaces, resistive interfaces, acoustic interfaces, and optical image interfaces. However, these techniques are not necessarily ideal for controlling lighting because they are relatively expensive (or at least more expensive than generally desired for lighting control applications) and / or technically cumbersome. . Therefore, there is a need for a more cost effective and less cumbersome technique for controlling lighting using touch. More broadly, Applicants employ technology already built into many lighting products, ie thermal images currently used for presence detection, to facilitate touch-based lighting control. Recognized and understood that would be beneficial. In view of the foregoing, various embodiments and embodiments of the present invention are directed to apparatus, systems, and methods for touch-based lighting control using thermal images.

  Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, the lighting control device 100 is a controller (in FIG. 1) that is operatively coupled to a plurality of light sources 104a-104c, eg, by one or more electrical and / or data links. “CPU”) 102. In this example, the plurality of light sources 104a-104c includes three LED-based lighting units, but this is not intended to be limiting. In various embodiments, more or fewer light sources may be provided with a lighting control device 100 that does not include a light source. Further, the light source 104 may take other forms, including but not limited to incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, and the like. In some embodiments, controller 102 is also operatively coupled to a memory 116 (“RAM” in FIG. 1) that includes instructions that can be executed by controller 102 to implement the techniques described herein. Can be done.

  The lighting control device 100 can further include a thermal image sensor (“TI” in FIG. 1) 108, which can also be operatively coupled to the controller 102 via one or more links 106. . In various embodiments, thermal image sensor 108 detects and indicates heat and / or other forms of radiation within its field of view (“FoV”) 110 using infrared thermography or other similar techniques. The signal may be configured to supply the controller 102, for example. For example, the thermal image sensor 108 detects a radiation in the far infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as between 9000 nanometers and 14000 nanometers, and a camera (not shown) configured to generate a signal indicative of the radiation. A).

  The “signal” supplied by the thermal image sensor 108 can be provided in various forms. In some embodiments, the signal may include data indicative of one or more digital images called “thermograms”. In embodiments where the signal includes data indicative of a digital image, various image processing techniques may be implemented, for example by the controller 102, to determine one or more characteristics of the heat captured within the FoV 110. For example, various image processing techniques such as object recognition, edge detection, feature extraction, linear filtering, pattern recognition, thresholding, etc. can be used to determine the shape and / or location of the heat captured within FoV 110. obtain. In some embodiments, the trapped thermal gradient may provide spatiotemporal data that can be detected by the controller 102. For example, immediately after the user swipes the surface, the first part touched by the user is slightly cooler than the last part, and a temperature gradient that matches the gradient known to represent the user's swipe, for example, It can be observed by the controller 102.

  In various embodiments, the controller 102 may be configured to analyze the signal provided by the thermal image sensor 108 to detect heat captured and / or present in various media. Depending on the signal and / or analysis, the controller 102 may cause one or more light sources 104a-104c to emit light in a manner selected based on the signal provided by the thermal image sensor 108. For example, in some embodiments, the controller 102 provides one or more light sources 104a-104c with one or more characteristics (eg, intensity, color) selected based on signals provided by the thermal image sensor 108. Temperature, hue, dynamic effects, beam spread, etc.).

  The thermal image sensor 108 may have a FoV 110 that is directed toward a particular surface 112 so that the thermal image sensor 108 can detect heat captured at least temporarily by the surface 112 in the FoV 110. For example, in FIG. 1, a person is touching the surface 112, leaving a thermal imprint 114 in the form of a handprint. In some embodiments, the controller 102 is provided by the thermal image sensor 108 to detect one or more characteristics, such as the shape, duration, magnitude, position within the FoV 110, etc., of the thermal signature 114. May be configured to analyze the processed signal. The controller 102 may operate the light sources 104a-104c to emit light having one or more selected characteristics based on the detected one or more characteristics.

  For example, in some simple embodiments, simply detecting the presence of heat trapped at surface 112 in FoV 110 may cause controller 102 to switch one or more light sources 104 on or off. In another example, the controller 102 may determine the length of time that heat is present on the surface (based on a signal from the thermal image sensor 108) and operate one or more light sources 104 accordingly. . For example, the intensity of light emitted by one or more light sources 104 is increased or decreased (e.g., brightened) in proportion to the amount of time that heat captured by surface 112 in FoV 110 is detected by thermal image sensor 108. Can be dimmed). In yet other embodiments, the controller 102 may be configured to detect one or more aspects of the shape of the thermal signature 114, eg, at a particular time and / or over a time interval. In this way, the controller 102 can detect when a particular gesture, such as swipe, pinch, spread, nudge, double touch, etc., is performed on the surface 112.

  The illumination control device 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes light sources 104a to 104c. However, this is not intended to be limiting. In other embodiments, the lighting control device 100 may not include the integrated light source 104. Alternatively, the controller 102 and the thermal image sensor 108 may be packaged together as a stand-alone kit. In some such embodiments, the controller 102 uses various technologies such as ZigBee, Wi-Fi, simple electrical coupling (eg, using wires), Ethernet, Bluetooth, etc., when installed. It may be communicatively and / or operatively coupled to one or more light sources.

  However, referring to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, the controller 202 and the thermal image sensor 208 may be packaged together in the lighting unit 200. In some embodiments, the lighting unit 200 may include one or more light sources 204 operably coupled with the controller 202 within an envelope 222 that surrounds various components. In various embodiments, at least a portion of the surface 212 of the envelope 222 can be thermally conductive. The thermal image sensor 208 may have a FoV 210 that is directed to the inner surface of the surface 212. When a person touches the surface 212 in the FoV 210 of the thermal image sensor 208, body heat may move from the human appendage (shown as a pointed finger in FIG. 2) to the surface 212. The heat can spread across the surface 212 to varying degrees depending on the level of thermal conductivity of the surface 212. Further, the residual heat captured at surface 212 can be dissipated over various time intervals, depending on, among other things, the temperature of the environment and / or the heat transfer coefficient of surface 212.

  In other embodiments, the heat transfer surface may be completely independent of the lighting control device. FIG. 3 shows another configuration in which the controller 302 and thermal image sensor 308 are packaged together on and / or in the body 331 of the table lamp 330. The thermal image sensor 308 has a FoV 310 directed to the inner surface 312 of the lamp shade 332. The lamp shade 332 may or may not be constructed of a material selected to make it or at least its inner surface 312 in the FoV 310 thermally conductive. When the user touches the outer surface of the surface 312 of the lamp shade 332, heat is transferred from the human appendage (finger in FIG. 3) to the surface 312. The transferred and / or captured heat can be detected by the thermal image sensor 308 as described above on the inner surface of the surface 312 and a signal indicative thereof can be provided to the controller 302. The controller 302 can then operate the light source 304 attached to the socket 334 of the lamp 330 (where the controller 302 can be communicatively coupled) in accordance with the received signal.

  In some embodiments, one or more characteristics of the light emitted by the light source 304 can be selected based on the location within the FoV 310 where heat is detected. For example, the user may touch the upper half of the lamp shade 332 to increase the intensity and may touch the lower half to decrease the intensity. The longer the user touches either half, the greater the intensity emitted (eg, dimming). As another example, one or more spatio-temporal characteristics of the user's touch, such as the speed of a swipe across the lamp shade 332, may indicate one or more characteristics of the light emitted by the light source 304. In some embodiments, the user can even “write” a character on the lamp shade 332 using the user's finger. Residual heat left in the lampshade 332 can be text recognized and used to determine one or more characteristics of the light emitted by the light source 304. For example, the user has the letter “B” to emit blue light, the letter “R” to emit red light, the word “blinking” to emit flashing light, and the heart shape to emit romantic light Etc. can be “written”.

  FIG. 4 shows another example in which the surface captured by the surface is detected and the surface used to control the illumination is independent of the illumination control device. The lighting fixture 400 is attached to the ceiling of the room. The luminaire 400 includes two thermal image sensors 408a and 408b that may be coupled to a controller (not shown in FIG. 4). The first thermal image sensor 408a has its FoV 410a directed to the first wall surface 412a. The second thermal image sensor 408b has a FoV 410b directed to the desk surface 412b next to the computer. The luminaire 400 includes two separate thermal image sensors 408a and 408b, each with its own independent FoV, but this is not intended to be limiting. In other embodiments, a single thermal sensor can have multiple fields of view.

  In one embodiment, when a person enters the room through the left door, the person emits a so-called “general lighting” to the luminaire 400 and is relative (shown in a dashed line). In order to illuminate the entire room with a wide and / or diffuse light beam 442a, the surface 412a in the FoV 410a of the left wall can be touched in various ways. When a person sits at a desk, for example, to work on a computer, the person emits a so-called “task lighting”, for example, on the luminaire 400 and is relatively (shown by a two-dot chain line). To illuminate a smaller area (eg, around the desk) with a thin and / or stronger light beam 442b, the surface 412b in the FoV 410b may be touched in various ways. In some embodiments, the user touches surface 412a or 412b, for example, a pinch (which can narrow one or both beams) or a spread (which can widen one or both beams). By performing simple touch gestures, it may be possible to narrow or widen the rays 442a and / or 442b.

  In the above example, the emission characteristics selected based on the captured heat detected at the surface include intensity and / or beam width. This is not intended to be limiting. The characteristics of the light emitted by the one or more light sources can be altered based on one or more detected attributes of the heat captured at the heat conducting surface. For example, in some embodiments, the user can swipe along the heat transfer surface to switch through various hues or colors of the color gradient. In another embodiment, the controller may be configured to logically divide the surface captured in the FOV of the thermal image sensor into a color map. The user can touch various portions of the surface, and the controller can map the detected captured heat location to the corresponding color in the color map. In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to illuminate a heat conducting surface in the FoV of the thermal image sensor, eg, with a pattern of light showing a color map, to help the user select a color. Other characteristics of luminescence that can be changed based on the captured heat detected at the surface include the number of energized light sources, applied lighting scenes, dynamic effects (eg, blinking, etc.), saturation, etc. However, it is not limited to these.

  Also in the above example, the controller and the thermal image sensor are described as being variously installed in a lighting unit, a table lamp, or a lighting fixture. However, this is not intended to be limiting. In various embodiments, the controller and thermal image sensor may be located elsewhere. For example, in some embodiments, a user's smartphone or tablet may include a controller and a thermal image sensor. One or more lighting control software applications, or “apps”, installed in memory (eg, 116 in FIG. 1) in a smartphone or tablet, using technologies such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth, etc. It may be configured to control the lighting unit. The lighting control app may further be provided with access to signals provided by the thermal image sensor. The user can point the thermal image sensor of the smartphone or tablet to the surface, and the heat captured on that surface due to human touch can be detected. The thermal image sensor can provide a signal indicative of the detected heat to the lighting control app, which then controls the one or more lightings based on one or more characteristics of the detected heat. The unit can be controlled.

所望の照明制御機能に応じて、表１において列挙されているもののうちの１つ以上のような様々な材料が、熱画像センサのFoVが向けられる面での使用のために選択され得る。幾つかの実施例においては、適切な熱伝導面を生成するために様々なメカニズムが採用され得る。例えば、所望の位置であって、熱伝導性が不十分であり得る位置には、１つ以上の熱伝導性材料で構成されるステッカ又は磁石のような取り外し可能な面が配置され得る。熱画像センサは、取り外し可能な面に向けられることができ、光は、ユーザがどのように取り外し可能な面にタッチするかに基づいて制御され得る。 As described above, in various embodiments, the thermal image sensor may have a FoV directed to a surface that is considered to be thermally conductive. Various materials can be selected as appropriate surfaces based on their thermal conductivity. Table 1 below lists a number of non-limiting examples.

Depending on the desired lighting control function, various materials, such as one or more of those listed in Table 1, may be selected for use on the surface to which the FoV of the thermal image sensor is directed. In some embodiments, various mechanisms can be employed to create a suitable heat transfer surface. For example, a removable surface, such as a sticker or magnet composed of one or more thermally conductive materials, may be placed at a desired location where thermal conductivity may be insufficient. The thermal image sensor can be directed to the removable surface and the light can be controlled based on how the user touches the removable surface.

  Assume that a thermal image sensor (eg, 108, 308, 408a, or 408b) has a FoV directed to a remote surface such as a wall, floor, ceiling, and the like. When the user touches the surface from a position between the thermal image sensor and the surface, the user's body will probably heat at least a portion of the surface, including the portion of the surface that the user is actually touching. Will block from the image sensor. To address this, a material with appropriate thermal conductivity can be selected as the surface. In that way, the heat of the user's body not only moves to the part of the surface that the user is actually touching, but is also transmitted in one or more additional directions along the surface. This transmitted heat is unlikely to be blocked by the user and will likely be visible to the thermal image sensor.

  An example of this is shown in FIG. The lighting unit 500 comprises various aspects of the present disclosure including a controller 502 operably coupled to the thermal image sensor 508 and one or more light sources 504. The thermal image sensor 508 has a FoV 510 directed to a remote surface 512 (eg, a wall, ceiling, floor, desk work surface, etc.). However, as shown, the user's hand touching surface 512 in FoV 510 blocks the portion of surface 512 that the user is actually touching. Still, at least a portion of the surface 512 in the FOV 510 may be thermally conductive to ensure that the thermal image sensor 508 detects heat trapped at the surface 512. This facilitates the propagation of heat 550 across surface 512 so that heat 550 is visible to thermal image sensor 508 around the user's finger / hand. The thermal image sensor 508 may provide a signal to the controller 502 indicating the transferred heat 550, similar to the above embodiment. Controller 502 may operate one or more light sources 504 to emit light having one or more characteristics selected based on signals from thermal image sensor 508.

  FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a lighting control method 600 according to various embodiments. Although the operation of method 600 is illustrated in a particular order, it is not intended to be limiting. In various embodiments, one or more operations may be added, omitted, and / or reordered.

  In block 602, the FoV (eg, 110, 210, 310, 410, 510) of the thermal image sensor (eg, 108, 208, 308, 408, 508) may be directed to the thermally conductive surface. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the heat conducting surface is selected, for example, as part of a lighting unit (see FIG. 2) or as part of a lamp (see FIG. 3). It may be integrated with the lighting control device (for example, 100) configured by (or at least packaged). In other embodiments, the heat transfer surface may be independent of the lighting control device and / or far away, as was the case in FIGS.

  In block 604, a thermal image sensor may detect heat trapped at the heat transfer surface. In block 606, the thermal image sensor may generate a signal indicative of the detected heat and provide it to the controller. In some embodiments, the thermal image sensor generates a signal indicating heat only within a predetermined temperature range (e.g., due to a human touch), e.g., incorrect sunlight, It can be configured to ignore other temperatures (which may be due to pets etc.). In other embodiments, the thermal image sensor can provide a signal indicating any temperature detected at the heat transfer surface, eg, a continuous signal, and any detected heat can be attributed to a human touch. Determining whether the detected heat is likely to be due to an event that is not intended to cause a change in illumination (eg, a pet that hits the surface lightly) Can be left to the controller to do.

  In block 608, the controller may cause one or more light sources to emit light having one or more characteristics selected based on the signal that the controller received from the thermal image sensor in block 606. As described above, if the controller is integral with one or more light sources in the lighting unit (eg, FIG. 2 or FIG. 5), the controller sends commands / voltages / currents to the light sources through one or more buses. Can be sent. If the light source is an LED-based light source, the controller may send a command to the LED driver associated with the LED. If the controller (and the entire lighting control device) is separate from one or more light sources, the controller uses various wired or wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, ZigBee, etc. One or more lighting control commands may be sent to

  Although several embodiments of the present invention are described and illustrated herein, those skilled in the art will be able to perform the functions described herein and / or are described herein. Various other means and / or structures may be readily devised to obtain one or more of the advantages and / or the results described herein. Each such variation and / or modification is considered to be within the scope of the embodiments of the invention described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art are aware that all parameters, dimensions, materials and configurations described herein are intended to be illustrative and that actual parameters, dimensions, materials and It will be readily appreciated that the configuration will depend on the particular application or applications in which the teachings of the present invention are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments of the invention described herein. Therefore, the above embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and embodiments of the invention within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents are described in detail and in the claims. It should be understood that implementations other than those described are possible. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and / or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits and / or methods may be used if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits and / or methods are consistent with each other. Can be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

  All definitions as defined and used herein should be understood to control over the ordinary meaning of lexical definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and / or defined terms. is there.

  The singular notation as used in the specification and claims should be understood to mean "at least one" unless explicitly indicated otherwise.

  The phrase “and / or” as used in the specification and claims refers to “either or both” of the elements so coordinated, ie, in some cases. It should be understood as meaning elements that are present in combination and are otherwise present separately. Multiple elements listed with “and / or” should be construed in the same way, ie, “one or more” of the elements so coordinated. Other elements than those specifically identified by the phrase “and / or” may optionally be present, regardless of whether they are related or not related to the elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, references to “A and / or B” when used in conjunction with an unrestricted phrase such as “having”, in certain embodiments (optionally other than B) Only A), in another embodiment, only B (optionally including elements other than A), and in yet another embodiment, A and B (optionally including other elements) And can point to both.

  As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and / or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and / or” should be construed as inclusive, ie include many or at least one of the elements of the list. However, it should be construed to include more than one and optionally further items not in the list. It is explicitly indicated otherwise, such as "only one of" or "exactly one of" or "consisting of" as used in the claims. Only the term will refer to including exactly one of many or list elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein is intended to mean “any”, “one of”, “only one of” or “exactly of”. It should be construed as indicating an exclusive option (ie, “one or the other, not both”) only if preceded by an exclusivity term such as “one”. “Consisting essentially of” as used in the claims shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

  As used herein and in the claims, the phrase “at least one” for a list of one or more elements is selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements. It should be understood to mean at least one element, but does not necessarily include at least one of every and every element specifically listed in the list of elements, and any combination of elements in the list of elements It should be understood as not excluded. This definition is optional regardless of whether an element other than the element specifically identified in the list of elements to which the term “at least one” refers is related or not related to the element specifically identified. It also makes it possible to exist. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or equivalently, “at least one of A or B”, or equivalently, “of A and / or B At least one "), in some embodiments, at least one A, optionally including more than one, in the absence of B (and optionally including elements other than B), In an embodiment, at least one B, optionally including more than one, in the absence of A (and optionally including elements other than A), in another embodiment (optionally It may refer to at least one A, optionally including more than one, and optionally at least one B including more than one, including other elements.

  In any claim method that includes more than one step or action, the order of the steps or actions of the method is not necessarily in the order in which the steps or actions are listed, unless expressly indicated otherwise. It should also be understood that it is not limited.

  In the claims and in the above specification, “comprising”, “including”, “supporting”, “having”, “containing”, “including”, “holding”, and “holding” It should be understood that all transitional phrases such as "" are meant to be unconstrained, i.e. including, but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, as described in Section 2111.03 of the US Patent Office Examination Procedure Manual, are exclusive or semi-exclusive transitional phrases, respectively. Suppose that It should be understood that according to Rule 6.2 (b) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”), the specific expressions and reference signs used in the claims do not limit the scope.

Claims (15)

A controller,
A thermal image sensor operably coupled to the controller and having at least one field of view directed to a surface,
The controller is
Receiving a signal from the thermal image sensor that is a thermal signature brought about by the user on the surface, the thermal trace being detected by the thermal image sensor;
Identifying one or more spatial or temporal aspects of the thermal signature based on the processing of the signal;
An apparatus configured to transmit one or more commands selected based on the identified one or more spatial or temporal aspects.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects comprise a thermal gradient of the thermal signature.   The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects further comprise a temporal direction associated with the thermal gradient.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects comprise the shape of the thermal signature.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects include a position of the thermal signature within the field of view.   A light source, and the controller further operates the light source to illuminate the surface in the at least one field of view with a pattern of light that visually indicates a plurality of regions of the surface in the field of view. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, configured as follows.   The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects include an area of the plurality of areas where the thermal signature is detected.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the surface is independent of the apparatus.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the surface comprises a wall, ceiling, or floor of a room to which the apparatus is attached. Directing the thermal image sensor to a thermally conductive surface;
In the thermal image sensor, detecting a thermal trace captured on the heat conducting surface;
Providing a signal to the controller indicative of one or more spatial or temporal aspects of the thermal signature;
Transmitting by the controller one or more commands selected based on the identified one or more spatial or temporal aspects.   The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting comprises detecting a shape of the thermal signature in a field of view of the thermal image sensor.   The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting step includes detecting a position of the thermal signature within a field of view of the thermal image sensor.   The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects comprise a thermal gradient of the thermal signature.   The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects further comprise a temporal direction associated with the thermal gradient.   Illuminating the thermally conductive surface with a pattern of light that visually indicates a plurality of regions of the thermally conductive surface, wherein the one or more spatial or temporal aspects are among the plurality of regions The method of claim 10 including a region where the thermal signature is detected.

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