JP7185344B2 - Lighting systems, luminaires and remote controls - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to lighting systems, lighting fixtures and remote controls.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been widely used a lighting system in which a lighting fixture is operated according to an instruction from a remote controller (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2016-225175 A

In the lighting system described in Patent Literature 1, the operator himself/herself operates the remote control, and the brightness of the lighting equipment is controlled according to the instructions from the remote control. However, in daily life, it is troublesome to adjust the brightness or the like while performing various tasks such as housework. On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have proposed a lighting system that can automatically change the lighting conditions of lighting fixtures according to the time of day, such as bright pale light in the morning, relaxing hues in the evening, and dark at night. I learned that it would be convenient if I could.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting system capable of automatically changing lighting conditions of lighting fixtures according to time.

In order to achieve the above object, the lighting fixture of the present invention comprises:
a lighting unit comprising one or more light emitting elements;
a receiving unit that receives activation information for automatic control of the lighting unit transmitted from a transmitting unit of a remote control and modified time information obtained by modifying actual time information in units of time into predetermined units of time;
an illumination clock unit having a clock function indicating time;
a control unit that stores a lighting condition according to time and automatically controls lighting of the lighting unit based on the lighting condition and the time of the lighting clock unit;
and a correction unit that corrects the time of the illumination clock unit based on the modified time information included in the signal received by the reception unit.

Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a lighting system, a lighting fixture, and a remote control capable of automatically changing lighting conditions of lighting fixtures according to time.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the lighting system of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the external appearance of the remote controller of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the lighting system of the present invention.

The lighting system, the lighting equipment and the remote controller of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is in no way limited or restricted by the following embodiments. In each figure below, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts. In addition, in the drawings, for convenience of explanation, the structure of each part may be simplified as appropriate, and the dimensional ratio of each part may be schematically shown unlike the actual one. The descriptions of the respective embodiments can refer to each other's descriptions unless otherwise specified.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the lighting system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the lighting system of the present invention includes a remote control 10 of the present invention and a lighting fixture 20 of the present invention.

(Remote controller)
First, the remote control 10 will be explained. The remote control 10 has a signal transmission section 11 and a remote control clock section 12 . The transmitter 11 transmits a signal to the lighting fixture 20 . The signal includes activation information for automatic control of lighting fixture 20 and time information for remote control clock section 12 . The remote controller 10 has, for example, a battery mounting portion, and can be driven by the battery by setting the battery in the battery mounting portion. The battery can be, for example, non-rechargeable or rechargeable.

The remote controller 10 may be the same as a conventionally known lighting equipment remote controller having a clock function, except that the transmission unit 11 can transmit a signal including the activation information of the automatic control and the time information, for example. .

The transmission format of the signal by the transmitter 11 of the remote controller 10 is not particularly limited. Signal carriers include, for example, infrared rays.

The remote control clock unit 12 only needs to have a so-called clock function that indicates the time. The time of the remote control clock section 12 can be set by the operator, for example. For example, the remote controller 10 can be driven by the battery as described above, and the clock function of the remote controller clock section 12 is also driven by the set battery. In the present invention, the "timepiece function" of the remote control clock unit 12 includes the function of indicating the time, and does not mean only the stopwatch function of indicating the elapsed time, for example. The "timepiece function" of the remote control clock unit 12 in the present invention may be only the function of indicating the time, or may include both the function of indicating the time and the function of indicating the elapsed time.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the appearance of the remote control 10. As shown in FIG. The remote controller 10 has a transmission section 11 and a remote control clock section 12 inside. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the remote controller 10 may further include a display unit 101 and buttons 102 to 104 for selecting and transmitting signals to be transmitted to the lighting equipment 20. FIG. In the remote control 10 of FIG. 2, the button 104 “comfort” is a button for selecting automatic control of the lighting fixture 20 and for transmitting a signal including start information for automatic control and time information for the remote control clock section 12 . The button 102 “all lights” is, for example, a button that transmits a signal to turn on all the lighting units 22 of the lighting fixture 20 instead of automatic control, and the button 103 “turns off” is, for example, not automatic control but lighting control. This is a button that transmits a signal to turn off all the lighting units 22 of the fixture 20 . In addition, in FIG. 2, expressions such as "comfortable, all lights, lights out" are examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.

The display unit 101 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like, and can display information such as the current time as indicated by reference numeral 101a.

Although only three main buttons 102 to 104 are illustrated in the remote controller 10 of FIG. may have a button or the like for timer setting. Further, the remote control 10 may further include a cover 105. The cover 105 may be, for example, a sliding type that moves up and down, or an openable type in which the upper portion of the cover 105 rises in the front direction of the figure. . Various buttons may be covered, for example, by a cover 105 when not in use.

(lighting equipment)
Next, the lighting fixture 20 will be described. The lighting fixture 20 includes a signal receiving section 21 , a lighting unit 22 , a lighting control section 23 , a lighting clock section 24 , and a time correction section 25 .

The receiver 21 receives a signal from the transmitter 11 of the remote controller 10 . The receiving unit 21 is the same as a signal receiving unit in a lighting fixture of a conventionally known remote-controlled lighting system, except for receiving a signal including the activation information of the automatic control and the time information, for example.

The illumination unit 22 includes, for example, one or more light emitting elements. Examples of the light-emitting element include LED (Light Emitting Diode), fluorescent lamp, organic EL (Electro Luminescence), inorganic EL, semiconductor laser, etc., and are not particularly limited. As the lighting unit 22, for example, the same one as in a conventionally known lighting fixture can be used.

The illumination clock unit 24 may have a clock function that indicates the so-called time. In the present invention, the "timepiece function" of the illumination clock section 24 includes the function of indicating the time, and does not mean only the stopwatch function of indicating the elapsed time, for example. The "timepiece function" of the illumination clock unit 24 in the present invention may be only the function of indicating the time, or may include both the function of indicating the time and the function of indicating the elapsed time. The correction unit 25 corrects the time of the illumination clock unit 24 based on the time information included in the signal received by the reception unit 21 . The roles of the illumination clock section 24 and the correction section 25 in the present invention will be described below.

In a conventional remote-controlled lighting system, only the remote control normally has a clock function to indicate the time, and the lighting equipment does not have a clock function to indicate the time. In a conventional remote-controlled lighting system, for example, ON-OFF can be performed by a timer, but this is a function indicating elapsed time, that is, a stopwatch function, not a clock function indicating time. On the other hand, in the lighting system of the present invention, in addition to the remote controller 10 having the remote control clock section 12 that indicates the time, the lighting equipment 20 also has the lighting clock section 24 that indicates the time. However, the power of the luminaire 20 can be turned off by the remote controller 10 or by the wall switch. is maintained, but in the latter case, in addition to turning off the lighting unit 22, the supply of power to the lighting fixture 20 is also stopped. Therefore, in the former case, even if the power is turned off, the lighting clock section 24 can drive the clock function by the power supplied to the lighting fixture 20, so that the lighting fixture 20 is turned off (the lighting unit 22 is turned off), the correct time can be obtained. On the other hand, in the latter case, since the supply of power to the lighting fixture 20 is stopped by turning off the power, the lighting clock section 24 cannot drive the clock function, and, for example, the time stops at that point. Therefore, in the lighting system of the present invention, as described above, the remote control 10 transmits a signal including the activation information for automatic control of the lighting fixture 20 and the time information of the remote control clock unit 12, and the lighting fixture 20 transmits the signal is received, and the correction unit 25 corrects the time of the illumination clock unit 24 based on the time information of the remote control clock unit 12 included in the signal. As a result, even if the power of the lighting fixture 20 is turned off by the wall switch and the time of the lighting clock unit 24 stops, the wall switch of the lighting fixture 20 is turned on again to turn on the automatic control of the lighting fixture 20. , the time of the lighting clock unit 24 of the lighting fixture 20 can be corrected. As a method of keeping the lighting clock section 24 of the lighting fixture 20 running even when the power is turned off by a wall switch, it is conceivable to provide the lighting fixture 20 with a dedicated battery or the like for the lighting clock section 24. , which is not realistic. On the other hand, in the lighting system of the present invention, as described above, the time of the illumination clock unit 24 is corrected by the correction unit 25 based on the time information of the remote control clock unit 12 included in the signal received by the reception unit 21. be done. Therefore, the lighting system of the present invention can easily correct the time without requiring a dedicated battery or the like.

The control unit 23 stores lighting conditions according to time, and automatically controls lighting of the lighting unit 22 based on the lighting conditions and the time of the lighting clock unit 24 . In this manner, the lighting system of the present invention can automatically control the lighting of the lighting unit 22 by the control section 23 so that the lighting condition is set according to the time. Further, according to the lighting system of the present invention, as described above, the lighting fixture 20 has the lighting clock section 24, and the time is corrected based on the time information of the remote control clock section 12 included in the received signal. It has a correction unit 25 for Therefore, in the lighting system of the present invention, for example, every time the automatic control is driven, the time that is the reference for the automatic lighting control by the control unit 23 can be corrected, and the lighting that matches the time can be achieved.

The control unit 23 stores, for example, the time and the lighting condition in association with each other. The lighting conditions include, for example, the presence or absence of lighting, the color of light, the intensity of light, and the like. The lighting conditions according to the time of day include, for example, pale and bright light in the morning, relaxing hues in the evening, and dark light or lights off in the evening. When linking the time and the lighting conditions, the method of dividing the time is not particularly limited. For example, morning and afternoon; , Morning (6am-9am), Before noon (9am-noon), Afternoon (noon-3pm), Evening (3pm-6pm), Early evening (6pm-pm) 9:00), late at night (9:00 pm to 0:00 pm), etc., or the time may be set in units of hours or minutes.

The correction unit 25, the illumination clock unit 24, and the control unit 23 can be configured by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a nonvolatile memory, and the like.

Next, the automatic control by the lighting system of this example will be described with an example.

First, when the operator presses the comfort button 104 of the remote controller 10 shown in FIG. is transmitted to the lighting fixture 20, and the receiving section 21 of the lighting fixture 20 receives it. As shown in FIG. 2, when the comfort button 104 of the remote controller 10 is pressed, the display unit 101 of the remote controller 10 may display "comfortable" (reference numeral 101b).

In the lighting device 20, when the reception section 21 receives the signal, the correction section 25 corrects the time of the lighting clock section 24 based on the time information of the remote control clock section 12 included in the signal.

For example, the time of the illumination clock unit 24 of the lighting fixture 20 is 12:00, the time of the remote control clock unit 12 of the remote controller 10 is 17:13, and the automatic control activation information and the time of 17:13 are received from the remote controller 10. When the signal containing the information is transmitted, the lighting fixture 20 corrects the time of the lighting clock section 24 to 17:13.

When the time information of the lighting device 20 is corrected, the control section 23 automatically controls lighting of the lighting unit 22 based on the corrected time of the lighting clock section 24 and the stored lighting conditions. For example, when the control unit 23 stores the lighting condition of "relaxing hue" at the corrected time (for example, 17:13), the lighting condition of the lighting unit 22 is automatically set to "relaxing hue." to control lighting. The lighting of the lighting unit 22 is controlled so as to correspond to the time as the time elapses while the automatic control is activated.

On the other hand, when the operator presses the comfort button 104 of the remote controller 10 again, the display 101b of "comfort" on the display unit 101 is turned off, and the lighting device 20 is in a normal lighting state regardless of time.

(Modification)
In the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 10, the time information of the remote control clock unit 12 included in the signal is the actual time information of the remote control clock unit 12, but it is not limited to this. For example, it may be modified time information obtained by modifying the actual time information in units of time into predetermined units of time. Time units are, for example, hours, minutes, seconds, and the like. When the time displayed on the display unit 101 of the remote controller 10 advances by one minute, for example, 17:11, 17:12, the actual time unit is one minute. On the other hand, changing to a predetermined time unit means, for example, changing the time represented by the actual time unit of 1 minute to a predetermined time unit (for example, time unit of 10 minutes).

As a specific example, for example, in the case of the remote controller 10 shown in FIG. 2, the remote controller clock unit 12 has an actual time unit of 1 minute, and the actual time unit time information is 17:13. On the other hand, if the predetermined time unit is set to 10 minutes, the time information included in the signal transmitted from the transmitter 11 of the remote controller 10 is rounded down to 10 minutes from the actual 17:13. Modification time information modified in minutes is 17:10. Assuming that the actual time unit is 1 minute, when time information expressed in actual time units is transmitted as a signal, 60 minutes×24 hours=1440 data codes are required. On the other hand, if the predetermined time unit is 10 minutes, the data code can be compressed to 1/10 of the 1 minute unit. In other words, modified time information set to a larger predetermined time unit (time length n, positive number, n>m) than the actual time unit (time length m, positive number) By doing so, the data length can be made shorter than the actual time information in units of time. Note that the predetermined time unit (n) in modifying the time information is not limited to 10 minutes. For example, in the above example, when the predetermined time unit (n) is set to 60 minutes, the modified time information 17:00 is obtained by truncating the 13 minutes from the actual 17:13 and modifying it in units of 60 minutes. good too.

The predetermined time unit (n) is not particularly limited, and can be set appropriately according to the desired data length, for example. The predetermined time unit (n) is, for example, in the range of 2 minutes to 480 minutes, 2 minutes to 60 minutes, and 10 minutes to 60 minutes.

The signal transmitted from the remote controller 10 may have the same data length between the signal including the activation information of the automatic control of the lighting device 20 and the time information and the signal not including the activation information of the automatic control of the lighting device 20. preferable. The latter signal that does not include activation information for automatic control is, for example, a general signal that does not include activation information for automatic control of lighting fixtures 20, such as "all lights" and "lights out." If the former and the latter general signals have the same data length, for example, regardless of the signal type, the reception accuracy on the lighting device 20 side will be the same. Therefore, for example, when the remote controller 10 is operated at a location far away from the lighting device 20, problems such as failure to receive signals can be sufficiently suppressed. In addition, in the receiving unit 21 of the lighting device 20, for example, it is common to increase or decrease the threshold value for noise detection prevention by a time constant. False detection of noise when the threshold is lowered can also be sufficiently suppressed. In the present invention, the data length of the signal containing the activation information for the automatic control of the lighting device 20 and the time information is, for example, determined by modifying the time information in a predetermined time unit as described above. can be easily set to be the same as the data length of a general signal that does not contain the activation information for auto control.

When the time information of the lighting device 20 is corrected, the control section 23 automatically controls lighting of the lighting unit 22 based on the corrected time of the lighting clock section 24 and the stored lighting conditions. For example, if the control unit 23 stores a lighting condition of “relaxing hue” at the corrected time (for example, 17:10 which is the modified time information), the lighting condition of the lighting unit 22 is “relaxing automatically changed to "hue" and lighting is controlled. The lighting of the lighting unit 22 is controlled so as to correspond to the time as the time elapses while the automatic control is activated.

[Embodiment 2]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the lighting system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the lighting system of this example is the same as the lighting system of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. The lighting system of the present embodiment is suitable for the case where the signal includes modified time information modified in units of the predetermined time, as shown in the modified example of the first embodiment.

The signal transmission auxiliary unit 13 detects the time difference between the modified time information modified in units of time contained in the signal transmitted by the transmission unit 11 and the time information in actual time units, The time difference between the unit and the shifted time is calculated, and after the time difference has passed since the transmission unit 11 transmitted the signal containing the modified time information, the actual time information in time units is obtained. to the receiving section 21 of the lighting device 20 via the transmitting section 11.

As shown in the modification of Embodiment 1, when the signal includes modified time information modified in the predetermined time unit, the time information of the lighting clock unit 24 of the lighting fixture 20 is changed in the predetermined time unit. It is corrected to the modified modified time information. In this case, when changing the actual time unit time information (for example, 17:10) to a predetermined time unit (for example, 10 minutes), if the modified time information becomes the same as the actual time information, lighting The time information of the illumination clock section 24 of the fixture 20 is corrected to the same time (17:10) as the actual time information (17:10) of the remote control clock section 12 of the remote controller 10 . However, when the actual time unit time information (for example, 17:13) is modified to a predetermined time unit (for example, 10 minutes), the modified time information differs from the actual time information (17:13). In the case of information (17:10), the time information of the lighting clock section 24 of the lighting fixture 20 is the actual time information (17:13) of the remote control clock section 12 of the remote controller 10 within the range of the predetermined time unit. is corrected to time information (17:10) shifted from According to the lighting system of the present embodiment, as described below, even if the signal includes the modified time information and there is a discrepancy between the actual time information and the modified time information, the discrepancy is further corrected. By correcting it, the time information of the lighting clock section 24 of the lighting fixture 20 can be used as the actual time information.

That is, according to the signal transmission assisting unit 13, the modified time information (for example, 17:10) modified in the predetermined time unit (for example, 10 minutes) included in the signal transmitted by the transmitting unit 11 and the actual The time difference (3 minutes) from the time unit time information (for example, 17:13), and the difference time (7 minutes) between the predetermined time unit (10 minutes) and the time difference (3 minutes) ) is calculated. Then, after the difference time (7 minutes) has passed since the transmission unit 11 transmitted the signal containing the modified time information (17:13), the signal transmission auxiliary unit 13 determines the actual time unit at the elapsed time. A signal of modified time information (17:20) obtained by modifying the time information (17:20) in the predetermined time unit (10 minutes) is transmitted to the receiving section 21 of the lighting device 20 via the transmitting section 11 . The modified time information included in this signal is the modified time information (17:20) that is consistent with the actual time unit time information (17:20). Therefore, when the reception unit 21 receives the signal, the correction unit 25 of the lighting device 20 adjusts the time of the lighting clock unit 24 based on the signal to match the actual time information in units of time. Correct the missing time.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the lighting system which can change the lighting conditions of a lighting fixture automatically according to time can be provided. The lighting system of the present invention can be used in a wide range of applications, such as home use and facility use.

10 remote controller 11 transmitter 12 remote controller clock 13 signal transmission auxiliary unit 20 lighting equipment 21 receiver 22 lighting unit 23 control unit 24 lighting clock unit 25 correction unit 101 display unit 102, 103, 104 button 105 cover

Claims (4)

a lighting unit comprising one or more light emitting elements;
The activation information of the automatic control of the lighting unit transmitted from the transmitter of the remote control and the time information in actual time units are modified into a predetermined time unit, and the predetermined time unit is n minutes. , n is a positive integer of 2 or more, a receiving unit for receiving modification time information;
an illumination clock unit having a clock function indicating time;
a control unit that stores a lighting condition corresponding to time and automatically controls lighting of the lighting unit based on the lighting condition and the time of the lighting clock unit;
and a correction unit that corrects the time of the illumination clock unit based on the modified time information included in the signal received by the reception unit. the remote controller has a transmission unit for transmitting a signal, a remote control clock unit, and a signal transmission auxiliary unit;
The signal transmission auxiliary unit,
time difference between the modified time information modified in the predetermined time unit and the actual time information in the predetermined time unit included in the signal transmitted by the transmission unit, and the time difference between the predetermined time unit and the time difference Calculate the difference time,
After the time difference has passed since the transmission unit transmitted the signal including the modified time information, the modified time information obtained by modifying the actual time information in units of time at the elapsed time into the predetermined time unit is transmitted to the 2. The remote control used for the lighting fixture according to claim 1, wherein the remote control transmits to the receiving section of the lighting fixture via a transmitting section. The actual time unit is 1 minute, the predetermined time unit is n minutes, n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2, and the transmitted signal is for automatic control of the lighting equipment. 3. The remote controller according to claim 2, wherein the signal including activation information and the signal not including activation information for automatic control of the lighting equipment have the same data length. The remote control has a button for selecting automatic control of the lighting fixtures and transmitting a signal including automatic control activation information and time information of the remote control clock unit, and all the lighting units instead of automatic control. 4. The remote control according to claim 2, further comprising a button for transmitting a signal to turn on the light and a button for transmitting a signal for turning off all the lighting units instead of automatic control.

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