Patent Grant
9655189
Not Applicable
In some embodiments, the present invention is generally directed to light emitting diodes (LEDs) and applications thereof. In particular, some embodiments of the present invention are directed to using LEDs and power line communication technology to provide internet access and communication capability to residential and commercial clientele.
Light sources used for communication are extremely secure due to the fact that they are focused within a narrow beam, requiring placement of equipment within the beam itself for interception. Also, because the visible spectrum is not regulated by the FCC, light sources can be used for communications purposes without the need of a license. Light sources are also not susceptible to interference nor do they produce noise that can interfere with other devices.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) may be used as light sources for data transmission, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,879,263 and 7,046,160, the entire contents of each being expressly incorporated herein by reference. LED technology provides a practical opportunity to combine lighting and communication. This combination of lighting and communication allows ubiquitous light sources such as street lights, home lighting, and office building lighting, for example, to be converted to, or supplemented with, LED technology to provide for communications while simultaneously producing light for illumination purposes.
Regarding office buildings, building management is a complex science which incorporates and governs all facets of human, mechanical and structural systems associated with buildings. As a result of the complexity, most commercial buildings are managed by commercial property management companies with great expertise. Both at the time of construction and throughout the life-cycle of a building, the interrelationships between people and the mechanical and structural systems are most desirably evaluated.
One very important area associated with building management is lighting or illumination. While often perceived as a simple task of providing lights, this seemingly simple task has much research and science behind a well-designed lighting system. This is because safety, productivity and general well-being of occupants depend heavily on proper lighting.
Many factors need to be considered at the time of construction or remodeling to facilitate proper lighting design. Intended usage of a space is important in illumination design considerations, since this will dictate necessary illumination levels, times and duration of use, and anticipated cycling of the illumination. The use of appropriate switches helps to reduce the energy required for a building to function with occupants, and simultaneously increases the life of many illumination components, such as light sources (light bulbs and equivalents thereto) since the light sources are only required intermittently.
Nearly all public buildings rely on a great many lamps positioned throughout the interior of the building, such as along hall corridors and in each room, and also about the exterior. These lights have historically been activated manually.
Another very important consideration associated with building management is energy management. The concern for energy management is driven by the expense associated with energy consumed over the life of a building. Energy management is quite challenging to design into a building, because many human variables come into play within different areas within a building structure. Different occupants will have different preferences and habits. Some occupants may regularly forget to turn off lights when a space is no longer being occupied, thereby wasting electricity and diminishing the useful life of the light bulbs. In another instance, one occupant may require full illumination for that occupant to operate efficiently or safely within a space, while a second occupant might only require a small amount or local area of illumination. Further complicating the matter of energy management is the fact that many commercial establishments may have rates based upon peak usage. A business with a large number of lights that are controlled with a common switch may have peak demands which are large relative as compared to total consumption of power, simply due to the relatively large amount of power that will rush into the circuit. Breaking the circuit into several switches may not adequately address inrush current, since a user may switch more than one switch at a time, such as by sliding a hand across several switches at once. Additionally, during momentary or short-term power outages, the start-up of electrical devices by the power company is known to cause many problems, sometimes harming either customer equipment or power company devices. Control over inrush current is therefore very desirable, and not economically viable in the prior art.
Energy management also includes consideration for differences in temperature preferred by different occupants or for different activities. For exemplary purposes, an occupant of a first office space within a building may prefer a temperature close to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, while a different occupant in a second office space may prefer a temperature close to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The first and second office spaces may even be the same office space, just at different times of day. For exemplary purposes, an employee working in a mail room from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. may be replaced by a different mail room employee who works from 4 p.m. until 12 a.m. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) demand or need is dependent not only upon the desired temperature for a particular occupant, but also upon the number of occupants within a relatively limited space
With careful facility design, considerable electrical and thermal energy can be saved. Proper management of electrical resources affects every industry, including both tenants and building owners. In many instances facility design has been limited to selection of very simple or basic switches, and thermostats, and particular lights, all fixed at the time of design, construction or installation.
Yet another very important area associated with building management is guidance control and indication, which impacts building security, as well as building convenience and efficiency for occupants. In buildings having many alternative hallways or paths, such as are commonly found in hospitals and other large public facilities, directions are often clumsy and difficult for visitors or emergency personnel to follow. Old-fashioned directories may be hard to locate or decipher, especially for speakers of a foreign language or for persons with little or no time, again such as emergency personnel. Consequently, some buildings provide color stripes along walls that serve as color coding to guide visitors to various areas within the building. Unfortunately, the number of color stripes that may be patterned is quite limited, and the expense and defacing of appearance associated therewith is undesirable. Furthermore, such striping does not completely alleviate confusion, and the color stripes can only serve as general guides to commonly visited areas.
Modern communications systems interconnect various electrical, electro-mechanical, or electrically controlled apparatuses. These connections may be referred to as connections between client devices and host devices. For the purposes of the present disclosure, host devices are simply parts of the network that serve to host or enable communications between various client devices. Generally speaking, host devices are apparatuses that are dedicated to providing or enabling communications. Peer-to-peer networks exist wherein, at any given moment, a device may be either client or host. In such a network, when the device is providing data, information or services, it may be referred to as the host, and when the same device is requesting information, it may be referred to as the client.
The host may provide connection to a Local Area Network (LAN), sometimes referred to as an Intranet, owing to the common use of such a network entirely within an office space, building, or business. The host may additionally or alternatively provide connection to a Wide Area Network (WAN), commonly describing a network coupling between widely separated physical locations which are connected together through any suitable connection, including for exemplary purposes but not solely limited thereto such means as fiber optic links, T1 lines, Radio Frequency (RF) links including cellular telecommunications links, satellite connections, DSL connections, or even Internet connections. Generally, where more public means such as the Internet are used, secured access will commonly separate the WAN from general Internet traffic. The host may further provide access to the Internet. Exemplary host apparatuses include modems, routers, switches, or other devices that may enable or secure communications with clients.
Client devices may commonly include computing devices of all sorts, ranging from hand-held devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to massive mainframe computers, and including Personal Computers (PCs). However, over time many more devices have been enabled for connection to network hosts, including for exemplary purposes printers, network storage devices, cameras, other security and safety devices, appliances, HVAC systems, manufacturing machinery, and so forth. Essentially, any device which incorporates or can be made to incorporate sufficient electronic circuitry may be so linked as a client to a host.
Most current communications systems rely upon wires and/or radio waves to link clients and hosts. Existing client devices are frequently designed to connect to host network access points through wired connections, fiber optic connections, or as wireless connections, such as wireless routers or wireless access points.
In the case of wireless routers a radio signal replaces the physical communications channel between clients and hosts with a radio channel. This advantageously eliminates the wire tether between client and host. Instead, client devices in a wireless system try through various broadcasts and signal receptions to find an access point that will have adequate transmission and reception, generally within a certain signal range which may range from a few meters to as many as several tens of meters. Depending upon the communications channel, a variety of client connection devices are utilized such as PCMCIA or PC cards, serial ports, parallel ports, SIMM cards, USB connectors, Ethernet cards or connectors, firewire interfaces, Bluetooth compatible devices, infrared/IrDA devices, and other known or similar components. The security of these prior art wireless devices can be compromised in that they are vulnerable to unauthorized access or interception, and the interception may be from a significant distance, extending often well beyond physical building and property boundaries.
More buildings are incorporating wireless networks where the networks are intended to reduce the need for wiring alterations and additions practiced heretofore. However, these wireless networks are not contained within the walls of a building, and so they are subject to a number of limitations. One of these is the lack of specific localization of a signal and device. For exemplary purposes, even a weak Radio-Frequency (RF) transceiver, in order to communicate reliably with all devices within a room, will have a signal pattern that will undoubtedly cross into adjacent rooms. If only one room or space in a building is to be covered, this signal overlap is without consequence. However, when many rooms are to be covered by different transceivers, signal overlap between transceivers requires more complex communications systems, including incorporating techniques such as access control and device selection based upon identification. Since the radio signal is invisible, detection of radiant pattern and signal strength are difficult and require special instruments. Further, detection of interference is quite difficult. Finally, such systems are subject to outside tapping and corruption, since containment of the signal is practically impossible for most buildings.
In addition to data communications, buildings and other spaces may also have a number of additional important needs including, for exemplary purposes though not limited thereto, illumination, fire and smoke detection, temperature control, and public address. With regard to illumination, buildings and other spaces are designed with a particular number and placement of particular types of light bulbs. Most designers incorporate incandescent or fluorescent bulbs to provide a desirable illumination within a space. The number and placement of these bulbs is most commonly based upon the intended use of the space.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. §1.56(a) exists.
All U.S. patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention, a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below. A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. §1.72.
A plurality of light supports or solitary light sources may be electrically coupled in either a parallel or series manner to a controller. The controller is also preferably in electrical communication with the power supply and the LED's, to regulate or modulate the light intensity for the LED light sources. The individual LED's and/or arrays of LED's may be used for transmission of communication packets formed of light signals.
The controller for the LED light support may generate and/or recognize pulsed light signals used to communicate information. The LED light system may also include a receptor coupled to the controller, where the receptor is constructed and arranged for receipt of pulsed LED light signals for conversion to digital information, and for transfer of the digital information to the controller for analysis and interpretation. The controller may then issue a light signal or other communication signal to communicate the content of received information transmitted via a pulsed LED light carrier.
According to the invention, there is provided an illumination apparatus that is capable of illuminating a space and simultaneously capable of communicating through visible light directly with a number of adjunct devices. In addition to human communications, communications with adjunct devices may effect various convenience, security, energy management and related functions. The illumination apparatus further enables control over intensity, color temperature, and even color without requiring any physical change of the illumination apparatus.
Visible Light Embedded Communication, or VLEC, as taught herein is a secure last mile solution to many diverse communications needs. Last mile refers to the final portion of any communications system, and it is commonly known that the last mile normally demands the vast majority of expense and difficulty in establishing and maintaining a system. Light Emitting Diodes, or LEDs, provide with other apparatus a communications channel while simultaneously affording flexible illumination within a space or building. Using LEDs to provide visible lighting and to embed communications therein enables the present invention to improve security and provide higher capacity as compared to lighting systems as known. The LED link is untethered and enables a communication link with nomadic devices. The link is untethered in that the user is independent of any one host, and may get the same information at other optical hosts.
In a Broadband Power Line BPL system, data is carried as a signal through existing mediums like fiber-optic cable, radio waves, conventional telephone lines, or through the present invention Visible Light Embedded Communications (VLEC) around high-voltage lines. It is then injected into the power grid downstream, onto medium or low voltage wires to businesses and homes. Through advanced electronic equipment, the signal makes its way to Industrial parks and neighborhoods. Customers may then gain access via a VLEC source and ferry the data back and forth to their computers through a Client VLEC Dongle, key, or other appropriate adapter.
A VLEC system designed in accord with the teachings of the present invention may interface with new or existing building internal electrical wiring. By positioning architectural lighting fixtures that dual as VLEC and/or server optical transceiver (XCVR) transceivers, a building space may be efficiently illuminated while accomplishing high-speed secure wireless data communication. In some embodiments, a VLEC and an XCVR may be used interchangeably. The LEDs that are incorporated into VLEC transceivers are environmentally friendly and relatively insensitive to atmospheric conditions. LEDs can be configured as directional lights by providing or incorporating various lenses or reflectors, or may alternatively be configured as omni-directional lights for room lighting purposes. The room lighting colors of a VLEC device may be made to mimic traditional lighting of today, including intensity, color, and color temperature. A VLEC system has the added benefit of communicating by pulsing the LEDs in such a way as to communicate data at nearly the same rate or capacity, or faster rate or capacity, as compared to modern fiber optic channels.
Embodiments designed in accord with the teachings of the present invention may fully integrate into existing networks and infrastructures presently in use. Security and access levels may be controlled on the back end of the network by employing known equipment such as a firewalls, routers and hubs. Embodiments of the present invention are meant to improve and compliment communication areas that fall short in today's existing infrastructure, from full duplex communications of voice to ultra high speed broadband packet data transfers for full motion video, on highly reliable, scalable, stable and fully redundant infrastructures. Most deployments are easily started by taking advantage of existing infrastructures and applying low cost fill-in or gap solutions. Many modulations schemes available today, such as CDMA, OFDM, TDM, PWM, PPM, PDM, AM, BPSK and specific layers of QAM, to name a few, may be used in conjunction with the present invention. Access BPL and In-house BPL capacity, including both governmentally licensed and unlicensed BPL/PLC apparatus and methods, may augment the present invention in a quest for a complete system design. Low-power, unlicensed BPL/PLC systems may be used to provide high speed digital communications capabilities by coupling RF energy onto the power lines inside a building. In addition, higher speeds than available from existing Access BPL technology may be obtained in the preferred embodiments by encasing the electrical wire in conduit, thereby implementing Shielded BPL (S-BPL) in accord with the present teachings. S-BPL as taught herein prevents or further reduces unwanted Electro-Magnetic Interference or Radio Frequency Interference (EMI/RFI) and thereby may provide higher data speeds for a variety of applications using VLEC embodiments.
In at least one embodiment, the present invention includes the use of visible light as the communications channel between client and host, which offers security, reliability, system testing and configuration, bandwidth, infrastructure, and mobility, among other things. Yet another advantage of the present invention improves security, because light does not go through walls, in contrast to radio communications, and steps can be taken to obstruct visible transmissions with a much greater certainty than with high frequency radio waves.
In some embodiments, the invention enables individual or selected groups of LED lights to be selectively configured for optimal physiological and psychological effects and benefits for one or more applications. LEDs may be readily reconfigured without changes to physical structures for diverse applications having different requirements for optimal physiological and/or psychological effects and benefits.
In some embodiments, the present invention has the capacity to provide low power communications for energy management, emergency back-up, security and special applications utilizing alternative power sources such as batteries or solar cells.
In at least one embodiment, the present invention reduces peak inrush current by controlling the timing of illumination and other equipment start-up.
In some embodiments, the present invention also has sufficient communications bandwidth to incorporate smart video integration. The present invention also has the ability to provide embedded communications through visible light, whether or not the visible light is at an intensity great enough for sufficient duration to be detected by the human eye.
These and other embodiments which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for further understanding of the invention, its advantages and objectives obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof and the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described embodiments of the invention.
While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein specific alternative embodiments of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated. For the purposes of this disclosure, like reference numerals in the figures shall refer to like features unless otherwise indicated.
In each of the embodiments discussed below, the LEDs may be formed of the same or different colors. The controller may be configured to select the color of the LEDs to be illuminated forming the light signal.
In at least one embodiment, the XCVR circuit may include an RS232 to USB conversion module. The transmit pin on the USB conversion module drives the driver electronics for the LEDs. In some embodiments, the XCVR circuit includes high intensity LEDs. In some embodiments it may be desirable to use high intensity LEDs to enhance lighting, to improve data transmission, or both. In at least one embodiment, a 12 volt DC, 3 amp power supply is sufficient for powering an array of high intensity LEDs.
In some embodiments, the XCVR circuit further includes an amplifier for amplifying the optical signal received by the photodiode. The output of the amplifier may be fed into level shifting circuitry to raise the signal to TTL levels, for example. The signal is then fed into the receive pin of the RS232 to USB module.
In some embodiments, a 9V battery may be used to power the amplifier circuitry. Significant noise is generated by switching high brightness LEDs on and off at 200 mA and 500 kbps, for example. Powering the amplifier with a battery may reduce these noise problems by reducing or removing transients.
It should be noted that in some embodiments, the LED can both emit and receive light. In such an embodiment, the LED can act both as a transmitter or receiver. More information on such bi-directional LEDs can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,587, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
In at least one embodiment, the optical XCVRs, or circuitry attached thereto, include modulation circuitry for modulating a carrier signal with the optical signal. Modulation can be used to eliminate bias conditions caused by sunlight or other interfering light sources. Digital modulation can be accomplished by using phase-shift keying, amplitude-shift keying, frequency-shift keying, quadrature modulation, data compression, data decompression, up converting, down converting, coding, interleaving, pulse shaping or any other digital modulation communication and/or signal processing techniques known by those of ordinary skill. Similarly, such XCVRs can include demodulation circuitry that extracts the data from the received signal. Modulation and demodulation techniques for modulating light signals are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,732,310, 5,245,681, and 6,137,613, the entire contents of each being expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Additional information regarding data communication can be found in International Publication Number WO 99/49435, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
In some embodiments, the use of XCVRs as light sources can reduce energy consumption and simplify communications by reducing the filtering or modulation complexities necessary to distinguish data signals from extraneous lighting sources.
In some embodiments, controlling of the relative power applied to each one of the red, green, blue LEDs, enables different colors of light to be produced. This concept is well-known as the RGB model, and is used today in nearly all video displays. Color televisions and computer monitors, for example, incorporate very small red, green and blue (RGB) dots adjacent to each other. To produce white regions on the screen, all three RGB dots are illuminated. Black dots are the result of none of the RGB dots being illuminated. Other colors are produced by illuminating one or more of the dots at different relative levels, or alternatively controlling how many closely adjacent dots of one primary color are fully illuminated relatively to the other two primary colors.
Through the use of RGB LEDs, color temperature of an LED light panel or LED light fixture may be adjusted or controlled, and may be varied in real time without making any hardware or apparatus changes. Instead, power applied to the RGB LEDs is adjusted to favor one or another of the RGB LEDs. Since the light emitted from the RGB LEDs is approximately full-spectrum light, the color-rendering index may also be relatively high, particularly when compared to mercury or sodium vapor lamps, making the light feel very natural.
A variety of physical and electrical configurations are contemplated herein for LED light source 161. As illustrated in
In this case, line voltage, such as 120V AC at 60 Hertz in the United States, may pass through the electrical connector pins. LED base 2050, in such case, may be designed to insert directly into a standard fluorescent socket, such as, for exemplary purposes only and not limited thereto, the standard T8 and T12 sockets used in the United States. In such case, either RGB LEDs 2100-2140 are arranged and wired to directly operate from line voltage, or appropriate electronics will need to be provided directly in LED base 2050 to provide necessary power conversion. In yet another conceived alternative embodiment, power conversion may be provided through switching-type or other power conversion circuitry to alleviate the need for any rewiring, though in these instances the power conversion circuitry will need to accommodate the particular type of ballast already in place.
For LED light source 161 to replace an existing bulb, regardless of type, and benefit from the many features enabled in the preferred embodiment, communications circuitry must also be provided. This communications circuitry is necessary to properly illuminate each of the red, green and blue LEDs to desired color, to transport data through a optical communication channel.
In accord with at least one embodiment of the invention, LEDs are used to transmit through an optical communication channel several kinds of data, including identity, location, audio and video information. The use of an optical communication link provides large available bandwidth, which in turn permits multiple feeds of personal communication between LED light sources and dongles or keys similar to or in excess of that of cell phones. The optical data is transferred at rates far in excess of those detectable by the human eye, and so a person is not able to detect any visible changes as the data is being transferred. Additionally, because optical illumination is constrained by opaque objects such as walls, the location of an access dongle or key and associated person can be restricted to a particular room, hallway or other similar space.
In the past, prior art GPS systems and cell phone triangulation techniques are typically only accurate to one or several hundred feet. Horizontally, this prior art precision is adequate for many applications. However, vertically several hundred feet could encompass twenty floors in an office or apartment building. In some embodiments, an optical transceiver is capable of precision to a room or room light fixture, for improved location identification than otherwise previously available.
It is anticipated that each transmission of a communication pulsed light signal will include a code representative of the originating XCVR. Optionally additional intermediate XCVRs may add a communication pulsed light signal code.
In one embodiment, the computer may initiate an inquiry to locate the identification code corresponding to an optical XCVR. In this embodiment, the computer 22 would transmit a signal outwardly through the optically connected XCVRs to request identification of a particular XCVR identification code. In one embodiment the inquiry may be global, or may be limited to specific periods of time or other specific conditions such as location. In one embodiment each individual XCVR upon receipt of the command inquiry may forward by pulsed light signals the identification codes of all XCVRs within a particular location, because identity codes are being continuously transmitted by each optical XCVR.
Since location may be relatively precisely discerned, optical transmitter or LEDs 2100-2140 may in one embodiment be configured to change color, flash, or otherwise be visually changed or manipulated to assist with directional guidance, personnel or intruder identification, energy management, or to facilitate the meeting and connection of individuals. To achieve these objectives, a building needs to be wired only for lights, saving a huge infrastructure of other wires and fixtures.
Some embodiments of an LED XCVR light fixture may include any or all of the following devices: a microphone 172, a speaker 174, a rechargeable battery 176, and a video camera or camera 178, as shown in the simplified block diagram of
Furthermore, the optical XCVR may include non-volatile memory (FLASHRAM, EEPROM, and EPROM, for example) that may store firmware for the optical XCVR, as well as text information, audio signals, video signals, contact information for other users, etc., as is common with current cell phones. In some alternative embodiments, a hard-drive may be used instead of these semiconductor-based memory devices.
The optical XCVR may include one or more photodetectors 126 for receiving transmitted LED or other light signals, and one or more LEDs 124 for transmitting LED signals, as shown in
In some embodiments, an optical XCVR may include circuitry that performs modulation, demodulation, data compression, data decompression, up converting, down converting, coding, interleaving, pulse shaping, and other communication and signal processing techniques, as are known by those of ordinary skill in the art.
In at least one embodiment, each and every optical XCVR is embedded with a unique code, similar in principle to the MAC address of a computer, for example. The optical XCVR broadcasts the unique code at regular intervals, at irregular intervals or with each transmitted data packet if desired. Optical XCVRs located within the user's building and near the user may then receive the unique code transmitted by another optical XCVR or dongle or key device.
There are numerous applications of such a design. For example, in some embodiments, an optical XCVR may be engaged to a door lock. When a user with an optical XCVR name tag approaches a locked door, the name tag may broadcast the unique code, and an optical XCVR in communication with the door lock may receive the code, and if acceptable, unlock or open the door. A table of acceptable codes may be stored in a memory device that is in communication with, and accessible by, the door's optical XCVR. Alternatively, the door's optical XCVR may transmit a code to a central station which compares the user's code against a table of approved codes and then sends a response either allowing or denying access.
Building management in accord with another embodiment of the invention further includes automated secured access control to apparatus such as doors, drawers, electronic computer operations, thermostats, and any other devices that may be electronically controlled. By means of LED communication, the location of unauthorized devices as well as persons can be tracked or polled by the system. Doors, either locked or unlocked, can be manipulated in response to the location or movement of these devices or persons.
As seen in
In at least one embodiment, the optical XCVR name tag may be used in conjunction with the LED lighting in hallways, rooms, etc. to reduce energy consumption, as shown in
The lights shown in
When person 190 has traveled farther, lights 509-511 may be extinguished, in effect providing a moving “bubble” of illumination surrounding person. Other lights are automatically shut-off or dimmed as desired and controlled by program. As
The present invention reduces the extent of human interaction required to control various functions such as light switches and thermostats, while simultaneously increasing the capabilities of such controls. Individual or selected groups of lights may be selectively configured for optimal physiological and psychological effects and benefits for one or more applications, and then may be readily reconfigured without changes to physical structures for diverse applications having different requirements.
Such embodiments are an improvement over conventional motion detectors, due to the “smart” nature of the optical XCVRs. Rather than waiting for a time delay as is the case with motion detectors, the optical XCVRs (and in some embodiments the optical XCVRs in conjunction with software) in the LED XCVR lighting fixture recognize immediately that the person has moved beyond a particular light, allowing that particular light to be dimmed or turned off. Also, this smart technology may be used to turn lights on only for people with the correct code embedded in an optical XCVR name tag. In such an embodiment, the user can walk into a restricted area, and if not authorized to be there, the lights would remain off, and if authorized the lights would turn on. Alternatively, a teacher with an optical XCVR name tag grading papers in a classroom, for example, may use the name tag to turn only the lighting near the teacher's desk at full brightness, while other lighting in the room remains at a dimmer, more energy efficient, setting.
Energy management is not solely limited to total power consumption. Peak inrush current is also an important factor monitored by many utility companies. This is the peak power draw of the power customer, for exemplary purposes within each twenty-four hour period. By controlling the timing of illumination and other equipment start-up, electrical draw may be gradually ramped up. Many devices initially draw more power at start-up than when operational. So, since each light is individually addressed and controlled, and appliances or machines may similarly be controlled, the communications afforded by the present invention permit much smaller banks of devices to be started, allowing those devices to surge and then settle to lower energy requirements before starting the next bank of devices. Some devices and machines very quickly drop down to lower power draw. LED light sources are such a device. Banks of these LED light sources may very quickly and sequentially be started. Other devices, such as electrical compressors found in heat pumps, refrigeration and air conditioning units, may require much more time for start-up, before additional devices should be started. Likewise, the particular order of start-up may be optimized for the various electrical loads found within a building. All of this is readily accomplished through simple programming and communication through preferred LED light sources or equivalents thereto.
In other embodiments of the invention, numbers of occupants within a space may be used not only for anticipating illumination, but also to control operation of other appliances and machinery within the building. Exemplary of this, but not limited thereto, are water and space heaters and coolers, and all other electrical or electrically controllable devices.
Because this energy management system requires far fewer human monitors, it provides additional cost saving. A guard would be needed primarily to respond if an alarm were present without having to identify several situations. A guard might be stationed only near a metal detector, for example, without having to monitor other stations. In addition, a more accurate inventory of persons, other assets, or substances in a building becomes possible. An important safety feature, however, is the greater reliability of electronics over personal vigilance.
The present invention also has the capacity to provide low power communications for energy management, emergency back-up, security and special applications utilizing alternative power sources such as batteries or solar cells. Since each individual LED light source may be separately controlled, unnecessary lights may be extinguished in an emergency. Remaining lights may be used to signal emergency routes which may be emergency exits, predetermined shelter such as in the event of a tornado, safe locations potentially determined in real time in the event of an intruder or other hazard. The remaining lights may also or alternatively be used to maintain nominal communications channels within the building. The signals in such instance may be unable to be carried through power lines, and so may alternatively be implemented through a repeater function from one light to the next to travel entirely through a chain of LED optical XCVR light sources.
In accordance with another alternative embodiment of the present invention, building lighting may be modulated with time and date stamps or the like. Video recordings made within the space of modulated illumination will have an optical watermark automatically embedded therein. The embedding of such identifiable signals ensures the integrity of video recordings made under these lights.
If audio and/or video is additionally enabled, either through optical XCVR communications badges or separate optical XCVR wall-mounted devices, the video can be used to capture the last-known conditions of a user or an area.
A network of LED optical transceivers may also be in communication with an intelligent audio/visual observation and identification database system which may be coupled to sensors as disposed about a building. The intelligent system may then build a database with respect to temperature sensors within specific locations, pressure sensors, motion detectors, optical XCVR communications badges, phone number identifiers, sound transducers, and/or smoke or fire detectors. Recorded data as received from various sensors may be used to build a database for normal parameters and environmental conditions for specific zones of a structure for individual periods of time and dates. A computer may continuously receive readings/data from remote sensors for comparison to the pre-stored or learned data to adjust building systems.
In some embodiments, an intelligent observation and identification database system may be arranged to learn the expected times for arrival and departure of individuals and vehicles from various zones. Each time an individual or vehicle enters or exits a zone, the system may record in the database the time and location of the arrival or exit. The further enhanced building management and energy savings by regulating building systems according to learned conditions.
Over time, the system may learn typical paths, times and zones where individuals spend their time. Thus, the intelligent audio/visual observation and identification database system may be coupled to the operational systems for a building, such as locking systems for doors, lighting systems, air conditioning systems, and/or heating systems.
In one embodiment each evolving database and/or mainframe database may be capable of being continuously updated to include data saved by the communication system. Software is preferably loaded onto the computer for creation of files representative of individuals. Access software may be used to communicate with internal databases or external or remote databases, and comparison software may be used to review data as related to the external and/or internal databases.
In one embodiment the evolving database and/or mainframe database may be coupled to additional identification apparatus or systems including but not limited to facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, palm print recognition, voice print recognition, eye scan, and/or signature recognition devices/systems which may be coupled to the input devices for recording of data to be stored within the system for analysis and display of a monitor.
In one embodiment the evolving database and/or mainframe database may include probabilistic analysis software which may be used to assist in the establishment of threshold levels for issuing a warning or investigation signal. In addition the evolving database and/or mainframe database may include Principle Component Analysis (PCA) software and Eigenvector or Eigenspace decomposition analysis software to assist in the establishment of thresholds.
Over time, in one embodiment the communication system may learn typical paths, times and areas where specific individuals spend their time.
In one embodiment the communication system is preferably proactive and is continuously screening and comparing data being input from the XCVRs for comparison to the previously stored records within the accumulated database.
In those embodiments where audio signaling or communications are enabled, and owing to the exact room position detection afforded by the present invention, location specific access intelligence may also be incorporated. As but one example, if a doctor is in a surgical room, the pager may remain silent. Once the doctor exits surgery, then the pager may be reactivated. This control may be automatic, simply incorporated into the programming of the system. In addition to the foregoing, audio and video communications are possible in accord with light communications in locations and environments where cellular or radio communications may be impossible, forbidden, or unreliable, extending existing communications systems.
As stated above, the LEDs may be bi-directional. In at least one embodiment, the optical XCVR is comprised of bi-directional LEDs. In such an embodiment, the optical XCVR is constructed and arranged such that at least one of the bi-directional LEDs allows parallel transmitting and receiving of light signals.
Within the disclosure provided herein, the term “processor” refers to a processor, controller, microprocessor, microcontroller, mainframe computer or server, or any other device that can execute instructions, perform arithmetic and logic functions, access and write to memory, interface with peripheral devices, etc.
In some embodiments, an optical signal amplifier is in communication with the photodiodes to increase the signal strength of the received light signals. In at least one embodiment, the LEDs are in operative communication with an LED power driver, ensuring a constant current source for the LEDs.
In some embodiments, optical XCVRs may be placed in numerous locations as lighting sources. In some embodiments, an XCVR as integral to a ceiling mounted or other type of light fixture may in turn be in direct communication with a computer, processor, microprocessor, mainframe computer or server, and/or other computing device as earlier described through the use of wire, cable, optically via pulsed light communication, over a Broad Band Power Line system or over any other type of communication system.
In one embodiment a series of XCVRs are in communication with the system processor, mainframe computer or server, through sequential transmission and receipt of pulsed light communication signals. In one embodiment the series of XCVRs are in communication with the system processor, mainframe computer or server, through the Broad Band Over Power Line Communication System. In one embodiment the series of XCVRs are in communication with the system processor, mainframe computer or server through the use of cable, wire, or other communication media.
In one embodiment the communication system including the XCVR may be incorporated into a hand held or portable unit. In other embodiments the communication system may be incorporated into a device such as a cellular telephone.
In at least one embodiment, a Visible Light Embedded Communications (VLEC) apparatus, network, and/or system is disclosed. In one embodiment, a VLEC Light Emitting Diode (LED) light panel 200 is coupled to an electronic device through an optical communications channel 300.
In some embodiments, an optical transmitter and receiver are provided and enable communication over optical communications channel 300. A microphone, loudspeaker, microphone and speaker combination, or dual-purpose device may be provided to integrate an auditory communication channel between an LED light fixture and nearby living beings or other animate or inanimate objects. A video camera may be incorporated to capture video or still pictures.
In at least one embodiment, VLEC light panel 200 includes a plurality of LEDs and optical detectors. One or more optical detectors may be provided, and may either be broad spectrum detectors or alternatively color-filtered or sensitive to only a single color.
In some embodiments, a variety of physical and electrical configurations are contemplated herein for LED light panel 200. Light panel 200 may replace a standard fluorescent tube light fixture. The fixture may then be wired for any suitable or desired voltage, and where a voltage or current different from standard line voltage is used, transformers or power converters or power supplies may be provided.
In some embodiments, more than one client is potentially coupled through a common host 200, and is potentially using the same communications channel as another client. When this occurs multiplexing or network communications techniques may be implemented. Among these, but certainly not limited thereto, are such techniques as static or dynamic assignment of unique communications channels, or Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) of a single channel with appropriate collision resolution.
Communication may further be shared with optically-enabled telephones, TV and music, Internet, public address, computing devices of all sorts, ranging from hand-held devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), to massive mainframe computers 60, and including Personal Computers (PCs) 70, 72, printers 76, network storage devices 65, building maintenance wiring such as thermostats, HVAC systems, fire alarms, motion detectors, and any other electrical or electronic apparatus existing or appearing within the room or space, other security and safety devices, appliances, manufacturing machinery, and so forth. Essentially, any device which incorporates or can be made to incorporate sufficient electronic circuitry may communicate with VLEC host 200 to exchange information at any time. Advantageously, many different conditions or devices may be simultaneously monitored and/or controlled when they are broadcasting information through the preferred network, because they are operating on a wide-bandwidth optical link. This information can be used anywhere on the network, which includes the other rooms or a central server.
In accord with one embodiment of the invention, LEDs are used to transmit through optical communication channel 300 several kinds of data, including identity, location, audio and video information. The use of an optical communications link provides large available bandwidth, which in turn permits multiple feeds of personal communication between LED light panels 200 and badges 100 or other clients in bandwidths similar to or in excess of that of cell phones.
Since location may be relatively precisely discerned, optical transmitter or LEDs may in one embodiment be configured to change color, flash, or otherwise be visually changed or manipulated to assist with directional guidance, personnel identification, energy management, or to facilitate the meeting and connection of individuals.
In accord with the teachings of the present invention, a visible light transceiver can take many shapes and forms while still offering the duality of general lighting and communication. As
The host fixtures 200 may be configured to manage the relationship of client devices associated with this technology. They can also manage peer to peer relationships to provide redundancy or act as part of an infrastructure void of multiple transport medium interconnects. The host 200 may provide intelligent packet analysis whereby false or inadvertent light photons may be discarded. The means of recognition or validation may be provided by multiple checks and verifications. The VLEC host fixtures 200 and clients will each be assigned a unique Machine Access Code and Electronic Serial Number. The Machine Access Codes and Electronic Serial Numbers will be assigned by the certified manufacturer's facility and matched against a unique relationship table residing on various certified servers. The client devices may then move about a LAN, an entire office building, a WAN or other network and achieve maximum throughput rates similar to that of the location they originated. An added benefit of the preferred visible light embedded communications comprised by optical communications channel 300 is that, with increased bandwidth, back end software for synchronizing data on PDAs and other mobile devices may be improved by almost 5 fold over RF applications as the transport mediums, changing the communications channel bottleneck from RF.
Considering
An additional feature unique to the VLEC technology with respect to cellular communications is the optional inclusion of an ultra-fast virtual location register that is integrated into various parts of the network, thereby reducing the latency inherent in today's cellular networks. A faster verification of electronic serial numbers is established in this database, thus improving on the time to re-establish voice or data connections. This ultra-fast virtual location register is part of the Virtual Location Register and Host Location Register will be integral in the voice and data communications.
If the originating call then wishes to establish a VLEC VoIP to VLEC VoIP call, the call would be handled by the IP network as a typical VoIP to VoIP call over the Extranet, Intranet or Internet as performed today. As the caller moves about the office, the IP network will again manage the call against light photon strength and, when conditions are met, hand off the call from one VLEC source to the next. As the call is torn down, the validation including digits dialed, origination source, destination source, port and IP address, type of client device, fixture device used for origination, type of call, duration of the call, charges if applicable for the type of call, circuits used if roaming onto the cellular network may all be stored into a data record similar to the call detail record of a standard telephone call. In regards to a pure data session, the VLEC client device will establish its connection through the VLEC light fixture which may be plugged into the wall and/or installed as a general lighting unit. The connection will be established upon the customary protocols of today, again using layers 1 thru 4 of the OSI Model. Once the connection is made, the client is free to move about within the confines of the designed network area while maintaining required throughput rates.
As home devices utilize this same technology, common replacements of incandescent bulbs with VLEC technology is anticipated, thus providing interaction similar to those applied in business.
The NTIA refers to devices as the following. Section 15.109(a), Class-A equipment includes devices marketed for use in a commercial, industrial or business environment, excluding devices which are marketed for use by the general public or are intended to be used in the home. Class B equipment includes devices marketed for use in a residential environment, notwithstanding use in commercial, business and industrial environments. The rules require Access BPL systems to comply with the limits for Class A or B devices depending on whether they are marketed for use in a commercial, industrial or business environment on the one hand or for use by the general public or in the home on the other. Under this Class A/Class B regime, Access BPL systems that operate on medium voltage lines external to residential environments are considered Class A devices. In one embodiment, a VLEC host 200 will interface with the majority of all medium voltage systems available commercially today. Referring to new lights as hosts 200 and mobile or nomadic devices as clients, VLEC technology can simply replace the last mile connection or interconnection for the clients' use. VLEC host 200 will house intelligence necessary to provide visually barely perceptible pulses of light for use by client devices. Environments and equipment sensitive to RF propagation will find benefit from this technology, as a VLEC host 200 will operate safely, and will not disturb or interfere with RF devices in the area. Certain metallic designs often prevent RF from penetrating, where VLEC can perform with success. By way of the present VLEC technology, the area of information propagated by LEDs may be more accurately confined or focused safely and without harm to the environment or humans.
In accord with one embodiment of the invention shown in
In one embodiment as shown in
While bandwidth may be relatively limited in the case of open wiring interspersed with other wires or adjacent to other sources of EMI/RFI, several additional circumstances may pre-exist or may be provided to boost the bandwidth of a system designed in accord with the present invention. In one embodiment, all or many BPL wires are shielded within a conduit 411 or other suitable shielding, most preferably for the entire distance between BPL interface 401 and each VLEC host such a LED light panels 200. Such shielding results in the preferred S-BPL communications channel, which is anticipated to have higher bandwidth capability than provided with open and unshielded wires.
Relatively recently, artisans have also proposed using so-called E-lines for extremely high bandwidth, low attenuation transmission. Such transmission schemes are, for exemplary purposes, proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,104,107 and 7,009,471, the entire contents of each being expressly incorporated herein by reference. While the present invention is fully operational using known or well-established transmission techniques and resulting bandwidths, and so is completely independent of whether these E-line transmission techniques work and are applicable or not to the present invention, the present invention further contemplates improvements to bandwidth using useful and functional transmission techniques and the incorporation of the same where operationally suitable.
Step one is to power on the device. Step two is when the device must be authenticated and validated by the host look-up tables, which will provide permission levels depending on the requirements. The result of an unauthorized device will activate several processes. One, deactivate the client or host device. The second is to relay real-time location information about the device to the proper authorities.
An S-BPL transceiver 200 may be provided to receive and transmit data from/to the S-BPL enabled electrical circuit. The particular interface implemented may vary. Currently a number of existing interfaces could be used, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), Ethernet, Media Independent Interface (MII), etc, and the particular choice of interface could further depend on the S-BPL transceiver used, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
A Digital Signal Processor or the like 231 is provided for program control that can transmit/receive data to/from BPL communication network 201 through transceiver 200. the Digital Signal Processor in an embodiment may respond to commands received on a network through S-BPL coupling 240 to manipulate enable circuitry 204, and may also issue commands or send data to network 201 if needed. If the transmit portion of enable circuitry 204 is enabled, these commands/data will also be passed to the optical link.
Enable circuitry 204, may in one embodiment be enabled to turn on or off the LED optical transmitter 250, as well as change the characteristics of the light, such as brightness and even color mix when multicolor LEDs are used. The Digital Signal Processor circuitry 231 may also manipulate the ability for BPL or any other medium transport known arts of communication network 201, to send and/or receive data to or from another adjacent optical link. This feature would provide the ability for the VLEC host to act as a client as well.
Driver circuitry 251 and LED(s) 210-214 will pass any signals to any optical link for other devices designed to communicate. Driver circuitry 251 may, in one embodiment, simply be appropriate buffering, isolation, modulation or amplification circuitry which will provide appropriate voltage and power to adequately drive LED emitter 210-214 into producing a visible light transmission. Exemplary of common driver circuits are operational amplifiers (Op-amps), transistor amplifiers and gates and NAND gates, though those skilled in the art of signal conditioning will recognize many of the optional circuits and components which might optionally be used in conjunction with the present invention. Also, it is desirable to use a modulation scheme with the signal so as to provide the intended design of duality as a general lighting fixture. The transmit circuitry may have to provide a means of modulation in this case, also preferably incorporated into driver circuitry 251. The type of modulation will be decided using known considerations at the time of design, selected for exemplary purposes from FM, AM, PPM, PDM, PWM, OFDM, and other derivatives of QAM schemes in the known arts.
Similar to but preferably complementary with the transmission circuitry, receiver circuitry 222 receives data from the optical link detected by photo sensor 220. Receiver circuitry 222 will appropriately amplify, and may further convert a data bearing electrical signal into Binary or Digital pulses. As but one example of such conversion, receiver circuitry 228 may additionally demodulate a data bearing electrical signal, if the data stream has been modulated by an optical host. A suitable sampling circuitry 226 and discriminator 224 will condition the data bearing electrical signal to yield appropriate and pre-determined information as a received data signal. The data bearing electrical signal is then demodulated by 223 and passed onto the DSP circuitry. From here the signal will contain protocol and payload packets that will propagate back onto the BPL Medium infrastructure via known art applications.
In contrast to VLEC pulsing scheme 270, the ultra-low duty-cycle lighting communications pulsing scheme 280 of
Ultra low duty cycle lighting technology can work positively by continuing to provide critical data to networks and people. With the appearance of being turned off, the lighting network can continue to communicate information. A second valuable trait is the very low energy consumption of this technology. This can be useful in a power outage, and so might preferably be implemented in combination with the apparatus of
While the foregoing discussions reference the illumination of a single LED or RGB LED, further contemplated herein is the separate control of a large number of LEDs. In such case, where full illumination is desired, several LEDs may be providing illumination, while a separate LED handles communications. Likewise, in the case of an ultra-low duty cycle demand, communications may be divided among a plurality of LEDs, thereby reducing the on-time percentage required within any individual LED, thereby permitting more data to be transferred without perceptibly increasing the illumination level from an individual LED.
As illustrated in
In the field of energy management, controlling lights, HVAC and the like in the past have not incorporated the use of VLEC technology. However, energy management is not solely limited to total power consumption. Peak inrush current is also an important factor monitored by many utility companies. This is the peak power draw of the power customer, for exemplary purposes within each twenty-four hour period. By controlling the timing of illumination and other equipment start-up, electrical draw may be gradually ramped up. Many devices initially draw more power at start-up than when operational. So, since each light is individually addressed and controlled and appliances or machines may similarly be controlled, the communications afforded by the present invention permit much smaller banks of devices to be started, allowing those devices to surge and then settle to lower energy requirements before starting the next bank of devices. Some devices and machines very quickly drop down to lower power draw. Even LED light panels 200 which serve as VLEC hosts are such a device. Banks of these may very quickly and sequentially be started. Other devices, such as electrical compressors found in heat pumps, refrigeration and air conditioning units, may require much more time for start-up, before additional devices should be started. Likewise, the particular order of start-up may be optimized for the various electrical loads found within a building. All of this is readily accomplished through simple programming and communication through preferred LED light panels 200 or equivalents thereto.
In other embodiments of the invention, numbers of occupants within a space may be used not only for anticipating illumination, but also to control operation of other appliances and machinery within the building. Exemplary of this, but not limited thereto, are water and space heaters and coolers, and all other electrical or electrically controllable devices.
When applying VLEC to tracking data as illustrated in
If audio and/or video is additionally enabled, either through communications badges 100 or separate wall-mounted devices, the video can be used to capture the last-known conditions of a user or an area. This can be important in the event a disaster strikes which results in significant destruction of property or life.
Using access or in-house BPL infrastructures, the present invention can utilize existing building wires to propagate information thus reducing or minimizing the need for costly capital upgrades. Consequently, many alterations or remodeling may simply be or result in relatively minor software revisions. With proper placement of suitable fixtures at the time of construction, no new illumination or communications wiring or fixtures will need to be provided, permitting extreme flexibility using primarily off-the-shelf components.
The embodiments illustrated herein are generally complimentary for indoor or outdoor use. In outdoor use, existing street lights and older incandescent traffic lights may be exchanged with modern LED lighting, enabling intelligent roadway systems using BPL or other information transportation mediums. Similar to indoor lighting designs, the street lights may provide an information infrastructure within themselves as the VLEC technology is incorporated into them, thus providing a private or secure form of information transfer. Existing metropolitan street lights are used to complete network design communications to the everyday intersection, thus alleviating the need for extensive fiber optic cables to achieve the same results. Information assignment may additionally be controlled to specific areas, unlike Radio Frequency communications. Massive bandwidths of information are available at every intersection, providing commercial, law enforcement and consumer needs and/or requirements. Moreover the cost for deployment is lower than alternative technologies, as the present invention is used for both information and providing areas of lighting at significantly reduced capital cost verses the return on investment. Core network infrastructures will be improved by using the VLEC technology and replacing huge amounts of cables on the back end of the IT control rooms.
Intelligent roadways may be constructed using LEDs and eventually incorporate the present VLEC technology. This will permit sufficient bandwidth to provide more precisely mapped road ways, and provide the foundation for improving traffic management by alerting drivers and emergency personnel of an accident or other traffic matter before they may come upon it. This information can then be transferred to the driver who would have the option of getting off at the nearest exit or begin slowing down the vehicle with a distance calculation device present in the vehicle and providing them with the exact location of the accident. The driver may even opt for the automated version of having their vehicle put into a safe driving mode and apply the brakes for them if they are within close proximity of the accident.
Parking lots and garages may additionally have VLEC host fixtures attached so that client devices that are attached or carried by some form can intelligently assist and remind a driver of the exact location of a vehicle. Illumination schemes may be provided to further assist in the identification that can range for exemplary purposes from specific colors showing a path to the vehicle, to selectively illuminating vehicle lights, to user name activation when the user is within the pre-designed proximity of the vehicle.
Even with today's advances in Radio Frequency technology there still exist certain precautions in the medical field. Spurious RF emissions tend to interfere with sensitive medical equipment. Procedures involving Magnetic Resonance Imaging continue and X-ray practices would find valuable uses with this VLEC technology by alleviating bulky information cables. This would save on valuable floor space in today's hospitals facilities. The majority of medical field could utilize this VLEC technology by integrating with BPL technology. Hallways and areas of low population could have lights governed, and thus reduce annual operating expenses by employing this as an energy management solution. Medical equipment will be able to take full advantage of VLEC technology coupled with BPL infrastructures as this intelligence is integrated into the operational methods of the equipment.
Today's satellite navigated Global Positioning are augmented with the use of GPSRS. The burden on GPS satellites may be reduced by embedding unique identifier information and pre-documented exact location of an entity or asset. The unique GPSRS identifier may be incorporated into LED light fixtures or fixture controllers, switches, facility control units, facility servers, remote servers, power supplies, control units or any other electrical device which may be in a communication chain for communication of information, data packets, or commands or other types of communication or information transfer. This GPS-based location may then improve location-based services by providing real time location. Today's satellites update a location every 3 seconds. The information about the location of an entity or asset is always referenced back to a remote reference table. Current location measurements using satellites also require 3 or 4 satellites to improve the triangulation methods needed for locating a place or entity.
Location based services within a VLEC infrastructure will have the added advantage of improved and secure content. Personal Navigation devices will have the added advantage of providing improved coordination and collaboration methods by providing an increase in friend to friend location services. A friend to friend location services is an optional service whereby a personal list of friends or family members equipped with VLEC technology GPSRS devices can be created in a data base and that data base is managed by the group participants. When needed they utilize a VLEC GPSRS client device that associates with a VLEC host and then with a connection of some form through a controller in the home that connects or interfaces over BPL to the Internet. The information will then traverse the Internet and arrive at the predetermined location based on a designed collaboration (containing all Internet protocol addresses subnets and ports designed for this purpose) by the friends involved to create this network. The controlling device will contain reference, relationship, awareness or look-up tables and establish in a millionth of a second, the location of the entity they are seeking. This information is then embedded or encapsulated into the data stream and transceived throughout the Internet. Today's cumbersome RF calculations require algorithmic math computations that are constantly changing and therefore reduce the accuracy of locating the device in real-time. A reference back to the previous or last known location require constant updates. Couple this with the inherent latency's of today's devices and effectiveness is reduced. Based on RF applications, there may be a need to measure the RSSI (radio signal strength indicator) and relate this information to another calculation table before we can apply probable table coordinates in order to perform a triangulation calculation of the client device. The RF Location based services rely heavily on assisted GPS technology. This technology is very taxing and expensive on computers, and contributes to a poor economy of scale approach for businesses. GPSRS will embed location information.
As may now be apparent, ultra high throughput at the last mile device is attained by VLEC augmenting methods that will prove more cost effective than any other solution available today. The present invention expands areas of network access to include a more vertical growth in current mature technologies. VLEC coupled with BPL and Ultra Low Duty Cycle lighting will extend the often limiting capabilities of Ethernet, USB and Wifi. Ethernet's primary focus has applied to a network consisting of wires. USB has simplified network connectivity.
At any time, using computing or electronic devices such as PCs, hand held devices, laptops, cell phones, transceiver glasses etc., you may change the color and intensity of the light being generated by the LED's to meet the needs of any given space.
In at least one embodiment, a controller or control server or other electronic device will provide a means to control lighting apparatus of a facility while simultaneously enhancing and redefining security systems, facility operational systems, security cameras and public address systems.
In some embodiments, visible light communication may reduce or eliminate the need for future or additional wiring within an existing or planned facility networks environment. Visible light communication may also augment existing networks.
Standard LED lights come in a variety of color temperatures, from ‘warm’ yellows to ‘cool’ whites. In facilities such as hospitals and offices, color temperature may significantly affect mood and productivity, where making a long-term commitment to a color temperature when converting to LED lighting may be a strong barrier to entry into LED lighting. In at least one embodiment, the LED's within the VLEC system have adjustable color temperature. In some embodiments, the VLEC LED light fixtures may be programmed to mimic the changing color temperate of sunlight as the day progresses.
In some embodiments, the solid state characteristics of LEDs allow enhanced control of energy consumption and light output through automated computer systems. For example, LED lights may be dimmed to provide additional energy savings. Fluorescent lights, by comparison, are not only difficult to dim, but the process of dimming can shorten the life of a fluorescent bulb. In a building incorporating a VLEC system, dimming may be controlled via synchronization with environmental stimuli to create a smart lighting environment which actively accounts for sunlight and saves energy by automatically dimming the LED lights within a VLEC light fixture when sunlight conditions allow.
In some embodiments, VLEC lighting systems may allow for further energy management for building owners as well as load management for power utilities. Power companies may have the ability to manage imperceptible reductions in lighting output across entire sections of a building, city block, or power grid. This feature would benefit the power utility and the customers, especially where peak energy consumption is high and energy demand outpaces infrastructural capacity.
Even in spaces not separated by physical objects, programmable signal response timing methods may create broadcast ranging in VLEC transmissions such that communication between a VLEC enabled apparatus may only occur at specified distances. In addition, because of higher achievable transmission rates, security will be further improved as more advanced encryption systems may be encoded into a VLEC wireless transmissions.
In some embodiments, the use BPL by the VLEC system may enable more advanced telecommunication and broadband services. For example, the hurdles of the “Last Mile” could potentially be avoided by transmitting data signals over a utility company's infrastructure in tandem with existing fiber optic network transport. Combined with the internal distribution of VLEC light fixtures throughout a building, the VLEC system may provide unlimited data hot spots without the latency caused by traditional physical limitations. Within a ubiquitous network environment using a VLEC system, customers may enjoy higher data speeds and security throughout an entire facility. In some embodiments, a VLEC system may be integrated with VoIP telephone services.
In some embodiments, a VLEC system may communicate data at a rate of 3 Mbps. In some embodiments, a VLEC system may reduce lighting energy consumption in a commercial building by 50%-90%.
In at least one embodiment, the VLEC system provides at least two major services, communication and lighting, for one cost. The VLEC system provides networking capabilities as well as continued monitoring and maintenance of VLEC light fixtures and communication system where lighting maintenance and related operational costs are provided by the VLEC lighting fixture owners. In some embodiments, such operational costs include: electrical consumption; lamp replacement and disposal; ballast replacement; lens replacement and cleaning; costs associated with requisition and employee distractions or interruptions; paperwork for purchase and defective returns as well as paperwork and operational costs for shipping, receiving, and distribution.
In some embodiments, a VLEC system and VLEC light fixture will include a camera, microphone, speaker, and sensory equipment integration. Cameras and other integrated devices may be used as environment sensors, detecting human traffic or ambient light, such as sunlight. In some embodiments, the camera, microphone, speaker and/or sensory equipment may reduce lighting energy consumption when a room is unoccupied or when ambient light conditions allow for reduced indoor lighting intensity.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system may include facial recognition software (together with camera, microphone, and speaker technology) which may be incorporated into a VLEC light fixture, where intercom calls may be made directly to the VLEC light fixture under which a person is standing. The person being called will communicate back by simply speaking near the light fixture. Such a system could eliminate the need to broadcast messages to an entire facility to ensure that the person being paged is reached. In some embodiments, the VLEC system may include other biometric recognition software such as voice recognition software, retinal scanner software, finger print or other digit or palm recognition software to name a few.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system also provides IT Savings, Air Conditioning Savings, Wireless Security, Network Service Dependability, Environmental Stewardship, and Energy Mandate Compliances.
In some embodiments, a VLEC system is in communications with other systems, providing the ability to offload mobile data traffic onto fixed VLEC Network devices. In some embodiments, the VLEC system may also provide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.
In some embodiments, the coupling of the VLEC system with a BPL network will provide integrated networks using BPL technology to enable the physical deployment of increased and enhanced security services, such as providing VLEC light fixtures enabled with surveillance technology.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system will incorporate an analog communication scheme (i.e. OFDM signaling) as well as integrated carrier signal technology. Further the VLEC system will incorporate global positioning system routing service (GPSrS) capabilities and remote access management for integration with utility companies. Further, every electrical component forming the VLEC system or communication with the VLEC system will incorporate a global positioning system routing service (GPSrS) identifier and GPSrS recognition capabilities and remote access management for integration with utility companies or other communication or data/information systems.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system may be enabled with BPL technology using external BPL modules which may be integral to a VLEC light fixture. In some embodiments, a VLEC light fixture will still be compatible with standard network wiring, integrated BPL technology will provide enhanced performance, simplified installation, and lower installation cost to the customer.
In some embodiments, remote access management (RAM) software will allow accurate monitoring and control of individual VLEC light fixtures from a centralized computing location within a VLEC system equipped building. With RAM VLEC light fixtures may be programmed to turn on/off during specific times of the day, increase/decrease in brightness or compensate for daylight hours. With these features, a building owner employing the VLEC system may more accurately monitor and manage energy lighting consumption in a building.
In some embodiments, VLEC light fixtures may be installed throughout an entire building space and offer comprehensive lighting and communication services based on a digital communication scheme. With this communication scheme, each VLEC light fixture may support networking and communication capabilities for one or more computing devices, such as laptop computers. If 12 VLEC light fixtures are installed in a room, then 12 laptops or other VLEC system enabled devices, such as networked printers or telephones, may access the VLEC system network using the VLEC light fixtures.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system will incorporate an analog communication scheme, such as an Orthogonal Frequency—Division Multiplexing (OFMD) enabled communication scheme. With OFDM technology, each VLEC light fixture will support several computing devices simultaneously, as each LED in an VLEC light fixture becomes its own, independent communication point, capable of transmitting hundreds of communication channels simultaneously. Therefore, each VLEC light fixture will be capable of supporting a virtually unlimited number of computing devices.
In addition, by tuning the components in BPL circuitry, the VLEC system may accommodate the conversion of OFDM signals into light signals with very limited hardware.
In some embodiments, VLEC light fixtures may communicate with a computing device in a line-of-sight configuration. With the integration of carrier signal technology, VLEC light fixtures may be capable of communicating using a non-line-of-sight configuration. Being under a VLEC light fixture will not be a prerequisite to communicating through the VLEC system network. In at least one embodiment, communication through the VLEC system will be possible using reflected or ambient LED light signals.
In at least one embodiment, a user of a VLEC system may remotely control the lighting and communication environment in a building through automated management features. For example, RAM controlled VLEC lighting will have the ability to actively respond to activity within a building, such as human traffic. With daylight harvesting, RAM may program VLEC light fixtures to automatically reduce lumen output when sunlight is present in a room.
In some embodiments, RAM will broaden the scope of VLEC system services to include other security and communication features, such as centralized visual surveillance incorporating security cameras installed on the VLEC light fixtures. Incorporating intercom and facial recognition into such a VLEC system may enhance security within a facility as well as providing intercom announcements directly to an individual within a VLEC system enabled environment.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system will incorporate GPSrS technology. Currently, Internet protocol (IP) security allows an individual to access infrastructural systems from anywhere in the world. In some embodiments, the VLEC system is incredibly secure requiring appropriate passwords or necessary equipment thereby preventing ‘faking’ identities and gaining unauthorized access to IP protected systems.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system enhances cyber security establishing electrical smart grids, which may be based on standard Internet protocol.
In some embodiments, the VLEC system with GPSrS technology may eliminate cyber-security concerns. With GPSrS technology, a VLEC network use is tied to physical locations instead of easily manipulated passwords. Every packet of information sent over a GPSrS enabled infrastructure is tagged with a GPSrS coordinate identified with the communication node (VLEC light fixtures or other GPSrS enabled network device) which may be used to access and support the network. In some embodiments, every packet of information sent over a GPSrS enabled infrastructure may also be tagged with a receipt and/or transmission time stamp by each respective communication node (VLEC light fixtures or other GPSrS enabled network device) which may be used to access and support the network. Data or information to be communicated within the VLEC system will be continually tagged and/or updated with GPSrS identifiers from transmitting and receiving locations within the VLEC system. Only those packets of information tagged with the correct coordinate location (and any intermediate location along with any other necessary passwords or identifying material) have access to the system. As such, an infrastructure control may only allow access from predetermined locations (using a predetermined VLEC light fixture or GPSrS enabled network device) such that the packets of information desiring access are coded with the appropriate GPSrS coordinates. In some embodiments, every VLEC light fixture may be operationally tied to a GPSrS location, and will not communicate if removed from its authorized location and installed elsewhere.
In some embodiments, as a packet of information travels from its source destination to its final destination, it is continually evaluated by each communication node (VLEC light fixture or other GPSrS enabled network device) through which it passes. Each communication node interrogates the packet of information to discover the packet's last known destinations and its intended final destination, and checks that information against its current location and intended subsequent location to determine if any discrepancies exist. In addition, each communication node interrogates the packet of information to discover the time of the transmission and/or receipt from the packet's last known destinations to verify or determine any timing or delay discrepancies exist during the communication or over the communication route. Each data packet is therefore subjected to continual and ongoing authentication by each communication node (VLEC light fixture or other GPSrS enabled network device) through which it passes. If no discrepancies are identified then the packet is tagged with unique information from the interrogating communication node and sent to the next node along its path, where it is again evaluated using the information from the previous node and those preceding it. If a discrepancy exists, the packet cannot proceed within the VLEC system. This procedure establishes security for the data packet in real time and real space.
In some embodiments, the provision of Remote Access Management, within a VLEC system may allow local power utilities to integrate with the VLEC system to create total grid management capabilities. With smart-grid technology enabled by VLEC system remote management features, a utility company can monitor and stabilize power consumption across one or more power grids. For example, during peak consumption, a utility company may remotely reduce lumen output across a grid by an imperceptible 2% or 3% for a short period of time.
The ability to stabilize electrical consumption is important to utility companies, which must build grid infrastructure (i.e. power lines, transformers, generating facilities, etc.) to accommodate peak consumption periods of a day. This peak infrastructure is expensive to build and not efficiently utilized during non-peak consumption hours (when electrical consumption across a grid is significantly decreased). Therefore, stabilizing consumption across a grid is valuable to utility companies reducing the need to build electrical infrastructure. Also, electrical consumption reductions realized when energy efficient VLEC lights are deployed reduces peak infrastructure need.
In some embodiments, the use of a VLEC system and/or network facilitates the monitoring of power consumption within a building, and control of power usage, further stabilizing power consumption across an electrical grid. For example, a VLEC system enabled building with controls integrated into its elevator system may balance intermittent elevator usage and subsequent power consumption with lighting or illumination output. In some embodiments, the VLEC system may recognize when an elevator is in use, and may simultaneously reduce lighting consumption across designated areas of a building by imperceptible quantities, but with the effect of balancing power consumption within the building. In a building with integrated HVAC systems, HVAC consumption may be used to balance power consumption.
In some embodiments, the reduction in lighting output, or power relocations among various pieces of equipment established through the use of the VLEC system, would be imperceptible to the unknowing individual, the ability to reallocate power and stabilize electrical consumption within a single building, throughout a full city block, or across an entire power grid would conserve electricity and reduce a utility company's need to build expensive peak infrastructure.
In at least one embodiment, an operating exchange is utilized in association with a pulsed light communication system, using LED pulsed light communication signals embedded within illumination generated from LED light fixtures. In some embodiments the operating exchange is incorporated into the infrastructure of a building or structure utilizing LED light fixtures and other operating systems. In some embodiments, an individual may speak any language or have any educational background or training, and the individual may be able to immediately and intuitively operate the operating exchange for LED pulsed light and communication system and building operative systems. In some embodiments, the operating exchange is not dependent on culture or gender training or knowledge of an individual.
In some embodiments, the operating exchange is used to control all of the LED light fixtures and operating parameters within a structure or building. In some embodiments, the operating exchange facilitates an individual's ease of use of LED light fixtures and other functions within a building. In some embodiments, the operating exchange may be incorporated into more or less than all of the LED light fixtures or operating systems for a building.
In some embodiments, a computer or webpage on a computer may include drawings, diagrams and/or blueprints of a structure, where the operating exchange permits an individual to manipulate operating systems and controls within a building through activation/deactivation or manipulation through the computer or webpage. In some embodiments, an individual may focus on a desired location on a drawing, diagram and/or blueprint in order to access a system control to toggle the system control to a desired setting. The desired location on the drawing, diagram, and/or blueprint may represent switches and/or controls for building systems. In some embodiments, the switches and/or controls may communicate feedback as to the current status of a system setting. In some embodiments, the drawings, diagrams and/or blueprints as included in a computer include markers/identifiers such as rectangles or other shapes which represent LED light fixtures or groups of LED light fixtures or other systems or system controls. In some embodiments, the computer may also include indicators as to operational performance such as the amount of electricity being used or the setting of a system such as operation at a maximum or high level, as opposed to operation at a low setting.
In at least one embodiment, the operating exchange includes indicators as to the setting and/or operational status of building systems or features such as LED light fixtures, or other building systems, such as a thermostat.
In at least one embodiment, the operating exchange includes indicators for LED light fixtures such as the color, or color setting, for LED's within the LED light fixtures. In some embodiments, the color of the LED's within the LED light fixtures may vary.
In some embodiments, each building including LED light fixtures may include a map of the location of each of the LED light fixtures where each LED light fixture includes a unique location identifier which may be GPSrS Global Positioning System Routing System information.
In some embodiments, each control element, switch, activation device, keypad, button, dial, photodetector, LED lighting element, a dongle or key device, sensor, monitor, or other devices used to establish communication within a pulsed light communication system may include a unique location identifier such as GPSrS. In some embodiments, not all of the control elements are required to include LED communication devices, and some control elements will be in direct communication with a control server via wires. In alternative embodiments, a control element may be wired, where the wire extends to an intermediate pulsed light communication hub. The intermediate pulsed light communication hub includes a unique location identifier, controller, photodetector(s) and LED's and is adapted to receive pulsed light communication signals and to process the received pulsed light communication signals into electrical signals to be passed over the wire to a particular control element to change the status of the control element.
In some embodiments, each LED light fixture, LED dongle or key device, and each control element includes a specific location identifier which may be similar to the GPSrS location address, or an alpha-numeric, or numeric identifier as assigned to the control element to precisely locate the control element relative to the map, diagram, drawings, image, model and/or blueprint of a structure as included within a facility control unit. In some embodiments, each LED light fixture, LED dongle or key device, and each control element includes processors, controllers, LED's, and photodetectors to be in communication with a pulsed light communication system to receive pulsed light signals and to generate pulsed light signals to communicate information as to the status of a LED light fixture, dongle or key or control element. In some embodiments, each control element of a building system, such as a lighting system, heating system, security system, monitoring system, metering system, recording system, speaker system, elevator system to name a few, either has an integral LED photodetector and/or controller and LED's for pulsed light communication (integral Charlie unit) or may be retro-fitted to include an LED communication device such as a dongle or key device to receive pulsed LED light communication signals from an LED light fixture, and to generate and communicate LED light signals for receipt by an LED light fixture to provide information in response to a status request.
In some embodiments, each control unit may include sensors, meters, controllers, processors, photodetectors, and LED's to receive and to generate pulsed light communication signals to a facility control unit. In some embodiments, each control unit may function to be electrically connected to, and in communication with, motors, devices, servo motors, solenoids, or other electronic devices which are used to alter the status of a building system or system element such as a door lock, a thermostat, a light switch, an elevator control, a speaker, a microphone, a monitor to name a few. It should be noted that the identified elements for the control elements, building systems, system elements, or other identifiers herein are not intended to be exhaustive, and should be interpreted as expansive and are not intended to be limiting as to the specific elements or types of elements as identified herein.
In some embodiments, the facility control unit and/or each control element includes a processor, or controller which includes a security protocol to restrict activation or a change of status until such time as a security protocol has been satisfied, which may be communicated directly through pulsed LED light communication signals, or through an intermediate pulsed LED light communication hub, or via an electrical signal passed over a wire.
In some embodiments, the processor/controller in communication with each control element receives control signals, activation signals, or change of status signals which were generated from a facility control unit, or other remotely located control server, or other system server. In some embodiments, the processor/controller is in communication with each control element which may generate a device or operational status signal to be received by a facility control unit, remotely located control server, or other system server. The device or operational status signal in some embodiments is generated and transmitted by pulsed LED light communication signals.
In other embodiments, functions such as microphones and speakers may be regulated as well as cellular telephones if equipped with a pulsed light communication interface such as a dongle or key device. In some embodiments, cellular telephones may be deactivated within a building through manipulation of the virtual cyber-building control items.
In at least one embodiment a facility control unit is in communication with the LED XCVR light fixtures within each facility, where the facility control unit aggregates all connections from LED light fixtures back through one or more power units or power unit controllers for communication to a control server through use of the internet. The control unit comprises a computer. The facility management unit includes a Web server and a website. The website allows an individual to control the LED lights or LED light fixtures and to monitor how much energy is being used. The website may also regulate at least one security authorization which may be logon criteria including passwords and user verifications or other desired security measures. Following logon an individual through the control unit or facility controller may control the lights or electrical systems of a facility. An individual may use the website to issue commands to the individual power units in order to activate or deactivate electrical systems, LED lights or LED light fixtures, or to change the intensity or the color or the timing of the LED lights or LED light fixtures, to be on or off in a preset schedule or on an as needed basis.
In at least one embodiment the website includes a user interface that allows an individual to control the LED lights or LED light fixtures or to activate the light switches on the wall at specific desired locations or to activate other building systems. In one embodiment a wire may be run to specific locations within a facility where the ends of the wire include sensors to sense the current status or setting of an LED light, LED light switch, or status of a building function such as a light, thermostat, door, elevator, lock, camera, speaker, microphone or any other type of feature which may be sensed, manipulated or monitored. The sensed status is displayed on the website for the facility. The facility control website may include a touchscreen to monitor and to manipulate switches or to alter the status of a facility feature. The facility control website facilities the selection of one or more, or all, of the features to control, and via the website, screens regulate the functions of the facility through the website interface. In certain embodiments an individual may control all lights simultaneously for both warm and cool light settings, or settings in between warm or cool, or an individual may control the warm or cool settings individually through the use of sliding features on a touchscreen, which may be used to change the intensity of the LED lights. The facility control unit may also include feature program presets. The facility control unit may also include image and/or sound recordings and/or camera. In at least one embodiment the control of the features and functions of a facility occur over communications transmitted as pulsed light communications from LED fixtures and photodetectors. In at least one embodiment, the facility control unit includes facial recognition software, voice recognition software or other types of recognition software to name a few.
The status of a particular feature or function may be communicated to the facility management unit or controller by pulsed light communication signals from LED's and controllers as integral to, or in communication with the features or functions under consideration. In alternative embodiments the sensor may be integral with or in communication with the feature or function under consideration and the feature or function may include LED's, photodetectors and controllers in order to communicate the sensed status of the feature or function directly to the facility controller through the use of pulsed light communication signals, or alternatively through one or more intermediate pulsed light communication locations or devices, without the use of wires integral to the sensors.
In some embodiments the facility website and facility control unit or controller may communicate detailed status information and/or settings for all of the connected lights, features, and/or functions of systems within a facility.
In some embodiments the control page of the website enables an individual to establish and to set up programs for control of features and/or functions or lights for an individual room, were specific lights over a cubicle or other area are controlled remotely by the facility website and facility control unit or controller.
In at least one embodiment, information as related to electrical usage may be measured, collected and/or calculated and stored in the memory of the facility control unit or controller. The facility control unit or controller may periodically communicate the measured, collected and/or calculated electrical usage to a control server which may be remotely located relative to the facility. The control server may process electrical usage and generate bills from a billing system.
An individual having the correct login, password and security information may access the facility webpage interface from any remote location where internet access is available, in order to regulate or control the functions or features of a facility. An individual may control the lights or other functions or features with the preset settings, or the individual may selectively set the lights, function, or feature so long as the individual has an internet connection, which may be provided by a dongle or key device including a photodetector and LED's for communication through pulsed light communication signals. In some embodiments, access to the facility webpage interface may occur through the use of a desktop computing device, a transportable or laptop computing device, a cellular telephone device, a tablet computing device or any other communication device providing communication over the internet.
In at least one embodiment the control server measures and/or calculates the photons of light used as illumination and as emitted in pulsed light communications, or the control server measures and/or calculates the data exchanged in association with the lumens generated through the provision of illumination and pulsed light communications. Lumens, photons and/or data transmitted by the LED's in association with the generation of illumination and pulsed light communications may be measured and identified in units of measurement such as data lumen hours or data lumen minutes.
In some embodiments a controller which may be a fixture controller is used in association with each individual LED light fixture and in other embodiments one or more facility controllers are engaged to any number of fixture controllers. Combinations of fixture controllers and facility controllers may be utilized in any structure and variations of configurations may be utilized dependent on installation requirements within existing structures, new construction, renovation, remolding, and/or upgrading of elderly structures.
In some embodiments it is anticipated that one or more LED light fixture controllers and facility controllers may be utilized in electrically independent environments such as facilities which have an independent electrical source such as a wind turbine. In these situations the LED fixture controllers and facility controllers may independently calculate, or may be in communication with a control server to calculate lumen consumption, data lumen hours, and/or data lumen minutes or combinations thereof for billing directly to a data lumen hour consumer.
In one embodiment, light switches may be mounted in a wall and a wire may be run to sense pins on the power unit controller, enabling activation of a switch controlling the light panels. A touchscreen monitor may be in communication with the power unit and website.
Logging onto the website may establish access to a multi-facility management unit control page. The website interface shows all of the power units that are in a facility and all other light panels or other features of the facility or plurality of facilities. An individual may select which power units to control or an individual may select all of the power units for control. The website interface enables control of all the light simultaneously both warm light and cool light. Alternatively, control of the warm light or cool light may occur at individual light fixtures or other building features. Alternatively, an individual may activate LED light features to change light intensities.
In some embodiments, the fixture controller or facility controller may record how many watts of electricity are being used on each preset and the electrical usage such as 158 watts to generate light. The fixture or facility controller may provide a test mode which runs the lights through stages, where the lights cycle through warm light and cool light, off and back on, to confirm functionality. The website control interface enables control of each individual light panel or LED light emitting diode. The website may provide detail information for a power unit to provide information regarding the settings and status for all 16 of the possible connected light panels and usage of each light fixture or LED light emitting diode.
The fixture or facility controller, website, and/or interface enable the selection or customization of programs for individual areas or rooms or individual groups of lights or specific lights over a cubicle or other location. All of the information related to wattage used may be collected on the power unit controller. A server may be set up at a remote location that will retrieve power/wattage usage information from the power unit controller, and enter the information into one or more servers, where the information may be communicated to, and processed by, a billing system for generation of bills to users of the LED light fixtures for consumption for illumination, pulsed light communications.
Each of the panel lights may have a unit controller and photodetector which allows pulsed light communications with a client device. The client device, USB interface devices, may be attached to laptops or computers. The drivers for those devices may be installed on an electronic device such as a tablet, smart phone, computer or other electronic device with or without the use of an application, or laptop or through an Ethernet connection.
The LED light panels may be connected to a power unit through an Ethernet plug. The Pro FTM signals, called the data, may be communicated over the same lines that are providing power prior to transmission through pulsed light signals. Three modules may be provided which are used in decoding of information and/or communication signals. Decoding is occurring and overriding the power line radio wave signals, the OFTM signals, and is communicated back into an Ethernet standard computer format, which then is communicated through LED pulsed light communication signals.
A computer located at a remote location may receive/record the data generated in association with the regulation and use of the light panels. The computer may process any number of different transactions. Any data may be retrieved for generation through the website interface for transmission over a power line or through pulsed LED light communication signals via the LED/s or the USB device. LED pulsed light communication signals may also be transmitted out of the USB device for receipt by the Charlie unit integral to an LED light fixture for transmission to the facility controller and website. It should be noted that a control server may simultaneously receive and process data from any number of websites representative of any number of facilities or geographic areas each having any desired number of fixture controllers and/or LED lights or LED light fixtures.
In some embodiments, all of the usage information as far as the wattage used may be collected on the power unit controller.
In some embodiments, modules on the LED light fixture decode pulsed light communications information. In some embodiments, the LED light fixture receives OFTM signals and converts the signals into an Ethernet standard computer format which then may be injected down into a facility controller.
In some embodiments, the facility controller is in communication with, and transfers information and data to a control server which may be a mainframe computer which may be located at a remote location. One or more facility controllers may be utilized to access account specific information on site or to control communications, illumination or other functions within a facility.
In some embodiments, information may be retrieved at a facility controller such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, and/or expenses for a desired period of time. In some embodiments, an accounting system may be run remotely and may be communicated through the LED pulsed light communications. In some embodiments, a room may include any number of LED light fixtures. Each LED light fixture may be operating the same, or have a different setting resulting in different operation. In at least one embodiment, the data lumen hours or minutes for each LED light fixture may be recorded or regulated independently with respect to any other LED light fixture. A composite amount of data lumen hours or minutes may be calculated from the independent LED light fixtures and communicated to a facility controller or a control server.
In at least one embodiment, two physical servers are provided as facility control servers or mainframe servers which are configured to be Identical for redundancy. In some embodiments, VHM (Virtual Host Machines) A and B are duplicate physical servers at a facility or remote location. Each VHM server has the VMware operating system, allowing for numerous VPS (Virtual Private Server) to reside on each VHM server. The VPSs on VHM-A are exactly duplicated on VHM-8 for redundancy.
In some embodiments, a VPS may use a CentOS operating system and run Apache Web services. The VPS may also include a database (currently MySQL). In some embodiments, the VPS is used for the web site that provides remote control of VLEC light systems.
In some embodiments, the VPS monitors the VLEC light systems.
In some embodiments, the VPS may be copied for use as a FMU or Facility Management Unit which may be used to monitor and to control a facility.
In some embodiments, a power unit is used in association with a facility control unit. Each Power Unit may support 16 light fixtures. Power Units may be daisy-chained together. Each power unit may also accommodate hard wired wall switches, or touch panels for direct control of fixtures (
In some embodiments, a Power Unit Controller (PUC) is located at a demarcation site, usually the datacenter of the facility, where an internet connection is available. If there will be more chains of Power Units connecting to the PUC than there are Ethernet ports available, then a switch may be placed between the PUC and the Power Units. The PUC controls DHCP functions for communications. It also controls and monitors the light fixtures by SNMP communication with the Power Units. The PUC accumulates usage data from the Power Units, which is periodically retrieved by the Monitoring Servers. The PUC contains a web server, with a web site for controlling and programming the VLEC light fixtures. This control web site will be available from any device that can display web pages {i.e. phones, tablets, computers, etc.}, provided the proper authorization is set up for a device or user. Current available network security and authorization techniques can be used to ensure access is limited appropriately.
The Monitoring Servers may be databases that accumulate usage statistics for all the PUCs, Power Units, and VLEC light fixtures. The monitoring services have an interface that allows operators to check the history and status of Infrastructural Apparatus. The monitoring servers may be configured to initiate alarms when there are issues with any hardware in the field, and/or network connectivity to that hardware. In some embodiments, the provider of the VLEC system is made aware of a problem immediately when it occurs, possibly even before the customer is aware. The monitoring servers will also perform the necessary calculations on the accumulated data to provide the appropriate billing information to the Billing System.
Enclosed herewith and incorporated by reference herein in their entireties are the following United States Patent Numbers and patent application numbers: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,879,263; 7,046,160; 7,439,847; 7,902,978; 8,188,861; 8,188,878; 8,188,879; 8,330,599; 8,331,790; 8,543,505; 8,571,411; 8,593,299; Ser. Nos. 11/433,979; 12/032,908; 12/126,227; 12/126,342; 12/126,469; 12/126,647; 12/750,796; 13/427,358; 13/479556; 13/706,864; 13/972,294; 14/033,014; 14/050,759; 14/050,765; 61/778,672; 61/783,501; 61/819,861; 61/867,731; 61/927,638; and 61/927,663.
This application is also related to the patent application Ser. No. 14/207,934 entitled “Method of Measuring and Provision of Lumens,” filed contemporaneously herewith, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The present application is also related to the patent application Ser. No. 14/207,955 entitled “LED Light Fixture,” filed contemporaneously herewith, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Also the present application is related to the patent application Ser. No. 14/208,090 entitled “Pulsed Light Communication Key,” filed contemporaneously herewith, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.
The above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. This description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this art. The various elements shown in the individual figures and described above may be combined or modified for combination as desired. All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims where the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to”.
This application claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/778,672, filed Mar. 13, 2013, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/867,731, filed Aug. 20, 2013, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/927,638, filed Jan. 15, 2014, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/927,663, filed Jan. 15, 2014, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. This application claims priority to, and is a Continuation application from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/208,129, filed Mar. 13, 2014, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
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| 5491350 | Unno | Feb 1996 | A |
| 5498883 | Lebby | Mar 1996 | A |
| 5514627 | Lowery | May 1996 | A |
| 5516727 | Broom | May 1996 | A |
| 5519720 | Hirano | May 1996 | A |
| 5526237 | Davenport | Jun 1996 | A |
| 5528474 | Roney | Jun 1996 | A |
| 5532472 | Furuta | Jul 1996 | A |
| 5546219 | Iida | Aug 1996 | A |
| 5546496 | Kimoto | Aug 1996 | A |
| 5552780 | Knockeart | Sep 1996 | A |
| 5557257 | Gieffers | Sep 1996 | A |
| 5566022 | Segev | Oct 1996 | A |
| 5567036 | Theobald | Oct 1996 | A |
| 5568406 | Gerber | Oct 1996 | A |
| 5569939 | Choi | Oct 1996 | A |
| 5575459 | Anderson | Nov 1996 | A |
| 5580156 | Suzuki | Dec 1996 | A |
| 5585783 | Hall | Dec 1996 | A |
| 5593223 | Koizumi | Jan 1997 | A |
| 5593459 | Gamblin | Jan 1997 | A |
| 5594415 | Ishikawa | Jan 1997 | A |
| 5598290 | Tanaka | Jan 1997 | A |
| 5604480 | Lamparter | Feb 1997 | A |
| 5606444 | Johnson | Feb 1997 | A |
| 5607788 | Tomazic | Mar 1997 | A |
| 5612201 | DePlaen | Mar 1997 | A |
| 5612231 | Holm | Mar 1997 | A |
| 5625201 | Holm | Apr 1997 | A |
| 5627851 | Takahashi | May 1997 | A |
| 5631474 | Saitoh | May 1997 | A |
| 5632551 | Roney | May 1997 | A |
| 5633629 | Hochstein | May 1997 | A |
| 5634287 | Lamparter | Jun 1997 | A |
| 5634357 | Nutter | Jun 1997 | A |
| 5634711 | Kennedy | Jun 1997 | A |
| 5635902 | Hochstein | Jun 1997 | A |
| 5635981 | Ribacoff | Jun 1997 | A |
| 5636916 | Sokolowski | Jun 1997 | A |
| 5643357 | Breton | Jul 1997 | A |
| 5644291 | Jozwik | Jul 1997 | A |
| 5656829 | Sakaguchi | Aug 1997 | A |
| 5660461 | Ignatius | Aug 1997 | A |
| 5661645 | Hochstein | Aug 1997 | A |
| 5661742 | Huang | Aug 1997 | A |
| 5664448 | Swan | Sep 1997 | A |
| 5674000 | Kalley | Oct 1997 | A |
| 5694112 | VannRox | Dec 1997 | A |
| 5696500 | Diem | Dec 1997 | A |
| 5697175 | Schwartz | Dec 1997 | A |
| 5705047 | Lee | Jan 1998 | A |
| 5707891 | Izumi | Jan 1998 | A |
| 5708428 | Phillips | Jan 1998 | A |
| 5722760 | Chien | Mar 1998 | A |
| 5726535 | Yan | Mar 1998 | A |
| 5726786 | Heflinger | Mar 1998 | A |
| 5734337 | Kupersmit | Mar 1998 | A |
| 5734343 | Urbish | Mar 1998 | A |
| 5736925 | Knauff | Apr 1998 | A |
| 5739552 | Kimura | Apr 1998 | A |
| 5739592 | Rigsby | Apr 1998 | A |
| 5758947 | Glatt | Jun 1998 | A |
| 5760531 | Pederson | Jun 1998 | A |
| 5781105 | Bitar | Jul 1998 | A |
| 5783909 | Hochstein | Jul 1998 | A |
| 5785418 | Hochstein | Jul 1998 | A |
| 5786918 | Suzuki | Jul 1998 | A |
| 5789768 | Lee | Aug 1998 | A |
| 5793062 | Kish, Jr. | Aug 1998 | A |
| 5796376 | Banks | Aug 1998 | A |
| 5804822 | Brass | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5805081 | Fikacek | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5805209 | Yuge | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5806965 | Deese | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5808592 | Mizutani | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5809161 | Auty | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5809681 | Miyamoto | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5810833 | Brady | Sep 1998 | A |
| 5818421 | Ogino | Oct 1998 | A |
| 5826965 | Lyons | Oct 1998 | A |
| 5828055 | Jebens | Oct 1998 | A |
| 5831155 | Hewitt | Nov 1998 | A |
| 5838024 | Masuda | Nov 1998 | A |
| 5838116 | Katyl | Nov 1998 | A |
| 5838247 | Bladowski | Nov 1998 | A |
| 5838259 | Tonkin | Nov 1998 | A |
| 5848837 | Gustafson | Dec 1998 | A |
| 5860135 | Sugita | Jan 1999 | A |
| 5872646 | Alderman | Feb 1999 | A |
| 5875261 | Fitzpatrick | Feb 1999 | A |
| 5884997 | Stanuch | Mar 1999 | A |
| 5898381 | Gartner | Apr 1999 | A |
| 5900850 | Bailey | May 1999 | A |
| 5917637 | Ishikawa | Jun 1999 | A |
| 5929788 | Vukosic | Jul 1999 | A |
| 5931562 | Arato | Aug 1999 | A |
| 5931570 | Yamuro | Aug 1999 | A |
| 5932860 | Plesko | Aug 1999 | A |
| 5934694 | Schugt | Aug 1999 | A |
| 5936417 | Nagata | Aug 1999 | A |
| 5939996 | Kniveton | Aug 1999 | A |
| 5948038 | Daly | Sep 1999 | A |
| 5959752 | Ota | Sep 1999 | A |
| 5960135 | Ozawa | Sep 1999 | A |
| 5965879 | Leviton | Oct 1999 | A |
| 5966073 | Walton | Oct 1999 | A |
| 5975714 | Vetorino | Nov 1999 | A |
| 5990802 | Maskeny | Nov 1999 | A |
| 5991085 | Rallison | Nov 1999 | A |
| 6009650 | Lamparter | Jan 2000 | A |
| 6014237 | Abeles | Jan 2000 | A |
| 6018899 | Hanitz | Feb 2000 | A |
| 6028694 | Schmidt | Feb 2000 | A |
| 6035053 | Yoshioka | Mar 2000 | A |
| 6035055 | Wang | Mar 2000 | A |
| 6035074 | Fujimoto | Mar 2000 | A |
| 6067010 | Wang | May 2000 | A |
| 6067011 | Leslie | May 2000 | A |
| 6067018 | Skelton | May 2000 | A |
| 6072893 | Luo | Jun 2000 | A |
| 6081206 | Kielland | Jun 2000 | A |
| 6081304 | Kuriyama | Jun 2000 | A |
| 6086229 | Pastrick | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6091025 | Cotter | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6094148 | Henry | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6095661 | Lebens | Aug 2000 | A |
| 6095663 | Pond | Aug 2000 | A |
| 6102696 | Osterwalder | Aug 2000 | A |
| 6106137 | Adams | Aug 2000 | A |
| 6111671 | Bahuguna | Aug 2000 | A |
| 6118388 | Morrison | Sep 2000 | A |
| 6121898 | Moetteli | Sep 2000 | A |
| 6126087 | Hedger | Oct 2000 | A |
| 6159005 | Herold | Dec 2000 | A |
| 6166496 | Lys | Dec 2000 | A |
| 6177678 | Brass | Jan 2001 | B1 |
| 6183100 | Suckow | Feb 2001 | B1 |
| 6188738 | Sakamoto | Feb 2001 | B1 |
| 6243492 | Kamei | Jun 2001 | B1 |
| 6249340 | Jung | Jun 2001 | B1 |
| 6268788 | Gray | Jul 2001 | B1 |
| 6271814 | Kaoh | Aug 2001 | B1 |
| 6271815 | Yang | Aug 2001 | B1 |
| 6271913 | Jung | Aug 2001 | B1 |
| 6292575 | Bortolussi | Sep 2001 | B1 |
| 6293904 | Blazey | Sep 2001 | B1 |
| 6318886 | Stopa | Nov 2001 | B1 |
| 6352358 | Lieberman | Mar 2002 | B1 |
| 6367949 | Pederson | Apr 2002 | B1 |
| 6369849 | Rzyski | Apr 2002 | B1 |
| 6377558 | Dent | Apr 2002 | B1 |
| 6380865 | Pederson | Apr 2002 | B1 |
| 6389115 | Swistock | May 2002 | B1 |
| 6389155 | Funayama | May 2002 | B2 |
| 6396954 | Kondo | May 2002 | B1 |
| 6400828 | Covell | Jun 2002 | B2 |
| 6411022 | Machida | Jun 2002 | B1 |
| 6424269 | Pederson | Jul 2002 | B1 |
| 6426599 | Leeb | Jul 2002 | B1 |
| 6461008 | Pederson | Oct 2002 | B1 |
| 6462669 | Pederson | Oct 2002 | B1 |
| 6469631 | Pederson | Oct 2002 | B1 |
| 6472996 | Pederson | Oct 2002 | B1 |
| 6476726 | Pederson | Nov 2002 | B1 |
| 6504487 | Pederson | Jan 2003 | B1 |
| 6504646 | Amoruso | Jan 2003 | B1 |
| 6532212 | Soloway | Mar 2003 | B1 |
| 6547410 | Pederson | Apr 2003 | B1 |
| 6548967 | Dowling | Apr 2003 | B1 |
| 6590343 | Pederson | Jul 2003 | B2 |
| 6590502 | Pederson | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| 6600274 | Hughes | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| 6600899 | Radomsky | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| 6614359 | Pederson | Sep 2003 | B2 |
| 6623151 | Pederson | Sep 2003 | B2 |
| 6683590 | Pang | Jan 2004 | B1 |
| 6690294 | Zierden | Feb 2004 | B1 |
| 6693551 | Pederson | Feb 2004 | B2 |
| 6705745 | Pederson | Mar 2004 | B1 |
| 6707389 | Pederson | Mar 2004 | B2 |
| 6788217 | Pederson | Sep 2004 | B2 |
| 6814459 | Pederson | Nov 2004 | B2 |
| 6819654 | Soloway | Nov 2004 | B2 |
| 6819677 | Nouzovsky | Nov 2004 | B1 |
| 6822578 | Pederson | Nov 2004 | B2 |
| 6844824 | Vukosic | Jan 2005 | B2 |
| 6879263 | Pederson | Apr 2005 | B2 |
| 6892942 | Widl | May 2005 | B1 |
| 7006768 | Franklin | Feb 2006 | B1 |
| 7023469 | Olson | Apr 2006 | B1 |
| 7046160 | Pederson | May 2006 | B2 |
| 7102665 | Chandler | Sep 2006 | B1 |
| 7103614 | Kucik | Sep 2006 | B1 |
| 7183895 | Bazakos | Feb 2007 | B2 |
| 7230884 | Shemesh | Jun 2007 | B2 |
| 7289731 | Thinguldstad | Oct 2007 | B2 |
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| 7321757 | Yamashita | Jan 2008 | B2 |
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| 7439847 | Pederson | Oct 2008 | B2 |
| 7439874 | Sotiriou | Oct 2008 | B2 |
| 7529488 | Burdick | May 2009 | B2 |
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| 20030156037 | Pederson | Aug 2003 | A1 |
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| 20030185340 | Frantz | Oct 2003 | A1 |
| 20030212996 | Wolzien | Nov 2003 | A1 |
| 20030222587 | Dowling | Dec 2003 | A1 |
| 20040028349 | Nagasaka | Feb 2004 | A1 |
| 20040044709 | Cabrera | Mar 2004 | A1 |
| 20040101312 | Cabrera | May 2004 | A1 |
| 20040151344 | Farmer | Aug 2004 | A1 |
| 20040153229 | Gokturk | Aug 2004 | A1 |
| 20040208599 | Swartz | Oct 2004 | A1 |
| 20050002673 | Okano | Jan 2005 | A1 |
| 20050005794 | Inukai | Jan 2005 | A1 |
| 20050057941 | Pederson | Mar 2005 | A1 |
| 20050111533 | Berkman | May 2005 | A1 |
| 20050111700 | OBoyle | May 2005 | A1 |
| 20050169643 | Franklin | Aug 2005 | A1 |
| 20050231128 | Franklin | Oct 2005 | A1 |
| 20060039698 | Pautler | Feb 2006 | A1 |
| 20060056855 | Nakagawa | Mar 2006 | A1 |
| 20060132382 | Jannard | Jun 2006 | A1 |
| 20060149813 | Janik | Jul 2006 | A1 |
| 20060192672 | Gidge | Aug 2006 | A1 |
| 20060193634 | Wang | Aug 2006 | A1 |
| 20060213731 | Lesesky | Sep 2006 | A1 |
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| 20070110446 | Hong | May 2007 | A1 |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160165694 A1 | Jun 2016 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61778672 | Mar 2013 | US | |
| 61867731 | Aug 2013 | US | |
| 61927638 | Jan 2014 | US | |
| 61927663 | Jan 2014 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14208129 | Mar 2014 | US |
| Child | 15042830 | US |
