WO2018141640A1 - A system and method to select dimming profiles for outdoor lighting based on spatial characteristics of the effected areas - Google Patents

Abstract

Lighting Control System whereby lighting configurations provided to localized areas are determined based upon the nature of businesses located in the areas and the areas' spatial characteristics; to thereby support economic activity and enhance livability of its occupants.

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD TO SELECT DIMMING PROFILES FOR OUTDOOR LIGHTING BASED ON SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EFFECTED AREAS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This application relates to the field of light management systems and more particularly to a method and a system to determine lighting configurations for a localized area based at least in part on the spatial characteristics of the area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditionally, lights are controlled based on a predefined time schedule wherein lighting will be turned OFF at 6 AM and turned ON at 6 PM. However with advancement in technology, new generation of lighting system are more dynamic and employ sensor measurements (e.g., located on one or more light poles) to determine the activation and control schedules. For instance, lights are turned-off and turned-on at dawn and dusk, respectively, based on photo sensor measurement or at dusk. Additionally, lights may be kept at low power in the absence of activity and pushed to full power whenever there is some activity in its region (e.g., using motion sensors). Further, some systems are contemplated whereby light levels are adjusted based on traffic and/or weather conditions.

By way of example, and as described in co-pending Application No.

WO2014/147524A1 entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Information Management and Control of Outdoor Lighting Networks," incorporated by reference herein; recent advances in LED and other lighting technologies have enabled a variety of lighting effects in many applications. One such application is light-on-demand by which street lights are illuminated (or brightened) only when warranted, thereby saving on energy costs. In typical light-on- demand applications, as activity is detected by a street light apparatus, nearby poles are sent message(s) to turn on their respective light(s) with the expectation that the subject will need to have additional light in the vicinity due to the subject's movement or, more generally, a need for increased visibility nearby.

A further prior art example is provided by the City Touch product provided by Philips Lighting. With this product during the commissioning process, locations of light points are automatically transmitted to a server/base station using a cellular network. However, with CityTouch, like similar outdoor lighting networks, dimming schedules are typically based either on schedule or on certain local functionality (e.g., a sensor on the pole), and are often driven by need for energy savings. However none of the existing systems or methods account for the actual characteristics of the region in which the street lights are deployed. Moreover, there does not exist any energy efficient system that promotes economic activity by providing/contr oiling lights based on operational hours of local businesses.

That is, while energy savings is often the primary driver of outdoor lighting systems, lighting can generate a much larger benefit for the city and society by becoming an agent for economic prosperity. In this application, a system and method is described to control the lighting in a neighborhood based on its spatial characteristics, and thereby to support economic activity and to enhance livability of its citizens by providing necessary lighting configurations. By way of example, if certain street poles are in an area where businesses are open until 2 AM, then street lights will be kept at full power to support business activity and provide required safety for the customers. Such localized functionality is not provided in current prior art systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, representative embodiments disclosing specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed invention. However, it will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art having had the benefit of the present disclosure that other embodiments according to the present teachings that depart from the specific details disclosed herein remain within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, descriptions of well-known apparatus and methods may be omitted so as to not obscure the description of the representative embodiments. Such methods and apparatus are clearly within the scope of the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other exemplary features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an outdoor lighting network (OLN) in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 2 illustrates an overview of an exemplary method employed by the current invention in providing lighting schedules to light points.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of various areas of a city having different lighting requirements.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary clustering of business areas having similar lighting requirements.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart depicting an embodiment of the invention in which lighting schedules are determined and transmitted to various light points. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

It is to be understood that these drawings are solely for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the invention and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. It will be appreciated that the same reference numerals, possibly supplemented with reference characters, where appropriate, have been used throughout to identify corresponding parts.

As noted above, the current invention relates to a lighting network that promotes economic activity by providing/controlling lights based on operational hours of local businesses. As described below, the system can also address lighting needs that are prompted by scheduled special events (a July 4^th celebration, Halloween trick or treaters, etc.) A special event can be a holiday, vacation, business product sale event or other temporary event, that affects the business' schedule or hours of operation, for example.

Fig. 1 illustrates a perspective view of an outdoor lighting network (OLN) in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. As illustrated, the network system 1 comprises a plurality of neighborhood lighting systems (3-1, 3-2, ... 3-N) that communicate with a server base station 2. While Fig. 1 depicts this communication occurring over a wireless network 4 via a local controller/ gateway 5, the invention is not so limited. That is, wired as well as wireless communications are contemplated by the invention. Further, while not depicted in Fig. 1 to avoid unnecessarily complicating the drawing, communications over the network are possible between one or more individual lights (15-1, 15-2, ... ) as well as lights communicating with the local controller/ gateway 5, and lights directly communicating with the network 4 without requiring gateway 5.

As further depicted in Fig. 1, the server base station 2 is in communication (either wired or wirelessly) with a remote server 6 that has detailed information about local businesses (e.g., address, start time, end time, type of business, etc.) and a server 7 that has location information of various light points. Fig. 1 also depicts an input means 8 whereby a network system administrator can interact with the network system. Similarly an optional means 9 is illustrated whereby local businesses are permitted to input information to the system as well.

Fig. 2 illustrates an overview of an exemplary method employed by the current invention in providing lighting schedules to light points. In particular, Fig. 2 illustrates a method to generate the lighting schedule for the light points in a target area based on the spatial characteristics of the area. At step 205 a list of businesses in the area are identified. This step, as further described below, includes receiving business information for the outdoor space, as further described below, wherein the business information includes at least a location, nature of the businesses hours of operation, and special events (e.g. holidays, retail store sale events, celebrations, etc.). A database of businesses in the outdoor space is generated. At step 210, lighting requirements for at least some of these businesses are determined. This step, as further described below, includes forming clusters of spatial segments including one or more outdoor lamps having similar spatial characteristics and lighting schedule requirements. While it is advantageous to determine light requirements for all of the businesses, the invention contemplates that turnover of commercial tenants will result in data for some of the properties involved will be inaccurate (e.g., vacancies, new tenants having different types of businesses with different hours and/or clientele).

The process of building a database of a target area's businesses and public attractions (and their respective lighting requirements) can be performed in a variety of ways. Two exemplary methods are described below:

1. Manual process: The city and/or the lighting company could develop this database.

a. Government places: Most cities have information about their monuments, landmarks, and important places (park, train stations, etc.). It would be a one-time manual effort to collect the data and streamline their lighting requirements,

b. Businesses: Most other business would be requested to submit their lighting requirements to help them provide a best environment in which to conduct their business.

Anytime an entity wishes to request/change the lighting request, it could be done either via a call to the city or by submitting a simple web based form.

2. Automated method: Google has very rich data of all the places in the world. For any city, one could get all the data from using their places API. Also available is the opening and closing time of the entity ~ which could be used for setting up a lighting schedule. An example flowchart of the process is given below:

If any business is not captured by this method, the contemplated invention permits that entities can submit a request that it be added to the database.

Returning to Fig. 2, at step 215 one or more light schedules are developed based upon the lighting requirements of the known businesses in the target area. For example, a light schedule is developed for each spatial segment and a modified light schedule is developed based on a special event in a respective spatial segment. Lastly, at step 220 the one or more lighting schedule (for example a general light schedule for daily, weekly or monthly use and a modified light schedule based on a particular special event) is transmitted to the light points involved. Summarizing, the embodiment of the invention depicted in Fig. 2 first identifies a list of businesses or entities in a target area and then identifies their lighting requirements that can enhance economic activity in the region. Next, the invention develops and transmits lighting schedules to support business operations.

In order to explain various aspect of the, an example depicting a section of

Boston, Massachusetts will now be discussed. As expected, Boston has a variety of different components such as a train station, malls, businesses, etc.; and each of these entities have their own schedule and lighting requirements. Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience, these various entities (businesses, tourist attractions, government buildings, parking lots, transportation terminals, parks and other gathering spaces, etc.) will be collectively referred to as "businesses." Fig. 3 is a map of a representative portion of Boston. The numbered circles indicate a small sample of different businesses that have different lighting

requirements. In particular:

1 is the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall. The working hours of the mall varies depending on the day of the week as well as other events (e.g., extended hours for holiday weekends and Christmas shopping; reduced hours for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas day; etc.).

2 is a subway station. Accordingly, the street lighting should be at full power during the night hours when trains are arriving and leaving the station. These train schedules vary depending on weekday, weekend and holidays, as well as for other events. For instance, trains have a longer schedule when the local baseball team, the Red Sox, has a home game.

3 is the Museum of Science. This museum is heavily visited by children's school trips during the school year as well as by tourists during summer, holidays or various other times when schools are not in session. Accordingly, the lighting requirement in the region will be very different during certain times of the year.

In one embodiment, the current invention first acquires information and develops a database as to businesses in a target area of the city (in additional embodiments of the invention, the target area is the entire city). This database includes:

- Location of businesses

Hours of operations for that day

Any other event happening in the target area (e.g., graduation ceremony, sports event, concert, etc.) that imposes additional requirements on the lighting requirements.

Once, this database is obtained, the next step is to identify the street lights within a selected distance from those businesses, and to develop lighting schedules for those lights. For instance, if there are any business that are open until 2 AM, then lights in that neighborhood will be kept at full power until for instance 3 AM ~ not only for consumers, but also for employees.

Fig. 4, depicting the same area of Boston as Fig. 3, illustrates an exemplary lighting strategy based on spatial and lighting requirements in which:

Cluster 4 does not have special requirements so the corresponding lights can dimmed to 50 or 70% full power after 10 PM, and turned off after 6 AM.

Clusters 1 ' and 2' have a mall and subway station so they will be kept at full power until midnight, and then can be dimmed to 50% power until 6 AM.

- Cluster 3' is heavily dependent on working hours of museums and they can be dimmed accordingly.

In a further embodiment of the invention wherein a lighting strategy is developed for multiple neighborhoods of a city, the light locations are first clustered into different groups based on the spatial characteristics, and then a lighting strategy for each one is determined. An example will now be discussed with respect to Table 1 below wherein there are M light points and N clusters. Light Point Cluster CI Cluster C2 Cluster CN

Control 100% at 6PM, 75% at 100% at 5PM, 75% at 50% at 6PM, and 0% at Strategy 10PM, 50% at 1AM 9PM, and 0% at 6AM 6AM

and 0% at 6AM

LI V

L2 ✓

LM ✓ ✓

Table 1: Dimming strategy for each light point

In this example, light point LI is in cluster CI and light point L2 is in cluster C2 while light point LM is in clusters C2 and CN. Whenever there is a competition, one can resolve the conflict based on different criteria. For instance, Cluster C2 is related to safety and Cluster CN is related to business. So any cluster related to safety get higher preference. Thus, for example light point LM would follow the control strategy of Cluster C2 and remain at 100% at 6 pm, while other light points in cluster CN that are not co-located in cluster C2 would be at 50% at 6 pm.

Once the schedules are determined, they are transmitted to the local controllers of the light poles and/or to the light poles themselves via the outdoor lighting network.

In the above discussion and throughout this description, the term "light point" is used. It should be noted that in various embodiments of the invention, each such "light point" may in fact be a plurality of outdoor lamps in a specific location.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart depicting an embodiment of the invention. At step 520 a list of local businesses and their working hours is determined. Based on this information, cluster and lighting strategies are developed at step 530. At step 540 one or more cluster indices are determined for each light point. For each such index, there is an associated lighting schedule (as discussed above with respect to Table 1). If a light point is associated with a single index, the corresponding schedule information for the index is transmitted to the light point (step 570). If a light point has multiple indices, a single index is determined based on a conflict resolution algorithm (e.g., safety issues having priority), and that determined index is transmitted to the light point (step 570).

Various embodiments of the invention may incorporate one or more ways to identify light points that are capable of providing the desired light at a given business location. By way of example, several examples are provided below: 1. Automated clustering: In this method, a Euclidean distance algorithm is used wherein any light point in a radius, r, around the business (B) could be invoked for implementing a lighting strategy for B.

2. Location based clustering: In this method, each light has stored metadata about its location (i.e., name of the street, park, ... etc.). With such detailed information, a user can request lighting requirements for a given park or street. As used herein the term "user" encompasses individual business owners, government entities, and even residents of the effected location. The following examples are provided:

a. Setting up lighting for a given landmark:

i. User request that lights for Boston Common (example of a park in Boston) should be ON till 2 AM for Thanksgiving

ii. A local search of the database will select all the light points that are located in Boston Commons, and set the lighting strategy.

b. Setting up lights for a given street

i. User can request that lights on a given street be kept on due to a bad pothole/Halloween, etc.

ii. A local search of the database will extract all the light points on that street and will be kept on accordingly.

A simple alteration of the strategy may be that a user can request lighting x meters on the street around his/her establishment.

3. User in the loop selection: This method contemplates a web-framework wherein the user can select all or parts of the lights that affect their business. For instance, if nighttime commuters have to walk across two or three street segments to reach a parking garage from a train station, the requested route can be designated on a map and submitted to the OLN administrator (item 8 of Fig. 1). Such a request can be submitted electronically (e.g. via email or through one of the systems business input terminals (item 9)). The appropriate light points can then be selected, and the resulting lighting strategy could be deployed.

In various embodiments of the invention, the system could respond to such lighting requests being made by a user obtaining a map of the area to be lit, marking it to show the route involved, and supplying the annotated map to the OLN administrator (either directly or through a government agency such as the local department of public utilities).

Such requests can be made by electronic or by conventional mail. In a preferred embodiment, the system could provide interactive maps available over the Internet that permit processing of user requests to be further automated. In further embodiments of the invention, adequate safeguards would be employed to ensure that any user making a request is properly identified and has the authority to do so. Thus a malfeasor could not adversely modify the lighting of his business competitor or provide brilliant street lighting in the middle of the night as part of an ongoing fight with a neighbor.

In still further embodiments, the system would include a self- learning/feedback block wherein other user feedback could be included in a strategy for lighting deployment. For instance, if a sole pizza shop in a neighborhood has requested that lights be kept on later in the night, this might affect the local residents. Then based upon feedback from such residents, the system can either manually or automatically adjust the lighting strategy to reach an equilibrium that attempts to satisfy all involved parties.

While the invention as discussed above pertains to businesses and their lighting requirements, the invention is not so limited. By way of example, additional embodiments of the invention relate to controlling lighting based upon neighborhood statistics such as demographics or crime statistics. Thus, a neighborhood with an older population may require more light in the early evenings when they come out for walks or to have earlier dinners, and not much lighting after 10 pm when such seniors are then at home. Similarly, in areas where there are college students, lighting may be extended into later hours in accordance with these students' life styles. Areas with higher crime rates may well require longer lighting and at higher light intensity to hopefully discourage crime and/or aid in identification of perpetrators.

Most cities and state government have much of such information easily available which can exploited to generate heterogeneous lighting plans for the city as opposed to homogeneous lighting plans that are put in place currently. Embodiments of the invention also permit input by authorized personnel (e.g., city government managers, community organizers, university personnel) via linking their own data base or via a terminal (items 6 and 9, respectively of Fig. 1).

A further embodiment of the invention gathers information as to the density of people in a region relative to time of day to determine lighting needs. Such density information may be derived from Cell Data Records (CDR) or from data derived from cameras or sensors co-located with lighting fixtures (e.g., motion detectors, video cameras) as described in co-pending application WO2014/147524A1 entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Information Management and Control of Outdoor Lighting Networks." Such data permits lighting patterns to be adjusted depending on events currently happening in the area. Such events may include an unscheduled concert, protest demonstration, or even mob violence.

While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/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 inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. 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, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

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

In that regard, it is to be understood the term "optimize" as used herein is the act of seeking a goal of an optimal value. That is, the term is not meant to mean that a true optimal value exists and the invention discovers it. Rather, the invention derives a value that is better than other values for the evaluated parameters. The term "minimize" is used herein in a similar manner.

The indefinite articles "a" and "an," as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean "at least one."

The phrase "and/or," as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean "either or both" of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with "and/or" should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., "one or more" of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the "and/or" clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to "A and/or B", when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as "comprising" can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

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" shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as "only one of or "exactly one of," or, when used in the claims, "consisting of," will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term "or" as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. "one or the other but not both") when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as "either," "one of," "only one of," or "exactly one of." "Consisting essentially of," when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase "at least one," in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase "at least one" refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, "at least one of A and B" (or, equivalently, "at least one of A or B," or, equivalently "at least one of A and/or B") can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as "comprising," "including," "carrying," "having," "containing," "involving," "holding," "composed of," and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases "consisting of and "consisting essentially of shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Method of controlling an outdoor lighting system, the outdoor lighting system comprising outdoor lamps which are distributed over spatial segments of an outdoor space, the emitted light intensity of the outdoor lamps being controllable for each spatial segment, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving business information for the spatial segments in the outdoor space including user input, wherein the business information includes at least a location, nature of the businesses hours of operation, and special events;

generating a database of businesses in the spatial segments; determining lighting requirements for at least some of the businesses using at least a portion of the business information; developing a lighting schedule for the spatial segments in the outdoor space in response to said lighting requirements and a modified light schedule based on a special event in a respective spatial segment;

controlling the one or more outdoor lamps in a spatial segment in accordance with the developed light schedule or modified light schedule.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the lighting schedule comprises light intensity levels and time of day operating hours.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising developing clusters of spatial segments having similar spatial characteristics and lighting schedule requirements.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said developing a lighting schedule step comprises assigning a lighting schedule to outdoor lamps based at least in part upon their presence in one or more clusters.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein when an outdoor lamp is determined to be in only one cluster, assigning to it the lighting schedule for that cluster.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein when an outdoor lamp is determined to be in a plurality of clusters, assigning to it the lighting schedule for one of the clusters based at least partly upon a conflict resolution algorithm.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the conflict resolution algorithm comprises assigning a higher priority in the selection process to a cluster whose lighting schedule relates to safety concerns.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of processing a user request for modification of one or more of the assigned light schedules.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said user request comprises submission of an annotated map of the area to be affected by the modified lighting schedule.

10. A system for controlling an outdoor lighting system, the outdoor lighting system comprising outdoor lamps which are distributed over spatial segments of an outdoor space, the emitted light intensity of the outdoor lamps being controllable for each spatial segment, the system comprising:

a processor configured to receive business information for the spatial segments in the outdoor space including user input, wherein the business information includes at least a location, nature of the businesses hours of operation, and special events

a memory to store a database of businesses in the spatial segments; and wherein the processor is further configured to determine lighting requirements for at least some of the businesses using at least a portion of the business information, develop a lighting schedule for the spatial segments in the outdoor space in response to said lighting requirements and a modified light schedule based on a special event in a respective spatial segment; and,

- controlling the one or more outdoor lamps in a spatial segment accordance with the developed schedule or modified light schedule.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the database of businesses comprises the locations and natures of the businesses and their hours of operation.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured for:

developing clusters of spatial segments having similar spatial characteristics and lighting schedule requirements; and,

assigning a lighting schedule to outdoor lamps based at least in part upon their presence in one or more clusters.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein when an outdoor lamp is determined to be in a plurality of clusters, assigning to it the lighting schedule for one of the clusters based at least partly upon a conflict resolution algorithm.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured for processing a user request for modifying one or more of the assigned light schedules.