WO2016174215A1

WO2016174215A1 - Lighting assembly with a plurality of individually controllable lighting means

Info

Publication number: WO2016174215A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/059632
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael BÖHNEL
Original assignee: Zumtobel Lighting Gmbh
Priority date: 2015-04-30
Filing date: 2016-04-29
Publication date: 2016-11-03
Also published as: AT16458U1; EP3289834B1; DE102015207980A1; EP3289834A1

Abstract

A lighting assembly (100) comprises a plurality of individually controllable lighting means (115) which are designed such that they emit light into different areas of a room or into different directions, person recognition means (120, 130) which are designed to recognize the face and the line of sight of individuals (50₁, 50₂, 50₃) present in an area that can be lit by the lighting means (115), and control means (140) which control the lighting means (115) on the basis of information made available by the person recognition means (120, 130).

Description

Lighting arrangement with several individually controllable bulbs

The present invention relates to a lighting arrangement which has a plurality of individually controllable lighting means, wherein with the aid of

Lighting arrangement a glare-free lighting of rooms or areas to be achieved. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for operating a plurality of individually controllable bulbs.

A central aspect in the lighting technology concerns the question of how the light emission of bulbs can be made such that the dazzling of people who are in the illuminated area is avoided. This concerns in particular the lighting of workplaces, since there are circumstances in which persons are permanently located within the illuminated area over a relatively long period of time. If glare would occur, it could be extremely annoying and negatively affect the work performance. However, the same applies to the lighting of areas in which a large number of people may reside, such as.

public buildings, schools, shops or the like. Again, the light output should be as possible done so that the individual persons are dazzled as little as possible.

One common practice in the prior art to avoid the occurrence of glare and / or disturbing reflections is to design the luminaires such that light is emitted only within certain angular ranges. It is often envisaged that when mounted on ceiling lights the

Light emission occurs primarily downwards and in particular a light output above certain angles to the vertical is avoided. Such a light emission, which is also described in corresponding standards, prevents observers from observing the luminous surface of a luminaire at very shallow angles. Since there is a very high so-called luminance especially at these angles, this measure helps to avoid dazzling. Also, a light output directed towards the underside avoids disturbing reflections on vertical surfaces such as screens or the like.

The measure described above, namely to make the light output of luminaires such that the light is emitted permanently within certain angular ranges, then leads to advantages when the line of sight of people predominantly in certain areas or directions is directed. This requirement is fulfilled, for example, in the lighting of workplaces, since here people typically stay for a long period of time at a certain point - eg a desk - and look in a certain direction - for example, on a screen or a work surface of the desk , It is more in this case

unlikely that the persons permanently changing into different

Look directions and be blinded by the lights. However, this can not be ruled out, which is why the above-described static illumination of certain solid angle ranges realized in the prior art still leads to glare of persons in certain situations.

The present invention is therefore based on the object to provide a novel solution for realizing a lighting arrangement in which the occurrence of glare for persons is avoided under as many circumstances as possible.

The object is achieved by a lighting arrangement having the features of claim 1, and by a method for operating a

Lighting arrangement solved according to claim 11. Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

The solution according to the invention is based on the idea of designing the illumination arrangement with a plurality of individually activatable light sources, wherein the

Illuminants are designed such that they emit light in different spatial areas or directions. Furthermore, the lighting arrangement comprises person recognition means, which are designed to recognize the face and the viewing direction of persons who are located in an illuminable area of the arrangement. An activation of the lamps is then based on the

Information provided by the person recognition means, wherein it is provided in particular that the activation takes place in such a way that glare of persons recognized by the person recognition means is avoided.

According to the invention, therefore, a lighting arrangement is proposed which comprises:

A plurality of individually controllable illuminants, which are designed such that they emit light in different spatial areas or directions, Person recognition means which are adapted to recognize the face and the viewing direction of persons who are in an area that can be illuminated by the light sources, as well as

• Control means which, based on information provided by the personal detection means, drive the light sources.

According to the invention, a method for operating a

Lighting arrangement with a plurality of individually controllable bulbs, which are designed such that they light in different spatial areas or

Give directions, proposed, wherein the face and the direction of view of people who are located in an illuminable by the bulbs area, is detected and based on information regarding the direction of view of recognized persons the bulbs are driven.

As already mentioned, the control means are preferably adapted to the

To control bulbs such that the glare of detected by the person detection means persons is avoided. For this purpose, provision can be made, in particular, for deactivating or at least reducing the emission of light, which emits light counter to the viewing direction of a person recognized by the person recognition means. In other words, if it is detected that a person is looking in the direction of the lighting means, precisely those lighting means are deactivated or at least strongly dimmed, which would cause an aperture of this person. As a result, the total achievable with the lighting means illumination is only slightly affected, since usually only a small proportion of the light source is deactivated or dimmed. The overall lighting is thus essentially maintained, but avoiding dazzling individuals.

It can be provided according to an advantageous development of the invention, that the control of the other bulbs is made such that the deactivation or dimming of individual bulbs to avoid glare is compensated. That is to say, if certain lighting means are deactivated in order to avoid dazzling of a person recognized by the person recognition means, the light output of the further lighting means can be modified in such a way that overall a constant amount of light is emitted by the lighting arrangement. If, in addition, other illuminants are available which illuminate the area in which the recognized person is located from another - not dazzling - direction, then they can be selectively increased in their brightness if necessary in order to continue to provide shadowless illumination of the entire area Range. The recognition of persons and their viewing direction is preferably achieved by means of personal recognition means, which initially have a camera for acquiring digital image information and a controller for evaluating the image information. Corresponding algorithms that help the faces and

Viewing directions of persons can be recognized, are already known from the prior art. They are used in particular for digital cameras, which automatically create an image as soon as a person looks in the direction of the camera. These known measures can be used according to the invention in an advantageous manner now also to optimize the lighting of rooms or areas.

The lighting means may comprise a plurality of light sources arranged distributed, for example, form a plurality of lights which are arranged within a certain range and controlled by the control means coordinated with each other. However, the inventive concept can also be realized in a single lamp, in which case preferably the light sources are formed by a plurality of LEDs or LED clusters, which together with a corresponding optics in each case

different directions are aligned or each of which is associated with an optics that causes an asymmetrical light output in a certain direction.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a first embodiment of a

Luminaire with a lighting arrangement according to the invention;

Figure 2 used for the realization of the illumination according to the invention

Components and their interaction;

Figure 3 shows a conceivable embodiment of the arrangement of the light sources and responsible for the person-recognition means and Figure 4 shows a second variant of a lighting arrangement according to the invention.

A first embodiment of a lighting arrangement according to the invention will be explained below with reference to Figures 1 to 3. In this

Embodiment of the invention is realized in the form of a single lamp, wherein - as described in more detail below - would also be possible, a larger area arrangement of several lights according to the

operate according to the invention way.

The light provided in Figure 1 by the numeral 100, schematically illustrated lamp is designed as a ceiling light and can be realized in the form of a recessed or surface-mounted luminaire or as a pendant lamp. In the illustrated embodiment, the lamp 100 is thus oriented in operation so that a light output is primarily vertically downwards, but this does not necessarily have to be the case.

Within the luminaire housing 101, this illumination means 110 are provided, which are basically able to illuminate a designated by the reference numeral I area. It is essential, however, that the design and arrangement of the lighting means 110 is such that partial areas of the total illuminable area I can be individually illuminated or not illuminated.

One possibility of realizing this is shown in FIG. 3, wherein it can be seen that several LEDs 115 - or even LED clusters - are used here as light sources, which are arranged in a matrix-like manner on a common carrier element 111. These LEDs 115 are now designed in such a way that they do not each have the same light emission characteristic and, accordingly, in each case illuminate the substantially identical area as a whole. Instead, there is a more or less asymmetrical light output, such that each LED 115 is responsible for the illumination of a certain solid angle range or the light emission in a certain direction. The illumination areas of the individual LEDs 115 then together form the total illuminable area I, wherein the individual solid angle areas preferably overlap slightly at their edge areas, in order to allow overall continuous and uniform illumination of the entire area I. On the other hand, the overlap should not be too strong, so that still a single LED light source 115 for the

Lighting of a certain solid angle range is responsible or the possibility exists to selectively illuminate individual areas more or less strongly by appropriately driving the LEDs 115.

This particular Lichtabhhle property of the various bulbs can be achieved by the LEDs 115 is assigned - not shown in Figure 3 - optics, in which case the optics emits the emitted light from the associated LED 115 in the respective solid angle range. Alternatively or in addition to this could also be provided that the LEDs 115 are in turn associated with optics, which are now formed identically, however, wherein the LEDs 115 are arranged with the optics example. On a curved or generally three-dimensionally shaped surface and accordingly have in different directions. In this case, too, it is ensured that the LEDs 115 are each responsible for the illumination of a specific intended solid angle range.

The actuation of the LEDs 115 is carried out with the aid of a control circuit 140 (see Figure 2), which represents a second essential component of the arrangement and is basically able to adjust each LED 115 individually in their brightness. This opens up the possibility of selectively illuminating individual partial areas of the total illuminable area I less or not at all.

As a third essential component, the luminaire 100 according to the invention further comprises means by means of which persons and their viewing direction can be detected. In particular, the presence of persons is to be detected within the area I that can be illuminated by the luminaire 100. For this purpose, a camera 120 is initially provided, which can be arranged, for example, on the same carrier element 111 as well as the LEDs 115, as shown in FIG. In this case, this camera 120 is embodied or provided with optics such that the region II (see FIG. 1) encompassed by it comprises at least the illuminable region I, preferably substantially coinciding therewith.

With the aid of the camera 120, therefore, image information is obtained which relates to the area II which can be illuminated by the luminaire 100. This image information is preferably evaluated internally by a corresponding evaluation unit, for example a suitable microcontroller 130, in order, on the one hand, to detect persons 50i, 50 ₂ and their viewing direction in the area II covered by the camera 120. In the evaluation of the provided by the camera 120 digital

Image information can be used here on evaluation algorithms, which are already known from digital cameras. Such algorithms are included

Digital cameras are primarily used to automatically take a picture when it is detected that a person is looking in the direction of the camera. Accordingly, the arrangement of the camera 120 shown in FIG. 3 in the area of the illuminant 110 is also advantageous since the already widely used evaluation algorithms can be used directly. If, in the context of the image analysis, it is found that a person is looking in the direction of the camera, this means in the present case at the same time that the person in Direction of the bulb 110 views and would be blinded accordingly. However, according to the invention, a corresponding diaphragm is prevented by a suitably coordinated activation of the lighting means 110.

For operating the luminaire 100, it is provided that first of all, with the aid of the camera 120 and the microcontroller 130 for evaluating the image information, it is determined whether there are persons within the illuminable area I and, if so, if they are facing in the direction of the luminous means 110. In the illustrated embodiment in Figure 1 this is the case for the first person 50i, the person 50 _2, however, looks in a direction away from the lighting means direction, so that here there is no danger of blinding. This is detected by the means for evaluating the digital image information provided by the camera.

Based on this information, the LEDs 115 are now controlled in such a way that a light output into the solid angle region III in which the person 50i is located is completely suppressed or at least greatly reduced. In other words, the LEDs responsible for the illumination of the corresponding solid angle region, which emit light in a direction B opposite to the viewing direction A of the person 50i, are deactivated or greatly dimmed. At the very least, the brightness of the light emitted in this direction should be reduced in such a way that the luminance of the luminaire 100 perceptible for the person 50i is so low that no disturbing glare occurs.

On the other hand, the other lamps that illuminate other areas of area I are operated in the desired brightness that is provided for the illumination of area I. Thus, it is ensured that the area I overall is illuminated substantially in accordance with, for example, a brightness that can be predetermined from the outside, but according to the invention, an individual illumination element is adapted individually in order to prevent the occurrence of glare.

The selective driving of individual LEDs to the effect that no light emission takes place in certain directions, in order to avoid dazzling, is also not limited to individuals. It can certainly be provided that a plurality of persons are detected simultaneously in the area I detected by the camera 120, which look in the direction of the light sources 110. In this case, then all the corresponding light sources are turned off or dimmed to avoid dazzling the people. An alternative embodiment of a lighting arrangement according to the invention is shown in FIG. In this case, a plurality of spaced separately arranged lamps 115i to 115 ₄ are used as lighting means are used, which for example are arranged on the ceiling of a room.. These lamps 115i to 115 ₄ are also designed such that they each illuminate a different area of the total illuminable area. Furthermore, in turn, a camera 120 with an associated - provided transmitter, with the camera 120 as possible, the whole can be detected by all the lights 1151-115 ₄ illuminable area and detected by means of the evaluation electronics if there are in the range of people and in - not shown which direction these look. Possibly. In order to cover a larger area, it is also possible to use a plurality of cameras whose image information is used to detect persons - for example, from a central location

Evaluation device - to be evaluated.

According to the basic principle described above, it is also provided in this second embodiment that a lamp 115i to 115 _{4 is} switched off or dimmed, if it is recognized that a person is looking in the direction of the corresponding lamp. In the present case, however, can now be additionally provided that the switching off or reducing of a single lamp 115i to 115 ₄ is compensated for avoiding glare by appropriate control of other lights.

In the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 4, for example, provision is made for the luminaire 115 _{2 to be} deactivated, since the person 50 ₃ detected by the camera is looking in the direction of this luminaire 1152. However, it is now provided at the same time that the two other, left and right of the lamp 115 ₂ located lights 115i and 115 _{3 are operated} with a correspondingly higher brightness. As can be seen, part of the light of these lights is emitted in the area mainly illuminated by the luminaire 115 ₂ , but under directions under which an aperture of the person 50 _{3 is} again avoided. That is, by a correspondingly higher brightness of these adjacent lights, the reduced light output of the lamp 115 ₂ can be compensated for in total, so that despite all substantially uniform and shadow-free illumination of the total illuminable area exists.

Ultimately, therefore, with the help of the present invention, a novel way of light emission is proposed, with the flexibility of the presence and direction of people can be responded to in all imaginable

Situations to avoid dazzling people.

Claims

claims

1. lighting arrangement (100) with

a) a plurality of individually controllable lighting means (115), which in such a way

are designed to emit light in different spatial areas or directions,

b) person recognition means (120, 130) which are adapted to recognize the face and the viewing direction of persons (50i, 50 ₂ , 50 ₃ ) located in an area which can be illuminated by the lighting means (115), c) control means (140) based on information supplied by the

Person detection means (120, 130) are provided, the lighting means (115) to control.

2. Lighting arrangement according to claim 1,

characterized,

in that the control means (140) are designed to control the lighting means (115) in such a way that the glare of persons (50i, 50 ₂ , 50 ₃ ) recognized by the person recognition means (120, 130) is avoided.

3. Lighting arrangement according to claim 2,

characterized,

in that the control means (140) are designed to deactivate light emitting means (115) which emit light in the direction opposite to the viewing direction of a person (50i, 50 ₂ , 50 ₃ ) recognized by the personal recognition means (120, 130) or in their light output to reduce.

4. Lighting arrangement according to claim 3,

characterized,

in that the control means (140) are adapted to deactivate or reduce individual lighting means (115) by correspondingly driving the other one

Lamp (1 15) to compensate.

5. Lighting arrangement according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized,

in that the person recognition means (120, 130) comprise a camera for acquiring digital image information and a microcontroller for evaluating the image information.

6. Lighting arrangement according to claim 5,

characterized,

in that the area (II) detected by the camera comprises, preferably substantially coincides with, the area (I) which can be illuminated by the lighting means (115).

7. Lighting arrangement according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized,

in that the lighting means (115) comprise a plurality of light sources arranged distributed, which can each be controlled individually.

8. Lighting arrangement according to claim 7,

characterized,

that the light sources are LEDs or LED clusters,

· Which together with a corresponding optics in each case in different

Directions are aligned or

• each of which is associated with an optic, which is an asymmetric

Light emission causes in a certain direction.

9. Lighting arrangement according to one of claims 5 and 6 and claim 8, characterized in that

the camera is arranged in the region of the LEDs, preferably arranged with the LEDs on a common carrier element (111).

10. Lighting arrangement according to claim 7,

characterized,

that the bulbs are arranged distributed by several arranged luminaires.

11. Method for operating a lighting arrangement (100) with a plurality of individually activatable lighting means (115), which are designed such that they emit light in different spatial areas or directions,

the face and the viewing direction being recognized by persons (50i, 50 ₂ , 50 ₃ ) located in an area that can be illuminated by the illuminants (115) and the illuminants (115) being based on information regarding the viewing direction of recognized persons be controlled.

12. The method according to claim 11,

characterized, that the lighting means (115) are controlled in such a way that the glare of recognized persons (50i, 50 ₂ , 50 ₃ ) is avoided.

13. The method according to claim 12,

characterized,

that light sources (115) which emit light counter to the viewing direction of a person (50i, 50 ₂ , 50 ₃ ) recognized by the personal recognition means (120, 130) are deactivated or reduced in their light output.

14. The method according to claim 13,

characterized,

the deactivation or reduction of individual lighting means (115) is compensated by corresponding activation of the further lighting means (115).