Patent Application
20160095188
This application claims priority from Indian patent application 4855/CHE/2014, filed on Sep. 29, 2014 and European patent application 14195346.3, filed on Nov. 28, 2014, the entirety of which applications is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention is directed generally to the management of environmental conditions within physical structures. More particularly, various inventive systems and methods disclosed herein relate to adjusting environmental conditions such as lighting conditions, temperature, and humidity based on automatically and manually generated requests. Some inventive systems and methods disclosed herein also relate to monitoring energy consumption and the utilization of resources within physical structures, and adjusting system behavior accordingly.
Digital lighting technologies, i.e. illumination based on semiconductor light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offer a viable alternative to traditional fluorescent, HID, and incandescent lamps. LEDs offer many advantages, including controllability, high energy conversion and optical efficiency, durability, and lower operating costs. Recent advances in controllable LED technology have provided efficient and robust full-spectrum lighting sources that enable a variety of lighting effects in many applications.
Alongside the development of controllable LEDs, rapid developments have been made in the area of sensor technologies. Sensors todays are not only able to effectively measure natural illumination and occupancy, but have also become significantly smaller, and therefore able to easily fit inside small devices, including devices housing controllable LEDs and cameras. For example, existing natural illumination based lighting control systems are able to employ individually controllable luminaires with dimming ballasts as well as one or more natural illumination photo sensors to measure the average workplane illumination within a naturally illuminated space. In such systems, one or more controllers, in order to respond to daylight egress and maintain a minimum workplane illumination, may monitor the output of one or more photosensors and control illumination provided by the luminaires.
More recently, innovations in the realms of wireless communication and smart mobile devices have launched a generation of smart phones and tablet computers with unparalleled mobility and computational power. For example, mobile smart phones with access to applications on cloud servers are able to gather, and process data from their immediate environments in real time. Additionally, location-based services allow for the customization of information delivered to mobile devices. Smart mobile devices, used in conjunction with controllable LEDs and appropriate sensors can therefore be used to customize illumination in physical spaces in real time.
Today, two other significant technological developments present even greater opportunities for innovations in the area of environmental management and control: Power over Ethernet (PoE) and Coded Light (CL). PoE allows for the delivery of electrical power along with data over a single cable to devices such as lighting devices, IP cameras or wireless access points. The advent of PoE technology makes it feasible to power devices in remote locations within building structures, by significantly reducing the need for electricians to install conduit, electrical wiring, and outlets. Unlike other devices, the potential location of a PoE device is not limited based on the placement of AC outlets within a structure. For example, PoE allows wireless LAN access points to be placed on ceilings for more optimal RF reception.
CL technology can be used to embed unique identifiers, or codes, into the light output from different light sources. Using these identifiers, the light emanating from a specific light source can be differentiated even in the presence of illumination contributions from multiple other light sources. CL can therefore be used to identify and locate individual light sources and devices relative to other such sources and devices. The use of light as a means for device identification, location and communication opens the door to innovative systems and methods for managing environmental conditions by allowing fine-grained interactions between devices such as individually controllable LEDs, sensors, and control devices such as smart phones that were not previously feasible.
Existing systems and methods for managing environmental conditions within physical structures do not simultaneously leverage the benefits of the aforementioned technologies. Some existing systems merely utilize controllable LEDs and sensors to automatically control lighting in areas such as offices and living rooms in response to changes in, for example, occupancy and natural illumination in the area. Other existing systems provide mobile applications that allow users to remotely control the behavior of lighting devices within such spaces. But no existing system provides the hardware and software infrastructure necessary to effectively manage the complex interaction of a multitude of PoE and CL enabled devices (e.g. lighting devices and HVAC appliances), smart mobile controllers, wall-mounted controllers, and sensors monitoring the activity and environmental conditions in large facilities such as office buildings. The effective management of environmental conditions within such spaces poses several unique technological challenges discussed below. The embodiments disclosed herein offer solutions to these and other challenges.
Large office buildings or other large commercial buildings usually have areas that are used for a variety of purposes. An office building may have conference or meeting rooms, large open-plan spaces with a multitude of cell offices, hallways, cafeterias, and auditoriums. Some of these areas may be generally used for group discussions or large presentations (e.g. conference rooms and auditoriums), while others may be used for individual work (e.g. cell offices). Given their different purposes, some modes of controlling environmental conditions (e.g. personalized control) may therefore be better suited to some areas (e.g. cell offices) rather than other areas (auditoriums and cafeterias). Unlike single family homes or apartments, large office buildings also accommodate sizable numbers of individuals, often in close quarters. These individuals may have differing and often conflicting interests regarding environmental conditions they wish to create in the spaces they occupy. When the same space is being used by different individuals, therefore, it is crucial to resolve conflicting requests to adjust environmental conditions in a meaningful rather than arbitrary way. Moreover, the amount of control a user may be allowed to exert in any space may depend on his or her role within an organization. It may be problematic, for example, if an employee attending a presentation in a large auditorium is able to use an application on his/her smart phone to change lighting conditions in the whole auditorium at any time.
Managing environmental conditions inside large structures therefore involves effectively prioritization and coordinating the potentially numerous concurrent control requests arising from a large number of stationary and mobile controllers representing a variety of users. These requests would need to be successfully routed to appropriate lighting devices and HVAC appliances in order to produce the requested changes within a time frame that also reasonably meets user expectations.
The variety of lighting and HVAC devices/appliances that typically operate in large buildings presents another fundamental challenge to any system for controlling environmental conditions. These devices do not all produce data in the same format, nor do they all support communications over the same protocols. Yet, under many circumstances, it may be necessary for these devices to communicate with each other, directly or through intermediate modules. To ensure that devices are able to communicate with each other, either direct or indirectly, when necessary, systems for managing environmental conditions will need to provide the means necessary for such communication to occur.
Yet another challenge facing systems for managing environmental conditions is that once the numerous sensor, control and other devices and system components are installed and operational within a large structure, new devices designed to produce or receive data in formats not supported by the system become available. For systems for managing environmental conditions in large structures, this problem is even more acute since these systems likely utilize many more types of devices as compared to simpler systems for managing environmental conditions in smaller spaces such as residential homes. Such larger-scale systems will need to be adaptable enough to accommodate the use of such new devices in order to be able to take advantage of improvements in technology. As a result, it is very important that these systems are designed to be easily extensible to accommodate new devices and technologies so that they may be integrated into the system with minimal effort and without undue disruption to the operation of the system.
Although existing systems for managing environmental conditions in relatively smaller spaces, such as in apartments or homes, may monitor device usage for a variety of reasons, the amount of such usage data generated by such systems is relatively small. By contrast, a large building or structure will likely generate large amounts of usage data due to the large numbers of devices (lighting and HVAC devices and sensors) in these structures. This data will need to be gathered, categorized and analyzed in order for the system to gain any useful insights for use in, for example, fine tuning existing energy conservation strategies. In order to make good use of the data, without overwhelming or degrading the performance of the system as a whole, a system for managing environmental conditions in a large structure needs to be designed to accommodate the potentially large influx of usage data. Some such systems may be designed such that the management of usage data is significantly decentralized. For example, device usage data gathered from different floors of a building may be managed by separate modules using separate data storage facilities.
Lastly, while there are privacy issues surrounding the management of usage data in smaller settings, the issues are not comparable in scale to the privacy issues that must be dealt with in much larger settings. For example, an environment management system designed for a residential setting such as an apartment may only have a few individual users whose personal information needs to be handled in a manner that does not create risk of disclosure to unintended parties. By contrast, a large entity occupying a large office space may have hundreds of users who frequent the space, accessing various system components via a multitude of user interfaces on a variety of devices, including their personal mobile devices. For example, the use of personal mobile computing devices as controllers for CL enabled lighting and other devices can result in, for example, useful but sensitive associations between a user's identity and particular frequented spaces. Accordingly, the design of environment management systems for deployment in large structures needs to provide for the implementation of strategies to prevent both unauthorized access to such sensitive information from within the system itself (e.g. one system user accessing information on the whereabouts of another), and from outside the system (e.g. cyber security breaches exposing such sensitive information to the outside world).
No existing system for managing environmental conditions provides solutions to at least the aforementioned challenges. The systems and methods presented below provide solutions designed to address these and other challenges.
Various embodiments are directed herein to systems and methods for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure, in order to address the problems set forth in the previous section. This section presents a simplified summary of some of these methods and systems in order to provide a basic understanding of various system components, the interaction between such components, and the various steps involved in various embodiments. This summary is not intended as an exhaustive overview of all inventive embodiments. The system components and method steps described in this section are not necessarily critical components or steps. The purpose of this summary section is to present an overview of various concepts in a more simplified form, as an introduction to the detailed description that follows.
Various embodiments disclose a system for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure. The system comprises at least one commissioned unit configured to transmit a coded light signal comprising one or more identification codes, and an environment control device configured to receive the coded light signal from the at least one IP luminaire, to detect user input indicating one or more preferred environmental conditions, and to transmit an environment control request comprising the one or more preferred environmental conditions. In various embodiments, the aforementioned system also comprises one or more processors executing an environment manager module configured to receive the environment control request, to generate an environment control command using the control request, and to transmit the environment control command to the commissioned unit.
In various aspects, the environment manager module is configured to monitor usage of the at least one commissioned unit, and to provide one or more user interfaces for visualizing usage data associated with the commissioned unit. In some aspects, the at least one commissioned unit is configured to receive power from a PoE switch, and comprises a plurality of IP luminaires, each IP luminaire being communicatively connected with one or more sensors, one or more controllable light sources, and a luminaire control module. The one or more sensors are configured to detect at least one of: motion, occupancy, sound, and the presence of one or more gases, or measure at least one of: illumination, humidity, and temperature.
In some other aspects, the environment manager module is configured to determine at least one of: whether a type of control associated with the received environment control request is enabled with respect to the commissioned unit, the type of control comprising personal control; and whether the received environment control request conflicts with another higher-priority control request associated with the commissioned unit.
In many embodiments, the aforementioned system further comprises one or more processors executing a commissioning module for associating one or more devices with the system for managing environmental conditions. The associating comprises localizing one or more devices. The localization comprises mapping each device to at least one physical location within the physical structure. The associating also comprises associating, in a memory, at least one of the one or more devices with a first commissioned unit, and linking the first commissioned unit with a second commissioned unit, the linking comprising associating, in a memory, the first and second commissioned units. In some aspects of the aforementioned system, the first memory is accessible to at least the one or more devices associated with the first commissioned unit, and the second memory is accessible to at least the one or more devices associated with the first and second commissioned units.
In some aspects, the commissioning module is configured to update at least one memory accessible to the environment manager module, using at least one value representing a parameter associated with the at least one of the one or more devices, the first commissioned unit or the second commissioned unit. In some other aspects, the commissioned unit of the aforementioned system that is configured to receive the environment control command, is further configured to alert any commissioned units with which it is linked, of changes in its own operational status and changes in the status of a zone with which it is associated. The alerting may involve direct or synchronous modes of communication, where the commissioned unit transmits signals indicative of the changes to each of its linked commissioned units. The alerting may also involve more indirect or asynchronous modes of communication. For example, the commissioned unit may inform an executing module of its operational status change; the executing module may access a memory to determine which other commissioned units are linked to the commissioned unit; and the executing module may thereafter notify each of the linked commissioned units of the status change.
In various aspects, the aforementioned system also comprises one or more processors executing a gateway module that is communicatively connected to a commissioning module and to an environment manager module. The gateway module is configured to receive an environment control command from one of: the environment manager module, the commissioning module, a device and a commissioned unit. And the gateway module is also configured to convert the control command into a format suitable for at least one of: a destination device or a destination commissioned unit.
In some aspects, the gateway module is further configured to receive monitoring data comprising the operational status and energy consumption data from one or more commissioned units or devices, and to convert the received monitoring data into a format suitable for the environment manager module.
Various embodiments disclose another system for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure. The system comprises a sensor in a designated zone within the physical structure configured to produce data indicative of at least one of: motion, occupancy, sound, the presence of one or more gases, illumination, humidity, and temperature. The system also comprises a commissioned unit comprising a gateway module communicatively connected to at least the sensor and an environment manager module. The commissioned unit is configured to receive the data produced by the sensor, to determine that the sensor data represents a status change associated with the designated zone, and to update one or more memories accessible to the environment manager module in accordance with the data representing the status change.
Some embodiments disclose a system for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure. The system comprises at least one commissioned unit configured to transmit a first signal comprising one or more identification codes. The system also comprises an environment control device configured to receive the first signal from the at least one commissioned unit, to detect user input indicating one or more preferred environmental conditions, and to transmit an environment control request comprising the one or more preferred environmental conditions. Further, the system comprises one or more processors executing an environment manager module configured to receive the environment control request, to generate an environment control command using the control request, and to transmit the environment control command to the commissioned unit.
Some embodiments disclose a method for identifying devices for association as a single commissioned unit within a system for managing environmental conditions. The method comprises a first step of a first plurality of devices, each transmitting a coded light signal comprising a unique identification code. In a second step, a mobile device receives the coded light signals from the first plurality of devices, and transmits a commissioning request comprising unique identification codes of a second plurality of devices that are located in a region proximate to the mobile device, the second plurality of devices comprising one or more devices from the first plurality of devices. In a third step, a commissioning module receives the commissioning request and associates, in a memory, the second plurality of devices with a first commissioned unit.
Various embodiments disclose a method for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure comprising a plurality of linked commissioned units. The method comprises a first step of one or more occupancy sensors producing data indicating that a designated zone has transitioned from an unoccupied state to an occupied state (910B). The method also comprises a second step of a first one or more luminaires associated with a first one of the plurality of linked commissioned units, producing a background level of illumination within a predetermined reaction period following the production of the sensor data. A third step involves the first one of the plurality of linked commissioned units transmitting data indicative of the state change of the designated zone (930B). And a fourth step involves at least a second one of the plurality of linked commissioned units receiving the data indicative of the state change, and causing at least a second one or more luminaires to alter illumination. In some aspects, the second one of the plurality of linked commissioned units or the at least second one or more luminaires accesses a memory storing lighting scene information prior to the at least second one or more luminaires altering illumination.
Many embodiments disclose yet another method for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure comprising a plurality of linked commissioned units and one or more occupancy sensors. The method comprises a first step of making a first determination, based on occupancy data produced by the one or more occupancy sensors, that a designated zone has transitioned from an occupied state to an unoccupied state. The method also comprises a second step of monitoring additional occupancy data produced by the occupancy sensors for at least part of the duration of a hold period, and making a second determination as to whether or not the designated zone remained in the unoccupied state for the entirety of the hold period. The method includes a fourth step of accessing a memory to identify at least one of the plurality of linked commissioned units associated with the designated zone, and a fifth step wherein, based on the result of the second determination, one or more luminaires of the at least one of the plurality of linked commissioned units fades to a first lower level of illumination over a first grace period that commences following the expiration of the hold period.
In some aspects, the aforementioned method further comprises the following steps. A step of monitoring additional occupancy data produced by the occupancy sensors for at least part of the duration of the first grace period, and making a third determination as to whether or not the designated zone remained in the unoccupied state for the entirety of the first grace period. And another step, wherein, based on the result of the third determination, the one or more luminaires, (a) fades back to a previous higher level of illumination produced prior to the commencement of the first grace period, or (b) completes their transition to the first lower level of illumination. In various other aspects, the aforementioned method further comprises the following steps. A next step of monitoring additional occupancy data produced by the occupancy sensors for at least part of the duration of a prolong period, and making a fourth determination as to whether or not the designated zone remained in the unoccupied state for the entirety of the prolong period. And a further step, wherein, based on the result of the fourth determination, the one or more luminaires, (a) fades back to a previous higher level of illumination produced prior to the commencement of the prolong period, or (b) fades to a level of illumination associated with a switched-off state over a second grace period that commences following the prolong period.
Some embodiments disclose a method for managing environmental conditions within a physical structure comprising a plurality of linked commissioned units and one or more illumination sensors. The method comprises a first step of the one or more illumination sensors indicating a change in illumination in a work zone. A second step involves at least one of the plurality of commissioned units associated with the work zone and communicatively connected to the one or more sensors, receiving the indication of the change in illumination, and making a first determination as to whether or not an amount of change associated with the indication of change in illumination is greater than a preset amount. In a further third step, based on the first determination, the at least one of the plurality of commissioned units accesses the output of the one or more illumination sensors, and makes a second determination as to whether or not a level of illumination in the work zone is at or above a preset level of illumination. In a fourth step, at least one luminaire within the work zone transitions to (a) providing a predetermined minimum level of illumination over a first fade period if the second determination indicates the level of illumination in the work zone as being at or above the preset level of illumination, or (b) providing a predetermined maximum level of illumination over a second fade period if the second determination indicates the level of illumination in the work zone as being below the preset level of illumination.
Other embodiments may include a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor to perform a method such as one or more of the methods described herein. Yet other embodiments may include a system including a memory and one or more processors operable to execute instructions, stored in the memory, to perform a method such as one or more of the methods described herein.
As used herein for purposes of the present disclosure, the term “LED” should be understood to include any electroluminescent diode or other type of carrier injection/junction-based system that is capable of generating radiation in response to an electric signal and/or acting as a photodiode. Thus, the term LED includes, but is not limited to, various semiconductor-based structures that emit light in response to current, light emitting polymers, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), electroluminescent strips, and the like. In particular, the term LED refers to light emitting diodes of all types (including semiconductor and organic light emitting diodes) that may be configured to generate radiation in one or more of the infrared spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum, and various portions of the visible spectrum (generally including radiation wavelengths from approximately 400 nanometers to approximately 700 nanometers). Some examples of LEDs include, but are not limited to, various types of infrared LEDs, ultraviolet LEDs, red LEDs, blue LEDs, green LEDs, yellow LEDs, amber LEDs, orange LEDs, and white LEDs (discussed further below). It also should be appreciated that LEDs may be configured and/or controlled to generate radiation having various bandwidths (e.g., full widths at half maximum, or FWHM) for a given spectrum (e.g., narrow bandwidth, broad bandwidth), and a variety of dominant wavelengths within a given general color categorization.
For example, one implementation of an LED configured to generate essentially white light (e.g., a white LED) may include a number of dies which respectively emit different spectra of electroluminescence that, in combination, mix to form essentially white light. In another implementation, a white light LED may be associated with a phosphor material that converts electroluminescence having a first spectrum to a different second spectrum. In one example of this implementation, electroluminescence having a relatively short wavelength and narrow bandwidth spectrum “pumps” the phosphor material, which in turn radiates longer wavelength radiation having a somewhat broader spectrum.
It should also be understood that the term LED does not limit the physical and/or electrical package type of an LED. For example, as discussed above, an LED may refer to a single light emitting device having multiple dies that are configured to respectively emit different spectra of radiation (e.g., that may or may not be individually controllable). Also, an LED may be associated with a phosphor that is considered as an integral part of the LED (e.g., some types of white LEDs). In general, the term LED may refer to packaged LEDs, non-packaged LEDs, surface mount LEDs, chip-on-board LEDs, T-package mount LEDs, radial package LEDs, power package LEDs, LEDs including some type of encasement and/or optical element (e.g., a diffusing lens), etc.
The term “light source” should be understood to refer to any one or more of a variety of radiation sources, including, but not limited to, LED-based sources (including one or more LEDs as defined above). A given light source may be configured to generate electromagnetic radiation within the visible spectrum, outside the visible spectrum, or a combination of both. Hence, the terms “light” and “radiation” are used interchangeably herein. Additionally, a light source may include as an integral component one or more filters (e.g., color filters), lenses, or other optical components. Also, it should be understood that light sources may be configured for a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, indication, display, and/or illumination. An “illumination source” is a light source that is particularly configured to generate radiation having a sufficient intensity to effectively illuminate an interior or exterior space. In this context, “sufficient intensity” refers to sufficient radiant power in the visible spectrum generated in the space or environment (the unit “lumens” often is employed to represent the total light output from a light source in all directions, in terms of radiant power or “luminous flux”) to provide ambient illumination (i.e., light that may be perceived indirectly and that may be, for example, reflected off of one or more of a variety of intervening surfaces before being perceived in whole or in part).
The term “spectrum” should be understood to refer to any one or more frequencies (or wavelengths) of radiation produced by one or more light sources. Accordingly, the term “spectrum” refers to frequencies (or wavelengths) not only in the visible range, but also frequencies (or wavelengths) in the infrared, ultraviolet, and other areas of the overall electromagnetic spectrum. Also, a given spectrum may have a relatively narrow bandwidth (e.g., a FWHM having essentially few frequency or wavelength components) or a relatively wide bandwidth (several frequency or wavelength components having various relative strengths). It should also be appreciated that a given spectrum may be the result of a mixing of two or more other spectra (e.g., mixing radiation respectively emitted from multiple light sources).
For purposes of this disclosure, the term “color” is used interchangeably with the term “spectrum.” However, the term “color” generally is used to refer primarily to a property of radiation that is perceivable by an observer (although this usage is not intended to limit the scope of this term). Accordingly, the terms “different colors” implicitly refer to multiple spectra having different wavelength components and/or bandwidths. It also should be appreciated that the term “color” may be used in connection with both white and non-white light.
The terms “lighting fixture” and “luminaire” are used interchangeably herein to refer to an implementation or arrangement of one or more lighting units in a particular form factor, assembly, or package. The term “lighting unit” is used herein to refer to an apparatus including one or more light sources of same or different types. A given lighting unit may have any one of a variety of mounting arrangements for the light source(s), enclosure/housing arrangements and shapes, and/or electrical and mechanical connection configurations. Additionally, a given lighting unit optionally may be associated with (e.g., include, be coupled to and/or packaged together with) various other components (e.g., control circuitry) relating to the operation of the light source(s). An “LED-based lighting unit” refers to a lighting unit that includes one or more LED-based light sources as discussed above, alone or in combination with other non LED-based light sources. A “multi-channel” lighting unit refers to an LED-based or non LED-based lighting unit that includes at least two light sources configured to respectively generate different spectrums of radiation, wherein each different source spectrum may be referred to as a “channel” of the multi-channel lighting unit.
The term “controller” is used herein generally to describe various apparatus relating to the operation of one or more light sources. A controller can be implemented in numerous ways (e.g., such as with dedicated hardware) to perform various functions discussed herein. A “processor” is one example of a controller which employs one or more microprocessors that may be programmed using software (e.g., microcode) to perform various functions discussed herein. A controller may be implemented with or without employing a processor, and also may be implemented as a combination of dedicated hardware to perform some functions and a processor (e.g., one or more programmed microprocessors and associated circuitry) to perform other functions. Examples of controller components that may be employed in various embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, conventional microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
In various implementations, a processor or controller may be associated with one or more storage media (generically referred to herein as “memory,” e.g., volatile and non-volatile computer memory such as RAM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM, floppy disks, compact disks, optical disks, magnetic tape, etc.). In some implementations, the storage media may be encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more processors and/or controllers, perform at least some of the functions discussed herein. Various storage media may be fixed within a processor or controller or may be transportable, such that the one or more programs stored thereon can be loaded into a processor or controller so as to implement various aspects of the present invention discussed herein. The terms “program” or “computer program” are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code (e.g., software or microcode) that can be employed to program one or more processors or controllers.
In one network implementation, one or more devices coupled to a network may serve as a controller for one or more other devices coupled to the network (e.g., in a master/slave relationship). In another implementation, a networked environment may include one or more dedicated controllers that are configured to control one or more of the devices coupled to the network. Generally, multiple devices coupled to the network each may have access to data that is present on the communications medium or media; however, a given device may be “addressable” in that it is configured to selectively exchange data with (i.e., receive data from and/or transmit data to) the network, based, for example, on one or more particular identifiers (e.g., “addresses”) assigned to it.
The term “network” as used herein refers to any interconnection of two or more devices (including controllers or processors) that facilitates the transport of information (e.g. for device control, data storage, data exchange, etc.) between any two or more devices and/or among multiple devices coupled to the network. As should be readily appreciated, various implementations of networks suitable for interconnecting multiple devices may include any of a variety of network topologies and employ any of a variety of communication protocols. Additionally, in various networks according to the present disclosure, any one connection between two devices may represent a dedicated connection between the two systems, or alternatively a non-dedicated connection. In addition to carrying information intended for the two devices, such a non-dedicated connection may carry information not necessarily intended for either of the two devices (e.g., an open network connection). Furthermore, it should be readily appreciated that various networks of devices as discussed herein may employ one or more wireless, wire/cable, and/or fiber optic links to facilitate information transport throughout the network.
The term “user” as user herein refers to any entity, human or artificial, that interacts with systems and methods described herein. For example, the term includes, without limitation, occupants of a space such as an office worker or visitor, remote users of a space, a facility manager, a commissioning engineer, a building IT manager, a service engineer, and an installer.
It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided such concepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that terminology explicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosure incorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most consistent with the particular concepts disclosed herein.
In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
Reference is now made in detail to illustrative embodiments of the invention, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, representative embodiments disclosing specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present teachings. However, it will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art having had the benefit of the present disclosure that other embodiments according to the present teachings that depart from the specific details disclosed herein remain within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, descriptions of well-known systems, apparatuses and methods may be omitted so as to not obscure the description of the representative embodiments. Such systems, methods and apparatuses are clearly within the scope of the present teachings.
Environment manager module 110 may be implemented in hardware, any combination of hardware and computer code (e.g. software or microcode), or entirely in computer code. This module may be executed on one or multiple processors.
In some embodiments, manager module 110 may provide an Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) based central monitoring and management dashboard. Manager module 110 may also provide interactive user interfaces for various features such as the visualization of current lighting or other environmental statuses in system 100A, visualization of occupancy information at various levels of granularity, visualization of energy consumption information at various levels of granularity, visualization of alarms. Additionally, manager module 110 may receive personal control commands (e.g. related to light level and temperature) from smart phone applications and translate such commands into lighting control or HVAC control commands, manage system-wide lighting control, and manage scheduling of tasks. Environment manager module 110 may also participate in software updates, manage monitoring data such as data related to energy consumption and occupancy, and manage alarms and other system health diagnostic data.
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Commissioning module 120 may be implemented in hardware, any combination of hardware and computer code (e.g. software or microcode), or entirely in computer code. This module may be executed on one or multiple processors. In many embodiments of system 100A, commissioning module 120 is used to commission devices such as IP luminaires, switches and sensors. Commissioning module 120 may also be used to prepare a floor plan for a space, discover and associate devices with system 100A, localize devices by, for example, coded light detection techniques. It may also be used for pre-commissioning system 100A and the devices associated with it. For example, commissioning module 120 may be used for creating groups of devices and allocating spaces within a structure for specific purposes. In many embodiments of system 100A, commissioning module 120 may be used to commission devices such as IP luminaires, and control devices, by, for example, localizing devices in accordance with prepared floor plans, programming lighting scenes, configuring device and control parameters, and calibrating sensors. Commissioning module 120 may also be used to for performing software updates. Other functionality associated with commissioning module 120 may be found throughout the specification, and particularly in the description associated with
As depicted in
Gateway module 130 may be implemented in hardware, any combination of hardware and computer code (e.g. software or microcode), or entirely in computer code. This module may be executed on one or multiple processors. In some embodiments, a hardware implementation of gateway module 130 may involve an STM32 chip. Gateway module 130 may be associated with a particular floor of a physical structure, and may send and/or receive data from multiple devices such as IP luminaires located on that floor. In some embodiments, gateway module 130 may send and/or receive data from more than 1000 devices such as IP luminaires, sensors and HVAC devices.
Gateway module 130 is configured to provide a variety of functions. For example, it may provide a gateway between an EnvisionIP interface for use in commissioning luminaires and the RS-485 standard, as well as provide services for translating various application and network protocols. In many embodiments, it may also facilitate the routing of data between multiple gateway modules within system 100A, and participate in system diagnostics and/or hardware roll calls during which the gateway module 130 may determine whether or not devices under its control are still online. Gateway module 130 may also be responsible for caching and/or reporting offline devices to the environment manager module 110. Gateway module 130 may also be responsible for local scheduling tasks and the management of monitoring and diagnostic data. For example, gateway module 130 may monitor one or more areas within a physical structure for energy consumption and occupancy, and diagnose and report system health information on the area level. It may also store area monitoring information. In some embodiments, gateway module 130 monitors all DyNet and EnvisionIP traffic in a part of the system. It may store and/or cache this information, and forward it to the environment manager module 110 so that the environment manager module has an exact overview of the state of all the commissioned devices at any given time. With respect to scheduling, time critical events may be forwarded by gateway module 130 to the environment manager module 110 immediately, while events that are not time critical may be locally cached and uploaded to the manager module 110 in batches. In cases where the manager module 110 cannot be reached, all events may be locally cached and uploaded to the manager module 110 when it becomes reachable again. Gateway module 130 may also interface with an HVAC system associated with system 100A, and discover new devices. In many embodiments, multiple gateway modules such as gateway module 130 may be communicatively linked with a single environment manager module 110, where each gateway module 130 acts as a floor controller for a particular floor of a building. In many embodiments, gateway module 130 may also: log and store all or a subset of received environment control commands; log and report all events and state changes within the system back to the environment manager module 110, send commands coming from the commissioned units that this gateway module 130 controls and/or monitors to another gateway module that controls and/or monitors another part of the system (common area send responsibility); send commands coming from another gateway module that controls and/or monitors another part of the system to the commissioned units that this gateway module 130 controls and/or monitors (common area receive responsibility); (transparently) bridge between EnvisionIP networks and DyNet RS485 networks, allowing the system to be extended, for example, with all existing DyNet (RS485) products; actively monitor, log and store the availability of all commissioned units and devices, and report any change in their availability to the environment manager module 110.
As depicted in
IP luminaire 140 is associated with sensor 140-1, light source 140-2, and control module 140-3. In some embodiments, sensor 140-1 and light source 140-2 are located within the same device or housing. In some embodiments, control module 140-3 comprises computer code (e.g. software or microcode) executing on one or more processors housed within the same device or housing as sensor 140-1 and/or light source 140-2. Light source 140-2 may be capable of performing one or more light actuating functions, such as turning on/off, dimming, and tunable white light or colored light production. Sensor 140-1 is a sensor capable of sensing, for example, one or more of daylight, occupancy, IR, carbon dioxide, humidity and temperature. Control module 140-3 provides one or more control functions for controlling the behavior of other modules and devices, such as one or more of light source 140-2, sensor 140-1, commissioning module 120, environment manager module 110, gateway module 130, and IP luminaire 150.
IP luminaire 140 may provide one or more external interfaces for communicating with other modules of system 100A. For example, IP luminaire 140 may provide an EnvisionIP interface (e.g. links L5 and L7) for use in commissioning light source 140-2 and/or for use by control module 140-3 to influence the behavior of other area luminaires and sensors communicatively connected to itself (e.g. light source 150-2 and sensor 150-1), light source 140-2, or sensor 140-1. IP luminaire 140 may also provide an xCLIP interface for use by control module 140-3 to access and control basic capabilities of light source 140-2 or other light sources communicatively connected to IP luminaire 140. The xCLIP interface may also be used by other system modules (e.g. gateway module 130) for accessing sensor data generated by sensors accessible to IP luminaire 140 (e.g. sensors 140-1 and 150-1), and energy consumption and diagnostic data available to light source 140-2 and/or IP luminaire 140.
Environment control device 160 may be any device for controlling environmental conditions in a space. Such devices include, without limitation, smart phones such as the iPhone®, tablet or handheld computing devices such as the iPad®, laptop computers, touch sensitive and/or voice activated input and/or display devices communicatively connected to one or more processors, and desktop computing devices.
In some embodiments, the components of system 100A depicted in
IR remote control 130 is any device that uses infrared light to issue commands to receiver devices. IR remote control 130 may use link L8 to issue control commands to IP luminaire 140 or its components, such as sensor 140-1 and light source 140-2. In many embodiments of system 100B, link L8 may represent the RC-5 protocol.
In some embodiments, the components depicted in
In LEDs, as voltage increases, current tends to increase rapidly. Accordingly, even small fluctuations in voltage tends to cause large fluctuations in current, which in turn causes damage to LEDs. Due to the risk of damage to LEDs owing to such voltage fluctuations, LED drivers are used to connect LEDs to a voltage source such as a mains power or a battery. LED drivers control input power to the LEDs, so that they may be safely operated. LED drivers 110C-2 and 120C-2 are electronic circuits which convert input power into a current source in which current is constant despite voltage fluctuations. Control modules 110C-1 and 120C-1 may communicate with other system modules over xCLIP interfaces, and with each other over the EnvisionIP interface. ILB sensors 110C-3 and 120C-3 receive control signals from IR remote controls 140C-1 and 140C-2, respectively, over RC5 interfaces. PoE switch 130C receives data over EtherNet/IP interfaces, and transmits the received data as well as electrical power to IP luminaire 110C via PoE and EtherNet/IP interfaces.
Commissioned unit 120D may comprise one or more devices that are associated with each other within a system such as system 100A or 100D, and that behave according to particular configurations of internal triggers (triggers arising from within the commissioned unit) and external triggers (triggers arising outside the commissioned unit). Triggers may include, for example, sensor data, or a manual or central control. A single device may be part of multiple commissioned units. Commissioned units such as commissioned unit 120D may also be hierarchically organized. For example, a commissioned unit may comprise other commissioned units, and may influence the behavior of these commissioned units. In some embodiments, sensor 140D is a sensor in a designated zone within the physical structure. Sensor 140D is configured to produce data indicative of, for example, motion, occupancy, sound, the presence of one or more gases, illumination, humidity, and temperature. In such embodiments, commissioned unit 120D, which is communicatively connected to sensor 140D through link LK and to environment manager module 110 through link L3, is configured to receive the data produced by sensor 140D. Commissioned unit 120D may also be configured to determine whether or not the sensor data represents a status change associated with the designated zone. In many embodiments, commissioned unit 120D is also configured to update, through link LK, at least a memory 130D, in accordance with the sensor data representing the status change.
The distribution layer may consist of one IP switch per floor of the structure, and per core layer router (depicted as Switch Floor 1 (Left), Switch Floor 1 (Right), Switch Floor 2 (Left), Switch Floor 2 (Right) . . . Switch Floor N (Left), Switch Floor N (Right)). In many embodiments, these IP switches support the spanning tree protocol. The edge layer consists of a number of rings (depicted as a single curved arrow through side edge layers) per distribution layer switch, and a gateway module per floor for providing floor-level lighting control. Each ring consists of a number of PoE switches, daisy chained and connected to two ports of the respective distribution layer switch in a ring. Such an arrangement provides the advantage that if a ring of PoE switches is broken at any point in the ring configuration, all of the PoE switches may still be reached over the network.
Router 310 is any networking device that forwards data packets in a computer network. It is connected to PoE power supplies 330 and 340 and area controller 320 via link L1, which provides an xCLIP interface for accessing data from the depicted clusters of luminaires as well as sensor, energy consumption and diagnostics data available from the luminaires. Power over Ethernet or PoE refers to any systems (standardized or ad-hoc) for providing electrical power and data on Ethernet cabling. PoE allows a single cable to provide both a data connection and electrical power to devices such as wireless access points, IP Phones, IP luminaires or IP cameras. Although other standards such as USB can provide power to devices over data cables, PoE allows for far longer cable lengths. In PoE systems, data and power may be carried on the same conductors, or on dedicated conductors on a single cable. PoE therefore eliminates the need for power supplies at the Ethernet/IP device.
Area controller 320 may be implemented in hardware, any combination of hardware and computer code (e.g. software or microcode), or entirely in computer code executing on one or more processors. Area controller 320 may be used to perform various area control functions for a defined area (e.g. a floor of a building). In many embodiments, area controller 320 provides an interactive graphical user interface for system users to manage the control functions. Other such control functionality may be additionally or alternatively be performed by devices such as luminaires or IP luminaires with which area controller 320 interacts. According to some embodiments, area controller 320 may, for example: (a) control multiple commissioned units or zones within a building; (b) be used to group devices and/or commissioned units during the commissioning process; (c) determine area occupancy and adjust lighting for an area accordingly; (d) adjust background light levels or regulate lighting levels based on changes in available natural light for a group of commissioned units; (e) collect and analyze sensor and/or energy consumption data from one or more luminaires and sensors; and (f) participate in scheduling environmental changes such as changes in lighting levels within an area. Software downloads may also occur through the area controller. In many embodiments, the area controller may play an intermediate role, where it fetches a software download from a central server, and distributes the update to respective luminaires and other devices appropriately. Area controller 320 may also act as a security bridge between the luminaire clusters operating within a private lighting network, and a third party private network such as a network comprising a building management system (BMS). In some embodiments, area controller 320 operates within a private IP network, and software tools such as a maintenance tool being executed on an authorized system user's hand held device may exchange data with area controller 320 by temporarily connecting to the IP network.
Luminaires 350-1 through 350-4, and 360-1 through 360-4 may be IP luminaires such as IP luminaire 140 or luminaires comprising light sources such as light source 140-2, described in the context of
Lighting controller dashboard 370 may be, for example, computer code displaying a user interface that is a part of, or executing on one or more processors communicatively connected to, system modules such as environment manager module 110 of
Building controller dashboard 380, floor controller 390, and HVAC controller 395 may be implemented in hardware, any combination of hardware and computer code (e.g. software or microcode), or entirely in computer code executing on one or more processors. These components of embodiment 300B may be used to perform various functions related to the management of a building's HVAC system, such as monitoring and control of a building's temperature and air flow. In many embodiments, building controller dashboard 380 may display a user interface that is a part of, or executing on one or more processors communicatively connected to, system modules such as environment manager module 110 of
In the configuration of embodiment 300B, the lighting subsystem (e.g. luminaire clusters, PoE power supplies, area controller and router) may be communicatively connected to a 3rd party IP network infrastructure, which may also be connected to the Internet. In these embodiments, the building controller dashboard 380, floor controller 390, HVAC controller 395, HVAC active airflow controller 395-1 and temperature controller 395-2 may be integral components of a 3rd party building management system operating within the 3rd party IP network infrastructure. The 3rd party IP network may share building information such as HVAC information with the lighting subsystem and the lighting controller dashboard 370 when necessary. For example, the lighting controller dashboard 370 may display HVAC information such as temperature in particular areas close to commissioned units with large numbers of luminaires. This temperature information may be obtained by the lighting controller dashboard 370 via a connection to the 3rd party IP network infrastructure.
The front end of the environment manager module may be a web-based application that executes on top of an Indoor Service Presentation Framework (ISPF). In
The presentation layer of the environment manager module depicted in
In many embodiments, the presentation layer invokes the service layer using the REST/SOAP interface, as the ISPF exposes available services as REST and SOAP interfaces. These services typically utilize the business objects defined in the business layer to realize their functionality. The service layer may also expose the REST APIs in XML and JSON format, as input and output. Client web applications may interact with the environment manager application executing as a server by invoking the REST/SOAP interface over HTTP/HTTPS using XML/JSON.
The business layer manages business objects that interface with one or more database servers and controllers, in its associated system for managing environmental conditions, via the data access layer and communication gateway. In many embodiments, business objects are modularized such that multiple services associated with the service layer may invoke the same business object to realize its exposed functionality. In many embodiments, one service may use multiple business layer objects to realize its functionality. The business layer may also invoke the message bus for communicating with controllers in its associated system for managing environmental conditions.
The data access layer provides a way to reduce the degree of coupling between business logic and persistence logic. Application business logic often requires domain objects which are persisted in a database. The data access layer allows for the encapsulation of code to perform create, read, update and delete (CRUD) operations against persistence data without affecting the rest of the application layers (e.g. the presentation layer). This means that any change in the persistence logic will not adversely affect any other layers of the environment manager module. The data access layer therefore enables applications such as an environment manager module web-based application to seamlessly integrate with a new database provider.
The mediation engine provides rule-based routing of data within the environment manager module. In some embodiments, the mediation engine may comprise a Java® object-based implementation of enterprise integration patterns that uses an API to configure routing and mediation rules. For example, the rule-based routing of the mediation engine may ensure that all alarm events encountered by the environment manager module are routed to a database for persisting, and all network events are persisted in another database.
The message bus provides queuing functionality and is used for processing all communications from controllers that are received by the environment manager module. Particularly, the message bus provides queuing functionality for the prioritizing of information received from the business layer and from the communication gateway. For example, all information (e.g. requests) received by the communication gateway (e.g. from commissioned units) are routed through the message bus using the mediation engine. Any responses to such requests from the communication gateway are routed through the message bus. In many embodiments, the message bus may be used, for example, for: (a) prioritizing and forwarding communication gateway requests received from the business layer, notification emails and SMS messages; (b) pushing status and alarm messages to the presentation layer for display on a UI; (c) executing asynchronous processes; (d) synchronous and asynchronous messaging; and (d) dispatching messages in serial and in parallel to multiple modules.
In many embodiments, the message bus comprises a synchronization manager component, used for publishing real time updates from controllers and commissioned devices to front end applications. Applications (e.g. a central dashboard presenting information processed by the environment manager module) may subscribe to real time updates from controllers (e.g. alarms, lighting events, energy updates). Whenever a real-time update is received, for example, by the communication gateway, the synchronization manager may notify all subscribers.
The NoSQL database (an in-memory database) is used for storing the most recent 24 hours of trend data. In many embodiments, all the data in the in-memory database shall be stored in a cache and shall not be persisted. In many embodiments, this database is executed in a separate process as compared to the environment manager module itself, and the database may be accessed using SQL.
The database server is used to store control, management and monitoring data. The database server may be local or remote to the environment manager module. If local, the database server may be created during product installation. A remote database may be a new or existing database that may be customer-managed. The database server may access multiple schemas to manage the variety of information it stores. For example, an OpenFire® schema may contain XMPP server related tables. These tables may contain information related to users, rooms, and permissions. A Liferay® schema may contain tables for managing portals, portlets, users, and UI personalization data. An alarm schema may comprise tables for schedule and alarm management.
Communication gateway provides a means for the environment manager module to communicate with devices and commissioned units. In various embodiments, the communication gateway subscribes to device events using COM Java® wrapper classes it uses to communicate with a Field Service Layer (FSL) accessible to the devices and commissioned units (FSL not shown in
In many embodiments, to transmit data to the upper layers from the FSL, the communication gateway converts FSL objects received from the FSL layer to an ISPF common object model. To transmit data from the upper layers of the environment manager module to the FSL (which is how the communication gateway interfaces with commissioned units), the communication gateway converts ISPF common object model objects to FSL objects. In some embodiments, the communication gateway uses the ComfyJ library to communicate with the FSL. The ComfyJ library provides the JNI wrapper classes for the FSL COM objects. In such embodiments, the communication gateway may be executed in a separate JVM process, for which a minimum of 2 GB of heap space may be allocated.
In many embodiments, the communication gateway comprises a communication gateway API, code for converting domain specific objects to the ISP common object model, and ComfyJ generated wrapper classes (e.g. ComfyJ generated wrapper classes of the FSL for control and monitoring purposes). The communication gateway API is typically used for sending and receiving messages from the message bus.
ISPF ETL (Extract Transform and Load) is used to extract data from the NoSQL Audit Schema and transform the data into a star data model for loading into the trend schema of the database server. In many embodiments, ETL is a separate process in ISPF which runs in a separate execution context. The ETL process also runs on a scheduled basis, which is configurable. A default schedule may be to execute the ETL process once every 12 hours.
The analytics layer analyzes data produced by commissioned units and produces textual and graphical reports for display on front end applications. The analytics layer may utilize a report design or publishing toolset to control the look and feel of the reports generated and may also use an analysis toolset (e.g. Pentagon Mondrian) for data analysis. The analytics layer may also provide an online analytical processing (OLAP) solution where data such as lighting network log data is collected into a central repository and analyzed for use by multiple end user applications.
In the embodiment depicted in
As initially discussed above in the context of
In step 500 of
Localization may also involve devices such as luminaires or commissioned units comprising luminaires being triggered to flash and visually identify their location. Localization may also be accomplished using coded light technology. Generally, coded light technology involves a non-visible modulation of light to contain information about the light source, such as a unique identifier and location information. Examples of devices that may be localized using coded light technology includes, without limitation, area controllers, gateway modules, luminaires, ILB sensors, PoE sensors, PoE manual control user interfaces, and PoE switches. During and/or following the localization process, devices may report their properties to a commissioning tool associated, for example, with commissioning module 120 of
In step 510, commissioned units are created. A commissioned unit comprises one or more devices that are associated with each other within a system such as system 100A, and that behave according to particular configurations of internal triggers (triggers arising from within the commissioned unit) and external triggers (triggers arising outside the commissioned unit). Triggers may include, for example, sensor data, or a manual or central control. A device may be part of multiple commissioned units. And commissioned units may be used to define a hierarchy within a physical structure such as a building. For example, a commissioned unit may be (1) a group of devices such as luminaires and sensors, (2) one or more individual devices, or (3) a combination of one or more commissioned units and individual devices. A commissioned unit may also be an area (e.g. a work space, room, corridor) comprising one or more groups of devices such as luminaires, sensors, and controllers.
In many embodiments, a commissioned unit may be assigned one or more templates. Templates are a collection of predefined system settings or device parameter configurations designed to adjust the behavior of one or more devices so as to produce a set of environmental conditions. A system for managing environmental conditions, such as system 100A, operating within a large space may need to create different lighting and other environmental conditions in different parts of the space that face different circumstances (e.g. high foot traffic, low occupancy). Templates provide an efficient mechanism for capturing the preferred behavior of devices in these different spaces under commonly occurring circumstances. Templates may specify, for example, minimum light levels in a corridor of an office building during work hours.
In some embodiments, commissioning of units in step 510 may be rule-based. In rule-based commissioning, multiple devices may be commissioned as a single commissioned unit based on predefined rules. In some such embodiments, the rule may indicate the size of the commissioned unit in terms of the number of devices that may be included as part of the unit. Moreover, other dynamic parameters such as the position of a system user in an area, and the dimensions and mounting positions of the devices around the user, a temporary or permanent commissioned unit may be formed.
In other embodiments, commissioning of units in step 510 may be fixed. In fixed commissioning, pre-commissioned units or groups are created for example, by logically dividing a zone such as an open-plan office into dedicated zones (e.g. task zones, corridors, decorative zones), and creating one or more commissioned units comprising devices that are localized to these dedicated zones.
Grouping multiple devices into a single commissioned unit allows for efficient management of environmental conditions. For example, multiple IP luminaires and their associated sensors may be responsible for illuminating a particular task zone such as a table top. Rather than separately issuing commands to each IP luminaire in the commissioned unit or separately monitoring sensor data for each of the different sensors, systems such as system 100A may issue one command for each commissioned unit when necessary to adjust an environmental condition such as illumination, which may be applied after any necessary processing to all the lighting units within the commissioned unit. Similarly, sensor data from multiple sensors within the commissioned unit may be reported in the aggregate to system 100A modules such as the environment manager module 110, rather that repeatedly reporting sensor data from each individual sensor.
In step 520, commissioned units comprising lighting or HVAC devices are bound to control and sensor devices or commissioned units comprising such devices. The commissioning tool described previously will, in many embodiments, allow an authorized user (e.g. a commissioning engineer) to select sensors (e.g. occupancy sensors, light sensors) for association with commissioned units. Binding commissioned units to particular sensors or types of sensors allows for the creation of commissioned units that are suitable for participating in occupancy-based or daylight-based environmental control. These control mechanisms are described in the context of
In many embodiments of the process depicted in
In step 530, commissioned units are linked. Linking commissioned units generally requires associating the commissioned units in a memory. Once linked, a commissioned unit may affect the behavior of the other commissioned units with which it is linked. For example, whether or not a first commissioned unit switches off its lights when the only remaining occupant of the area leaves, may depend upon whether or not another linked commissioned unit providing illumination in an adjacent area is switched off. In many embodiments, if a first commissioned unit comprising luminaires is linked to a second commissioned unit comprising luminaires, and the first unit detects occupancy, the light produced by the second unit may transition to a preconfigured interlinked light level in response to the detected occupancy. Linking commissioned units, therefore, allows the system to appropriately control environmental conditions in larger spaces (e.g. large open office spaces) by coordinating the response of multiple commissioned units scoped to various areas within these spaces when changes (e.g. changes in occupancy) are detected in just one area.
Under some circumstances, coordinating the behavior of multiple commissioned units may be necessary to provide a comfortable environment for occupants of a large open space within a building. For example, when few occupants are remaining in cell offices within an open-plan office space, it will be energy efficient to turn off lighting in unoccupied areas of the office space. At the same time, it may be beneficial to ensure that illumination in areas adjacent to the occupied cell offices as well as some common corridor areas is maintained in order to avoid a sense of isolation for the remaining occupants of the open-plan office space.
In step 530, the commissioning tool may also allow an authorized user to link commissioned units to one or more HVAC grids or areas. In many embodiments, a single HVAC area or grid may comprise multiple lighting groups. In such embodiments, sensors associated with the multiple lighting groups may be associated with an HVAC area identifier for the single HVAC area or grid. When such a configuration is operational, sensor information from commissioned units within the multiple lighting groups may be forwarded to HVAC area controllers associated with the single HVAC area or grid.
Step 540 is a configuration step, during which various configurable parameters of commissioned units are specified using, for example, the commissioning tool. Such parameters may control a commissioned unit's default behavior under various conditions. During the configuration step, templates may be assigned to or disassociated from commissioned units, a commissioned unit's power-up behavior may be specified, control options may be enabled and disabled, timing parameters (e.g. fade time, dwell time, hold time, grace fade time, smart time) may be specified, occupancy-related parameters (e.g. maximum light level when occupied, minimum light level when occupied) may be specified, general lighting parameters (e.g. background light level, task light level) may be specified, user control parameters (e.g. dim step, dim speed, retention time) may be specified, and priority levels associated with different control options (e.g. occupancy-based control, daylight-based control, manual control, personal control, and central control) may be set. During this step, the commissioning tool associated with, for example, the commissioning module 120 of system 100A, or the central dashboard associated with, for example, with the environment manager module 110 of system 100A, may selectively disallow a user (e.g. a facility manager) from specifying and/or adjusting certain parameters for commissioned devices or units that are likely to be outside of the user's level of competency. During this step, an authorized user may also be able to associate an application behavior template with any commissioned unit. An application behavior template is a collection of parameter or other configuration values suitable for a particular application.
To make the commissioning process more efficient, the commissioning tool and/or the central dashboard also permits the simultaneous configuring of multiple commissioned units. For example, a user may elect to have two or more commissioned units receive the same configuration settings as previously selected for another commissioned unit. The user may also use the commissioning tool to copy and paste configuration settings from one device or commissioned unit to another. In various embodiments, the commissioning tool or central dashboard may also be used to revert configured parameters of any device or commissioned unit to previous settings such as factory default settings. Moreover, the commissioning tool may be used to remove links to sensors and controls. The commissioning tool may also enable an authorized user to manually or automatically calibrate sensors (e.g. daylight sensors). While a sensor is calibrating, it may not be able to communicate with the rest of the system. A calibrated sensor may provide visual or other feedback once calibrated successfully.
Step 550 is a programming step, during which the user may create and assign a template to one or more commissioned units such that the commissioned units are able to behave in accordance with the template if required. For example, the user may use the commissioning tool to create a template of a particular lighting scene for a commissioned unit by specifying lighting parameters for various luminaires included within the commissioned unit. Such a lighting scene may thereafter be used as a default scene in a meeting zone associated with the commissioned unit, when the meeting zone transitions from an unoccupied to an occupied state. In some embodiments, the commissioning tool may allow the user to save current light settings of a commissioned unit as a new scene. A commissioned unit may have multiple associated scenes for application under different circumstances, such as under specific occupancy conditions, daylight conditions, and/or at specific times of the day.
In some embodiments, the central dashboard may allow an authorized user to remotely re-commission previously commissioned units. In order to perform the re-commissioning, the central dashboard may provide user interface means for searching for and locating the units to be re-commissioned on a displayed digital floor plan of the physical structure in which the device is housed. Users may be able to search for the commissioned units using the unit's type, location within the structure, identification number or other information. Commissioned units matching the user's search criteria may thereafter be displayed and selectable by the user. Once a commissioned unit or device is selected or otherwise identified for remote re-commissioning, the user may be allowed to view and edit various parameters associated with the unit or device. The central dashboard may also allow the user to disassociate the unit or device for one commissioned unit and re-associate the device or unit with a different device or unit.
According to many embodiments, environmental conditions within a structure such as a building are monitored and managed to provide occupants optimal conditions (e.g. lighting, temperature, airflow), while at the same time conserving energy. This section focuses on occupancy and daylight-based control of environmental conditions. While many of the embodiments described below rely on pre-programmed logic and system parameters, other embodiments function by monitoring conditions such as light levels and temperature in real time, receiving feedback and/or instructions from occupants or remote users of the spaces, and adjusting environmental conditions accordingly.
Occupancy-based control of environmental conditions occurs automatically in reaction to changes in occupancy within a space. Occupancy-based control mechanisms may, however, in many embodiments apply in conjunction with manual, central, or personal control mechanisms. In the sections below, details regarding configurable parameters referred to in the descriptions of each figure below appear prior to the figure descriptions themselves.
Using the commissioning tool, an authorized user such as a commissioning engineer may configure parameters indicative of maximum and minimum light output by a commissioned unit associated with an occupied space. In some embodiments, the parameters indicative of the maximum light that should be output when an associated area is occupied (MaxWhenOccupied) and the minimum light that should be output when the associated area is occupied (MinWhenOccupied) may each be set to a percentage value between 0% and 100% of output ability. However, the parameter MaxWhenOccupied may not, in some embodiments using Coded Light technology, be set to a value above 90%. Likewise, in some embodiments using Coded Light technology, the parameter MinWhenOccupied may not be set to a value below 25%. These restrictions may be required in some embodiments to account for requirements of Coded Light technology and/or physical limitations of luminaires.
Light Level 1 and Light Level 2 are configurable parameters associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, Light Level 1 signifies the light level for providing a lower background-level of illumination, and Light Level 2 signifies the light level for providing a higher task-level of illumination. A default value for the Light Level 1 parameter may be 300 lux, while a default value for the Light Level 2 parameter may be 500 lux. An authorized user may be able to use a tool such as the commissioning tool, the central dashboard or other manual or personal controllers to set and/or alter these parameters. In various embodiments, these parameters may track values associated with MinWhenOccupied to MaxWhenOccupied.
In step 840, a plurality of luminaires associated with the designated zone produce a swarm lighting effect. A swarm lighting effect is produced when a plurality of luminaires each switches to a higher level of light, but the time at which each luminaire performs the transition occurs in accordance with its distance from a first luminaire performing the transition. Luminaires that are closer to the first luminaire perform the transition to a higher light level earlier than luminaires that are further away from the first luminaire. This creates the effect of light “spreading” throughout a space from a particular originating point. In some embodiments, the swarm effect, once started, may take place without further coordination from system modules such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130. For example, an IP luminaire such as IP luminaire 140 may not only cause its own light source (e.g. light source 140-2) to switch to producing a higher level of light, but may also communicate with another IP luminaire located proximally but further away from the first luminaire (e.g. IP luminaire 150) via, for example, its control module (e.g. control module 140-3) and link L7 such that IP luminaire 150 then switches its own light source (e.g. light source 150-2) to produce a higher level of light. In other embodiments, other system modules, such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 may coordinate the swarm effect by, for example, selectively instructing luminaires or to turn on or produce a higher level of light.
Interlinked Light Level is a configurable parameter associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, it signifies the level of light produced by a commissioned unit when occupancy is detected not by the commissioned unit itself but by one or more linked commissioned units. In many embodiments, the Interlinked Light Level parameter ranges from 0% to 100% of a luminaire's output, and may be configured at a 1% granularity. The commissioning tool may be used to configure the Interlinked Light Level for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or a manual or personal controller may be used to reset this parameter for one or more commissioned units.
In step 910A, sensor input is received. The sensor input may be from one or multiple sensors and the sensor(s) may be any type of occupancy sensor such as a motion sensor. The sensor input may be received for processing by the sensor itself, or by one or more modules depicted in
In step 940A, a plurality of luminaires or lighting units associated with the designated zone is transitioned to providing illumination at an Interlinked Light Level. The association with the designated zone may arise due to the plurality of luminaires or lighting units belonging to one or more commissioned units linked to a commissioned unit scoped to the designated zone. In many embodiments, the plurality of luminaires or lighting units is accessible to at least one IP luminaire or at least one commissioned unit in the designated zone. The plurality of luminaires or lighting units may be part of the same commissioned unit, or different commissioned units that are linked during the commissioning process. In some embodiments, the command or instruction to transition to an Interlinked Light Level may be propagated from one IP luminaire (e.g. IP luminaire 140 of system 100A) to another communicatively linked IP luminaire (e.g. IP luminaire 150 of system 100A) without coordination from more central system modules such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130. In some other embodiments, environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 may instruct each commissioned unit linked to a commissioned unit in the designated zone to produce an Interlinked Light Level, and each IP luminaire that is part of the commissioned unit may thereafter cause its own luminaires to transition to the Interlinked Light Level. In some embodiments, a second commissioned unit linked to a first commissioned unit scoped to the designated zone may switch its luminaires or lighting units to the Interlined Light Level only if the second commissioned unit is not scoped to another zone that is occupied.
In step 910B, occupancy sensors produce data indicative of a designated zone transitioning to an occupied state from an unoccupied state. In step 920B, at least a first luminaire, associated with a first linked commissioned unit, produces a background level of illumination within a predetermined reaction period following the production of the sensor data. The first linked commissioned unit may be linked to a plurality of commissioned units, and may be components of a system for managing environmental conditions described herein. In step 930B, the first linked commissioned unit transmits data indicative of the state change of the designated zone. In some embodiments, the data indicative of the state change may be transmitted by the first linked commissioned unit directly to another commissioned unit to which it is linked, or to a system module such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130. The first linked commissioned unit may also transmit the data by updating a memory accessible to other system modules or commissioned units with the data indicative of the state change. In step 940B, a second commissioned unit, linked to the first commissioned unit, receives the data indicative of the state change, and causes a second luminaire or lighting unit to alter its illumination. In some embodiments, the second commissioned unit itself retrieves the data indicative of the state change from, for example, a memory or system module that the first linked commissioned unit updated with the data indicative of the state change. The second luminaire or lighting unit may alter its illumination, by, for example, increasing or decreasing the light level or intensity of light it produces, changing the color or color temperature of the light it produces, or changing the direction of the light it produces. The desired alteration of its illumination may be stored on the second commissioned unit itself, or received from other system modules such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130.
The grace fading parameter indicates whether or not a fading effect taking place within a fade time will be performed by a commissioned unit when transitioning between one environmental condition (e.g. light level) to another. The parameter may be enabled or disabled for any commissioned unit that is capable of performing the fade effect. The commissioning tool or central dashboard may be used to configure the grace fading and fade time parameters for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or other manual or personal controller may be used to reset the parameter for commissioned units.
In step 1010, sensor input is received. The sensor input may be from one or multiple sensors and the sensor(s) may be any type of occupancy sensor such as a motion sensor. The sensor input may be received for processing by the sensor itself, or by one or more modules depicted in
In step 1040, a plurality of luminaires or commissioned units associated with the designated zone is switched off in compliance with a fade effect. The plurality of luminaires or commissioned units may be scoped to the designated zone directly or indirectly by being linked to one or more commissioned units that are scoped to the designated zone. The plurality of luminaires may be part of the same commissioned unit, or different commissioned units that are linked during the commissioning process.
The fade effect may involve gradually transitioning one or more luminaires or lighting units to producing lower levels of light until the luminaires or lighting units effectively produce no illumination. In some embodiments, a commissioned unit may only comply with the fade effect if a particular parameter (e.g. grace fading) is enabled for that unit. Other details with respect to the fade effect (e.g. the amount of time required to transition from providing the present level of light to a level of light associated with a switched off state) may be configured per commissioned unit. Accordingly, each commissioned unit participating in step 1040 to transition the plurality of luminaires or lighting units to a switched off state may perform its own version of the fade effect. In some embodiments, the command or instruction to transition to switching off may be received from a central system module such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 by each commissioned unit scoped to the designated zone. The command may thereafter be processed and propagated from one IP luminaire (e.g. IP luminaire 140 of system 100A) to another communicatively linked IP luminaire (e.g. IP luminaire 150 of system 100A) of each commissioned unit without further coordination from system modules such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130.
Hold period is a configurable parameter associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, hold period is the period of time needed for the system to ensure that a determined condition is correct or still applicable. It helps avoid situations where temporary changes in occupancy lead to frequent and unnecessary adjustments to environmental conditions. For example, after sensors initially indicate that a zone has become vacant, and if the sensors still indicate vacancy after the hold period has elapsed, this implies with a greater likelihood that the monitored zone is truly vacant and that the vacancy is not the result of occupants temporarily stepping outside the monitored zone. In many embodiments, the hold period may range from 1 to 35 minutes, with a default value of 15 minutes. Manual controllers may allow a user to alter the hold period with a granularity of 1 minute. The commissioning tool may be used to configure the hold period for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or other manual or personal controller may be used to reset the hold period for one or more commissioned units.
Grace period is a configurable parameter associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, it signifies the time needed for the system to ensure that a determined detected environmental condition still persists after the passage of a particular period of time. In some embodiments, the grace period is an additional time period initiated after the hold period has expired, to provide an additional duration of time during which sensor output is monitored to determine if a detected change in occupancy is persistent for an even longer period of time. In many embodiments, the grace period may range from 0 to 25 seconds, with a default value of 5 seconds. Manual controllers may allow a user to alter the grace period with a granularity of 1 second. The commissioning tool may be used to configure the grace period for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or other manual or personal controllers may be used to reset the grace period for one or more commissioned units.
Prolong period is a configurable parameter associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, it signifies the time needed for the system to ensure that a determined detected environmental condition still persists after the passage of a particular period of time. In some embodiments, the prolong period is an additional time period initiated after a first grace period has expired, to provide an additional duration of time during which sensor output is monitored to determine if a detected change in occupancy is persistent for an even longer period of time. In many embodiments it is used as an added precautionary measure to ensure an area's unoccupied status just prior to turning luminaires or lighting units in the area off. Manual controllers may allow a user to manually alter the prolong period with a particular granularity. The commissioning tool may be used to configure the prolong period for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or other manual or personal controller may be used to reset the prolong period for one or more commissioned units.
If the determination in step 1115 is positive (e.g. designated zone was unoccupied throughout the hold period), then control transfers to step 1125. In step 1125, a plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources associated with the designated zone each begin a transition to a lower light level in compliance with a fade effect, and a grace period is initiated, during which sensor input associated with the designated zone is monitored. In many embodiments, the plurality of light sources is each accessible to at least one IP luminaire in the designated zone. The plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources may also be part of the same commissioned unit, or different but linked commissioned units. At the conclusion of the grace period, a determination is made in step 1135 as to whether for the entire grace period, the sensor input indicated that the designated zone remained unoccupied. If the result of the determination is negative (e.g. designated zone became occupied during the grace period), then control transfers to step 1130, and the plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources that began their transitions to a lower light level in step 1125 begin transitioning back to their previous (higher) light levels, in compliance with a fade effect. In many embodiments, during any point in the grace period, sensor input indicating occupancy in the designated zone would result in the designated zone's occupied status failing to be confirmed (i.e. in these embodiments, there would be no need for the determination of step 1135 at the conclusion of the grace period). These circumstances indicate that the designated zone's unoccupied status is not confirmed.
If the result of the determination in step 1135 is positive (e.g. designated zone remained unoccupied for the duration of the grace period), then in step 1140, the plurality of luminaires are allowed to complete their transition to the lower light level if the transition has not yet completed. Once the plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources have transitioned to the lower light level, a prolong period is initiated.
At the conclusion of the prolong period, a determination is made in step 1145 as to whether for the entire prolong period, the sensor input indicated that the designated zone remained unoccupied. If the result of the determination is negative (e.g. designated zone became occupied during the prolong period), then control transfers to step 1130, and the plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources that began their transitions to the lower light level in step 1125 begin transitioning back to their previous (higher) light levels, in compliance with a fade effect. In many embodiments, during any point in the prolong period, sensor input indicating occupancy in the designated zone would result in the designated zone's occupied status failing to be confirmed (i.e. in these embodiments, there would be no need for the determination of step 1145 at the conclusion of the prolong period). If the result of the determination in step 1145 is positive (e.g. designated zone remained unoccupied for the duration of the prolong period), then in step 1150, the plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources begin their transition to a light level associated with a switched off state in compliance with a fade effect, and a second grace period is initiated. In many embodiments, the amount of time associated with the fade effect (e.g. the time it takes for a luminaire to transition to a different light level in accordance with the controlling fade effect) may be automatically reset so that the luminaires, lighting units, or light sources of a commissioned unit do not transition to a light level associated with a switched off state prior to the completion of the second grace period initiated in step 1150. Alternatively, if luminaires, lighting units, or light sources of a commissioned unit are close to completing the fade effect, and the grace period has not yet elapsed, the luminaires, lighting units, or light sources may wait to complete the transition until the grace period initiated in step 1150 has elapsed.
At the conclusion of the second grace period initiated in step 1150, a determination is made step 1155 as to whether for the entire second grace period, the sensor input indicated that the designated zone remained unoccupied. If the result of the determination is negative (e.g. designated zone became occupied during the grace period), then control transfers to step 1130, and the plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources that began their transitions to a light level consistent with a switched off state in step 1150 begin transitioning back to their original (higher) light levels, in compliance with a fade effect. In many embodiments, during any point in the second grace period, sensor input indicating occupancy in the designated zone would result in the designated zone's occupied status failing to be confirmed (i.e. in these embodiments, there would be no need for the determination of step 1155 at the conclusion of the second grace period). If the result of the determination in step 1155 is positive (e.g. designated zone remained unoccupied for the duration of the prolong period), then in step 1160, the plurality of luminaires, lighting units, or light sources proceed to complete their transition to a light level consistent with a switched off state.
Dwell period is a configurable parameter associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, it signifies the time needed for the system to ensure that a user is situated at a space, rather than simply passing through it. When an area in question is occupied for the duration of the dwell period, this indicates that commissioned unit(s) in the area in question may assume the likelihood of more prolonged occupancy within the space and may transition to providing a higher level of lighting. In many embodiments, the dwell period may range from 0 to 30 seconds, with a default value of 10 seconds. Manual controllers may allow a user to alter the dwell period with a granularity of 1 second. The commissioning tool may be used to configure the dwell period for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or other manual or personal controllers may be used to reset the dwell period for one or more commissioned units.
In some embodiments, occupancy events are ignored for the duration of the dwell period, following the detection of a first occupancy event. In such embodiments, occupancy events may be monitored only are the dwell period expires. In such embodiments, only if occupancy is detected between the moment the dwell period expires and a hold period expires after the dwell period, will the area in question transition to the occupied state. Otherwise, the area will go back to being in the unoccupied state when the hold period expires.
Smart time is a configurable parameter associated with occupancy-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, if movement is detected during a grace period after a hold period, following a detection of vacancy, the system assumes that the hold time was set to be inadequately short (i.e. vacancy was concluded too soon after the last movement detection), and the hold time is extended once by the duration indicated by the smart time parameter. In many embodiments, if motion is detected after an extended hold time, the hold time is not further extended. In some embodiments, the smart time period may range from 0 to 15 minutes, with a default value of 10 minutes. The commissioning tool may be used to configure the smart time period for any commissioned unit, and the central dashboard or other manual or personal controller may be used to reset this parameter for one or more commissioned units. In many embodiments, smart time cannot accumulate.
In step 1230, sensor input from within the cell zone is processed to determine if a work zone within the cell zone has transitioned from an unoccupied to an occupied state. If the determination is negative (e.g. no transition of the work zone from an unoccupied to an occupied state), then control remains at step 1230 until a later processing of sensor input indicates such a transition. If the determination in step 1230 is a positive one (e.g. sensor input indicates transition of the work zone from an unoccupied to an occupied status), then a dwell period is initiated, occupancy in the work zone is monitored, and control transitions to step 1240. Step 1240 involves monitoring occupancy in the work zone, and determining whether at any time during the dwell period, sensor input indicates that the work zone is unoccupied. If the work zone is found to be unoccupied at any time during the dwell period, then no environmental changes are made in the work zone, the dwell period is ended, and control transfers back to the step 1230. If throughout the dwell period, the work zone never became unoccupied, then control transfers to step 1250, and at least one luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) within the work zone transitions to a task-level of light (e.g. Light Level 2) within a pre-configured reaction time.
In step 1320, a determination is made as to whether at least one zone adjacent to the corridor zone is occupied. This determination may be made by one or more commissioned units in or otherwise associated with the corridor zone. For example, in some embodiments, a commissioned unit in the corridor zone may identify commissioned units in adjacent zones using its own location information and the location information of other commissioned units. Once at least one commissioned unit in each adjacent zone is identified, their occupancy statuses may be retrieved in some embodiments by querying or otherwise retrieving the information from the commissioned units directly. In other embodiments, a commissioned unit in the corridor zone may access the occupancy statuses of the adjacent commissioned units from one or more remote memories associated with other system modules such as the environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A. The location information of commissioned units may be stored locally on one or more memories of the commissioned unit in the corridor zone (e.g. cached) or stored remotely on one or more memories remotely accessible to the commissioned unit in the corridor zone (e.g. at one or more memories associated with environment module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A). If the result of the determination in step 1320 is positive (e.g. at least one zone adjacent to the corridor zone is occupied), then in step 1340, no change is made to the illumination in the corridor zone. If the determination in step 1320 is negative (e.g. no zone adjacent to the corridor zone is occupied), then in step 1360, a switch off sequence is initiated in order to transition luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) in the corridor zone to producing no illumination.
In step 1330 a determination is made as to whether or not the level of illumination within the corridor zone is at a predetermined minimum level. In some embodiments, this determination is made with respect to the entire corridor zone, and in other embodiments, this determination is made with respect to an area proximate to the sensor(s) producing the sensor input indicating, in step 1310, that a change occurred in the corridor zone's occupancy status. In some embodiments, this determination may be made by hardware, firmware or computer code associated with one or more commissioned units in the corridor zone, by hardware, firmware or computer code associated with one or more modules of system 100A, or any combination thereof. If the result of the determination in step 1330 is positive (i.e. illumination level of corridor zone is at or above the predetermined minimum level), then in step 1340, no change is made to the illumination in the corridor zone. If the result of the determination in step 1330 is negative (i.e. illumination level of corridor zone is below the predetermined minimum level), then in step 1350, one or more commissioned units in the corridor zone causes the illumination level provided by one or more associated luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) to be increased such that the level of illumination within the corridor zone is increased to the predetermined minimum level within a predetermined reaction time.
Using the commissioning tool, an authorized user such as a commissioning engineer may configure parameters indicative of maximum and minimum light levels that may be achieved in an area under daylight-based control. In some embodiments, the parameters MaxRegulationLightLevel and MinRegulationLightLevel may each be set be equal to the occupancy-based control parameters MaxWhenOccupied and MinWhenOccupied, respectively.
Daylight harvesting is a configurable parameter associated with daylight-based control of environmental conditions. In many embodiments, if enabled for one or more commissioned units, it allows daylight-based regulation of light levels in an area scoped to those commissioned units. In many embodiments, daylight harvesting, when enabled, works to maintain light levels in a space within a particular range (e.g. MinimumRegulationLightLevel to MaximumRegulationLightLevel).
When a user manually configures or adjusts the illumination set-point of a commissioned unit, a parameter of the configured unit (e.g. CalibratedMaximum) is set to the new set-point value. The commissioned unit may still be regulated based on daylight-based controls, but the new set-point value will be used to regulate environmental conditions associated with the commissioned unit.
In step 1520, the requested scene is accessed. A scene may be a collection of predetermined environmental parameters that transforms the environmental conditions in a particular zone is a prescribed way. The environmental conditions affected may be, for example, lighting conditions, temperature, humidity and air flow. Each environmental condition prescribed in a scene may be tied to particular one or more commissioned units or to particular types of commissioned units. Moreover, scenes may comprise very specific environmental conditions (e.g. requiring a particular commissioned unit or type of commissioned unit to produce light of a particular color at a particular intensity), or they may be specified more generally, allowing commissioned units involved in producing the scene some discretion to choose specific values (e.g. specifying a range of colors or a range of light levels in a particular region in the meeting room and allowing an implementing commissioning unit to choose values within the prescribed range). A collection of pre-configured environmental scenes may be stored on one or more memories accessible to, for example, the environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A, or any commissioned unit associated with the meeting zone referenced in step 1510. For example, an area controller such as area controller 420 may be such a commissioned unit capable of accessing a requested scene. In many embodiments, such a commissioned unit may be communicatively coupled to one or more IP luminaires that control lighting conditions in various portions of the meeting room.
In some embodiments, in step 1520, the environment control module 110 or gateway module 130 of the system may access one or more memories to retrieve details associated with the requested scene (e.g. the collection of specified environmental conditions to be recreated in particular areas of a space). Different predetermined scenes, each associated with a unique identifier, may be stored in a database, and accessing a requested scene in step 1520 may involve matching the unique identifier of the scene requested in step 1520 with the unique identifier of a scene stored in the in the aforementioned one or more memories.
In step 1530, the requested scene is applied. In some embodiments, respective details of the requested scene are transmitted from a system module (e.g. environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A) to respective commissioned units (e.g. IP controller 140 and 150 of system 100A) for application. For example, a scene may require that all walls in a room be washed in red light of particular dimness, and all task lights in the room be dimmed up to a particular level. In some embodiments, these details may be codified in an environment control command and transmitted by the environment manager module 110 to an area controller (e.g. area controller 320) controlling the room in question. The area controller may thereafter transmit the commands for changing the wall wash color to one or more IP luminaires that provide decorative wall washes in the room, and the commands for changing the task lighting to one or more IP luminaires controlling task lighting in the room. The area controller may, in some embodiments, also process the commands received from the other modules such as the environment manager module 110, prior to communicating them to the appropriate IP luminaires (or other commissioned units) so that the commands are compatible with a format or communication protocol understood by the particular IP luminaires (or commissioned units).
In step 1620, a determination is made as to whether the change in illumination is greater than a pre-configured amount. In some embodiments, this determination may be made by a commissioned unit (e.g. area controller, IP luminaire) that is located proximate to the sensor(s) producing the sensor input and/or a commissioned unit that is bound to the work zone during the commissioning process. In other embodiments, this determination is made more centrally by one or more processors associated with an environment manager module such as module 110 of system 100A, or a gateway module such as module 130 of system 100A. If the result of the determination in step 1620 is a negative one (e.g. change in illumination is not greater than a pre-configured amount), then no adjustment in illumination in the work zone is made. However, in some embodiments, each change in illumination that is not acted upon following step 1620 is aggregated and temporarily saved in a memory accessible to the module or modules performing the determinations in steps 1610 and 1620. In such embodiments, step 1620 may involve using the running aggregate of changes in illumination over multiple previous determinations in step 1620 that led to negative determinations in step 1620, in order to make the present determination in step 1620.
If the result of the determination in step 1620 is a positive one (e.g. change in illumination is greater than a pre-configured amount), then control transfers to step 1630, and a determination is made as to whether the level of illumination in the work zone is at or above a pre-configured level. In some embodiments, the determination of step 1630 may be made by a commissioned unit (e.g. area controller, IP luminaire) that is located proximate to the sensor(s) producing the sensor input and/or a commissioned unit that is bound to the work zone during the commissioning process. In other embodiments, this determination is made more centrally by one or more processors associated with an environment control module such as module 110 of system 100A, or a gateway module such as module 130 of system 100A. If the determination in step 1630 is a positive one (e.g. level of illumination in the work zone is at or above the pre-configured level), then the illumination from at least one luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) in the work zone is adjusted to provide a pre-configured minimum level of illumination in step 1640. If, on the other hand, the determination in step 1630 is a negative one (e.g. level of illumination in the work zone is below the pre-configured level), then the illumination from at least one luminaire in the work zone is adjusted to provide a pre-configured maximum level of illumination. When adjusting illumination in steps 1640 and 1650 many embodiments may employ fading in accordance with a configured fade time and/or fade speed if the fade feature is enabled for the one or more commissioned units whose at least one luminaire in the work zone is adjusted in steps 1640 or 1650.
In step 1720, a determination is made with respect to whether the change in natural illumination is part of an increasing or decreasing trend. An increasing trend may be identified after multiple consecutive increases in natural illumination are detected in step 1710 for the zone in question. Likewise, a decreasing trend may be identified after multiple consecutive decreases in natural illumination are detected in step 1710 for the zone in question. The number of consecutive increases or decreases needed in order for a series of changes in natural illumination to qualify as a trend may be a configurable parameter in many embodiments, which may be set and/or reset using, for example, the central dashboard of the environment manager module 110 of system 100A.
In many embodiments, the determination of step 1720 may be made by a commissioned unit (e.g. area controller, IP luminaire) that is located proximate to the sensor(s) producing the sensor input and/or a commissioned unit that is bound to the zone in question during the commissioning process. In other embodiments, this determination is made more centrally by one or more processors associated with an environment manager module such as module 110 of system 100A, or a gateway module such as module 130 of system 100A. If no trend is identified, then control reverts to step 1710, and input from the sensor(s) may again be processed subsequently. If an increasing trend is found, then the illumination from at least one luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) in the designated zone is adjusted to provide a lower level of illumination within a first duration (step 1740). If, on the other hand, a decreasing trend is found, then the illumination from at least one luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) in the designated zone is adjusted in step 1730 to provide a higher level of illumination than currently provided by the luminaire within a second duration that is shorter than the first duration of step 1740. When adjusting illumination in steps 1730 and 1740, many embodiments may employ fading in accordance with a configured fade time and/or fade speed if the fade feature is enabled for the one or more commissioned units associated with the at least one luminaire referred to in steps 1730 and 1740.
While many of the embodiments described in the previous sections on occupancy and daylight-based controls focus on methods for monitoring and/or identifying patterns with respect to changes in occupancy and lighting conditions, and optimally adjusting environmental conditions to respond to these changes, this section focuses on the controls available to users for causing changes in environmental conditions. In many embodiments, the user may be able to override the automatic behavior described in the above sections on occupancy and/or daylight-based light management.
In any given zone, all available control types (e.g. automatically triggered and user triggered) may be enabled or disabled. Commissioned units may be configured such that one or more control types are enabled or disabled. Additionally, for each zone and/or commissioned unit, a priority may be associated with each type of control. When a control type is enabled in an area or for a commissioned unit, the enabled type of control (e.g. manual personal control, central control, occupancy-based control) may be used to issue control requests for the enabled area or for the commissioned unit. Different control types may be enabled and operational in the same area or for the same commissioned unit. Priorities are used to resolve any conflicts or ambiguities given all received control inputs, and to determine the environmental conditions of any space at any given time.
In many embodiments, mobile controllers (e.g. smartphones, tablet computers, and other hand-held computing devices) may be used by users to request changes in environmental conditions. Mobile controllers may be configured to provide visual, auditory and/or tactical feedback to its users when connecting to the environmental management system, and/or a visual, auditory and/or tactical feedback to its users within a period of time (e.g. 0.3 seconds) from the time users request a change in environmental conditions. Mobile controllers may be used for personal, manual and central control of commissioned units based on their location within a physical structure. For example, a smartphone may behave as a personal controller allowing control of environmental conditions only in its user's personal or work zone when it is operated in an open zone such as an open office space. However, when the smartphone is in a meeting zone such as a conference room, it may behave as a manual controller allowing its user to control environmental conditions in the entire meeting zone.
Method 1900 comprises steps 1910 through 1970. Step 1910 involves determining whether or not a device or unit in question is commissioned. The process of commissioning was previously described, for example, in the context of
If it is determined that the device is commissioned, then control transfers to step 1920. Otherwise, control transfers to step 1930. Both steps involve determining whether or not the device or unit in question has network connectivity. In some embodiments, this can be carried out by a device or unit performing a test to determine if connectivity exists. In other embodiments, this may be determined, for example, by computer code associated with a system module such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A, performing the necessary test(s).
If it is determined in step 1920 that the commissioned unit has network connectivity, then control transfers to step 1940. Step 1940 involves retrieving and applying system power-up configuration parameters for the commissioned unit. The parameters may be stored centrally on a server or other device accessible to the device or system module performing step 1940, or at the commissioned unit itself. If power-up configuration parameters are stored in multiple places, step 1940 may also involve determining which set of parameters take precedence. In some embodiments, if the commissioned unit is a luminaire, a default behavior at power-up may be produced. For example, within 0.3 seconds, the luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) in question may produce a light level equal to the light level the luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) is configured to produce shortly before power-down.
If it is determined in step 1920 that the commissioned unit does not have network connectivity, then control transfers to step 1950. In step 1950, locally available system power-up configuration parameters are applied for the commissioned unit. For example, there may be a set of power-up configurations stored at the commissioned unit itself, which are accessible to the commissioned unit without the need for network connectivity.
If it is determined in step 1930 that the non-commissioned unit has network connectivity, then control transfers to step 1960. In step 1960, default power-up configuration parameters are applied if no overriding power-up configuration is available via the network. Default power-up configuration parameters may reside on the network outside of the non-commissioned unit, or on the unit itself. For example, if the non-commissioned unit is a luminaire (or lighting unit or light source), the default power-up configuration may require a light level at 100% of the luminaire's capability to be produced within 0.3 seconds of power-up.
If it is determined in step 1930 that the non-commissioned unit does not have network connectivity, then control transfers to step 1970. In step 1970, default power-up configuration parameters stored locally on the non-commissioned unit or otherwise available to the non-commissioned unit without network connectivity may be applied to the non-commissioned unit.
According to some embodiments involving non-commissioned luminaires that are installed and powered but not connected to an IP network, the following behavior may be realized. Each luminaire (or lighting unit or light source) may go to producing light at 100% of its capability within 0.3 seconds from the moment of powering on, and each such luminaire may ignore any control commands from control devices that instruct otherwise. In some embodiments, if the non-commissioned luminaires are installed, powered, and connected to an a communication/control line of an IP network, all luminaires of the IP sub-network may go to producing light at 100% of their capabilities within 0.3 seconds from the moment of powering of the sub-system. These luminaires may ignore sensor information (e.g. occupancy and daylight sensor information), but react to manual control (e.g. from area IR controllers) as well as to central control commands (e.g. from the environment manager module 110, commissioning module 120, or gateway module 130 of
According to some embodiments involving commissioned luminaires (or lighting units or light sources), the following behavior may be produced at power-up. To demonstrate functionality, such units may go to producing a configured maximum light level within some time interval (e.g. 2 seconds) after the system has been powered on. In such embodiments, if there is no presence detected in the area of the commissioned luminaires subsequent to the powering on, the commissioned luminaires will switch off within another time interval (e.g. 1 second) following a determination that no presence was detected. In some other embodiments involving commissioned luminaires, such luminaires may not produce any light after being powered up until occupancy in the area of the luminaires is detected for some configured period of time.
Different reaction times are related to users' expectations when requesting an environmental change, such as a change in lighting conditions. If a fade parameter associated with a commissioned unit or the user herself (e.g. a user preference parameter indicating whether or not the user prefers a fade effect) is disabled, then the requested change in the environmental condition (e.g. light level adjustment) should be immediate. If fade is enabled, then the requested change in environmental conditions may start within a time interval (e.g. 0.3 seconds) from the moment of the change request.
Another configure related to reaction times is fade time, or the time interval during which a first environmental condition (e.g. a present light level) fades to a second environmental condition (e.g. a new requested light level). In many embodiments, Fade time is a value set between 0.5 and 90 seconds. Manual controllers that allow a user to control fade time may allow the user to increase or decrease the fade time with a particular granularity (e.g. increases or decreases of fade time allowed in 1 second granularity). The fade and fade time features are comfort features designed to result in changes in environmental conditions that are smooth, less jarring and therefore less noticeable and less distracting.
Step 2020 involves determining whether the requested control option is enabled. In many embodiments, all available control options (e.g. occupancy-based control, daylight-based control, manual, personal, and central control) may be disabled, enabled and/or prioritized per commissioned unit. In the example being used for illustrative purposes, step 2020 involves determining whether the manual control is enabled for the commissioned unit linked to the manual controller being used to request a change in lighting conditions.
If step 2020 results in a negative determination (i.e. the control option is not enabled for the associated commissioned unit), then control transfers to step 2030, and the received control request is ignored. If step 2020 results in a positive determination (i.e. the control option is enabled for the associated commissioned unit), then control transfers to step 2040.
Step 2040 involves determining whether or not there is a competing control request of higher priority that should override the received control request. If step 2040 results in a negative determination (i.e. no competing control request of a higher priority is found), then control transfers to step 2050, and the requested control is performed. Otherwise, if step 2040 results in a positive determination (i.e. a competing control request of a higher priority is found), then control transfers to step 2030 and the received control request is ignored. For example, an automatic request arising out of daylight-based monitoring of space surrounding the commissioned unit may indicate a request to adjust the luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) associated with the commissioned unit to provide a lower light level than that requested by the user's request arising out of his/her use of a manual wall-mounted control. In such a case, if the commissioned unit has a higher priory for manual control as compared to daylight-based control, then the luminaires associated with the commissioned unit will adjust the illumination they provide to produce the manually-requested level of illumination.
Manual control refers to the means available to a user for manually altering environmental conditions. During the commissioning process depicted in
Manual control enables a user to manually turn on or off commissioned units. For example, an end user may enter an indoor space such as a room and using a wall-mounted display or switch or a user interface on a hand-held device, turn on luminaires associated with one or more luminaires in the room. Such a manual request may result in the luminaires producing a pre-configured level of light (e.g. going to a switch on level of light). If prevailing environmental conditions, such as the level of lighting in a space, are not what a user desires, he or she may manually adjust the lighting using a manual control, by indicating that the lighting in the space be dimmed up or down. Such a manual request may result in luminaires in the space adjusting their light output by a pre-configured percentage. Many embodiments may require that fixed manual controllers be placed in a visible location within the space it controls, and that the manual controller shall not be able to control environmental conditions in a space where the user requesting the manual changes would not be able to physically sense (e.g. see, feel or hear) the changes requested using the controller.
In some embodiments, manual changes that are requested from a mobile controller (e.g. a smartphone) are required to be activated within a longer duration of time (e.g. a scene change in a meeting room that is requested from an iPhone need only be activated within 3 seconds of the request), as compared to manual changes requested from a fixed mobile controller (e.g. a wall-mounted controller). For example, a scene change in a meeting room requested from a wall-mounted control device may need to be activated within 0.3 seconds of the request in order to create a sense of instantaneous response to the request. This difference may be instituted in a system such as system 100A or 100B in order to satisfy users' expectations that environmental changes initiated in a space using manual wall-mounted controls be instantaneous.
In many embodiments, commissioned units may store multiple presets that may be manually requested. In other embodiments, these presets may additionally or alternatively be stored at one or more remotely located memories. For example, one preset may be a lighting scene, which causes multiple commissioned units to each produce a preset level of light. Such a preset may result in a lighting “effect” in a space, such as dim lights in various parts of the room and bright lights in others. In some embodiments a preset light level may be configured by specifying absolute light levels or relative light levels (e.g. 5% dimmer than the switch on light level), or by an algorithm that takes into consideration a variable parameter such as the amount of natural light available.
In various embodiments, a user may be able to undo a manually selected environmental condition, and cause the conditions to revert back to a previous or default setting. For example, a user may use a manual controller to de-select or cancel a previously requested light level or lighting scene. This feature enables the user to “switch off” a personal lighting or other environmental condition at any time. One or more commissioned units participating in providing the requested light level or scene may then return to a previous configuration or a default state.
In many embodiments, the configuration of a manual retention time parameter allows for the resetting of environmental conditions to be in compliance with manually-requested conditions, even after commissioned units previously applying the conditions have stopped complying with the manually-requested conditions. The need for this parameter may occur in various circumstances. For example, in some situations, a user may enter a previously unoccupied room, where lighting conditions were being automatically adjusted based on the presence of natural light. The user may thereafter utilize a manual controller to request that commissioned units in the space produce a particular level of light in the space, regardless of the amount of natural light present, thereby effectively overriding the automatic daylight-based control of the space. Under such circumstances, when the user leaves the room, automatic daylight-based control of the room may resume or the lighting in the room may transition to a switched off state after an appropriate amount of time has elapsed. In embodiments where a manual retention time is being applied, the commissioned units in the room may return to providing the light levels manually requested by the user if the user is detected to have re-entered the same space within the manual retention time period. In many embodiments, the manual retention time period begins elapsing immediately following the time when the commissioned units in question transition to providing environmental conditions that differ from the user's manually-requested conditions. In many embodiments, the manual retention time may be automatically set at 15 minutes.
Dimming step is a configurable parameter that is associated with user-based light control. Each commissioned unit may have an associated dimming step parameter and manual and personal controllers may also have associated dimming step parameters. In many embodiments, this parameter is expressed as a percentage and may range from 5% to 30%.
A user may choose to set the dimming step at 10% for a commissioned unit. In such a case, when the commissioned unit is dimmed once (e.g. by one step), the light output of the commissioned unit is reduced by 10% of its previous output. In some embodiments, the dimming step is set to 5% by default. Many embodiments may also permit the user to alter the dimming step but by only a particular level of granularity (e.g. 5%). This parameter may be used as a mechanism to control the speed with which a user may manually dim lighting in a space.
Person control refers to the means available to a user for controlling the environmental conditions in their personal space or work zone. Devices providing personal control may be linked to one or more commissioned units during the commissioning process of
For example, if a user wishes to increase the light level in a work zone to a particular level, but the ongoing daylight-based control of the lighting in the work zone does not permit increasing the light level in the work zone to the particular level, the light level in the work zone may only be permitted to increase to a different lower level. In many embodiments, whether or not a user is able to use a personal controller to control lighting in his/her work zone depends on whether or not the user has permissions to affect environmental conditions in the work zone. Permissions for authorizing users to control conditions in their work zones may be stored at commissioned units, and/or more centrally at one or more memories accessible, for example, to system modules such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A.
Commissioned units may be configured to behave in particular ways in response to personal control requests. For example, all luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) associated with a commissioned unit may be configured to provide 500 lux on a reference surface when a personal control device is used to request a particular scene for a particular work zone. There may also be one or more personal control modes associated with commissioned units and/or personal control devices. For example, a limited set-point mode may prevent a user from dimming beyond a maximum calibrated light set-point. An unlimited set-point mode may not impose such restrictions.
Commissioned units that typically adjust behavior based on control requests may be commissioned to enable or disable personal control requests. Such units may also assign a priority level to personal control requests. Additionally and/or alternatively, personal control devices themselves or users using the devices to create personal control requests may assign priority levels to personal control requests.
Personal control devices such as smart phones running personal control applications may be used by users to graphically view the zones and/or commissioned units that are under the control of the device. In some embodiments, any response to such requests may be required to be made within a configured amount of time (e.g. 3 seconds). Failure to respond within the allotted time may result in an error being reported by the personal control device itself to one or more modules of the system (e.g. environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A). Alternatively, in various embodiments, if a response to a user request made via a personal controller takes longer than a configured amount of time, then the user may be given feedback on the progress of the request (e.g. a progress bar or other visual or auditory notification).
Using personal controls, users may select preconfigured scenes for their work zones. For example, a user may select a standard scene where all lighting units associated with a commissioned unit providing light for the user's work zone switch to a particular light level. A user may also use personal controls to control the dim level of luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) associated with commissioned units. Commissioned units may be configured to provide illumination within a determined range (e.g. between a minimum light output and maximum light output), and a user's ability to control the dim level of such units may be confined to controlling output within such a range.
In some embodiments, manually-made environmental change requests may result in changes in environmental conditions which are thereafter controlled automatically. For example, if a manually-made personal request results in providing a fixed level of light in a space, automatic controls may regain control of the space after certain events occur (e.g. the space is determined to be vacant). In some embodiments, the manually-made change in conditions may be thereafter managed by automatic controls even without requiring that a particular event occur prior to transfer of control to the automatic means.
In step 2120, a determination is made on whether the user issuing the request is authorized to make the requested changes in environmental conditions. In some embodiments, this determination is made by one or more system modules such as environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A. The determination may be based on the user's location and/or identification (e.g. user ID and password) information. In embodiments that use a user's login information (e.g. user ID and password) to verify authorization, the user may have to provide his/her credentials only once unless he/she has been logged out since the last time the user's credentials were verified. If the user is not authorized to alter environmental conditions in accordance with the request, control transfers to step 2130, in which the personal control request is ignored. In the user is not authorized to alter environmental conditions in accordance with his/her request, he/she may be notified of this fact. If user authorization is additionally or alternatively dependent on the user's location, the location information may be cached for a configurable period of time, thereby avoiding the need to update the same user's location every time he/she requests a change in environmental conditions.
If the user is authorized to make the requested environmental changes, one or more commissioned units may be instructed to adjust environmental conditions in accordance with the personal control request in step 2140. For example, luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) associated with one or more commissioned units controlling lighting conditions in the user's work zone may transition to producing a requested level of light in the user's work zone (e.g. reference surface) in accordance with a configured fade time. In many embodiments, control then transfers to step 2150, in which the control of environmental conditions reverts back to automatic controls. For example, the light output produced by the one or more commissioned units associated with the user's work zone may thereafter revert to being controlled in accordance with previously used daylight-based and/or occupancy-based algorithms.
In many embodiments, personal controllers may allow authorized users to select or otherwise specify the geographic scope of their personal control. If the user making this scope selection is using his/her own personal controller device (e.g. a smartphone), information identifying the user may be linked to the scope selection and/or other profile settings of the user automatically, without requiring further input from the user. If, on the other hand, the user making the scope selection is using a publicly accessible personal controller device (e.g. a controller affixed to a wall in a space accessible to multiple users), the user may have to identify him/herself in order to link his/her scope selection to his/her identity within the system for managing environmental condition. Once a user successfully selects or specifies a geographic scope of personal control, environmental control requests affecting an area within the same geographic area, but received from users outside the geographic area, may be ignored.
Many embodiments enable a user to recall light settings or other environmental conditions previously requested. These settings or conditions may have been previously requested by the same user requesting the recall, or by other users of the same space. Commissioned units may store previously requested settings themselves and/or settings may be stored more centrally in one or more memories accessible to, for example, system modules such as environment manager module 110, gateway module 130 and/or commissioning module 120 of the system 100A. Previously requested environmental conditions may be associated with particular users, zones, and/or commissioned units.
Central control refers to the means available to a user for preforming scheduled or real-time adjustments to system parameters that may affect environmental conditions within a space in a more global or pervasive way. Central control also refers to the control of environmental conditions using a user interface executed by a system module such as the environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A. Central control may be manual (e.g. a user manually adjusting light settings using a displayed user interface), or automatic (e.g. adjustments to environmental conditions occurring as a result of system reactions to detected events). In many embodiments, to centrally control one or more commissioned units within an area, the commissioned units need to be communicatively connected to a central dashboard. The central dashboard comprises computer code executing one or more user interfaces that allow authorized users to control various commissioned units, groups of commissioned units and/or entire zones within a physical structure. In many embodiments, the central dashboard may also be communicatively connected to and/or executed by one or more modules central to the operation of the systems for managing environmental changes described herein. For example, in many embodiments, the central dashboard is executed by or in conjunction with the environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 of system 100A. In various embodiments, the central dashboard may be used to re-commission and/or re-configure commissioned units. In some of these embodiments, the user interface(s) of the central dashboard may display the reconfigurable parameters along with their present values or statuses, and prevent the user of the central dashboard from configuring parameters that are not re-configurable or setting parameters of commissioned units to values that are outside of permitted ranges.
A user may utilize a centralized utility such as the central dashboard to alter settings of commissioned units in order to affect environmental conditions in real time or in a scheduled manner. Real time requests are processed such that resulting changes in environmental conditions are made within a configurable amount of time following the request. The central dashboard may also be used by appropriately authorized users (e.g. a facility manager) to alter parameters that affect overall system behavior such as the configurable amount of time within which real time requests need to be serviced.
The central dashboard may be used to create, edit and schedule tasks embodying changes in environmental conditions. Tasks may be scheduled to be triggered at specific times (e.g. at specific time intervals, at a time relative to an event, or at an absolute time), or upon the occurrence of a specific event. A task may specify changes that are more global in nature by, for example, resetting a parameter that affects multiple areas or commissioned units (e.g. changing a fade time, hold time, enabling or disabling a type of control). A task may also specify changes that are more local in nature by, for example, reducing the light output of a commissioned unit that only affects a particular work zone. During the commissioning process, an authorized user such as a facility manager may create and schedule default tasks. For example, a night task may be triggered to be executed after work hours and may change hold times and default light levels in order to conserve energy.
A scheduled task may comprise a series of tasks that are themselves scheduled to be performed at certain times, upon the occurrence of certain events and/or in compliance with certain logic. Users may select existing schedules for application. The same schedules may be repeatedly applied. Accordingly, the central dashboard may provide user interface means for selecting one or more schedules for application, specifying the scope of schedules (e.g. the commissioned units or zones on which the selected schedules will be active), what events will trigger schedules (e.g. time of day, environmental condition, user activity), and/or the frequency with which the schedules are to be applied (e.g. one time only, a few times a day, whenever a triggering event occurs).
Schedules may also be activated immediately. In such cases, tasks in the schedule in question may take effect within a predetermined amount of time (e.g. within 5 seconds). Examples of tasks include changing the light output for a luminaire or commissioned unit (e.g. dimming up/down from a current light level, going to a particular dim level, recalling light scenes, switching off/on), reconfiguration of control parameters (e.g. enable/disable a control option, change a sensor hold time, change a fade time), changing the temperature in an area, running an emergency lighting test, and performing auto-calibration of selected sensors. In many embodiments, scheduled tasks may also involve database related tasks, such as rolling data from commissioned units (e.g. diagnostics logging, energy consumption data), sending reports or notifications to different system modules, and backing up specific data or categories of data.
In many embodiments, only one schedule may be active with respect to the same commissioned unit at any given time. Transitioning between settings of two consecutive tasks in a schedule may involve a fading transition within a fade time. Accordingly, creating and/or selecting schedules may involve specifying or selecting parameters such as a fade time and/or enabling or disabling a fade transition between tasks in a schedule.
The central dashboard or a user interface associated with the commissioning module may allow an authorized user such as a facility manager to create and configure alarms. An alarm may be any means by which one or more modules, controllers or devices associated with the system for managing environmental conditions within a structure is notified of system statuses that are abnormal or may otherwise require action. An alarm may be associated with various configurable parameters. These parameters may be manually set or altered by an authorized user, or automatically updated during system operation. An alarm may have an associated type (e.g. an error or a warning). An alarm may indicate its source, or the event or condition that generated the alarm. Examples may include a change in a system status, a particular system status, or a scheduled or unscheduled event occurring. An alarm may also have an associated destination (e.g. a user account that must be notified about the alarm), a scope (e.g. commissioned units the alarm potentially affects), a format (e.g. SMS, e-mail, audio, visual, tactical), a trigger (e.g. a schedule or task that the alarm invokes), and a trigger condition that causes the alarm to be invoked (e.g. time, system status, change in system status, or a scheduled activity). Alarms may also cause particular data to be displayed on the central dashboard in order to visually present alarm data to responsible personnel. Examples include the location of the commissioned unit, device, or environmental condition causing the alarm, an indication of the severity of the alarm, and an indication of the status of the alarm (e.g. whether or not it is being handled).
In some embodiments, an authorized user may use the central dashboard to issue an overriding central control command or otherwise configure the system for exclusive central environmental control, such that all other automatic or user-generated environmental control requests are blocked or ignored until the particular overriding central command or other event completes, or is manually ended. Such a central control override may be used during emergencies, such as during a building fire or a breach of security.
Central control may also take into account manually-requested environmental conditions that are in effect in various areas. For example, although the central dashboard may allow a facility manager to easily alter lighting conditions in a large open plan office area, the facility manager may wish to skip over areas that are under personal control of other users. In some embodiments, this is accomplished by using information about the different lighting conditions in various parts available in real time to system modules such as the environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130.
In many embodiments, a centrally-issued environmental control request that comes before or after a personal or manual control request may not affect the system's response to the personal or manual control request. For example, a central control request to switch a commissioned unit to a lower light level may result in the commissioned unit producing the lower light level. However, a personal or other manual control request may thereafter successfully switch the commissioned unit to produce a higher light level.
In many embodiments, a central control request may be issued to take effect in a space, and prevent other control requests from taking effect in that space until it is manually deactivated. To prevent a situation where a facility manager may inadvertently fail to deactivate such an overriding central control, automatic controls may override such central controls under some limited circumstances, such as when the system recognizes that the space is vacant. Under such circumstances, occupancy-based control may replace the central control of the space, and environmental changes in accordance with the occupancy-based control may take effect.
In many embodiments, the central dashboard allows an appropriately authorized user (e.g. a facility manager) to cause the system to switch to a predefined load shedding mode. Such modes may be designed to save power by automatically causing various system-wide parameters to be altered, as well as causing various commissioned units to react in particular ways. For example, all personal controls may be disabled, all luminaires (or lighting units or light sources) in selected areas may be dimmed or switched off, and all hold times and grace periods for automatically triggered controls such as occupancy-based controls may be shortened.
The environmental control systems described herein provide a variety of different graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for facilitating interaction with users. Exemplary embodiments of three categories of such GUIs are described below. In additional, a customization graphical user interface (customization GUI) is provided that allows a user to create customized GUIs. A user may use the customization GUI to create GUIs for use in particular tasks (e.g. dimming luminaires associated with commissioned units in different rooms) or in particular areas the user frequents (e.g. a GUI that displays monitoring information for commissioned units in three rooms that the user is interested in). The customization GUI may also be used to create different views based upon the user's role (e.g. a user with a role that requires monitoring power consumption) may be provided a set of graphical views of a room where the power consumption information is highlighted or otherwise accessible with fewer clicks or interactions from the user. Based on the user's role and/or preconfigured profile of preferences, the customization GUI may suggest various custom views (e.g. overhead view of the user's cell office and surrounding area) comprising various details (e.g. temperature and humidity conditions in the cell office). While preparing one or more custom GUIs using the customization GUI, the user may choose to add or remove various details in order to achieve a custom GUI representative of the user's own preferences.
System modules may also allow a user to customize the GUI of the Central Dashboard Home Page according to the user's needs. For example, it may be possible for a user to create different views based on his/her role (e.g. end user of office space or facility manager). A facility manager may be presented with maintenance data as well as energy consumption data, while an end user may only be presented with energy consumption data and data on current environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, light levels), but not maintenance data.
The Dashboard GUI may also present (e.g. on the floor plan itself or on a side panel), operational statuses of various commissioned units (e.g. if an unresolved error has been reported for a unit, if a unit is turned on or off). In many embodiments, data regarding devices such as their functions or status data is presented to the user within 0.5 seconds of being requested by the user (e.g. by placing the cursor over the device on the floor plan). The devices may also be visually highlighted on the floor plan. The Dashboard GUI may also visually depict different categories of devices or commissioned units on the floor plan differently. For example, different icons may be used to visually depict lighting devices, HVAC devices, sensors, and control devices. The choice of icons may be customizable to the user's preferences. Different information may be presented for a commissioned unit depending on its category. For commissioned units used for lighting, the information may comprise the current light level, and energy usage, and whether or not occupancy-based or daylight-based control is enabled. For sensors, the measurement of the last sensed data, or an average of measurements over a particular recent time period may be presented.
The Central Dashboard GUI may also provide the user the ability to change parameters for commissioned devices. When the user selects a commissioned device, its parameters may be displayed, and the editable parameters, based on the user's permissions and/or role, may be visually displayed as being editable. Parameters that the user is not allowed to edit may be visually presented as being non-editable (e.g. greyed out). The acceptable range of a parameter may also be indicated and parameter values outside of the range may not be accepted by the central dashboard GUI. Help tips may also be available through the central dashboard GUI. For example, help tips may be presented as an overlay when the user's cursor hovers on a commissioned unit. Some embodiments of the central dashboard GUI may be available in languages other than English. The Central Dashboard GUI may also provide graphical means for a user to manage schedules. An authorized user may use the Dashboard GUI to create, edit, delete, prioritize and otherwise manage schedules.
The central dashboard GUI may also provide graphical means to centrally control operational settings of commissioned units throughout the system. For example, users may control light settings for a group of selected commissioned units or individual commissioned units in real time (e.g. by using graphical means to select multiple commissioned units and/or individual luminaires and select new light levels or dim light output by one or more steps). The new operational states (e.g. new illumination levels) may thereafter be visually reflected on the central dashboard as feedback to the user that the changes have taken place.
System modules or commissioned units themselves may also conduct analysis of available monitoring data to provide system modules such as the environment manager module 110 of system 100A recommendations on parameter settings that lead to optimal system performance (e.g. energy efficient performance). These recommendations may be presented to the user at the time he/she is presented with user interface means for adjusting operational parameters for commissioned units. Real time analysis of estimated energy usage and energy savings may be conducted and presented to the user, along with cost estimates, to help the user determine optimal parameter settings.
The Central Dashboard (GUI) may also comprise a Monitoring Dashboard GUI that displays data collected by various components of the system (e.g. environment manager module 110, gateway module 130, IP luminaire 150, or area controller 320). The data collected (referred to herein generally as monitoring data), may be data reflecting, for example, space usage (occupancy, presence), energy consumption, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, usage of automatic controls and manual controls, and detected operational errors. Energy consumption data may be captured as actual energy measurements or notional energy measurements. Energy consumption may be measured in KWh. Each collected data sample may be associated with a time stamp, and a device identification or physical location. Presence may be recorded as a yes/no per commissioned unit(s) or areas in question; and occupancy may be recorded as a percentage of the time the commissioned unit(s) or areas in question are occupied. Occupancy status may be concluded based on multiple sensors associated with a commissioned unit. The generation of maintenance and diagnostic messages or reports may also be monitored and recorded. For example, alarms or alerts generated by commissioned units in the form of messages reporting operational errors or warnings may be monitored to predict potential future malfunctions.
The monitoring data may be presented in graphical form, and may be analyzed using any combination of standard and proprietary analytical methods. In many embodiments, the monitoring data may allow users such as facility managers to gain valuable insights into trends in the data, make comparisons with previously gathered data (e.g. historical data) and to implement strategies such as energy consumption strategies based on the data.
Commissioned devices being monitored may store monitored data on the device itself or the data may be stored in one or more memories (e.g. a database) accessible to system modules such as the environment manager module 110, commissioning module 120 or gateway module 130 of system 100A. Monitoring data may be logged at specified configurable time intervals. Additionally the occurrence of events (e.g. detection of occupancy) may cause monitoring to stop or resume. When monitoring occurs can be expressed by one or more configurable parameters on a system-wide basis (e.g. by the setting of system-wide parameters or rules affecting multiple areas and commissioned units) or on a device-by-device basis.
The Monitoring Dashboard may allow an authorized user to select the information to be monitored, the spatial and temporal granularity with which the monitored data should be collected, the space(s) that should be monitored, analytical tools that should be applied to the data, and/or the visual presentation of the raw or analyzed data. Some users (e.g. facility managers) may have the authorization to select new areas for monitoring or to stop gathering data in other areas. Other users (e.g. office users) may be able to specify what types of monitoring data they view on the Monitoring Dashboard, or whether or not they view raw or analyzed monitoring data, but may not be able to affect the collection of the monitoring data itself.
Users may select areas (e.g. the campus, the building, particular floors, rooms or work areas) or particular commissioned units or types of commissioned units for monitoring from an interactive floor map. Users may also specify or select how much monitoring data they would like to access (e.g. a whole year, 6 months, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day), and how recent the data should be (e.g. in the past month, week, day, hour). Depending on the type of monitoring data, the temporal granularity of the available data may vary.
The user may also be able to configure the presentation of the monitoring data. For example, the Monitoring Dashboard may allow users to select the type of graph(s) used to present raw or analyzed data (e.g. heat maps), or choose other details affecting visual presentation. For example, a user may configure their own monitoring view to use a particular color code to indicate occupancy status (e.g. red for areas that are occupied more than 90% of the time during working hours, green for areas occupied less than 20% of the time during working hours). The user may also be able to generate reports based on collected monitoring data. Reports may be customizable and exportable in many formats such as pdf, doc, xls, and XML.
As user comfort is very important to the systems herein for managing environmental conditions within a structure, the monitored data includes key indicators of this metric. For example, the number of manual or personal overrides of prevailing environmental conditions associated with commissioned units or areas may be tracked over time. This includes manual changes in light levels, and manual changes in temperature, humidity, and air flow. These changes may be analyzed in the aggregate to reveal trends when all manual or personal overrides are considered over a period of time. Based on logged temperature data over a period of time, heat maps for commissioned units may be created and overheated commissioned units and under-heated commissioned units may be identified. Because temperatures in one zone may affect the temperature in adjacent zones, some zones may be over or under heated based on the temperature in adjacent zones. Analysis of logged temperature data may reveal such trends. Mathematical models may then be used to suggest changes in temperature and air flow parameters for commissioned units in order to counteract any identified negative trends.
All monitoring data that relates to maintaining the system in working condition may be presented on one or more related user interfaces. In many embodiments, these UIs (presented as one or more windows, panels, or linked websites) present data such as diagnostic messages; alarms, warnings, and other events associated with commissioned units; emergency lighting activations; reports and notifications on device failures; and planned and completed device replacements. Unlike an alarm, which signifies that a device may not be operating as intended, a warning signifies that the system may be running near or outside its operating bounds (e.g. signifying a device nearing end of life, overvoltage or overcurrent circumstances). Different visual characteristics (e.g. different icons and colors) may be used to visually indicate different categories of device malfunction, such as communication failure and lack of power.
In some embodiments, when a faulty device or commissioned unit is replaced, a user with appropriate maintenance credentials may use the Central Dashboard to re-commission the device in accordance with the method depicted in
System modules such as environment manager module 110 may perform system-wide or localized self-checks. The self-checks may be initiated automatically at regular intervals or manually by an authorized user. Reports and diagnostic messages may be generated by system modules or commissioned units on the health of various commissioned units or system modules, and presented on the Central Dashboard. For manually-requested self-checks, the system may provide feedback to the user on the progress of the self-check. Additionally, system modules may log and make available TCP/IP network messages related to various commissioned units.
The Central Dashboard may also comprise a User-Management GUI that allows an authorized user to create, edit and delete user accounts for users of the system. The user accounts may be accounts for users of the structure in question (e.g. office workers), as well as accounts for use by administrators with permissions to configure user accounts. Each user and administrator account may have an associated user ID and password for authentication purposes. In some embodiments, administrator accounts are able to configure, for example: what types of data is monitored, which users are able to view the monitored data and at what granularity, which system parameters are configurable and which users are able to alter the values of such parameters, which users receive system notifications, and which commissioned units are used for various system-level tasks (e.g. gathering monitoring data).
Aside from providing means for manually creating new user and administrative accounts, the User-Management GUI may also facilitate the creation of user accounts by importing previously existing user accounts from existing user account infrastructures (e.g. LDAP, RADIUS/active server). In some embodiments, user accounts may have an assigned role (e.g. the role of a maintenance engineer). All users assigned to a certain role may have the same level of access to information and the same level of control over various aspects of the system. For example, all users assigned the role of maintenance engineer may be allowed to view at a certain level of detail or granularity, monitored usage information (e.g. illumination levels in various locations of the building) pertinent to maintaining the system's functionality. Accordingly, a role may act as a template with certain permissions being enabled and others being disabled. Assigning roles to user accounts is consequently an efficient way to restrict users from accessing potentially sensitive information about other users' activities within the structure in question, while still allowing users to access to the appropriate types of information for performing functions related to their assigned roles.
The User-Management GUI may also allow for the creation and management of customer accounts, where administrative and user accounts are each associated with a customer account. The system may support multiple customer accounts, such that administrator accounts for each customer account may be authorized to edit user accounts associated only with its own customer account. Such an arrangement allows for the management of environmental conditions in the same physical space by separate entities. For example, the same office building may be occupied by one entity from Monday through Wednesdays and another entity on Thursdays and Fridays. Each entity may have a different customer account with user accounts associated with its own employees.
System modules (e.g. environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130) may, in various embodiments, allow software upgrades of commissioned units. During various stages of the software upgrade process, devices undergoing the upgrade may not be operational. Software upgrades may be conducted on a scheduled basis, they may be started remotely using user interfaces such as the Central Dashboard, or on-site by a qualified user (e.g. field support engineer) using system tools such as the Commissioning tool. They may be conducted for select devices or on a class of devices, and the Central Dashboard may reflect on-going, scheduled and completed software upgrades for commissioned devices in the system.
During a software upgrade, the behavior of devices such as lighting devices may be different from their configured behavior prior to the upgrade. For example, commissioned lighting units involved in a software upgrade and subsequent reboot may provide a particular level of illumination (e.g. at a background level of illumination), and ignore any lighting control requests that are received. System modules involved in preparing and/or forwarding automatically or manually-generated environment control commands (e.g. environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130) to commissioned units may stop forwarding the commands to commissioned units that are presently undergoing a software upgrade. After a software upgrade has been completed, the upgraded device may, in some embodiments, return to its behavior just prior to the upgrade. In many embodiments, a software upgrade of a device does not overwrite or delete configuration parameters that were set prior to the upgrade.
In many embodiments, to protect against security breaches, only approved versions and types of firmware and computer code will be accepted by devices for upgrade purposes, and only authorized users will be able initiate software upgrades. The transmittance of upgrade-related data files may only be permitted through secure communication channels.
In some embodiments, the commissioning tool provides an interactive floor map depicting the actual physical placement of devices such as sensors, PoE switches, luminaires, area controllers and gateway modules. During hot-plugging and hot un-plugging of such devices, (e.g. placement and removal of devices while the overall system is powered and operational), the floor map may reflect, in real-time, the removal and addition of devices.
In some embodiments, re-commissioning and re-configuring of a previously commissioned unit such as a luminaire or sensor after it is replaced may be automatic. A report with details regarding the replacement commissioned unit, the replaced unit and/or any errors or warnings resulting from the re-commissioning and/or re-configuring process may thereafter be created and forwarded to the Central Dashboard. The report may comprise the device and location where the exchange took place. In many embodiments, a replaced luminaire may resume its behavior as part of a commissioned unit within 5 seconds from the moment of connecting to power and communication lines.
Sensors, like other commissioned units, are also upgradeable and replaceable while the system is operational. For example, one or more carbon dioxide, humidity and temperature sensors may be added even after the system has been commissioned and is operational. In many embodiments, system modules such as the environment manager module 110 or the gateway module 130 may recognize a replacement sensor's capabilities and automatically commission the sensor by linking it to an appropriate commissioned unit. Additionally, the replacement sensor's capabilities may be reported to the Central Dashboard.
In many embodiments, when a lighting system controller or actuator device is replaced (sensor, luminaire, control UI, area controller), an authorized system user (e.g. commissioning engineer) may need to commission and configure the device to enable proper functioning. In many cases, this may be achieved using the commissioning tool. In some instances, when a commissioned unit is replaced, a system module such as the environment manager module 110 or gateway module 130 may discover the device on the network and present the device for commissioning on the commissioning tool.
Localizing a replaced device may be performed automatically, or semi-automatically, where an authorized user (e.g. commissioning engineer) is asked for confirmation of a successful localization. In case a single device is replaced in the system, the commissioning module may automatically re-configure the device with the configuration details of the malfunctioning one it replaced. An authorized user may also be able to request the latest version of the configuration data associated with the replaced device using, for example, the Central Dashboard.
An authorized user may use the Central Dashboard to manually re-commission commissioned units, and to re-configure parameters of selected commissioned units. For example, a user may select devices for adding to a commissioned unit or split a commissioned unit into sub-units, and specify various parameters used to control the behavior of the new commissioned unit(s).
In situations where there is a power outage, or an un-switched mains line is switched off, the system may activate a system-wide emergency mode. During the emergency mode, commissioned units may not react to any daylight-based or occupancy-based controls, or to any control requests from individual users. In various embodiments, emergency luminaires or lighting units dispersed throughout the structure may be activated to produce sufficient light for purposes such as building evacuation. Such emergency luminaires may each have one or more indicator LEDs, with various light states indicating related system states. For example, a permanent green light may indicate that the system is functioning as required; a blinking green light may indicate that the system is performing a function or duration test; and a blinking red light with a four blink period may indicate battery failure.
In some embodiments, luminaires of different light effect (e.g. temperature and color) may be used, and the system may support lighting devices with the following specifications: Ra greater than 80; Uniformity for Task Lighting greater than 0.7; Uniformity for Background Lighting greater than 0.4; UGR (Unified Glare Rating) of 19 for office spaces, and 28 for circulation areas; and CCT of 4000K.
In situations where there is no network connectivity available system-wide, the system may behave in a predetermined way until network connectivity has been reestablished. For example, occupancy-based controls may be available in a limited capacity, to provide a minimum level of illumination in areas where occupancy is detected; and daylight-based control and personal controls may be unavailable. In situations where an individual luminaire or lighting unit detects that it is no longer connected to the network, it may also behave in a prescribed way. For example, it may continue to provide the same level of illumination as before the network failure was detected, and if it is switched off, it may switch to providing a minimum level of illumination if occupancy is subsequently detected in its vicinity. Such behavior ensures that even in the event of network failure, a minimum level of illumination will be present in areas that are occupied.
If the defect is not fixed, then control proceeds to step 2340 and the commissioned unit reports the error to another system module (e.g. environment manager module 110, commissioning module 120 or gateway module 130). The error report may have an urgency level associated with it, which may be set by the commissioned unit itself. The urgency level may influence how and when the module notified responds to the error. When reporting the error, the commissioned unit may also transmit information identifying itself to the module(s) it reports the error to. In response to the error report, one of the modules receiving the error report may respond by sending self-recovery instructions to the commissioned unit. The self-recovery instructions may be, for example, computer code, or information identifying the location in, one or more memories, of computer code or instructions for self-recovery. In some embodiments, a system module such as the environment manager module 110 may send a known bug fix in the form of computer code executable by the commissioned unit if the reported error relates to a known bug associated with the commissioned unit. In step 2350, the commissioned unit checks to determine if self-recovery instructions were received. If no instructions were received, control remains in step 2350, and the commissioned unit awaits receipt of such instructions or other action by an authorized system user, such as a hardware replacement. If self-recovery instructions are received, then control transfers back to step 2320, in which the commissioned unit attempts self recovery using the newly received instructions.
While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”
The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as only one of or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.
It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.
Reference numerals appearing in the claims between parentheses are provided merely for convenience in line with European patent practice and should not be construed as limiting the claims in any way.
In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4855/CHE/2014 | Sep 2014 | IN | national |
| 14195346.3 | Nov 2014 | EP | regional |
