U.S. patent application number 14/701762 was filed with the patent office on 2016-11-03 for lighting system with cellular networking.
The applicant listed for this patent is ABL IP HOLDING LLC. Invention is credited to Januk AGGARWAL, Jack C. RAINS, JR., David P. RAMER, Sean P. WHITE.
Application Number | 20160323975 14/701762 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 57046578 |
Filed Date | 2016-11-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160323975 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
WHITE; Sean P. ; et
al. |
November 3, 2016 |
LIGHTING SYSTEM WITH CELLULAR NETWORKING
Abstract
Disclosed are examples of lighting devices and other devices
that are equipped with a cellular transceiver that is configured to
communicate using licensed cellular radio frequency spectrum in
both a small-scale cellular network and a large-scale cellular
communication network. By utilizing a short-range, low-power
cellular transceiver setting, a lighting device facilitates
communication, within the space in which the lighting device is
installed, of messages between the lighting device and other types
of user devices. Such an equipped lighting device may be configured
to participate in the generation and delivery of different types of
messages, such as data, emergency broadcast information, news and
other information as well extend the reach of devices within the
space in which the equipped lighting devices are located.
Inventors: |
WHITE; Sean P.; (Herndon,
VA) ; RAINS, JR.; Jack C.; (Herndon, VA) ;
RAMER; David P.; (Reston, VA) ; AGGARWAL; Januk;
(Tysons Corner, VA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
ABL IP HOLDING LLC |
Conyers |
GA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
57046578 |
Appl. No.: |
14/701762 |
Filed: |
May 1, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02D 30/70 20200801;
H04W 16/24 20130101; Y02D 70/162 20180101; H04W 84/18 20130101;
H04W 84/14 20130101; H04W 84/042 20130101; H04W 48/16 20130101;
Y02D 70/144 20180101; Y02D 70/1264 20180101; Y02D 70/142 20180101;
H05B 47/19 20200101; Y02D 70/1262 20180101; H04W 76/10 20180201;
Y02D 70/22 20180101; H04M 1/72533 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H05B 37/02 20060101
H05B037/02; H04M 1/725 20060101 H04M001/725; H04W 40/02 20060101
H04W040/02; H04W 76/02 20060101 H04W076/02 |
Claims
1. A lighting device, comprising: a processor; a memory module
connected to the processor, the memory module configured to store
data and executable programming code; a communication module
including a cellular transceiver, wherein the communication module
is coupled to the processor, wherein the cellular transceiver is
configured to enable communication via a large scale cellular
communication network using a first radio frequency spectrum and to
enable communication over a limited range in a small-scale cellular
network uncoupled from the large-scale cellular communication
network using the first radio frequency spectrum; a light source
configured to produce visible light for general illumination of a
space; a light microcontroller configured to control the light
source; wherein the processor is coupled to the light
microcontroller and the communication module, the processor
configured to execute programming code to perform functions, the
functions including: in response to an input signal, deliver
lighting control instructions to the light microcontroller;
transmit a data message intended for a recipient device within the
small-scale cellular network via the cellular transceiver of the
communication module, wherein the cellular transceiver transmits
the data message using the first radio frequency spectrum; in
response to the transmitted data message, receive a response
message from the recipient device in the small-scale cellular
network via the cellular transceiver; based on the received
response message, identify a type of connection that is being
requested in the response message, wherein a connection type is one
of a direct connection, a lighting device access request or a data
access request; and upon identifying the connection type,
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type.
2. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the processor when
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type is further configured to execute programming code
to perform functions, including functions to: in response to the
identified connection type being a direct connection, establish a
direct connection with the user device through the small-scale
cellular communication network via the cellular transceiver.
3. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the processor when
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type is further configured to execute programming code
to perform functions, including functions to: in response to the
identified connection type being a fixture access connection,
establish a direct connection with the user device through the
large-scale cellular communication network via the cellular
transceiver; upon establishment of the direct connection, receive a
fixture access request from the user device; and based upon
information in the fixture access request, provide instructions to
the light microcontroller to satisfy the fixture access
request.
4. The lighting device of claim 3, wherein when providing
instructions to the light microcontroller, the processor is further
configured to perform functions, including the functions to:
receive fixture operation adjustment settings from the user device
via the cellular transceiver, wherein the cellular transceiver is
receiving the fixture operation adjustment settings via the
small-scale cellular network; and in response to receiving the
fixture operation adjustment settings from the user device,
communicate the received fixture operation adjustment settings to
the light microcontroller.
5. The lighting device of claim 3, wherein when providing
instructions to the light microcontroller, the processor is further
configured to perform functions, including the functions of:
determine that the requesting user device has permission to access
the lighting microcontroller; and based upon the determined
permission, deliver updated operating information to the light
microcontroller.
6. The lighting device of claim 5, wherein the updated operating
information is at least one of a software update or a firmware
update.
7. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the processor when
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type is further configured to perform functions,
including functions to: in response to the identified connection
type being a message relay connection type, determine an address of
another similarly-configured lighting device for receipt of a
message to be relayed; and upon determining the address of the
another similarly-configured lighting device, forward information
in the connection request to the determined address of the another
similarly-configured lighting device via the cellular
transceiver.
8. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the processor when
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type is further configured to perform functions,
including the functions to: in response to the determined
connection type being a fixture control information connection
type, determine an address of an intended recipient device to
receive the device control information, wherein the received data
includes the fixture control information; upon determining the
address of the intended recipient device, identify another lighting
device within the space corresponding to the intended recipient
address; and in response to the identification, create a
communication channel with the identified lighting device via the
cellular transceiver.
9. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the processor when
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type is further configured to perform functions,
including the functions to: in response to a determination that the
connection type is a data network request connection type, request,
from a device that sent the received data, information related to a
data network that the device is requesting to connect and an
identifier associated with the device or device user via the
cellular transceiver; and upon receipt of the information related
to the data network and the identifier, send a request to the data
network requesting a communication channel be formed between the
lighting device and the data network.
10. The lighting device of claim 9, wherein when determining
whether to forward a connection request to the data communication
network via the another broadband communication transceiver, the
processor is further configured to perform functions, including
functions to: based on device information associated with the
requesting device included in the data network request, determining
a communication mode for fulfilling the data network request.
11. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the processor when
completing the requested connection according to the identified
connection type is further configured to perform functions,
including the functions to: in response to a determination that the
connection type is a data network request connection type,
determine whether access to a cellular communication network is
required; and in response to a determination that cellular
communication network access is required to satisfy the data
network connection request, forward a connection request to the
large-scale cellular communication network via the cellular
transceiver of the communication module.
12. The lighting device claim of claim 11, wherein the device
information includes at least one of device power supply status,
device communication mode preferences, device identifier, device
cellular communication service provider, or a device user name.
13. The lighting device of claim 1, wherein the communication
module includes a broadband communication transceiver, and the
processor when completing the requested connection according to the
identified connection type is further configured to perform
functions, including the functions to: in response to a
determination that the connection type is a data network request
connection type, determine whether access to the large-scale
cellular communication network is required; and in response to a
determination that access to the large-scale cellular communication
network is not required to satisfy the data network connection
request, determine whether to forward a connection request to the
data communication network via the broadband communication
transceiver.
14. A lighting device comprising: a light source configured to
produce visible light for general illumination within a space in
which a plurality of lighting devices, including the lighting
device, are installed; a cellular transceiver configured to provide
cellular communication via a public cellular communication network
and establish a connection to a private cellular network that
includes similarly configured lighting devices of the plurality of
lighting devices and with other devices within the space; and a
processor coupled to the light source and the cellular transceiver,
the processor configured to perform functions, including functions
to: in response to a request from a user device in the space
received via the cellular transceiver to connect to the lighting
device through the private cellular network, complete the
connection of the lighting device to the requesting device via the
cellular transceiver; receive a message from the connected device,
the message including an identifier of an intended recipient of the
message; determine an address of the intended recipient in the
private cellular network; and forward the message to the intended
recipient in the private cellular network via the cellular
transceiver.
15. The lighting device of claim 14, wherein the private cellular
network is formed using available long term evolution (LTE)
cellular radio frequency spectrum over a short range, wherein the
short range is approximately 500 meters.
16. The lighting device of claim 14, wherein the processor is
further configured to perform functions, including functions to: in
response to receiving a connection message, determine that the
requesting device is requesting completion of a public cellular
communication call via the cellular transceiver; and in response to
the determination that the requesting device is attempting to
complete the public cellular communication call and based on
information included in the connection message, forward a
connection request to the public cellular communication
network.
17. The lighting device of claim 14, wherein the processor is
further configured to perform functions, including functions to:
receive a management device message from a management device, the
management device message including a broadcast message for
broadcast by the lighting device; and transmit, using connections
of the private cellular network established with similarly
configured lighting devices and other devices, the broadcast
message to the similarly configured lighting devices and other
devices.
18. The lighting device of claim 14, wherein the processor is
further configured to perform functions, including functions to: in
response to a control signal, broadcast, via the cellular
transceiver, management preference messages using connections of
the private cellular network established with similarly configured
lighting devices and other devices, wherein the broadcast
management message includes information related to an event
occurring at or a service provided in the space in which the
lighting device is installed.
19. The lighting device of claim 14, further comprising: a
communication interface configured to enable data communication via
a broadband data communication link of a network of a premises
including the space; and wherein the processor is coupled to the
communication interface in addition to the light source and the
cellular transceiver and, further configured to perform functions,
including functions to: determine that the requesting device is
transmitting via the private cellular network the request for a
connection to another device; in response to the determination that
the requesting device is attempting to connect via the private
cellular network, determine based on device information provided by
the another device that a connection to the another device is to be
established via the communication interface; and establish a
connection with the another device via the communication interface
using the broadband data communication link.
20. A lighting network system, comprising: at least two lighting
devices installed within a premises, wherein each of the at least
two lighting devices includes a communication module, a memory and
a processor, wherein for each of the at least two lighting devices:
the communication module is configured to communicate via an
appropriately-configured cellular transceiver with both a public
cellular communications network and a private cellular network
between the at least two lighting devices and other
non-lighting-system devices at the premises in proximity to at
least one of the at least two lighting devices; the memory is
configured to store information related to the premises in which
the two lighting devices are installed and additional information
related to the other non-lighting system devices at the premises;
and the processor is configured to control communications via the
communication interface of each of the lighting devices in the
respective lighting network system to provide a small-scale
cellular network that enables access to the large-scale cellular
communications network outside the premises for non-lighting
related communications of the other non-lighting system devices in
proximity to at least one of the two lighting devices.
21. The lighting network system of claim 20, further comprising the
other non-lighting system devices, wherein the other non-lighting
system devices include two or more of: a printer, a facsimile
machine, a reproduction machine, an imaging device, a mobile
device, a tablet device, an appliance, a vending machine, a
point-of-sale device, a food preparation machine, a vehicle, an
emergency equipment, a camera or an entertainment device.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The subject matter of the disclosed examples relates to
lighting devices with cellular transceivers configured to
communicate with other lighting devices via a private cellular
network and with a public cellular communication network.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Electrical lighting has become commonplace in modern
society. Electrical lighting devices are commonly deployed, for
example, in homes, buildings or commercial and other enterprise
establishments, as well as in various outdoor settings. Even in a
relatively small state or country, there may be millions of
lighting devices in use.
[0003] With the advent of modern electronics has come advancement,
including advances in the networking and control capabilities of
the lighting devices. By nature, solid state light sources such as
light emitting diodes (LEDs) are easily controlled by electronic
logic circuits or processors. As increased processing capacity
finds its way into the lighting devices for purposes of lighting
control, the incorporation of associated communications
capabilities, e.g. to allow lighting devices to communicate with
system control elements and/or with each other via different
communication protocols such as Zigbee, X10, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or
the like, is becoming more commonplace. In this way, advanced
electronics in the lighting devices as well as the associated
control elements have facilitated more sophisticated lighting
control algorithms as well as increased networking of lighting
devices and/or other devices within the space in which the lighting
devices are installed. In addition, lighting devices typically
having nearly uninterrupted access to electrical power are
ubiquitous; with a lighting device installed in almost every
facility.
[0004] The advent of the advanced electronics, nearly uninterrupted
supply of power, and ubiquitous nature of lighting device
deployments makes the lighting device an excellent candidate for
incorporation into a network of devices to provide services, such
as data communication, location-relevant data, emergency alerts,
and the like. When used in the context of a network device or in a
network, lighting devices are used primarily as a component of a
premises broadband local area network. Some examples include
wireless networking such as Wi-Fi or perhaps a Bluetooth-like
network. While lighting devices have been developed to include
cellular communication capabilities, these cellular communication
capabilities installed in lighting devices have primarily been used
as repeaters for a cellular communication network in order to
extend the coverage of the cellular carrier.
[0005] Cellular communication network systems are known for
providing cellular coverage over large geographical areas. These
large-scale cellular communication network systems provided by
cellular carriers include components that facilitate calls from one
city, such as New York City, to be completed to another city, such
as San Francisco, a great distance away from the originating
device. This connectivity is accomplished by use of cellular
coverage areas, which are serviced by cellular communication
network access points, nodes or base stations operating in a
portion of the cellular radio frequency spectrum that cover a
geographical area. The cellular communication network system
includes components that in response to connection requests from
user devices, exchange/forward access request messages, and
authorization and authentication messages to establish a cellular
communication network connection over the air with the requesting
user device. This exchange of messages consumes network resources
and bandwidth, and also consumes battery power of the respective
user devices. The network components also locate the intended
recipient device identified in the connection request, and if
authorized set-up communications between the devices.
[0006] Similar use of network resources, bandwidth and consumption
of user device battery power occurs when a user device accesses a
data source, such as a website, music service, video service or the
like via the public data network (Internet), or a large-scale
cellular communication network.
[0007] In the past, user devices were primarily used for making and
receiving voice calls, sending and receiving text messages,
exchanging data (e.g., sending e-mail), and providing and receiving
location information. However, as user devices become more
application centric, the user devices, while still performing those
primary tasks, are becoming more involved in providing information
related to the user's social interactions, business relationships,
and daily customs, such as commuting, coffee breaks, shopping and
the like, based on applications used by the user device.
[0008] For example, solutions have been proposed that allow a user
device to receive location relevant information via the large-scale
cellular communication network or an available Wi-Fi network in the
vicinity of the user device. For example, growth in long term
evolution (LTE) technologies, such as LTE Direct or LTE Advanced
provided in cellular chipsets manufactured by Qualcomm.RTM., allow
devices to exchange messages using cellular radio frequency
spectrum. The LTE Direct or LTE Advanced chipsets provide a means
for devices to communicate very brief messages in a peer-to-peer
fashion without having to gain access to the large-scale cellular
communication network via a cellular network provider cellular
network access point, such as an eNode-B, a base station or the
like. However, these LTE Direct chipsets provide only a brief
period of time in which the user device broadcasts short messages
and/or receives short messages from similar user devices with the
LTE Direct chipset by the large-scale cellular communication
network servicing the user device. While LTE Direct may be useful
for peer discovery, it does not appear to provide the capability to
satisfy peer-to-peer connectivity or to allow the equipped-devices
to serve as data sources to user devices.
[0009] What is needed is a means for leveraging the advances in
both lighting and cellular technology to improve the
internetworking of lighting devices and other devices through the
utilization of the cellular radio frequency spectrum that improves
the lighting device to allow the lighting device to be a more
integral participant in the communication infrastructure of a
facility, and a participant, instead of a pass through, in the
cellular communication infrastructure as a whole.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The drawing figures depict one or more implementations in
accord with the present concepts, by way of example only, not by
way of limitations. In the Figures, like reference numerals refer
to the same or similar elements.
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an environment that
implements small-scale wireless networking, e.g., in a lighting
system, using cellular resources in an area also served by a
large-scale cellular network.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a simple example of a lighting
device and other devices configured to communicate in a private
network environment.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a simple example of
an appropriately configured lighting device.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of another example of a
lighting device.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a more complex
example of an appropriately configured lighting device.
[0016] FIG. 6 is system block diagram example of a system of a
lighting devices and user devices operating in an example of the
networking environment.
[0017] FIG. 7 illustrates a process flowchart for communication
between an appropriately-configured lighting device and one or more
appropriately configured devices, for example similar to that of
FIG. 6.
[0018] FIG. 8 illustrates another process flowchart for a
communication between an lighting devices, for example, similar to
those of FIGS. 3-5, and one or more other devices.
[0019] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of an operating scenario of
appropriately configured lighting devices operating in a
small-scale cellular network.
[0020] FIG. 10 illustrates another example of an operating scenario
of appropriately configured lighting devices operating in a
small-scale cellular network.
[0021] FIG. 11 is a simplified functional block diagram of a
computer that may be configured as an appropriately-configured
processor, for example, to function as the application processor of
a lighting device as shown in the examples of FIGS. 4-6 or function
as a server as shown in FIG. 8.
[0022] FIG. 12 is a simplified functional block diagram of a
personal computer or other management device, which may be used as
a management device or user device, in any of the examples of FIG.
1 or 8.
[0023] FIG. 13 is a simplified functional block diagram of a mobile
device, as an alternate example of a user device, for possible
communication in or with the system of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] In the following detailed description, numerous specific
details are set forth by way of examples in order to provide a
thorough understanding of the relevant teachings. However, it
should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present
teachings may be practiced without such details. In other
instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and/or
circuitry have been described at a relatively high-level, without
detail, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the
present teachings.
[0025] The following examples describe lighting devices configured
with a cellular transceiver that improves the internetworking of
lighting devices and other devices through the utilization of the
cellular radio frequency spectrum in such a way that the lighting
device improves the communication infrastructure of a facility, or
premises where the lighting device is installed.
[0026] Recently, there have been proposals to allow mobile devices
to wirelessly connect to each other in a mesh network, such that if
one device has a suitable connection to a public cellular
communication tower, but a second device does not, the second
device can "piggyback on," use, the first device's connection. The
technology has been shown to be effective so long as the mobile
devices are "reasonably" close to each other. Problems arise,
however, if the mobile device user seeking a mesh network
connection is in an area with few, if any, of other users' mobile
devices within range (e.g. in a building after normal work hours)
of the mobile device seeking a mesh network connection. To mitigate
the effects of a few users in an area that have a usable
connection, it is proposed to equip lighting devices with
components that facilitate use of lighting devices to perform the
"piggyback" function using a small-scale wireless network. The
following examples contemplate devices in a lighting system having
cellular radios, where the cellular radios may act as participants
in small-scale network. This may be an appropriate time to discuss
the small-scale network and the different types of communications
that may utilize the wireless capabilities of the small-scale
network. Examples of the different types of communications include
mesh networking communications, ad hoc communications and
peer-to-peer. There are fundamental differences between these types
of communications.
[0027] In a mesh network implementation, if one of the lighting
devices has cellular connectivity to a cell tower, e.g., an eNodeB
or base station, the cellular mesh network may allow mobile devices
in a building that otherwise may have poor connectivity to
"piggyback" through the mesh network of the small-scale network
onto the public cellular communication network connection to the
cell tower. Each device participating in a mesh network acts as a
routing device that assists other devices in the mesh network by
forwarding data packets for these other devices to intended
recipients. The mesh network provides a multi-"hops" capability. In
contrast, an ad hoc network is a network in which devices in the
network communicate directly to any other device within wireless
radio range without using a central access point router. In
essence, the ad hoc network bypasses a router. However, devices
participating in an ad hoc network arrangement do not have the
capability to perform the multi-hopping useful in the mesh
network.
[0028] Peer-to-peer simply means that application layer clients
directly talk to each other without a central server
infrastructure, ad hoc and mesh networking can all support
peer-to-peer communications as they are instances of
device-to-device communication, but at different layers of the OSI
model. In the OSI model, the ad hoc networking is at the OSI 1
layer, the physical layer, whereas mesh networking is at the OSI 3
layer, network layer, that is responsible for data routing. The
peer-to-peer clients are at the application layer.
[0029] User devices equipped with the appropriately-configured LTE
cellular transceivers are able to communicate with other similarly
configured devices, such as a lighting device, via the cellular
radio frequency spectrum without having to interact with the
large-scale cellular communication network. There is the potential
for lighting device and/or user devices equipped with the cellular
transceivers to interfere with the large-scale cellular
communication network. In order to mitigate potential interference
with the cellular radio frequency spectrum being used by the
large-scale cellular communication network in the vicinity of the
devices equipped with the cellular transceiver, the range of an
appropriated-configured cellular transceiver may be limited to
approximately 500 meters, similar to the LTE Direct chipset.
[0030] Some transceivers in lighting devices may operate at power
levels for large-scale network communications, e.g., when linking
to the larger network outside the premises, and operate at power
levels for small-scale networking within the premises. The power
may be set and maintained for some of the lighting devices'
transceivers, e.g., for small-scale networking only within the
premises. Mobile user device transceivers could be similarly
limited, but the limitation is maintained only so long as a user
device is in the vicinity of the small scale network implemented by
the lighting devices.
[0031] For example, the appropriately-configured cellular
transceiver utilizes minimal signal strength to transmit a signal
approximately 500 meters. As a result, the cellular transceiver may
not generate a signal that capable of obtaining access to the
large-scale cellular communication network.
[0032] Examples of a cellular transceiver for lighting devices are
not limited to only communicating within the small-scale,
short-range cellular network, but are able to connect with the
large-scale cellular communication network when requested and with
the proper registrations and/or permissions to gain access to the
large-scale cellular communication network.
[0033] Besides the above differences between the large-scale
cellular communication network and the small-scale, short-range
cellular network, another difference may be the category of end
user device that is being served by the cellular mesh network and
the large-scale cellular communication network, respectively. For
example, a calling party on a street corner in New York City
normally uses the large-scale cellular communication network to
call a user device in San Francisco. In this type of use case, the
large-scale cellular communication network is essentially open to
the public at large. In other words, the large-scale cellular
communication network is available to any network-registered, user
device in the public (i.e., the public-at-large) and is regulated
as a public entity, while the small-scale, short-range cellular
network may also be available to any user device in the public,
that device has to be within a certain vicinity of another device
that is participating in the small-scale, short-range cellular
network. For example, only those devices within the 500 meter
vicinity of an appropriately configured lighting device, which is
operating as a member of the small-scale, short-range cellular
network are able to communicate as a member of the small-scale,
short-range cellular network with the lighting device.
[0034] However, another user device located in a shopping mall
without access to the large-scale communication network uses the
small-scale, short-range cellular network to communicate within the
shopping mall. The shopping mall locations use of small-scale,
short-range cellular network is private as compared to the
point-to-point calling provided by the large-scale cellular
communication network because the shopping mall may have diminished
access to the large-scale cellular communication network while the
user device on the New York City street corner has full access to
the large-scale cellular communication network.
[0035] A public network is considered to be a cellular
communication network, offered by a mobile network operator, or a
cellular carrier that is available to any user device of a user in
the general public, e.g., with an appropriate subscription to
network service(s). Conversely, a private network may be a network
that is only available to user devices that meet certain criteria,
in particular, membership in a private network may be limited by
the range of the individual members of the private network from one
another. For example, a private network range limitation may not
permit respective user devices that are beyond a short range, such
as 500 meters, from one another to be part of the private network.
Private network membership may also be limited by permissions,
e.g., based on association of the user or device with a particular
enterprise, such as an employee of an organization owning or served
via the private network.
[0036] In our small-scale network example, the private network
member devices use cellular radio frequencies to communicate among
one another albeit via low-power, short-range transmissions. The
number of members in the private network may grow as new devices
come within the short-range, such as 500 meters, of a present
member of the private network that enables the new device to join
the private network. In some examples, the private network may be
considered a cellular mesh network whose communications are based
on a cellular radio frequency transmissions having a lower power
and a shorter range than communications made by devices
participating in the public network.
[0037] In some indoor locations, users are beyond the range of a
cellular communication tower and, as a result, do not have cellular
service from the large-scale cellular communication network or from
a public network. A possible solution is to include a cellular
transceiver within a lighting device installed in an indoor
location in which the cellular transceiver is configured to
establish a connection with the large-scale cellular communication
network. The cellular transceiver when attempting to establish the
connection with the large-scale cellular network transmits signals
in the cellular radio frequency spectrum that are transmitted at
have power level normally used in the large-scale cellular network.
These normal power level transmissions are at a higher power level
than those proposed for using in the private networks described
above. As will be described in the following examples, the signal
transmission power levels of the cellular transceiver in the
described lighting devices are selectable by a processor in the
lighting device, which permits the lighting device to select when
to use the normal, higher, power level signal transmissions versus
the lower-power signal transmissions suitable for communication
with members of the small-scale cellular network. This solution
provides at least two advantages: enabling the lighting device to
communicate with other lighting devices and user devices in a
small-scale cellular network, and providing user devices with an
access point to a large-scale cellular network, when, for example,
signal strength to the user device is diminished due to being
located indoors.
[0038] The disclosed concepts improve over prior lighting systems,
particularly those utilizing networked intelligent lighting devices
and other network connected elements because utilizing the licensed
cellular bandwidth permits establishment of a network beyond
individual lighting devices. The examples discussed below may also
enable lighting devices to participate in small-scale cellular
networking implementations within a premises, i.e., in an interior
or exterior space, as well as provide the capability to provide
devices within the premises with access to a large scale cellular
network. Reference now is made in detail to the examples
illustrated in the accompanying drawings and discussed below.
[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a networking environment
100. In the networking environment 100 of FIG. 1, a base station
110 may provide cellular communication service (e.g., such as 3G,
4G or LTE service) to devices such as user devices 113a, 113b, and
113c, and to lighting device LD 2 that are located within a
coverage area periphery 115 of the base station 110. User devices
113a-c, 123a-c and 133a-c may be smartphones, personal computers,
laptop computers, tablet computers or the like. In this example,
the base station 110 is part of a large scale cellular
communication network system. For example, the large scale cellular
communication network system may provide cellular communication
services (e.g., such as LTE service) to user devices in the
public.
[0040] In this example, lighting device LD 1 may be an outdoor
device that is near the periphery of the coverage area (i.e. range)
115 of the base station 110 cellular signals, while the user
devices 133a-c are outside the periphery of the base station 110
coverage area 115, and therefore cannot connect to the large scale
cellular communication network. Similar to user devices 123a-c,
user devices 133a-c may be able to obtain connectivity to the large
scale cellular communication network through the lighting device LD
1. Meanwhile, lighting device LD 2 may be located indoors and may
be able to communicate via cellular radio frequency spectrum with
devices only within the coverage area periphery 125.
[0041] The indoor locations in which lighting device LD 2 may be
located may include, for example, a shopping mall, warehouse,
office building, stadium, arena parking garage or the like. A
lighting device LD 2 may include, for example, a light source, a
processor, and a cellular transceiver (which will be described in a
following example). The light source may produce visible light for
general illumination within a space in which a number of lighting
devices are installed. The light source may be configured to
respond to control signals from the processor. The cellular
transceiver may facilitate a wireless cellular connection to the
base station 110 of the large-scale cellular communication network
as well as a wireless connection to the devices 123a-c within the
indoor space for small-scale network communications. Further
details of a lighting device, such as the lighting device LD 2,
will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3-5.
[0042] In the environment 100 of FIG. 1, the lighting device LD 2
is in range of the base station 110 when the cellular transceiver
of the lighting device LD 2 transmits or receives at a typical
cellular communication power setting, and, therefore is able to
access the large-scale cellular communication network via the base
station 110. The one or more of devices 123a-c may also be in range
of the base station 110 and may obtain cellular communication
service directly from the base station 110. Or, under some
circumstances, the devices 123a-c may be unable to obtain from or
transmit a cellular signal of sufficient strength to the base
station 110. For example, the particular devices 123a-c, due to
their location, for example, may not have a signal of acceptable
signal strength from the base station 110. In this case, the
devices 123a-c may look for an alternate source of connectivity to
the large-scale cellular communication network. In which case, the
cellular transceiver of the lighting device LD 2 may provide the
capability for the devices 123a-c to connect to the large-scale
cellular communication network by operating the cellular
transceiver at normal power for the link to the large-scale network
and operating the user devices and/or a lighting device transceiver
at a lower power for the small-scale network link(s).
[0043] By incorporating a cellular transceiver and additional
functionality into lighting device LD 2, the lighting device LD 2
is able to participate in private cellular network that includes
devices 123a-c. The private cellular network is decoupled from the
large-scale cellular communication network, which means as
explained above that the lighting device LD 2 does not need
permission or have to access control components (not shown) of the
large-scale cellular communication network to establish small-scale
network communications. The respective devices 123a-c, which also
may have additional functionality similar to that of the lighting
device, may be able to communicate on the same cellular radio
frequency spectrum as the lighting device LD 2. As a result, the
devices 123a-c and the lighting device LD 2 may communicate with
one another directly in a peer-to-peer communication system or
communication may be facilitated through lighting device LD 2. The
private cellular network as explained above facilitates cellular
communication without the need for the devices participating in the
small-scale network to connect to the large-scale cellular
communication network. For example, the lighting device LD 2 may be
configured to generate mass broadcasts in emergency situations or
for event broadcasts, such as an announcement of commencement of a
speech in a particular area of a convention center or tradeshow. In
another example, one or more devices 123a-c may choose to obtain
mobile communication service via the lighting device LD 2 instead
of from the base station 110 because the user of a particular
device 123a-c desires to save on cellular minutes or save power,
for example.
[0044] In addition, this example of lighting device LD 2 is
suitable to address saturation caused by an overwhelming number of
mobile user devices at a particular area, such as sports arena,
attempting to gain access to a particular cellular base station of
the public cellular network. For example, when thousands of devices
in the sports arena attempt to nearly simultaneously obtain
cellular service from the base station 110, the base station 110
becomes overwhelmed (i.e., saturated) and is unable to keep up with
demand. To alleviate some of the connection burden on the base
station 110, a small-scale cellular network may be established, for
example, incorporating the devices within the coverage area 125 of
lighting device LD 2. For example, the lighting device LD 2 may be
installed in a location (e.g., near a specific seating section or
concourse) of the sports arena, so devices within the coverage area
125 of lighting device LD 2 may attempt to connect to the lighting
device LD 2 instead of directly with the base station 110. The
devices, such as devices 123a-c, may attempt to connect to the
lighting device LD 2 instead of the base station 110 because, for
example, the signal strength of the cellular signal from the
lighting device LD 2 will be stronger than the signal from the base
station 110. Such a cellular mesh network may include lighting
device LD 2 and devices 123a-c. Other lighting devices in the
sports arena may similarly be used to form a cellular mesh network
within a short range coverage area of the respective lighting
devices. Note that as a user device travels about the sports arena,
for example, from one concourse to the next, the user device may
leave membership of one cellular mesh network and become a member
of a different cellular mesh network.
[0045] As the mesh network is created, one of the members of the
mesh network, most likely, the lighting device, is promoted to a
LEADER device according to known mesh networking techniques, and
facilitates control of the mesh network. For example, the mesh
networking technique for choosing the LEADER device is based on
public cellular communication network signal strength and lighting
devices in the sports arena, such as lighting device LD 2, for
example, has connections to public cellular communication network
antennas positioned on the sports arena, this connection to public
cellular communication network antennas allow the lighting devices
to have the strongest signal strength among devices in the cellular
mesh network. As a result, the respective lighting device is chosen
as the LEADER. According to the networking protocol being used the
LEADER device performs the functions needed to facilitate a
cellular connection to the base station 110, for the user devices
within range. For example, the lighting device LD 2 processor is
configured to perform a routing function that enables one or more
user devices to be provided with access to the large-scale cellular
network. Since lighting device LD 2 is the LEADER device in this
example, it facilitates provision of public cellular communication
service to devices 123a-c within coverage area 125. This example
may mitigate the saturation problem by consolidating the number of
devices attempting to access the large-scale cellular communication
network via the base station 110.
[0046] Continuing with the illustrated example of FIG. 1, devices
133a-c may be out of range (i.e., due to insufficient signal
strength) of the base station 110. However, lighting device LD 1,
which is configured similar to lighting device LD 2, may function
as a cellular repeater having a sufficient signal to connect to the
base station 110, which allows devices 133a-c that are out of range
due to insufficient signal to communicate with LTE base station
110.
[0047] As for devices 113a-c, these devices may be able to connect
to base station 110 without having direct access to base station
110 because of a mesh networking technique implemented by the
devices 113a-c, to use lighting device LD 2 as an access point for
connecting to the base station 110. For example, assume lighting
device is positioned close to a window of the indoor area in which
it is installed However, there may be scenarios in which one of the
user devices, such as device 113a, is experiencing degraded signal
strength from the base station 110 (e.g., due to being in an urban
canyon or the like). The processor of device 113a is configured to
look for other devices that indicate the strength of their public
cellular communication signal strength. Based on this indication,
the device 113a processor identifies lighting device LD 2 as being
accessible for public cellular communication services. Assuming
device 113a is within a relatively short range of lighting device
LD 2 (e.g., across the street from), the device 113a may attempt to
connect to lighting device LD 2 as part of the mesh network or the
private cellular network to obtain a connection to base station
110. Alternatively, the device 113a may attempt to connect to
device 123a as part of the small-scale cellular network, to obtain
a connection to base station 110. In other examples, the respective
devices 113a-c and 123a-c are configured to perform an automatic
selection between connecting to the lighting device LD 1 or 2 or
each other via cellular, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth based on signal
strength.
[0048] An advantage of a lighting device configured as described
above is that such a lighting device LD 1 or 2 provides range
assistance and preserves battery power for user devices by allowing
operation of the transceivers of the user device at lower power
levels. In the sports arena example, the devices may not interfere
as much with one another because the user devices 113a-c and 123a-c
are connecting at lower power levels over a shorter range in the
private cellular network or cellular mesh network with the lighting
device LD 2 and therefore, user devices 113a-c and 123a-c do not
need to generate powerful signals in an attempt to reach the base
station 110 with a signal of sufficient strength.
[0049] The interaction of user devices and a lighting device will
be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2, which is a
block diagram of a simple example of an appropriately configured
lighting device and other appropriately configured devices
communicating in a small-scale cellular network environment.
[0050] The small-scale cellular network 200 environment that has a
short range coverage area, such as coverage area 125 of FIG. 1,
that is serviced by cellular transceivers within the respective
lighting device LD 210 and user devices 202-206. User devices
202-206 may be smartphones, personal computers, laptop computers,
tablet computers, cash registers, printers, vending machines,
automatic teller machines, credit approval devices, or the like.
The power and resulting range of signals transmitted from the
cellular transceiver is purposely limited by the device processor
to less than (<) 500 meters as discussed above with regard to
the small-scale cellular network. For example, the lighting device
LD 210 processor and user devices' 202-206 processors sets
transmission power settings of the respective device's transceiver
to transmit at a lower power setting than normal (i.e., the power
setting for large scale cellular network communications) when
attempting to communicate in the private cellular network. The
lighting device LD 210 may be configured in a manner similar to
lighting device LD 2 of FIG. 1.
[0051] The lighting device LD 210 and/or the user devices 202-206
may be configured with a broadband (e.g., Wi-Fi or Li-Fi)
transceiver, a Bluetooth (BT) (or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE))
transceiver and a cellular transceiver, the cellular transceiver
may be configurable based on processor selections to communicate in
the private cellular network or in the public (large-scale)
cellular communication network. In an example, when user device 202
is attempting to connect to lighting device LD 210, a processor
within user device 202 traverses through a hierarchy of connection
options for connecting to a network. For example, the device 202
processor attempts to first connect via BT, and if unsatisfactory,
defaults to trying to connect via Wi-Fi or Li-Fi, and if
unsatisfactory, defaults to attempting to connect to a small-scale
cellular network by instructing the cellular transceiver to
transmit lower power cellular signals. In a specific example, the
user device 202 may be attempting to send a text message to a
device outside of the private cellular network environment 200, but
since user device 202 is unable to connect to public cellular
communication network, user device 202 may attempt to connect to
lighting device LD 210 as relay to the public cellular
communication network. The processor (not shown in this example) of
the user device 202 recognizes that an application of the user
device is attempting to send the text message, and may connect to
the lighting device LD 210 for relaying of the text message. The
user device 202 processor may choose to use the lowest power
communication method available.
[0052] In addition, the user devices 202-206 may also be configured
to communicate within the small-scale cellular network via a
peer-to-peer connection. For example, user devices 204 and 206 may
establish a peer-to-peer connection via any of a cellular, Wi-Fi or
BT connection, if each user device 204 or 206 is equipped with a
particular transceiver for the particular radio frequency spectrum
and enabled to communicate via the appropriate protocol (e.g., LTE,
802.11xx or BT).
[0053] In another example, the small-scale cellular network
environment 200 is not only able to support a low-power,
short-range cellular network of devices, but is also able to
support a private network in which only devices that are within a
predetermined range of one another, such as lighting device LD 210,
and user devices 202-206, may participate. The devices
participating in the private network may not be limited to
utilizing a single frequency spectrum (such as cellular only), but
may be able to use any that two or more devices are configured to
use. For example, so far, cellular, Wi-Fi and BT have been
discussed, so each device in the example of FIG. 2 may communicate
using one of these communication methods as part of the private
network. As shown in FIG. 2, lighting device LD 210 connects to
devices via cellular, Wi-Fi and BT. The connection between lighting
device LD 210 and user device 0 is via Wi-Fi, while the connections
between lighting device LD 210 and user devices 1 and 2 is via a
cellular connection, shown as an LTE data line. Assume that the LTE
data line connection between the lighting device LD 210 and user
device 2 is broken for some reason, the cellular mesh network
protocol may attempt to daisy-chain connections to maintain
connectivity of user device 2. For example, upon a determination
that the LTE data line connection between the lighting device LD
210 and user device 2 is broken, the processor of user device 2
may, via the peer-to-peer connection with user device 1, request
permission of the user device 1 processor to access the lighting
device LD 2 via the LTE data line connection between user device 1
and the lighting device LD 2. Based on the access negotiations
being successful, the user device 2 processor may establish a
communication link with the processor of lighting device LD
210.
[0054] Before discussing any further implementation examples, it
may be appropriate to discuss examples of the structure and
configuration of devices that may interact with the above
referenced environments 100 and/or 200. These devices may also
interact with the private cellular network, the public cellular
communication network, the small-scale cellular network and the
large-scale cellular communication network.
[0055] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an example of an
appropriately configured lighting device 300 that is configured to
interact with the above referenced environments 100 and/or 200. The
device 300 in our example includes a processor 310, a data memory
323, a communication modules 313, a light driver 333 and a light
source 337. The light source 337 may be virtually any type of light
source suitable for providing illumination that may be
electronically controlled. The processor 310 is configured to
provide control signals to the light driver 333. The light driver
333 includes circuitry (not separately shown) configured to receive
control signals from the processor 310 and output a signal to drive
the particular type of light source 337 to output light according
to the received control signals. The generated light may be
suitable, in general, for illuminating the space in which the
lighting device 300 is installed or located.
[0056] The data memory 323 may be connected to the processor 310,
and may be configured to store data and executable programming
code. The processor 310 is a hardware device configured to execute
the programming code stored in the data memory 323. By way of
example, the processor may be a microprocessor coupled to one or
more separate memories or the processor may be a central processing
unit within a microcontrol unit that also incorporates some or all
of the data memory 323.
[0057] The communication module 313 includes a communication
interface 319 and a cellular transceiver 315. In some
configurations, the communication module 313 may also optionally
include a broadband transceiver 316 (such as Wi-Fi) and a Bluetooth
transceiver 317. The broadband transceiver 316, in some examples,
is a wired connection, e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic or
Ethernet. The communication module 313 may be connected to data
communication networks such as a broadband network and a data
communication network via the respective broadband and Bluetooth
transceivers 316 and 317. The communication interface 319 functions
to distribute signals from the processor 310 to the respective
transceivers of the communication module 313. The communication
interface 319 also processes, converts or otherwise formats signals
from the processor 310 into a signal format that the respective
transceivers 315-317, if present, are able interpret for
transmission.
[0058] For example, while the cellular transceiver 315 is
configured to enable communication via both the large-scale
cellular communication network and the small-scale, cellular
network using a first radio frequency spectrum, the cellular
transceiver 315 is configured, when the lighting device 300 turns
ON, for example, to initially receive low power signals associated
with the small-scale cellular network. Since the cellular
transceiver 315 uses the same cellular radio frequency spectrum to
communicate in both networks, the cellular transceiver 315 may have
different configuration settings, e.g., transmit power settings,
for use at different times, for connecting to the small-scale
cellular network as compared to the configuration settings for
connecting to the large-scale cellular communication network. For
example, communication within the small-scale cellular network is
over a short range (<500 meters) and at low power, whereas
communication over the large-scale cellular communication network
is at a higher power and over a longer range. As a result, signal
power configuration settings are set by the processor 310 depending
upon whether the lighting device 300 is attempting to communicate
via the small-scale cellular network or the large-scale cellular
communication network. For example, in response to a signal from an
application, such as a retail store affinity program application,
the cellular transceiver 315 broadcasts signals that are low-power
and that transmit over only a short-range because the program only
wants to establish contact with other devices within a short range
of the lighting device 300 executing the application. The other
device may be a lighting device similar to lighting device 300. In
another example, lighting device 300 is configured to provide relay
or other access to large-scale cellular network for user devices in
the premises in which the lighting device 300 is installed. The
lighting device 300 includes a cellular telephone application,
which is stored in memory 323. In response to a request from a user
device in the vicinity to connect to the large scale cellular
network, the cellular telephone application executing by the
processor 315 provides configuration settings to the cellular
transceiver 315 that cause the transceiver to transmit at a normal
power, and attempts to establish contact with a base station of the
large-scale cellular network, such as base station 110 of FIG. 1.
Examples of cellular transceivers that may be suitable for use in
the described cellular transceiver 315 examples include a broadband
high IP3 dual channel downconverter w/fractional-N phase locked
loop and voltage controlled output, 0.7-3.5 GHz from Hittite.RTM.,
any of the various classes of Snapdragon LTE modems from
Qualcomm.RTM., and the like.
[0059] The processor 310 is configured to execute programming code,
which may be stored in the data memory 323. Upon executing the
programming code, the processor performs different functions that
will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and
8.
[0060] FIG. 4 is another functional block diagram of a more complex
implementation of a lighting device. In the example illustrated in
FIG. 4, the lighting device 400 includes an application processor
410, native software and operating system 415, a memory module 420,
lighting microcontroller 430, light driver 435, light source 437,
and a communication module 440. The communication module 440 is
substantially the same as the communication module 313 of FIG. 3.
For example, the communication module 440 includes a communication
interface 449, a cellular transceiver 441, an optional broadband
transceiver 443 and an optional Bluetooth transceiver 445. The
functions of the respective components of the communication module
440 are performed substantially in the same manner as described
above with respect to the communication module 313 of FIG. 3.
[0061] There are differences between the lighting device 300 and
the lighting device 400. For example, the memory module 420
includes a data memory 423 and a random access memory (RAM) 425.
Native software, such as a lighting control application, text
messaging, and the like, and operating system software/firmware
settings may be maintained in a Native Software/Operating System
memory 415. Although shown separately for convenience memory 415
may be implemented as part of memory module 420. Examples of
software or operating system include Apple iOS, Google Android,
Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS, Nokia's Symbian,
Hewlett-Packard's webOS (formerly Palm OS) and Microsoft's Windows
Phone OS or Windows 8. A computer application such as a text
messaging application may be stored in the native
software/operating system memory 415 of the lighting device 400 or
the RAM 425. In addition, instead of a processor 310, FIG. 4 shows
both an application processor 410 and a lighting microcontroller.
The light driver 435 of lighting device 400 is controlled via the
lighting microcontroller 430, which is responsive to commands from
the application processor 410. For example, a lighting control
application is stored in the native software/operating system
memory 415 or the RAM 425. In response to commands from the
application processor 441 executing the lighting control
application, the lighting microcontroller 430 sends control signals
to the light driver 435, which in turn forwards lighting signals to
the light source 437. The driver and source may be similar to those
in the example of FIG. 3. The light source 437 is suitable for
providing general illumination of the space in which the lighting
device 400 is installed.
[0062] The application processor 410 executes computer applications
and manages functions of the lighting device 400 in response to
commands from the executed computer applications. For example, the
lighting device 400, in some examples, includes computer
applications, of which there may be many, that are stored as
programming code in native software/operating system memory 415 and
in the RAM 425 of the memory module 420. Certain types of computer
applications are native as these native computer applications
involve processes that are commonly used by the device such as
large-scale cellular networking text messaging applications, voice
calling applications, transceiver control application and
applications for management of memory devices. Data generated or
used by the respective computer applications may be stored in the
data memory 423 of the memory module 420. Examples of the types of
computer applications that may be accessible by the lighting device
400, as well as user devices, include specific computer programs
related to the management of the lighting microcontroller 430,
messaging applications, retailer affinity applications, social
networking applications, gaming applications, mapping applications,
mesh networking applications, entertainment applications, such as
video and music applications, digital media creation applications,
broadcast applications, such as emergency, weather, and the like.
Examples of messaging applications include text messaging, 3.sup.rd
party messaging (e.g., within application messaging, such as
between users playing a game, or Internet messaging) or the
like.
[0063] In an example, the lighting device 400 is operating as
lighting device LD 2 of FIG. 1 and is installed in a location
similar to the indoor location of lighting device LD 2. Similar to
the lighting device described with reference to FIG. 3, the
lighting device 400 is configured to communicate via the cellular
transceiver 441 with a user device connected through the private
cellular network or through the large-scale cellular communication
network. In some instances, the user device may, when within range,
connect with the lighting device 400 through the small-scale
cellular network and when out of range of the private cellular
network, the user device may connect with the lighting device
through the large-scale cellular communication network, for example
to control lighting operations of device(s) 400 at the particular
premises. The interface 449 functions in a similar manner as the
interface 319 of FIG. 3. The interface 449 facilitates connections
via the optional broadband transceiver, such as Wi-Fi, or the
optional Bluetooth transceiver 445 to a data communication network,
such as the Internet or, even to another user device.
[0064] The application processor 410 may execute application
programming code to provide and/or perform functions related to
different types of applications. For example, the application
processor 410, in response to a message from an application
executing on a user's device (not shown) located in the space in
which the lighting device 400 is located, may perform a selected
function. In a particular example, the user device message may
request information related to the lighting device 400, such as a
current status of the lighting device 400; and in response the
processor determines the current status and sends a status report
message back to the application on the user device. As another
example, a message from a user device may be a request for
connection to a data network or large-scale cellular communication
network. Upon receipt of the connection request, the lighting
device application processor processes the user device's connection
request and appropriately controls the cellular transceiver to
provide the user device with the connection to either the data
network or the large-scale cellular communication network,
depending upon the connection request and/or the user device
application causing the user device to make the connection request.
In a configuration, the application processor 410 may be considered
similar to a smartphone processor that is configured to allow a
user device to connect and communicate with the lighting device 400
(similar to accessories that communicate to or through a smartphone
via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth).
[0065] Based on the particular applications available to the
application processor 410 for execution, the application processor
410 may be configured to participate in any networked
communications with or between user devices in the space in which
the lighting device 400 is located. At this point, it may be
appropriate to discuss applications and how the applications
facilitate the integration of lighting devices 400, as well as
lighting devices 300 and 500, into the communication infrastructure
of the space in which the lighting device is located.
[0066] An example of an application is a computer program retrieved
from a lighting device memory, from an external memory, or from an
application server that may be part of an external data network,
such as the Internet, that facilitates the performance of a
function. For example, a mapping application may provide directions
to a requested location or may identify points of interest for
presentation on a display of the requesting user device. Another
application example is a lighting control application that operates
differently based on the device on which it is installed. In an
example, a user device executing the lighting control application
is communicatively coupled to a particular lighting device among a
number of inter-networked lighting devices located in a space. In
the example, when the lighting control application is executing on
the communicatively-coupled user device, a graphical user interface
(GUI) is presented on the requesting user device with information
related to the respective lighting device to which the user device
is communicatively coupled. The lighting control application may
also have information regarding other lighting devices within the
space. While executing substantially the same lighting control
application, the lighting device to which the user device is
communicatively coupled does not have a display device to present
the GUI. However, the lighting device is able to respond to control
signals received from the user device based on commands from a user
input via the GUI. The lighting device 400, in some examples, is
configurable to allow configuration settings and preference
settings be manipulated when initially placed at the space or by a
lighting management control device, or by a lighting control
application executing on user device.
[0067] The lighting device 400 may have different sets of
configuration settings for different functions. For example, the
lighting driver 435 has a first set of configuration settings,
while the cellular transceiver 441 has a second set of
configuration settings for interaction with devices via the private
or small-scale cellular network and a third set of configuration
settings for interaction with devices via a public network or the
large-scale cellular communication network. Examples of a first set
of configuration settings for the light driver 435 may be maximum
and minimum intensity settings, duration that power is delivered to
the light source 437, such as 16 hours continuously or a range of
times that the light source 437 is provided with power, such as 7
AM to 7 PM or the like. Of course, more sophisticated and complex
configuration settings for the light driver 435 are envisioned and
incorporated. The aforementioned light driver 435 configuration
settings may also pertain to the light microcontroller 430 or to
the light source 437 or to a combination of components of the
lighting device 400. The configuration settings may also be stored
in components of the memory module 420, the native
software/operating system 415 or both. The memory module 420 may
also be used to store a list or look-up table of devices that are
members of a private network. For example, as part of a private
network using the local, low-power cellular communications, the
lighting device 400 processor 410 establishes a look-up table that
includes device identifiers, such as an MDN or in the case of a
lighting device 400, a pre-assigned identifier or the like. Of
course other data storage and retrieval techniques, other than a
look-up table, may be used.
[0068] In addition to a lighting control application, the lighting
device 400 also executes other applications, for example, text
messaging applications, telephone applications, retailer affinity
applications, peer-to-peer communication applications, mesh
networking applications, event applications, news applications,
weather applications and the like. Depending upon the different
aspects of the respective applications, each such application may
be stored in either the native software/operating system memory 415
or in a memory of the memory module 420. For example, due to the
need for security, a telephone application (which may have
subscriber data) may be stored in the native software/operating
system memory 415, which is protected with additional security
features (e.g., encryption and/or authentication requirements)
rather than in the memory of the memory module 420. Each of these
applications may have their own configuration and/or user
preference settings, which may also be stored in either memory 415
or 420.
[0069] In an example described in more detail with reference to
FIG. 6, these other applications may be executing on lighting
device 400, which enables lighting device to exchange, via the
cellular transceiver 441 over the small-scale cellular network,
application-related information with user devices that are also
executing their own versions of the respective applications. For
example, a mesh networking application executing on the application
processor 410 of the lighting device 400 may facilitate the
establishment of a mesh network with a number of user devices (also
executing the mesh networking application) and a number of lighting
devices (also executing the mesh networking application) similarly
configured as lighting device 400 in the space. In the example, a
user device, such as a smartphone, transmits a mesh networking
application message that includes an identifier associated with the
user device, such as a mobile device number (MDN), International
Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), International Mobile Equipment
Identity (IMEI) or the like. Note that the respective lighting
device 400 and other lighting devices in the space may also have
unique identifiers such as an MDN, IMSI or IMEI, so other devices,
such as the user devices in the space, are able to identify the
lighting devices in the space. Continuing with the example, the
lighting device 400 receives the meshing networking application
message from the user device. The mesh networking application
executing on the lighting device 400 processor 410 uses the user
device identifier to maintain a listing of members in the mesh
network. The application processor 410 determines approximate user
device locations relative to the lighting device 400 by, for
example, the measuring user device signal strength to determine
approximate user device locations with respect to the lighting
device 400. Examples of mesh networking applications include Open
Garden.RTM. and the Serval Project.RTM., and examples of mesh
networking protocols include Babel and dynamic source routing
(DSR).
[0070] In some examples, the applications on the respective
lighting devices and user devices include data in the transmitted
message to identify the application and/or the sending device to
other user devices and/or lighting device in the mesh network that
receive the transmitted messages. As will be described in more
detail with reference to FIGS. 6-10, the application processor 410
responds to application messages to provide information or perform
an action related to the specific application that sent the
message.
[0071] FIG. 5 is another functional block diagram of yet a more
complex example of a lighting device. In the example of a lighting
device 500 illustrated in FIG. 5, the lighting device 500 includes
an application processor 510, native software and operating system
515, an application memory 511, random access memory (RAM) 513,
lighting microcontroller 530, light driver 535, light source 537,
and a communication module 540. The communication module 540 is
substantially the same as the communication modules 313 of FIG. 3
and 440 of FIG. 4. For example, the communication module 540
includes a communication interface 548, a cellular transceiver 541,
an optional broadband transceiver 543 and an optional Bluetooth
transceiver 545. The functions of the respective components of the
communication module 540 are performed substantially in the same
manner as described above with respect to the communication module
313 of FIG. 3 and/or communication module 440 of FIG. 4. A notable
difference between the lighting device 500 and the lighting devices
300 and 400 of FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively, is the electrically
erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) 520. The EEPROM 520
is a memory that is used to store configuration and setting codes
for managing the light output of the light source 537.
Configuration and setting codes may include turn ON/OFF times, an
indicator of a group of lighting devices to which the lighting
device belongs, lighting brightness settings, lighting transition
settings, and the like. The lighting microcontroller 530 is
configured to access the EEPROM 520 to retrieve configuration and
setting codes, which are applied to the light driver 535 and/or the
light source 537.
[0072] In an example, the application processor 510 may be
configured to receive updated configuration and setting codes for
the lighting device 500 from an external source, such as a user
device or a management controller, via the cellular transceiver
541, the broadband transceiver 543 or the Bluetooth transceiver
545. The received updated configuration and setting codes may be
received by the application processor 510 and stored to the EEPROM
520 for use by the lighting microcontroller 530. For example, based
on the configuration of the lighting microcontroller 530, the
lighting microcontroller 530 may access the EEPROM 520 at different
times, such as every evening, at the onset of daylight savings
time, or the like, to retrieve the configuration or setting codes.
The configuration and setting code updates may be received from
time to time by the application processor 520. The application
processor 510 may also be configured to execute computer
applications in a manner similar to the application processor 410
in the FIG. 4 example. Examples of cellular transceivers that may
be suitable for use in the described cellular transceiver 541
examples include a broadband high IP3 dual channel downconverter
w/fractional-N phase locked loop and voltage controlled output,
0.7-3.5 GHz from Hittite.RTM., any of the various classes of
Snapdragon LTE modems from Qualcomm.RTM., and the like. As will be
described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6-10, the
application processor 510 responds to application messages to
provide information or perform an action related to the specific
application that sent the message.
[0073] The configurations of the lighting devices 300, 400 and 500
may configured to perform various functions. For example, each of
the lighting devices 300-500 when appropriately configured may
execute the one or more functions, such as those illustrated in
FIGS. 7 and 8.
[0074] It may be appropriate now to describe devices such as those
described with reference to FIGS. 3-5 in an example system
implementation. FIG. 6 is system block diagram example of an
implementation of appropriately configured lighting devices and
user devices operating in an environment according to the described
subject matter. A number of networks are shown in FIG. 6 that
interact to provide services to user devices, such as smartphones,
computers, tablets and the like. The illustrated networks 605, 609,
620, 625 and 640 also provide services to general appliance
devices, such as lighting devices, printers, refrigerators,
residential appliances in general, and other devices. The present
discussion will be limited to lighting devices and user devices,
but other devices, such as printers, appliances and the like may be
incorporated into the respective premises, and may participate in
the system as a user device.
[0075] The system 600 includes private networks 605 and 609, data
network 620, Internet 625, and public network 640. Components that
facilitate the interaction of the different networks include base
station 630 and server 650. Additional devices may connect to the
network such as computer 660. The private networks may be a
wireless network in which the number of members is limited by the
distance the members in the network are from one another. The
devices within the private networks, as described above,
communicate using licensed cellular radio frequency spectrum, but
at a low power that limits the effective range, such as 500 meters,
of transmissions between devices. As a result, devices within the
range limit of, say, 500 meters, from one another are able to
communicate with other devices within the same 500 meter range. For
example, the private network 605 may be a mesh network, that is
formed within a sports arena, a stadium, a shopping mall,
convention center or a similar venue where access to the public
network 640 may be limited due to obstructions or interference.
[0076] The lighting devices 612, 614 and 632 may all be configured
according to the examples described with reference to one of FIGS.
3-5. Similarly, the user devices A, M and W may be configured with
an application processor and cellular transceiver as described with
respect to lighting devices 300-500 of FIGS. 3-5, but in the form
of a smartphone, or other similar user device, such as a cash
register or the like, instead of a lighting device.
[0077] In the private network 605, a number of lighting devices,
612 and 614, and a number of user devices A and M are shown. Of
course, more or less lighting devices and/or user devices may be
included. The private network 605 may be established within a
shopping mall, for example, in which the access to the public
network 640 is limited, in this example, to only the lighting
device 612. The lighting device 612 may be within the shopping mall
space, but may have a clearer (i.e., having less interference
and/or less obstructions) wireless communication path to the base
station 630 than other devices in the private network 605.
Alternatively, the lighting device 612 may have a wired connection
to a suitable antenna, or even a wired connection, to the base
station 630. The private network 605 is a cellular network that is
established when the user devices A and M come within range, shown
as less than (<) 500 meters, of the lighting device 612. Since
lighting device 612 is stationary, the lighting device 612 may only
interconnect with user devices, such as A and M, that come within
the short range (<500 m) limitations of the cellular transceiver
when the cellular transceiver is communicating within the private
cellular network.
[0078] With the appropriate applications executing by an
application processor (not shown) within the respective user
devices A and M, the user devices A and M may establish
communications with the respective lighting devices 612 and 614.
For example, user device A may execute a particular application in
which a similar instance of the particular application is available
to the lighting device 612 for processing any messages related to
the particular application that may be received from the user
device A. Since user device A is less than 500 m from the lighting
device 612, user device A via its cellular transceiver joins the
private network 605 using the appropriate mesh networking protocol
for joining the private network 605. User device A upon joining
private network 605 may communicate with the lighting device 612
and other devices, such as lighting device 614 or user device M in
the private network 605.
[0079] The connections between the user devices A and M and
lighting devices 612 and 614 are labeled as alternate network
connections to indicate that these connections are not public
network connections (i.e., transmissions from the cellular
transceiver at a power setting suitable for public cellular
communication network communications), but are private network
connections (i.e., low-power, short range cellular transmissions),
broadband (e.g., Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth connections.
[0080] As background with respect to the particular applications on
the respective user device A and the lighting device 612, each of
device A and 612 is configured with a processor, such as
application processor 410 or 510. Each device may have a number of
applications that may be executed by the respective device's
processor. The number of applications may be stored in a device
memory. Each application may permit users of the application to
select settings about the application. The settings may include
configuration settings, which are settings as to how the
application will interact with other devices, and preference
settings, which are user specific settings that a user may select
to allow the device to provide different display settings, set a
level of detailed information that the application shares, how
often the device attempts to share information and the like. The
user preference settings may also affect configuration settings.
For example, a user preference setting may include the
communication mode that the device uses to perform application
tasks. So, for example, the user preference settings may include
choices between broadband (e.g., Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, private
cellular network and/or public cellular communication network. The
user by selecting one of these preference settings may indicate the
user's preference of communication mode for the particular
device.
[0081] For example, if the application is a retailer affinity
application, the preferred communication mode may be the private
cellular network setting so the user receives information about the
retailer when the user is close to a retailer location. In
contrast, if the application on the user device is a sports
reporting application, the user may select the public cellular
communication network to ensure that the user receives sports
scores whenever the user device has access to the public cellular
communication network. There may be hybrid configuration and
preference settings as well. Continuing with the sports application
example for an explanation of a hybrid setting, suppose one of the
user preferences settings allows the user device to receive video
of any scoring plays of the user favorite team (e.g., another
preference setting). However, the user may not want to use their
public cellular communication network connection for the download
of video because, for example, the downloaded video will consume a
substantial portion of the user's allotted public cellular
communication network data plan. As a result, the sports
application may provide the user via a user interface on a display
(not shown) of the user device with an option to select a
communication mode, such as a broadband communication mode, for the
download of the video from the sports application. User devices M
and W may also be similarly configured to allow a user to make
configuration and/or preference setting selections.
[0082] Similar to user device A, the lighting device 612 processor
may also have settable configuration settings and user preference
settings. However, since the lighting device 612 is does not have a
display incorporated into the lighting device, a management device
such as computer 660, may have access to the lighting device 612
and is able to execute a lighting device management application
that allows a user of the computer 660 to select via a user
interface the configuration settings. Via command signals from the
computer 660, the lighting device 612 processor may be instructed
how to communicate with user devices in the space in which the
lighting device 612 is located and how to establish a communication
path with the base station 630 or with data network 620. For
example, the computer 660 commands may include user name and
password information as well as other information needed to
establish connections with the respective public cellular
communication network 640 and the data network 620. The computer
660 may connect to the data network 620 which may be the data
network associated with the space in which the lighting devices 612
and 614 are located. As shown in FIG. 6, the connection between the
computer 660 and the data network 620 may be direct or may be via
the Internet 625. As part of the configuration and/or preference
settings, the computer 660 may provide commands that the lighting
devices' 612 and 614 processors use to cause the applications to
broadcast information related to the respective application.
Lighting device 612 may have a primary connection (wired or
wireless) to the data network 620. When lighting device 612
receives commands from the computer 660, the lighting device may
broadcast the commands to other lighting devices, such as lighting
device 614. Alternatively, both lighting devices 612 and 614 may be
connected directly to the data network 620 via individual
connection paths, such as via Wi-Fi, wired, or the like.
[0083] In addition, the computer 660 may be have a lighting
controller application that is capable of connecting to the
respective lighting devices 612, 614 and 632. As a management
device, computer 660 allows a user through a user interface to
control the lighting device. For example, the user may set turn
ON/OFF times, brightness levels, brightness transitions, and other
functions related to the light produced by the respective lighting
device 612, 614 and 632. For example, a lighting device, such as
612, may be configured to in response to an input signal received
via the data network 620 or the base station 630, delivers lighting
control instructions to the light microcontroller (shown in the
earlier examples in FIGS. 3-5). In addition, or alternatively, one
of user devices A or M may have an application that permits a user
to manipulate the lighting device 612 light output.
[0084] The mesh networking configuration of the private network 605
allows devices that are not within the short range limit of one
device to still connect to the one device by connecting to another
device that is within range of both devices. In other words,
devices can form a daisy chain that allows a requesting device to
connect with a target device, or, said differently, an intended
recipient device. An example is appropriate to illustrate the
capabilities of devices that are members of the private network
605. For example, lighting device 612 is within 500 meters of
lighting device 614. Since the lighting devices 612 and 614 are
within the short-range, the lighting devices 612 and 614 are able
to communicate via the low-power short range configuration settings
of the respective cellular transceivers within the lighting devices
612 and 614. Lighting devices 612 and 614 may be the only permanent
members of the private network 605 because they are stationary.
User devices A and M may only pass through the short range limit of
the lighting devices 612 and 614. For example, user device A is
outside the short range limit (i.e., 500 meters) of lighting device
614. However, user device A is within range of lighting device 612.
Using the daisy chain capabilities of the private network 605, user
device A is able to wirelessly communicate with lighting device
614, and vice versa. So if user device A and lighting device 614
execute a related application, such as a department store affinity
application or sport team application, the two devices, user device
A and lighting device 614, may exchange application information or
other relevant information. Extending the daisy chain further, user
device M is wirelessly connected to lighting device 614, which
allows user device A to also connect to user device M in the
private network 605. The daisy chain would be broken if user device
M were to travel outside the short range limit and away from
lighting device 614 (and also still be outside the short range
limit from lighting device 612). As a result, user device A would
not be able to communicate with user device M.
[0085] Due to the location of the lighting device 612, the lighting
device 612 may be able to offer additional connectivity to the
devices within the private network 605. For example, lighting
device 612 may be located in the space that is close to a data
network 620 extending through the space, or in a location that has
adequate signal strength to connect with base station 630, which
has access to the public network 640. In this example, the lighting
device 614 may be able to provide access to the public network 640
or data network 620 to other user devices, such as user device M,
via a daisy chain connection with lighting device 614. The daisy
chain connection between lighting devices 612 and 614 may be via a
low-power, short-range cellular connection suitable for the private
network 605. Alternatively, the daisy chain connection between the
lighting devices 612 and 614 may be via a broadband connection,
such as Wi-Fi or the like, that may provide a higher bandwidth
connection.
[0086] In a detailed example, the lighting devices 612 and 614 may
be located in a sports stadium and, in particular, located near a
food concourse of the stadium. The lighting devices' processors 612
and 614 may have several applications executing, such as a food
retailer affinity program application, a sports application for the
home and visiting teams playing in the sports stadium at the time,
a sports league application, a sponsoring bank application and/or
the like. The applications of lighting devices 612 and 614 may have
configuration and preference settings that instruct the respective
processors to broadcast via the respective lighting device's
cellular transceiver in a low-power, short-range setting suitable
for the private cellular network a series of broadcast messages.
The individual broadcast messages in the series may include
information relevant to the respective applications in a series of
broadcast messages. The broadcast messages may be received by any
devices that are in the short range of the lighting device. Devices
outside the short range will not receive the broadcast message
because the broadcast message signal strength is not sufficient for
the receiving device transceivers at the outer limits of the range
(e.g., >500 meters). However, other devices may repeat the
broadcast messages so the messages may be received by another user
device. For example, lighting device 614 may be configured to
repeat the broadcast message from lighting device 612 so devices,
such as user device M, may receive the broadcast message.
[0087] In a detailed example, the lighting devices 612 and 614 may
be located in a sports stadium and, in particular, located near a
food concourse of the stadium. The lighting devices' processors 612
and 614 may have several applications executing, such as a food
retailer affinity program application, a sports application for the
home and visiting teams playing in the sports stadium at the time,
a sports league application, a sponsoring bank application and the
like. The lighting device 614 may be configured to repeat
broadcasts from the lighting device 612, and vice versa. In the
example, the series of messages in the broadcast message may be
related to the above-mentioned several applications: the food
retailer affinity program application, the sports application for
the home and visiting teams playing in the sports stadium at the
time, the sports league application, and the sponsoring bank
application. The broadcast message may include an announcement of a
food offer from the food retailer, information about the home or
visitor sports team from the home/visitor sports team application,
an announcement about scores of other teams' games in the sports
league, a bank notice, and the like. Receipt of each of these
messages elicits a response from the respective user devices A and
M depending on whether the user device has the respective
application (for example, the user of user device M may not bank at
the sponsoring bank) and, if the user device has access to the
respective application any associated configuration/preference
settings for the application.
[0088] In response to the broadcast messages received from the
lighting devices, the respective user device A and M processors
decode the broadcast message according to pre-established protocols
and/or processes through which the respective processors determine
the intended recipient applications of each respective message of
the series of messages in the broadcast message. If a user device,
such as user device A, does not have a particular application, the
processor may make that determination and discontinue processing
that message and move on to a next message in the series. Upon
decoding the messages, the user device A processor may access the
food retailer affinity application stored in the user device
memory, or that is executing on the device, and determines user
preferences with respect to the received food retailer offer. The
user preference settings for the food retailer affinity program on
the user device A may indicate to always accept offers for food. In
response to the user preference settings, the user device A
processor may generate a request for a coupon associated with the
food offer, and send the request to the lighting device 612. In
response to the received request, the lighting device 612 may
process the received request as will be described in more detail
with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. The food coupon will be delivered
to the user device A in order to satisfy the request.
[0089] In addition, the applications may also have a setting that
permits the application to search for other devices that have a
similar application. For example, user device A may have an extra
hockey ticket for tonight's game. The ticketing application may
have a setting that allow user device A to broadcast messages
offering the ticket for sale. The user device A processor may
generate its own broadcast messages and transmit the broadcast
message within the private cellular network. Lighting device 612
may receive the broadcast message from user device A and may
rebroadcast the ticket offer message, which is received by the
lighting device 614. In turn, lighting device 614 rebroadcasts the
message that is subsequently received by user device M and other
devices. Other user devices, such as user device M, may have the
ticketing application, which may have preference settings to always
present offers for tickets when received over a private cellular
network. Upon receipt of the broadcast messages, the user device M
may generate a response accepting the offer, the chain of
communications reverses and the message is forwarded to lighting
device 614, which forwards the response message to lightened device
612, which forwards the response message to user device A. Upon
completing delivery of the response message, user device A may
negotiate a direct communication link with user device M via an
available communication mode, such as connecting through a
broadband network, the public cellular communication network or
some other communication network.
[0090] In another example, a lighting device may receive a user
device request from an application that is not executing on the
lighting device. However, the lighting devices 612 and 614 may have
access to applications that are not resident in the memory of the
lighting devices 612 and 614 by sending a request to the server
650, which may be an application server. The application server 650
may provide a copy of the application, or provide the requested
information to the respective lighting device so the lighting
device may provide the requested data to the application of the
requesting user device. Using this capability, the user devices A
and M in the private network 605 with the lighting devices 612 and
614 are able to participate in more of the messaging being
exchanged.
[0091] In another example, private network 609 may include a user
device W and lighting device 632. The private network 609 may be in
an office building that does not have adequate public (cellular
communication) network coverage to provide the user device W with
service. Meanwhile, the lighting device 632 due to its location
within the building does have an adequate signal strength for
completing a call to the base station 630 and to the public network
640. When attempting to make a call over the public cellular
communication network from the user device W, the lighting device
632 detects the connection attempt by the user device W, and
forwards the connection attempt message to the base station 630.
The lighting device 632 may detect the connection attempt as a
connect to the base station 630 based on information included in
the connection attempt request message. In response to the
determination that the requesting device is attempting to complete
a public cellular communication call via the public network 640 and
based on the information included in the connection message, the
lighting device 632 forwards a connection request to the public
(cellular communication) network 640 via the base station 630. The
information included in the connection attempt request message may
include the requesting mobile device number (MDN), an MDN of target
device (i.e., device being called), public cellular communication
network specific information, such as an IMEI, IMSI or the like. In
this way, the lighting device 632 is able to facilitate providing
cellular communication coverage into areas that do not have
adequate public cellular communication network coverage. The
inadequate or poor public cellular communication network coverage
may also be due to a large number of users being present at the
same location and saturating a base station with requests to
connect. The present example may be extended to allow the large
number of devices requesting access to the public network to gain
access to the saturated base station.
[0092] Returning to the stadium example involving lighting devices
612 and 614, user devices A and M, due to the large number of
public network users in the stadium, may be unable to access the
base station 630. However, lighting device 612, in this example, is
configured to manage hundreds of communication attempts with the
base station 630 from devices within the private network 605. For
example, by using the low-power settings of the private network the
lighting device 612 identifies the members of the private network,
and based on broadcast messages of the identified members is able
to identify those members that are attempting to contact the base
station 630. The lighting device 612 may have a connection to the
base station 630 that allows the lighting device 612 to send a
bundle of connection requests on behalf of the identified members
of the private network 605, such as user devices A and M, to the
base station 630. The bundle of connection requests may be viewed
as a single connection request thereby reducing the number of
connection requests received by the base station 630. The bundled
connection request may be unbundled by the base station 603, and
dealt with according to public network 640 protocols.
[0093] In another example, the public network 640 may also be a
data network that allows devices, such as lighting device 632, to
access servers 650 to retrieve information based on requests from
user devices, such as user device W, in private network 609.
[0094] The lighting devices 612 and 614 may have access to
applications that are not resident in the memory of the lighting
applications by sending a request to the server 650, which may be
an application server. The server request may be delivered either
via a connection through the data network 620 and Internet 625, or
via the base station 630 and the public network 640. User
preferences on the lighting device 612 may indicate which
communication pathway is preferred. The application server 650 may
provide a copy of the application or provide the requested
information to the respective lighting device so the lighting
device may provide the requested data to the application of the
requesting user device.
[0095] The foregoing discussion provided an overview of the
capabilities of a system configured with lighting devices and user
devices equipped as described with reference to FIGS. 3-5. The
following discussion provides examples of the process that an
appropriately configured lighting device may perform upon receipt
of a broadcast message.
[0096] FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an example of a process flow
corresponding to examples of communications between an
appropriately configured lighting device and other devices. The
communication process 700 illustrated in FIG. 7 operates with
communications that are transmitted via the cellular communication
spectrum, and, in particular, the short-range, low-power, and
private, cellular network. A cellular communication device at 705
connects to an appropriately-configured, cellular-enabled lighting
device at 707. The connection between the cellular communication
device, such as a user device 123a-c of FIG. 1, and the
appropriately-configured, cellular-enabled lighting device, such as
300-500 of FIGS. 3-5, may be formed over a private cellular network
using customary handshaking techniques.
[0097] For example, while establishing a connection between the
lighting device and a user device, the processor may transmit a
data message intended for a recipient user device within the
small-scale cellular communication network via the cellular
transceiver of the communication module. The cellular transceiver
of the lighting device transmits a data message using the first
radio frequency spectrum. The transmitted data message may include
information that is used by the lighting device to identify the
user device in the small-scale cellular network. In response to the
transmitted data message, the lighting device processor may receive
from a user device in the small-scale cellular communication
network a response message via the lighting device's cellular
transceiver. At step 710, the processor may determine the content
of the received response message. For example, based on the
received response message, the processor may identify a type of
connection that is being requested in the response message. The
types of connections may include a direct connection to another
user device in range of the lighting device or network of lighting
devices, a lighting device access request, a data access request or
the like. Upon identifying the connection type, the lighting device
processor completes the requested connection according to the
identified connection type.
[0098] The identification of the particular type of connection
being requested may be accomplished using different methods. For
example, if a particular application of the user device is
establishing the connection with the lighting device, the
particular application may include an application identifier with
any transmitted messages so a receiving device may process the
received message based on the included application identifier. A
processor, such as application processor 410 or 510, may receive
the message, read the application identifier, call the identified
application, and process the message according to instructions
provided by the application configuration and user preference
settings. A device identifier that is provided, or assigned, by the
application may also be included with any messages sent by the
respective applications via the user device or by an application
executing on the lighting device.
[0099] More specifically, in response to the identified connection
type being a direct connection, establish a direct connection with
the target user device through the large-scale cellular
communication network via the cellular transceiver, such as in step
715. Alternatively at step 715, if the device that the requesting
user device is requesting to be connected to is part of the
small-scale cellular network, the processor may be configured to
transmit a data message intended for a recipient device within the
small-scale cellular network via the cellular transceiver of the
communication module. Regardless of whether the large-scale
cellular communication network or the small-scale cellular network
is used, the cellular transceiver transmits the data message using
a first radio frequency cellular spectrum that is used by both the
large-scale cellular communication network or the small-scale
cellular network.
[0100] In another example, upon establishment of a direct
connection between the lighting device and a user device, the
lighting device processor may, at step 710, identify the connection
type as a connection type different from the device-to-device
request connection type. For example, the processor may determine
the connection type to be a fixture access request connection type.
In response to such a determination, the process 700 may proceed to
740.
[0101] The lighting device processor, at 740, determines based on
user device authentication that the requesting user device has
permission to access the lighting microcontroller. For example, the
user device may be authenticated based on authentication
information related to application information exchanged between
the application on the user device and an application executed by
the lighting device processor. The authentication information may
be, for example, a username and/or password that the lighting
device processor has been configured to accept as permitting remote
access to the lighting device the user device application may have
provided. Based upon the determined permission, authorization or
authentication, the process 700 may proceed to 744. However, if the
processor determines, at 740, that the user device is not a device
authorized to access the lighting driver of the lighting device, an
error message is generated at 742 and is returned to the user
device. For example, the requesting application on the user device
may present an error message on a display (not shown) of the user
device, or some other indication may be provided.
[0102] At 744, the processor determines, based upon information in
the fixture access request, whether the fixture access request is
providing instructions, such as fixture operation adjustments, or
is attempting to make software or firmware adjustments to the light
microcontroller. Based on the determination at 740, the processor
executes functions in an attempt to satisfy the received fixture
access request. If the processor determines that the fixture access
request is requesting fixture operation adjustments, the process
700 proceeds to 745. At 745, after the appropriate handshaking,
such as authenticating the user device as a device appropriate to
interact with the lighting fixture to control operation of the
lighting driver, the processor requests control signals from the
user device. Alternatively, the fixture access request may already
include the control signals. In either case, the processor receives
fixture operation adjustment settings from the user device via the
cellular transceiver. At 747, in response to receiving the fixture
operation adjustment settings from the user device, the processor
communicates the received fixture operation adjustment settings to
the light microcontroller or light driver. The fixture operation
adjustment settings received from the user device may be received
via the cellular transceiver of the lighting device. The lighting
device cellular transceiver may be configured to receive the
fixture operation adjustment settings via the small-scale cellular
network and/or the large-sale cellular communication network.
Depending upon the configuration of the lighting device, the
fixture operation adjustment settings are either in a format
executable by the light microcontroller or light driver or in a
format convertible by the light microcontroller or light
driver.
[0103] Returning to 740, if the processor determines that the
fixture access request is requesting remote access based on user
permissions, the process 700 proceeds to 748. At 748, the
requesting device, whether a management device as described in the
example of FIG. 7, or a user device, delivers updated operating
information, such as at least one of a software update or a
firmware update, to the lighting microcontroller, the light driver
and/or light source.
[0104] In another example, the lighting device processor may
determine that another type of connection is being requested by the
requesting user device. Returning to step 710, the processor may
determine that the type of connection requested by the requesting
user device may be a data network request. A data network request
is a request by the user to device to connect to a data network to
receive data, such as a connection to the Internet, a connection to
an intranet of the space in which the lighting device is installed,
or a connection to the large-scale cellular communication
network.
[0105] In response to a determination that the connection type is a
data network request connection type, the process 700 may proceed
to step 720. At 720, the lighting device processor may request from
the requesting device that sent the received data, information
related to a data network that the user device is requesting to
connect. For example, the requesting device may be requesting
connection to the intranet of a business in which the lighting
device is installed. The lighting device may be configured to have
connections to an intranet of a business in the space that the
lighting device is connected. For example, if the lighting device
is located in an engineering firm, the lighting device may serve as
a wireless access point for the user devices, such as tablets,
smartphones or cell phones, to connect to the firm's data network.
Or, if the space in which the lighting device is located is a
shopping mall, there may be multiple intranets that the lighting
device may serve as an access point. For example, the shopping mall
may have an intranet that extends throughout the shopping mall
premises, and individual retail stores, such as a department store,
in the shopping mall may have its own intranet. This type of data
network may considered a data backbone request, which is a request
to connect to the data network associated with the space in which
the lighting device is located. Alternatively, the lighting device
processor may perform a different process if the request is for the
Internet or a specific website not associated with the space in
which the lighting device is installed. For example, in the
above-mentioned shopping mall scenario, a restaurant may not be
located in or around the shopping mall, and a user may wish to view
a menu of the restaurant. The user may cause the user device to
request access to the restaurant's website, which may not be
available on or through the shopping mall intranet. As a result,
the lighting device processor may process the request to determine
whether the user device needs to access a cellular network in order
to fulfill the user device's data request. If the determination is
YES, the user device needs access to a cellular network to satisfy
the data request, the lighting device, at 725, may access the
large-scale cellular communication network or the public cellular
communication network and communicate the data request over the
large-scale cellular communication network or the public cellular
communication network.
[0106] For example, in response to the determination that cellular
communication network access is required to satisfy the data
network connection request, the lighting device processor, which is
serving as the large-scale cellular communication network access
point for the user device, may forward a connection request to a
large-scale cellular communication network base station via the
cellular transceiver of the communication module. The lighting
device processor may have requested or been provided with user
device information that facilitates the connection with the
large-scale cellular communication network. For example, the device
information may include information such as device power supply
status, device communication mode preferences, device identifier,
device cellular communication service provider, or a device user
name. The foregoing presumes that the large-scale cellular
communication network is available to the user device.
[0107] However, the large-scale cellular communication network may
be unavailable because the space in which the user device is
located may not have signal strength that is adequate for
communicating with the large-scale cellular communication network.
Thus, if the determination is NO, the user device does not need
access to a cellular network to satisfy the data request, the
lighting device, at 720, may proceed to 730 at which a
determination may be made whether the data backbone is sufficient
to satisfy the data request. If the determination at 730 is YES,
the data backbone may be used to satisfy the data request, the
lighting device processor may redirect the establish connection to
an alternate communication network, such as Wi-Fi (i.e., 802.11xx)
or Bluetooth (including Bluetooth-low energy) for transmission of
the data. In other words, instead of exchanging the data over the
small-scale cellular network as presently being used, the lighting
device may assist the user device to connect to a Wi-Fi or
Bluetooth network in the space that allows the user device to
receive the requested data. For example, the lighting device
processor may request information from the user device, such as an
identifier, user name, password or the like, as well as a an
indication of the type of network (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other)
that is preferred by the user device. Upon receipt of the
information related to the data network and the user device, the
lighting device processor may send a request to the preferred data
network requesting a communication channel be formed between the
user device and the data network (735). The lighting device
processor may also use the user device provided information to
determine whether the device is permitted to connect to the data
network based on the identifier.
[0108] Transferring the user device from the small-scale cellular
network may reduce interference in the small-scale cellular network
and also frees the processor resources to allow the lighting device
to engage in brief communications over the small-scale cellular
network.
[0109] Returning to step 730, the processor may determine that the
data backbone is not needed for the data network request because,
for example, the data network within range of the user device does
not have the data or does not have access to the data. For example,
returning to the shopping mall scenario, the user device may be
requesting data of a distant retailer located at the opposite end
of the shopping mall from where the user device is presently
located within the shopping mall. In addition, the shopping mall
intranet does not provide access to the distant retailer's website
or intranet (for example, for security reasons). However, a
lighting device located close to the distant retailer may have
access to the distant retailer's wireless intranet access point.
Accordingly, the lighting device that is processing the user device
request determines, at 730, that use of the data backbone is not an
option, in which case the process 700 proceeds to 737.
[0110] At 737, the lighting device processor attempts to locate a
near-by, and similarly configured, lighting device to inquire about
accessing the distant retailer's wireless intranet. A similarly
configured, or appropriately configured, lighting device would be a
lighting device configured as discussed with reference to FIGS.
3-5, or any lighting device capable of communicating via the
small-scale cellular network using the cellular radio frequency
spectrum. The attempt to locate a near-by, and similarly
configured, lighting device may be a transmission via the cellular
transceiver in a transmission mode suitable for use in the
small-scale cellular network. The transmission may contain an
inquiry message inquiring if any appropriately configured lighting
device has access to the distant retailer's intranet (Step 737).
This is the scenario in which a mesh network implementation of the
lighting devices becomes useful. In such a mesh network
implementation, the inquiry message is passed from the first
lighting device that initially broadcasts the inquiry to other
lighting devices, which if unable to positively respond to the
inquiry, re-broadcast (Step 739) via another low-power, short-range
transmission of the inquiry message until the inquiry message
receives a positive response from a lighting device. Common mesh
networking protocols may be used to perform the functions to
accomplish steps 737 and 739.
[0111] Other processes may also be implemented, such as the example
provided in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 illustrates a process flowchart for
communication between a lighting device as described in FIGS. 3-5
and one or more user devices. The process 800 of FIG. 8 may be
implemented by a lighting device communicating via the cellular
transceiver as described in any of FIGS. 3-5. The lighting device
cellular transceiver may be configured to use the cellular radio
spectrum and initiate communications with other devices in the
space that the lighting device is located through a private
cellular network. Examples of other devices in the space include
printers, facsimile machines, reproduction machines, imaging
devices, mobile devices, tablet devices, appliances, vending
machines, point-of-sale devices, food preparation machines,
vehicles, emergency equipment, premises security sensors, cameras
and entertainment devices, such as televisions, audio output
devices (e.g., music players) and recording devices, and the like.
Another device that may communicate with a lighting device may be a
management device, which may be, for example, a device that manages
the lighting fixture (such as a building automation device or a
network device), such as device 660 of FIG. 6. A private cellular
network, like the above referenced small-scale cellular network, is
configured with devices that communicate via low power, short range
signals. For example, the private cellular network may use
available LTE cellular radio frequency spectrum over a short range,
which may be, for example, approximately 500 meters. The process
800 begins at step 805.
[0112] At 805, a user device attempts to establish communicates
with a lighting device. The lighting device is configured as part
of the private cellular network, and at 808, the user device and
the lighting device are connected in the private cellular network.
The lighting device in addition to the cellular transceiver is
optionally configured with a broadband transceiver and/or a
Bluetooth transceiver. The lighting device may be configured to
switch between the various transceivers to communicate with other
devices capable of communicating via the optional transceivers.
Upon establishing the connection with the lighting device through
the private cellular network, the user device may transmit a
connection message that is received by the lighting device. The
lighting device processor, at 809, evaluates the received
connection message and determines whether the lighting device is
the intended recipient of the connection message. If the
determination at 809 is YES, the lighting device is the intended
recipient, the process 800 proceeds to 819. At 819, the lighting
device processor processes the received connection request
according to the application preferences associated with the
connection request. For example, the connection request may be
related a lighting control application of the lighting device or
some other application. Based on the lighting device with which the
connection was made at step 808, the lighting device processor may
have preset preferences as to how the lighting device responds to
the connection request. If the determination is NO at 809, the
process 800 proceeds to step 810.
[0113] At 810, the lighting device processor analyzes the received
connection message to determine a type of connection that the user
device is requesting. For example, each type of connection message
may include a set number of bits that indicate the type of
connection message. The lighting device is capable of making
several types of connections, such as a message relay connection, a
fixture control information connection and a data network request.
A message relay connection message may be a request for information
that if unfulfillable by the receiving lighting device, is
retransmitted to another appropriately configured lighting device
that may be able to satisfy the request. For example, the user
device may not have an adequate signal strength to connect to a
public cellular communication network base station because the user
device is located far indoors in the space, which results in a base
station signal strength that is not adequate to accommodate a
connection. However, some lighting devices (e.g., lighting device
612 of FIG. 6) in the space may be positioned at a location in the
space that provides adequate base station signal strength to
complete a call over the public cellular communication network.
[0114] In response to the lighting device processor determining
that the requesting user device is requesting a message relay step
810, and proceeds to step 815. At 815, the lighting device
processor forwards information received from the requesting device
by broadcasting the information in a connection request message to
other devices that are appropriately configured in the private
network. The broadcast message is broadcast via the cellular
transceiver, but is a low-power transmission that is only
transmitted over a short range. As part of the private network, the
lighting device processor may establish a list or look-up table of
devices that are members of the private network. The look-up table
may include device identifiers, such as an MDN or in the case of a
lighting device a pre-assigned identifier or the like.
[0115] Since the message is a broadcast message, at 820, the
processor identifies, via the look-up table or other data
structure, other devices in the private network that may need to
receive the message, such as those devices, that have already
received the message. In response to a determination that YES,
connect to other devices, the process returns to 808, and the above
determinations at steps 810, and 815 repeat until the determination
at step 820 is NO, and the process 800 ends.
[0116] In an alternative example, at 815, the processor may
identify a specific lighting device as having to receive the
information associated with the connection request. For example,
the message relay may be needed to change configuration settings of
a particular lighting device, such as a lighting device in the
basement level of a facility. As a result, the connection request
message may include a specific identifier associated with the
lighting device that identifies the lighting device that is the
target recipient of the connection message. Therefore, the message
generated at 815 may be specifically addressed to another specific
lighting device in the space. At 820, the processor determines that
YES another device must be contacted the process 800 proceeds base
to 808 to attempt a connection with the specific device. If,
however, the lighting device processor determines at 820 that
another device does not need the message, then the process 800
ends. The target recipient device and the requesting device may
create a peer-to-peer connection via the devices' respective
cellular transceivers (or Bluetooth transceivers or broadband
transceivers) to exchange information directly without any further
interaction with the lighting device.
[0117] Instead of the lighting device processor making a
determination that the connection request is a message relay, the
processor may determine that the connection request is related to
either fixture control information (e.g., a status request or
update) or a data network request from the connecting device.
Returning to step 810, the processor may determine that the type of
connection is a fixture control information request. Upon a
determination that the connection request is a fixture control
information request, the process 800 proceeds to 830. Using the
connection between the requesting device established at 808, the
lighting device processor, at 830, interacts with the connecting
user device according to information included in the connection
request. For example, the user device may be requesting lighting
device lighting configuration settings (e.g., brightness settings,
ON/OFF times, hours of use, software/firmware version, or the
like). Alternatively, the request may be a command to update
software and/or firmware of the lighting device, and/or a command
to change a lighting device configuration setting, such as ON/OFF
times, brightness levels or the like. Upon completion of the
fixture control information request, the process 800 may end.
[0118] In another example, instead of the lighting device processor
making a determination that the connection request is a message
relay or a fixture control information request, the processor may
determine that the connection request is related a data network
request from the connecting device at step 810. Upon a
determination that the connection request is a data network
request, the process 800 proceeds to 840. At 840, the processor may
gather information relevant to the requesting device and the type
of network that the requesting device is requesting to connect. For
example, if the data network the requesting device is requesting to
connect is the large-scale cellular communication network, or
public network, the, processor may request an MDN, IMEI or IMSI of
the requesting device at 840. Upon receipt of the requested
information from the requesting user device, the lighting device
processor via the cellular transceiver (which is in a high-power
mode suitable for use in the large-scale cellular communication
network) may transmit, at 845, to a base station associated with
the large-scale cellular communication network, such as base
station 630 of FIG. 6, for attachment to the large-scale cellular
communication network. Upon successful attachment of the user
device to the large-scale cellular communication network, the
lighting device may act as a repeater device to maintain the user
device's connection to the large-scale cellular communication
network, and process 800 ends.
[0119] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of an operating scenario of
appropriately configured lighting devices, a management and user
devices operating in a small-scale cellular network and a
large-scale cellular communication network according to an
embodiment of the disclosed subject matter. The scenario 900
illustrated in FIG. 9 includes lighting device 910, a management
(MGMT) device 920, lighting device 930 and user devices C and D.
Each of the lighting devices 910 and 930 are similar in
configuration as one of devices 300-500 as shown in FIGS. 3-5. In
addition, user devices C and D are configured to include a cellular
transceiver configured to communicate over a private network 905,
such as a small-scale cellular network, as well as a large-scale
cellular communication network (not shown). The lighting devices
910 and 930 may be positioned at different locations within the
same space, such as a retail department store, home improvement
warehouse store, or grocery store. The locations of the lighting
devices 910 and 930 allow the lighting devices to form private
network 905. User devices C and D may also join the private network
905 based on their short range proximity (not shown) to lighting
device 910. Of course, as explained with reference one or more of
devices, C and D, may have join the private network 905 via a
connection to lighting device 930. Management (MGMT) device 920,
which may be similar to computer 660 of FIG. 6, is external to the
private network 905. Alternatively, the MGMT device 920 may be a
smartphone, tablet or the like.
[0120] The lighting device 910 is further configured to act as a
private network 905 facilitator for other devices in the space. For
example, the lighting device 910 acts as an access point for
devices, such as MGMT device 920, external to the space. In the
scenario 900, the lighting device 910 is shown receiving
information from the MGMT device 920 The information may be
lighting control information, such as commands to turn ON, a
firmware update information, or the like. The connection between
the lighting device 910 and the MGMT device 920 may be a high-power
cellular radio frequency spectrum signal that is transmitted within
the large-scale cellular communication network, or public cellular
network.
[0121] The MGMT device 920 lighting control message may be directed
to lighting device 930, but may also be directed to lighting device
910. In other words, MGMT device 920 may be attempting to control
both lighting devices 910 and 930. The lighting device 910 receives
the lighting control message from the MGMT device 920 via the
lighting device's 910 cellular transceiver, which as mentioned is
set to receive signals via the higher power settings associated
with the large-scale cellular communication network. Upon receipt
of the lighting control message, the lighting device 910 process
determines that the lighting control message is intended for
lighting device 930, which is a member of the private network 905
with lighting device 910. In response to the determination that
lighting device 930 is a member of the private network 905, the
lighting device 910 alters the cellular transceiver settings from a
high-power transmission setting to a low-power transmission setting
suitable for transmitting cellular radio frequency signals in the
private network 905. Using the lower-power cellular signals
suitable for transmission in the private network 905, the lighting
device 910 forwards the lighting control signals to the lighting
device 930.
[0122] As for user devices C and D, these devices may broadcast
messages pertaining to applications accessible (e.g., executing or
stored in the user device memory) to each of the respective user
device Similarly, lighting device 910 may broadcast messages
related to applications accessible to the lighting device 910. Upon
detection of an application-specific message within the broadcast
message, the respective device, such as user device C, may respond
to the lighting device with a connection message. The connection
message may request additional information regarding the
application-specific message within the broadcast message. The
lighting device 910 and user device C may exchange additional
information in response to the connection message. For example, the
space in which the private network 905 may be located may be an
office building that has a deli in it, and the deli is offering a
lunch special using a popular social application.
[0123] The lighting device 910 may broadcast a message related to
the popular social application in which the message also identifies
the deli or the deli's offer. The user devices C and D receive the
broadcast message from the lighting device 910. Since only user
device C has access to the popular social application, the user
device C processor responds to the broadcast message and receives
more information such as an electronic coupon or the like, in order
for user of user device C to receive the lunch special offer. User
device D may be configured to respond to other application-specific
messages in the broadcast messages and/or the like. Of course,
other scenarios are envisioned.
[0124] For example, FIG. 10 illustrates another example of an
operating scenario of appropriately configured lighting devices
operating in a small-scale cellular network according to an
embodiment of the disclosed subject matter.
[0125] In the scenario 1000, private network 1005 is formed in a
space occupied by lighting devices 1024 and 1020, and user device
CRM. The lighting device LD 1024 may be configured to have access
to a data network, such as data network 620 of FIG. 6, and to a
public network, such as network 640 via a base station 630 also in
FIG. 6. The space in which the lighting devices 1024 and 1020 may
respond to commands from server 1014. Server 1014 is configured as
a facilities manager server, and may manage the operation of the
lighting devices 1024 and 1020 in the space.
[0126] In the illustrated example, lighting device LD 1024 may be
an access point to the space for the server 1014. In other
examples, the server 1014 may have connections to all lighting
devices within the space, or may have access to several lighting
devices that act as access points. For ease of explanation, only
lighting device LD 1024 will be described as an access point and
distributor of received communications in the private network 1005,
but it is envisioned that other devices may act in the same
capacity. The connection between the lighting device LD 1024 and
the server 1014 may be via a large-scale cellular communication
network. Lighting device LD 1024 may also be configured to utilize
its connection to the data network to satisfy data network requests
from user device members in the private network 1005. Via the data
network, the lighting device LD 1024 may have access to an
application server such as application server 1064. Similar to the
lighting devices 300-500 of FIGS. 3-5, the lighting device LD 10124
may be configured with multiple transceivers, some of which may
have selectable power settings to permit high-power transmission
and low-power, short-range transmissions. The lighting device LD
1024 connections to the respective servers 1014 and 1064 may be via
a large-scale cellular communication network cellular transceiver
settings, broadband settings, such as Wi-Fi or Li-Fi, or the
like.
[0127] Consider the example, in which user device CRM requests
access to a data network to retrieve video data. User device CRM
may communicate with the lighting device LD 1024 using its cellular
transceiver set to a mode that allows low-power cellular radio
frequency transmissions suitable for use in the private network
1005. Via the cellular transceiver, the user device CRM transmits a
message including a data network request. In response to receiving
the data network request, the lighting device LD 1024 negotiates on
behalf of the user device CRM a connection to the data network (not
shown). Upon completion of the connection, the user device CRM may
gain access to the application (app) server 1064 through the
lighting device LD 1024, and exchange information that results in
the app server 1064 providing video information to the lighting
device LD 1024 for distribution to the user device CRM. For
example, a video player application of the user device CRM may have
generated a data network request for a particular video file.
However, lighting device LD 1024 may be configured to facilitate
the use of radio frequency resources in the private network 1005,
so the radio frequency resources are used in as most efficient
manner as possible. In the present example, the cellular radio
frequency of the private network is bandwidth limited and is not
configured to deliver substantial amounts of data, such as a video
or large data download. For example, the low-power, range limited
cellular transmissions are configured to deliver kilobytes (KB),
not megabytes (MB) of data.
[0128] As a result, the lighting device LD 1024 may query the user
device CRM for its capabilities, such as whether the user device
CRM is configured with a broadband transceiver, such as Wi-Fi or
Li-Fi. If the CRM device is configured with a broadband transceiver
and the user grants permission to use broadband, the lighting
device LD 1024 establishes a broadband connection with the lighting
device CRM. The video is delivered by the lighting device LD 1024
via the lighting device's 1024 broadband transceiver. This
selection of transceivers may, for example, be based on user
preferences associated with a video player application that
requested the video data to be delivered to the user device CRM. In
more detail, the user device CRM has user preference settings for a
video player application in which the preferred delivery method is
via broadband opposed to large-scale cellular communication network
deliver, which may incur a charge to the user of the user device
CRM. As a result of the user preference settings, the video data is
delivered to the user device CRM via a broadband connection.
[0129] Lighting device LD 1024 may also respond to communications
received from devices external to the private network 1005 such as
server 1014. Lighting device's 1024 cellular transceiver may have
an MDN associated with a public network (e.g., a large-scale
cellular communication network), and is therefore capable of
receiving information from the server 1014 as well as other
devices, such as user device CRM. In the present example, the
server 1014 may be a management server that is configured to
provide information, such as control commands, software and
firmware updates, and the like to lighting devices, such as
lighting devices 1024 and 1020. As shown in the scenario 1000 of
FIG. 10, the connection between the lighting device LD 1024 and the
server 1014 is shown as an LTE data line over which lighting
control information is being transmitted. The LTE data line may be
cellular radio frequency communication that is a high-power
communication between the lighting device LD 1024 and server 1014.
The lighting device LD 1024 is configured with the appropriate
computer application that permits the server 1014 to provide
lighting control commands and the like as discussed above. Upon
receipt of the lighting control commands, the lighting device LD
1024 may determine which lighting devices in the private network
1005 are intended recipients of the received lighting control
commands.
[0130] For example, the received lighting control command may be
intended only for lighting device LD 1020, or may be intended for
both lighting device LD 1024 and 1020, or some other group or
groups of lighting devices that are in the space and available for
inclusion in the private network 1005. If the lighting device LD
1024 processor determines that the received lighting commands are
intended for lighting device LD 1020, the lighting device LD 1024
processor may determine which communication mode (such as private
network cellular communication mode, broadband mode or Bluetooth)
the lighting device LD 1024 may use. For example, if lighting
device LD 1020 is within Bluetooth range of lighting device LD
1024, the lighting device LD 1024 processor may deliver the
lighting control commands via the lighting device's 1024 Bluetooth
transceiver. The determination of communication mode may be based
on configuration and user preference settings made according to a
lighting management application or managing device. In the
illustrated example, the lighting device LD 1024 forwards the
received lighting control commands via the private network (i.e.,
via the cellular transceiver using low-power cellular radio
frequency signals) to the lighting device LD 1020, which also may
be based on the configuration and/or user preference settings of
the lighting device LD 1020.
[0131] Scenarios other than 900 and 1000 are also envisioned that
permit user devices to participate in the private or cellular mesh
networks. However, since lighting devices are ubiquitous, a
lighting device configuration that includes the elements and
features as described above improves upon existing lighting
technology by providing a device that extends the communication
reach of user devices in a space that has limited access to the
large-scale cellular communication network while also facilitating
the provision of value-added services to the space.
[0132] FIGS. 11 and 12 provide functional block diagram
illustrations of examples of general purpose hardware platforms.
FIG. 11 illustrates a network or host computer platform, as may
typically be used to implement a host or server, such the computer
660 or if provided as a separate platform any of the lighting
devices 300-500 of FIGS. 3-5 in which the respective lighting
microcontroller, and/or lighting driver and light source may be
considered part of the I/O components. FIG. 12 depicts a computer
with user interface elements, as may be used to implement a
personal computer or other type of work station or terminal device,
such as one of the terminal 660 in FIG. 6, although the computer of
FIG. 11 may also act as a server if appropriately programmed. The
block diagram of a hardware platform of FIG. 11 represents an
example of the lighting device, a user device, such as a tablet
computer, smartphone or the like with an interface to one or more
wireless links. It is believed that those skilled in the art are
familiar with the structure, programming and general operation of
such computer equipment and as a result the drawings should be
self-explanatory.
[0133] A server (see e.g. FIGS. 6 and 10), for example, includes a
data communication interface for packet data communication via the
particular type of available network. The server also includes a
central processing unit (CPU), in the form of one or more processor
circuits, for executing program instructions. The server platform
typically includes an internal communication bus, program storage
and data storage for various data files to be processed and/or
communicated by the server, although the server often receives
programming and data via network communications. The hardware
elements, operating systems and programming languages of such
servers are conventional in nature, and it is presumed that those
skilled in the art are adequately familiar therewith. Of course,
the server functions may be implemented in a distributed fashion on
a number of similar platforms, to distribute the processing
load.
[0134] Also, a computer configured as a server with respect to one
layer or function may be configured as a client of a server in a
different layer and/or for a different function. For example, the
intelligent lighting devices 1024, 1020 operate as client devices
of server functions implemented by 1014 or 1064, whereas the same
platform performing the lighting control management function as a
client or as a server with respect to the computer 660. Also, user
terminal devices such as 660 often are configured as client
devices; and the server 650 may function as a server with respect
to client functionalities of devices such as 660.
[0135] A computer type user terminal device, such as a desktop or
laptop type personal computer (PC), similarly includes a data
communication interface, processing circuitry forming the CPU, main
memory (such as a random access memory (RAM)) and one or more disc
drives or other mass storage devices for storing user data and the
various executable programs (see FIG. 12). A user device (see FIG.
10) type user terminal may include similar elements, but will
typically use smaller components that also require less power, to
facilitate implementation in a portable form factor. The example of
FIG. 11 includes a wireless broadband network (Wi-Fi or Li-Fi)
transceiver (XCVR), a cellular transceiver such as a 3G, 4G or LTE
cellular network transceiver configurable for high-power
communication typically associated with 3G, 4G or LTE cellular
network communications as well as low-power communication over a
shorter range, but that still utilized the 3G, 4G or LTE cellular
network radio frequency spectrum. In addition to a cellular
transceiver, the lighting device implementations of a computing
device example of FIG. 11 also may include shorter range wireless
transceiver such as a Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi or Li-Fi transceivers
for wireless communication within the spaces that a lighting device
may be located. A mobile device (see FIG. 13) type user terminal
may include similar elements, but will typically use smaller
components that also require less power, to facilitate
implementation in a portable form factor. The example of FIG. 13
includes a wireless cellular transceiver (XCVR) such as a 3G or 4G
cellular network transceiver as well as a short range wireless
transceiver such as a Bluetooth and/or WiFi transceiver for
wireless broadband communication. The computer hardware platform of
FIG. 11 the terminal computer platform of FIG. 12 and mobile user
device of FIG. 13 are shown by way of example as using a RAM type
main memory and a hard disk drive for mass storage of data and
programming, whereas the lighting device of FIG. 11 and mobile user
device of FIG. 13 may include a flash memory and may include other
miniature memory devices. It may be noted, however, that more
modern computer architectures, particularly for portable usage, are
equipped with semiconductor memory only.
[0136] The various types of user terminal devices will also include
various user input and output elements. A computer, for example,
may include a keyboard and a cursor control/selection device such
as a mouse, trackball, joystick or touchpad; and a display for
visual outputs (see FIG. 12). The user device example in FIG. 12
and the mobile user device example of FIG. 13 may provide a
touchscreen type display, where the display is controlled by a
display driver, and user touching of the screen is detected by a
touch sense controller (not shown in FIG. 12, but indicated by
Ctrlr in FIG. 13). The hardware elements, operating systems and
programming languages of such computer and/or mobile user terminal
devices also are conventional in nature, and it is presumed that
those skilled in the art are adequately familiar therewith.
[0137] Although FIGS. 11 to 13 in their present form show computers
and user terminal devices, generally similar configurations also
may be used within other elements of the lighting device 300-500.
For example, one implementation of the central processing unit
(CPU), which may include a processor and/or an application
processor, communication and interface elements of a lighting
device may utilize an architecture similar to that of one of the
computers or mobile user devices, such as smartphones, tablets or
the like. As a more specific example, the personal computer type
hardware in FIG. 12 (except for the keyboard, mouse and display)
could serve as the processing element and communication elements of
a lighting device, where the input/output interface I/O would
interface to an appropriate light driver and to any sensor(s) or
other enhancement input or output device(s) included within the
lighting device. As another example of use of an architecture
similar to those of FIGS. 11 and 12 that may be utilized in a
device like that of FIGS. 3-5 or an environment of FIG. 6, a
lighting controller or other user interface device (UI) might
utilize an arrangement similar to the mobile device of FIG. 11,
albeit possibly with only one transceiver compatible with the
networking technology of the particular premises (e.g. to reduce
costs).
[0138] The block diagram of a hardware platform of FIG. 13
represents an example of a mobile device, such as a tablet
computer, smartphone or the like with a network interface to a
wireless link, which may alternatively serve as a user device like
113a, A, or M. It is believed that those skilled in the art are
familiar with the structure, programming and general operation of
such computer equipment and as a result the drawings should be
self-explanatory.
[0139] As also outlined above, aspects of a determining
communications between lighting devices and user devices (e.g.
FIGS. 7 and 8), and a process to determine a type of transceiver or
transceiver setting to be utilized by a lighting device and/or a
user device for communicating information (e.g., FIGS. 6 and 10)
between the lighting device and the user device may be embodied in
programming of the appropriate system elements. Program aspects of
the technology discussed above therefore may be thought of as
"products" or "articles of manufacture" typically in the form of
executable code and/or associated data (software or firmware) that
is carried on or embodied in a type of machine readable medium.
"Storage" type media include any or all of the tangible memory of
the computers, processors or the like, or associated modules
thereof, such as various semiconductor memories, tape drives, disk
drives and the like, which may provide non-transitory storage at
any time for the software or firmware programming. All or portions
of the programming may at times be communicated through the
Internet or various other telecommunication networks. Such
communications, for example, may enable loading of the software
from one computer or processor into another, for example, from a
management server or a management computer 660 of the lighting
system service provider into the computer platform of any of the
lighting devices 300-500, user devices or third party devices.
Thus, another type of media that may bear the software/firmware
program elements includes optical, electrical and electromagnetic
waves, such as used across physical interfaces between local
devices, through wired and optical landline networks and over
various air-links. The physical elements that carry such waves,
such as wired or wireless links, optical links or the like, also
may be considered as media bearing the software. As used herein,
unless restricted to non-transitory, tangible "storage" media,
terms such as computer or machine "readable medium" refer to any
medium that participates in providing instructions to a processor
for execution.
[0140] It will be understood that the terms and expressions used
herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and
expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of
inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise
been set forth herein. Relational terms such as first and second
and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action
from another without necessarily requiring or implying any actual
such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The
terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," or any
other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive
inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that
comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements
but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to
such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded
by "a" or "an" does not, without further constraints, preclude the
existence of additional identical elements in the process, method,
article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
[0141] Unless otherwise stated, any and all measurements, values,
ratings, positions, magnitudes, sizes, and other specifications
that are set forth in this specification, including in the claims
that follow, are approximate, not exact. They are intended to have
a reasonable range that is consistent with the functions to which
they relate and with what is customary in the art to which they
pertain.
[0142] While the foregoing has described what are considered to be
the best mode and/or other examples, it is understood that various
modifications may be made therein and that the subject matter
disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples,
and that the teachings may be applied in numerous applications,
only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by
the following claims to claim any and all applications,
modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the
present teachings.
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