Helvar Patente

A control system for controlling environmental conditions such as lighting, heating, and ventilation prevailing in a building comprises one or more sensors (101, 102) a distance away from a movable space-dividing element and configured to produce one or more sensor signals indicative of a position of the movable space-dividing element (103). The control system further comprises a data processing system (104) communicatively connected to the one or more sensors and configured to control a building service system (106) related to the environmental conditions based on the position of the movable space-dividing element. Thus, the building service system can be adapted to operate in accordance with the position of the movable space-dividing element without a need to provide the movable space-dividing element with a position sensor.

According to an embodiment, a control apparatus for a luminaire (120-k) of a lighting system (100) comprising a plurality of luminaires (120) communicatively coupled to each other by a lighting control network is provided, the control apparatus comprising: a control portion (124-k) arranged to control light output of said luminaire (120-k) according to a preprogrammed lighting control logic that comprises at least a first lighting control rule that defines switching on the light output in response to detecting occupancy at a location of said luminaire (120-k); and an adaptation portion (125-k) arranged to: receive, over the lighting control network, a plurality of status indications, where each status indication pertains to a certain other luminaire of the lighting system (100) and it is descriptive of an occurrence of an event that pertains to the respective other luminaire, select a first subset of other luminaires based on their spatial relationships with a location of said luminaire (120-k), carry out, based on a history of status indications that pertain to said first subset of other luminaires and that have been received during a first learning period, a first learning procedure to identify a first repeatedly occurring pattern that includes a first sequence of received status indications followed by detecting occupancy at the location of said luminaire (120-k), and reprogram, in response to identifying the first repeatedly occurring pattern, the lighting control logic to further include a second lighting control rule that defines switching on the light output of said luminaire (120-k) as a response to reception of said first sequence of status indications.

According to an embodiment, a sensor apparatus (110-k) for monitoring a predefined first environmental characteristics in a location of a space is provided, the sensor apparatus (110-k) comprising: a communication portion (111-k) for wired and/or wireless communication with one or more other apparatuses; a sensing element (112-k) arranged to generate an electrical measurement signal that is descriptive of the first environmental characteristic; a control portion (113-k) arranged to derive, based on the electrical measurement signal, local sensor indications that are descriptive of the first environmental characteristic and operate the communication portion (111-k) to transmit the local sensor indications to the one or more other apparatuses; and a supervising portion (114-k) arranged to respond to an occurrence of a predefined condition that is associated with compromised operation of the sensor apparatus (110-k) by carrying out at least one of the following: adjust at least one aspect of operation of the control portion (113-k) in relation the deriving and/or transmitting the local sensor indications, or operate the communication portion (111-k) to transmit, to one or more other sensor apparatuses operating in said space, a substitute request that pertains to deriving, at a respective other sensor apparatus on behalf of the sensor apparatus (110-k), substitute sensor indications that are descriptive of the first environmental characteristic to replace at least part of the local sensor indications.

A management system for controlling luminaires (109-112) comprises a presence sensor (101, 102) for producing occupancy data indicative of presence of an object on an area illuminated by the luminaires. The management system comprises a control system (106) for controlling the luminaires based on the occupancy data, and a signaling device (107) for generating a signal noticeable by an object on the area. The control system deactivates or dims down the luminaires when the occupancy data indicates that the area has been unoccupied for a delay time, and to control the signaling device to generate the signal when the occupancy data indicates that the area has become unoccupied. If the area is falsely detected to be unoccupied, the signal typically makes an object to react and the presence of the object can be detected based on the reaction, and unwanted deactivation or dimming down of the luminaires can be avoided.

A lighting control system comprises at least one imaging device (101) for producing at least one electronic image and at least one presence sensor (115a-115d) for detecting occupancy. The lighting control system comprises a controller (102) configured to run an artificial intelligence process to identify a type of an object presented by the electronic image and to control, when occupancy is detected, the lighting system based on the type identified by the artificial intelligence process. The identification of the type of the object makes it possible to control the lighting system in accordance with requirements specific to the identified type. For example, different lighting control can be used for an office worker who stays typically hours in an office than for a guard who walks through the office in few minutes.

An arrangement comprises a communications unit (501) configured to receive and transmit data, a processor unit (502) coupled to said communications unit (501), and one or more data storages (503) to store received use data indicative of accumulated use of said plurality of node devices. The processor unit (502) is configured to estimate (1304), based on said received use data, remaining service lives of at least a subset of said plurality of node devices, and to generate (1306), based on said estimated remaining service lives, at least one compensation rule determining updated node device operation. The compensation rule aims at lowering power consumption during subsequent use of at least a first one of said plurality of node devices for which the respective estimated remaining service life was shorter than average.

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According to another example embodiment, a method (200) in a lighting system (100) comprising a lighting system control entity (140, 150) and a plurality of luminaires (120) that are wirelessly coupled to the lighting system control entity (140, 150) is provided, wherein the method (200) comprises, in a luminaire (120-k) of the plurality of luminaires (120), controlling (202) light output of the respective luminaire (120-k) in accordance with a preprogrammed lighting control logic that defines switching on the light output in response to detecting occupancy at the respective luminaire (120-k), transmitting (204a) status indications to and receiving (204b) status indications from other ones of the plurality of luminaires (120), wherein each status indication is descriptive of an occurrence of an event pertaining to a luminaire transmitting the respective status indication, deriving (206) relationship data including one or more relationship strength values, wherein each relationship strength value pertains to a particular other luminaire (120-p) of said plurality of luminaires (120) and is descriptive of an extent of regularity at which reception of a status indication that indicates an occurrence of a given event pertaining to the particular other luminaire (120-p) is followed by detecting occupancy at the respective luminaire (120-k), and transmitting (208) the relationship data to the lighting system control entity (140, 150); and wherein the method (200) comprises, in the lighting system control entity (140, 150), controlling (210) at least one aspect of operational dependencies among the plurality of luminaires (120) in accordance with the relationship data received from the plurality of luminaires (120).

An arrangement for controlling a building automation system comprises a detection subsystem that produces detection signals (302) indicative of detected users within an area. A control signal generator (303) generates control signals (304) for the building automation system in response to said detection signals (302). A motion detecting part (306) receives indications (307) of moving objects, and the detection subsystem (301) produces said detection signals (302) at least partly based thereon (307). A radio quality part (308) provides (309) a quality indicator (310) indicative of an observed quality of radio frequency transmissions between nodes. The detection subsystem (301) produces said detection signals (302) also at least partly based on observed changes in the quality indicator (310).

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A first network (301) is a wired, addressed building automation network. A second network (302) is a wireless, addressed building automation network. A linking functionality (403) receives and stores a plurality of addresses of an addressing scheme used in said first network (301) to identify nodes of said first network (301). It performs mapping and forwarding of communications between said first and second networks (301, 302) so that, with respect to communications and in accordance with a stored set of rules, it makes selectively none, one or more nodes of said second network (302) emulate a respective virtual node of said first network (301) to which virtual node said linking functionality (403) has associated one of said stored plurality of addresses.

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A light sensor for controlling one or more luminaires comprises a sensor element (101) configured to generate, responsive to light falling on the sensor element, a signal (102) for controlling the one or more luminaires, and a bendable light guide (103) having a first end configured to receive light and a second end configured to direct the light to the sensor element. The light sensor comprises support structures (104) configured to support the light guide so that a reception direction from which the light guide receives light is changeable and the support structures are configured to keep the light guide in a bending position in which the light guide receives light from a selected reception direction. Thus, the light sensor can be adapted to monitor a desired part of an illumination-controlled area after the light sensor has been attached to a wall, a ceiling, or another structure.

According to an embodiment, an apparatus (100) for monitoring water flow via a water outlet of a pipe network for water distribution is provided, the apparatus (100) comprising: a sensor portion (110) comprising one or more sensors arranged to supply respective sensor data that is descriptive of a respective environmental characteristic at a location of the water outlet, the sensor data obtained for given time instant forming a respective environmental sensor picture for the respective time instant; a memory (122) arranged to store one or more environmental sensor pictures; and a processing portion (120) arranged to determine at least one indication pertaining to the water flow via the water outlet based on one or more environmental sensor pictures obtained for a monitoring period.

According to an example embodiment, a control apparatus (120, 145) for a node (120-k, 145-m) of a first network that is arranged to communicatively couple, to each other, a plurality of nodes (120, 145), wherein said plurality of nodes (120, 145) comprise a plurality of luminaires (120) arranged for illuminating one or more spaces is provided, the apparatus comprising: a communication portion (112-k, 142-m) for communicating with other apparatuses via the first network and a second network; and a control portion (111-k, 141-k) arranged to: derive, based on one or more occupancy states that are associated with the node (120-k, 145-m), a node occupancy state that pertains to a location of the node (120-k, 145-m) within the one or more spaces; receive, via the first network, one or more status indications originating from one or more other ones of the plurality of nodes (120, 145) of the first network; derive, based on said one or more status indications, at least one regional occupancy state that pertains to one or more other locations within the one or more spaces; and broadcast, via the second network to one or more external apparatuses (150) that are external to the first network, a network occupancy status message that indicates the node occupancy state and the at least one regional occupancy state.

According to an example embodiment, a method (300) for distributing sensor data captured at a plurality of sensor units (140, 240) that are coupled to each other via a lighting control network is provided, the method comprising: transmitting (302), from the plurality of sensor units (140, 240), respective sensor data captured therein over the lighting control network to a lighting system server (103); deriving (304), at the lighting system server (103), aggregate sensor data based on respective sensor data received from the plurality of sensor units (140, 240) for delivery to the plurality of sensor units (140, 240) and/or to an external apparatus (150); and transmitting (308), from a sensor unit (140-j, 240-k) of the plurality of sensor units (140, 240) via an external communication channel that is separate from the lighting control network, one or more sensor indication messages comprising information that provide the external apparatus (150) receiving the one or more sensor indication messages with access to the local sensor data captured at the respective sensor unit (140-j, 240-k) and to at least part of the aggregate sensor data.

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A lighting control system comprises a luminaire illuminating a workstation. A lighting control device is configured to communicate lighting control commands to said luminaire during periods when a computer device is locally coupled. The lighting control device operates as, or in connection with, a docking station at said workstation. The lighting control device detects activity indications indicative of computer use at said workstation and transmits activity transmissions to said at least one luminaire during said periods. The activity transmissions are indicative of the extent to which said computer device of the user is used according to said activity indications.

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According to an example embodiment, a method for classifying a plurality of luminaires based on respective sensor data captured at respective locations of the plurality of luminaires is provided. The method comprises: obtaining the respective sensor data for the plurality of luminaires, the respective sensor data for each luminaire comprising respective one or more time series of sensor values that each represent a respective environmental characteristic as a function of time for a respective one of the plurality of luminaires; and assigning at least one of the plurality of luminaires into one of two or more predefined luminaire classes based on variation of the sensor values in the respective one or more series of values in the sensor data obtained for the respective luminaire.

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A management system for controlling luminaires (113-116) comprises presence sensors (103-104) configured to produce occupancy data indicative of occupancies on sub-areas of a space illuminated with the luminaires. The management system comprises a control system (107) responsive to the occupancy data and configured to dim down one or more of the luminaires when the occupancy data indicates that a sub-area illuminated by the one or more luminaires is unoccupied. The control system is configured to increase the color temperature of light emitted by the one or more luminaires when dimming down the one or more luminaires. The dimming saves energy, and the increasing the color temperature of the luminaires being dimmed down eliminates or at least mitigates visual discomfort due to variation in a level of light between occupied sub-areas and unoccupied sub-areas.

A method, a computer program and a lighting control device for controlling light output from at least one luminaire (120-k, 220-k), the lighting control device (110, 210-k) comprising: a lighting control logic for defining the manner of controlling light output from the at least one luminaire (120-k, 220-k), an adaptation means for adjusting the lighting control logic at least in part based on occupancy information received from an occupancy sensor (132, 232-k) configured to sense motion and/or presence of a person in a certain area. The adaptation means is configured to receive time information, determine an average switch-on time for a day based at least in part on the time of day the occupancy information starts to indicate presence of a person and determine an average duration of the day based at least in part on the duration between the time of day the occupancy information starts to indicate presence of a person and the time of day on which occupancy information no longer indicates presence of a person on that day. The lighting control device is configured to select between a first lighting mode and a second lighting mode to be used at a certain time interval based at least in part on the determined average duration of the day and/or the determined average switch-on time, wherein at least one of the following is different in the first lighting mode than in the second lighting mode: the light intensity level produced by the luminaire (120-k, 220-k), color of the light output by the luminaire (120-k, 220-k), color temperature of the light output by the luminaire (120-k, 220-k).

According to an example embodiment, a method in a lighting system comprising a plurality of luminaires arranged for illuminating a space and a plurality of sound sensors arranged for capturing sound in respective locations within said space is provided. The method comprises: receiving a respective time series of sound feature vectors from said plurality of sound sensors, wherein a sound feature vector comprises at least an indication of a sound level at the location of a respective sound sensor upon capturing the sound feature vector; receiving a respective time series of user input vectors from one or more of the plurality of luminaires, wherein a user input vector comprises at least a user rating concerning a noise level at the location of a respective luminaire upon recording the user input vector; deriving at least one sound level threshold based at least on sound level indications received in the sound feature vectors and on user ratings concerning the noise level received in the user input vectors; and adjusting at least one aspect of light output of at least one of the plurality of luminaires in response to one or more sound feature vectors received after derivation of the at least one sound level threshold indicating sound level that exceeds the at least one sound level threshold.

According to an example embodiment, a luminaire (120-k) for illuminating a space is provided, the luminaire (120-k) comprising: at least one light source (121-k) for providing light output for said space; a sensor for measuring an environmental characteristic at a location of the luminaire (120-k); a control portion (111-k) for controlling one or more aspects of the light output of the at least one light source (121-k) in accordance with a predefined lighting control logic, the control portion (111-k) further arranged to: collect, during a learning period, learning data that is descriptive of a relationship between sensor values measured by said sensor and corresponding operational states of the luminaire (120-k), and derive, after the learning period based on said learning data, a calibration model for compensating for an offset occurring in the sensor values measured by said sensor due to the operational state of the luminaire (120-k).

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