Method for assigning controllable luminaire devices to control groups

Abstract

A method for automatically assigning a group address to a first controllable luminaire device of a plurality of controllable luminaire devices. The method determines whether adding the first controllable luminaire device to a logical community of controllable luminaire devices causes a number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed an established threshold. When it is determined that adding the first controllable luminaire device to the logical community of luminaire devices causes the number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, the method automatically assigns to each of the plurality of luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices a group address for use in simultaneously controlling the luminaire devices as a group.

Description

BACKGROUND

U.S. Pat. No. 10,178,739 describes a method for automatically assigning a controllable luminaire device to a control group for commonly controlling the controllable luminaire devices that are assigned to that control group. A controllable luminaire device may comprise, for example, a luminaire unit with an integrated controller or a luminaire unit that is coupled to a separate controller. The controller includes an interface for coupling the controller to a lighting network and the controller is configured to control the luminaire unit based on commands received from the lighting network via the interface. According to the described method, a sensor value from a sensor unit assigned to a controllable luminaire device is determined. The sensor unit is coupled to the controller such that the controller can communicate the sensor value from the sensor unit to the lighting network. The controllable luminaire device is then assigned to a control group based on the sensor value.

SUMMARY

A method for automatically assigning a group address to a first controllable luminaire device of a plurality of controllable luminaire devices is described. The method generally determines whether adding the first controllable luminaire device to a logical community of controllable luminaire devices causes a number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed an established threshold. When it is determined that adding the first controllable luminaire device to the logical community of luminaire devices causes the number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, the method automatically assigns to each of the plurality of luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices a group address for use in simultaneously controlling the luminaire devices as a group.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, properties and relationships of the subject method for assigning controllable luminaire devices to control groups will be obtained from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth illustrative examples which are indicative of the various ways in which the principles hereinafter described may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the subject method for assigning controllable luminaire devices to control groups, reference may be had to the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example light system; and

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method for assigning a group address to a controllable luminaire.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIG. 1, an example lighting system is schematically illustrated. In the illustrated lighting system, a plurality of controllable luminaire devices 10 are intended to be controlled via use of a network control device 12. To allow the network control device 12 to control each of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices 10, each of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices 10 includes or is otherwise associated with a corresponding controller having a lighting interface which lighting interface is, in turn, communicatively coupled via a network 14 to an interface 16 that is integral with or associated with the network control device 12. As further illustrated, the network control device 12 includes a processing device 18, a memory device 20, and a further interface 22 for allowing the network control device 12 to receive commands, data, etc. from one or more further devices, such as a sensor, a switch, a remote control, a computing device, and the like. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the memory device 20 has stored thereon instructions that are executable by the processing device 18 to cause the network control device 12 to perform various operations in response to communications received via the further interface 20, for example, to cause the network control device 12 to issue communications via the network 14 for the purpose of controlling functional operations of one or more of the controllable luminaire devices 10.

In the illustrated example, the network 14 comprises a “DALI” (digital addressable lighting interface) lighting network that enables comprehensive control of the plurality of luminaire devices 10 via use of the network control device 12. More particularly, in accordance with the “DALI” standard, a “DALI” capable network control device 12 can use the “DALI” protocol to individually address/control up to sixty-four luminaire devices 10 and to simultaneously address/control up to sixteen groups of luminaire devices 10 via use of multicast and broadcast messages. Control of a luminaire device 10 may include turning a luminaire unit on or off, setting a dim level of a luminaire unit, setting a color or optical exposure level for a luminaire unit, etc.

To setup the system for such control, a “commissioning” procedure is utilized to assign to each luminaire device 10 a unique short address, for example in the numeric range 0 to 63. During the commissioning process a luminaire device 10 may also be associated within the system to a logical community of luminaire devices 10, e.g., be associated with other luminaire devices 10 located within a given location (such as a room), associated with other luminaire devices 10 that are to be controlled via use of the same input (such as a switch signal), etc. To control each luminaire device 10 within a logical community of luminaire devices 10, the network control device 12 may issue, via the network 14, an individual command to each luminaire device 10 using the unique address assigned to each luminaire device 10 within the logical community of luminaire devices 10. Alternatively, the network control device 12 may issue, via the network 14, a group command using one of the available sixteen group addresses that would have had to have been previously provisioned to each luminaire device 10 within the logical community of luminaire devices 10. It will be appreciated that the memory 20 (or external memory accessible by the control device 12) may be utilized to store a mapping between each luminaire device 10, its individual address, its logical community association (if any), and its group address (if any).

Turning to FIG. 2, a method for dynamically managing the provisioning of group addresses to luminaire devices 10 within a logical community of luminaire devices 10 is generally illustrated. In this regard, it is to be understood that, because issuing individual commands to each luminaire device 10 within a logical group of luminaire devices 10, i.e., “emulating” a group, can result in an unwanted “cascade” or “popcorn/raindrop” effect, e.g., an effect wherein the lights will turn on/off at different perceptible times depending upon the timing of the issuance of each individual command to each individual luminaire device 10, it is desired that luminaire devices 10 within a relatively larger logical community of luminaire devices 10, i.e., a logical community of luminaire devices 10 that exceeds a threshold number of luminaire devices 10, be controlled simultaneously via use of a group addressed command.

Accordingly, to this end, when the network control device 12 (or other computing device associated with the system) determines during a commissioning of a luminaire device 10 (or during a process in which a logical community association of a luminaire device is being changed) that the luminaire device 10 is being associated with one or more existing logical communities of luminaire devices 10 and the additional of the luminaire device 10 to an existing logical community of luminaire devices 10 causes that logical community of luminaire devices 10 to exceed an established threshold, the control device 12 may cause each luminaire device 10 in that logical community of luminaire devices 10 to be automatically provisioned with an available one (if any) of the sixteen group addresses. Of course, if an identical logical community of luminaire devices 10 is already associated with one of the sixteen group addresses, the luminaire device 10 being commissioned and being designated for inclusion within such logical community of luminaire device 10 can itself be provided with the group address that has already been associated with that logical community of luminaire devices 10. In the event a logical community of luminaire devices 10 does not exceed the established threshold, the luminaire devices 10 within that logical community of luminaire devices 10 will continue to be controllable as a group only via use of individual command issuances as described above.

In some circumstances, the threshold value may initially be set to two (or some other value as desired) and be thereafter set to a pre-established, higher value upon all sixteen of the group addresses being associated with a corresponding sixteen logical communities of luminaire devices 10. Preferably, the threshold is set to a value that avoids “thrashing” of the process (i.e. needless processing time wasted for smaller logical community sizes) while ensuring that the groups be of a size where the group “emulation” cascade effect noted above is avoided for larger logical communities of luminaire devices that would be most impacted thereby. In this example in which all of the sixteen group addresses have been provisioned, the control device 12 (or other computing device associated with the system) will again determine during a commissioning of a luminaire device 10 (or during a process in which a logical community association of a luminaire device is being changed) whether the luminaire device 10 is being associated with one or more existing logical communities of luminaire devices 10 and whether the addition of the luminaire device 10 to an existing logical community of luminaire devices 10 causes that logical community of luminaire devices 10 to exceed the threshold. In response to it being determined that a logical community of luminaire devices 10 will now exceed the threshold, the system may associate the group address that was associated with a logical community of luminaire devices 10 that is below the threshold with this larger logical community of luminaire devices 10 and, accordingly, automatically de-provision the group address from each luminaire device 10 in the smaller group while automatically provisioning that group address to each luminaire device 10 in the larger group. As a result of this process, the luminaire devices 10 within the smaller logical community of luminaire devices will only be controllable as a group via use of individual command issuances as described above. It will also be appreciated that, as logical community associations within the system are caused to be changed, e.g., as a result of combining, collapsing, and/or diverging of logical communities, the method steps set forth above are to be repeated to decide how to best allocate the group addresses as particularly shown in FIG. 2.

In the event that conflicts arise when determining which logical community of luminaire devices to select for “un-group” messaging, for example when two logical communities have the same, smaller number of luminaire devices 10 associated therewith, at the time of logical community creation can be utilized to select one of the conflicting logical communities for “un-grouping” or some other conflict resolution criteria and/or process may be established as desired. Furthermore, in instances where all logical communities of luminaire devices 10 will exceed the established threshold, the system may perform the same steps as described above by selecting the logical community having the smallest number of members (or the smallest logical community selected by use on any desired conflict resolution process) for de-provisioning whereupon the group address released by that logical community will be provisioned to the larger logical community of luminaire devices 10.

While specific examples have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of this disclosure. For example, in some circumstances, the system may request user/operator confirmation before taking any provisioning and/or de-provisioning actions. In addition, the method describe herein could be utilized in response to a user/operator simply changing a logical community association of a luminaire device 10 that was previously provisioned within the system, i.e., where a change causes one or more logical communities of luminaire devices 10 to increase in size. Accordingly, the arrangements disclosed herein are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof

Claims

1. A method for automatically assigning a group address to a controllable luminaire device of a plurality of controllable luminaire devices, comprising: receiving an indication that the controllable luminaire device is to be added to a logical community of controllable luminaire devices;determining whether adding the controllable luminaire device to the logical community of controllable luminaire devices causes a number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed an established threshold;when it is determined that adding the controllable luminaire device to the logical community of luminaire devices causes the number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, automatically assigning to each of the plurality of luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices a group address and thereafter using a command addressed to the group address to commonly control those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group; andwhen it is determined that adding the controllable luminaire device to the logical community of luminaire devices does not causes the number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, using commands addressed to each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of controllable luminaire devices individually to control each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group.

2. A method for automatically assigning a group address to a controllable luminaire device of a plurality of controllable luminaire devices, comprising: receiving an indication that the controllable luminaire device is to be added to a first logical community of controllable luminaire devices;determining whether a one of a plurality of group addresses is available for assignment to the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices;when it is determined that the one of the plurality of group address is available for assignment to the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices, automatically assigning to each of the plurality of luminaire devices within the first logical community of luminaire devices the one of the plurality of group addresses and thereafter using a command addressed to the one of the plurality of group addresses to commonly control those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group;when it is determined that the none of the plurality of group addresses is available for assignment to the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices, determining whether adding the controllable luminaire device to the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices causes a number of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of luminaire devices to exceed an established threshold;when it is determined that adding the controllable luminaire device to the first logical community of luminaire devices does not cause the number of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, using commands addressed to each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices to individually control each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group;when it is determined that adding the controllable luminaire device to the first logical community of luminaire devices causes the number of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, automatically assigning to each of the plurality of luminaire devices within the first logical community of luminaire devices a one of the plurality of group addresses that was previously assigned to a second logical community of luminaire devices, automatically de-assigning the one of the plurality of group addresses that was previously assigned to the second logical community of luminaire devices from each of the plurality of luminaire devices within the second logical community of luminaire device, and thereafter using a command addressed to the one of the plurality of group addresses that was previously assigned to the second logical community of luminaire device to commonly control those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the first logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group and using commands addressed to each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the second logical community of controllable luminaire devices to individually control each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the second logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the second logical community of controllable luminaire devices comprises a logical community of controllable luminaire devices that does not exceed in number the established threshold.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the second logical community of controllable luminaire devices comprises a logical community of controllable luminaire devices that is smallest in number.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the second logical community of controllable luminaire devices comprises a logical community of controllable luminaire devices that is smallest in number and which is selected via use of a conflict resolution process.

6. A method for automatically assigning a group address to a controllable luminaire device of a plurality of controllable luminaire devices, comprising: receiving an indication that the controllable luminaire device is to be removed from to a logical community of controllable luminaire devices;determining whether removing the controllable luminaire device from the logical community of controllable luminaire devices causes a number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed an established threshold; andwhen it is determined that removing the controllable luminaire device from the logical community of luminaire devices does not causes the number of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of luminaire devices to exceed the established threshold, using commands addressed to each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of controllable luminaire devices individually to control each of those controllable luminaire devices of the plurality of controllable luminaire devices within the logical community of controllable luminaire devices as a group.