Illumination control system

Abstract

A lighting control system (1) comprising at least one input device (2) and / or at least one control mechanism (3), the at least one input device being configured to provide user derived status and / or environmental information to the lighting control system in response to a query command (10a), and the at least one control mechanism is configured to provide power to the one or more light sources and to provide status information to the lighting control system in response to a query command (10a). Furthermore, it comprises an application controller (4) configured to receive user derived and / or environmental information or status information and configured to issue a query command (10a) for obtaining the information or depending on the obtained information. There is also provided a reverse bridge (5) configured to communicate with the application controller (2) via a wired network bus (6) operating using a synchronous network protocol that may conform to IEC 62386-101. The reverse bridge (5) is further configured to communicate with the at least one input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3) via a network (7) operating using an asynchronous network protocol that may conform to IEC 62386-104. The reverse bridge (5) is configured to enable bidirectional communication between the application controller (4) and the at least one input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Aspects and embodiments relate to a lighting control system including a network to which input devices and control mechanisms controlled by an application controller are connected. These aspects and embodiments relate in particular to a lighting control system including a wired network bus and extended by an asynchronously operating network portion via a bridge that connects the control and input devices involved in the asynchronously operating network portion to the wired network bus where the application controller is arranged. In this configuration, the bridge is referred to as a reverse bridge. Background Art

[0002] In building automation, digital bus systems are increasingly used, for example, to centrally or decentrally control a large number of lighting systems including lamps and sensors. For example, a corresponding standard is provided by the protocol marked as DALI (DALI: "Digital Addressable Lighting Interface"). This protocol is defined in the IEC standard system, among others, in IEC 62386. It is based on the earlier DSI standard (Digital Signal Interface) and closes the gap between conventional analog 1-10 V interfaces and complex digital bus systems such as KNX / EIB (European Installation Bus) or LON (Local Operating Network), which also include the networking and control of other household appliances besides lighting.

[0003] Using the IEC 62386 ("DALI") communication standard (according to the current status, further improvements and extensions will continue to be discussed), each of up to a maximum of 64 lighting control mechanisms and input devices can be connected to the bus via corresponding interfaces, which are controlled or monitored by one or more application controllers. Such an application controller acts as a master device in the DALI network and is configured as a decision-making device. A larger number of control or input devices involved can be achieved by setting up a DALI gateway that connects adjacent control networks. The control mechanism can be an electronic ballast and in particular an LED driver, a dimmer or an actuator. The input device can be a sensor, a switch or other operating device, etc. Each interface can include a controller and a memory in which parameters such as up to 16 programmed scene values ​​or up to 16 group addresses (multiple control and input devices are grouped under these group addresses) are stored. Each interface is addressed separately. The bus has a two-wire line, via which all control and input devices receive essentially the same signal in a bidirectional data exchange, whereby only the control mechanism (e.g., LED driver) or input device addressed in the signal frame is configured to receive and process the signal unless the lighting control system is operated in the so-called broadcast mode.

[0004] The DALI communication standard provides a bus with approximately 16 volts DC. The bus is both a signal line and, to a lesser extent, a power supply. The signal is generated by a pulse short-circuit transmission interface between two lines. The corresponding sequence of voltage drops from 16 volts to 0 volts is detected and evaluated by the other interfaces connected to the DALI bus. The standard allows certain tolerance ranges for the voltage values ​​to be observed for the transmitting and receiving devices. The transmitted information is projected in the form of transactions, each of which may include one or more command frames.

[0005] According to the current DALI standard, the signal transmission rate is 1200 bits per second, which means that it takes 833.3 microseconds to transmit one bit. The generally accepted tolerance range is ±10%. The commands or queries issued and transmitted from the application controller or another control device are forward frames with a payload length of 16, 24 or 32 bits. The receiving device (e.g. the control mechanism of the input device) is considered to issue and transmit a reply in response to the command or query, which is sent in the form of a backward frame with a payload length of 8 bits. A leading start bit and a predetermined number of trailing stop bits are added in each case. The reply is issued and transmitted in a timed manner after the end of the last stop bit of the forward frame: the start bit of the backward frame must be triggered within a time span of 5.5 ms to 10.5 ms after the end of this. Any new forward frame can only be started after 10.5 ms has passed.

[0006] The above definition presents the wired DALI bus as a network operating in half-duplex mode with synchronous data transmission. However, this only refers to DALI networks as described in IEC 62386 Part 101 (system), IEC 62386 Part 102 (control mechanism) and IEC 62386 Part 103 (input devices).

[0007] In this specification, networks operating by using synchronous network protocols are generally defined by communications between devices, where it is desired that the response by one device to a notification (command) issued by another device is made in a time-limited manner, and it is desired that other devices listening to the communication do not issue further notifications within this reserved time span on the same medium (wired bus). IEC 62386 Part 101 complies with this definition. In contrast, networks operating by using asynchronous network protocols are defined as solving the problem of associating the sending of a response in response to a notification (command) with such a notification by other means (e.g., attaching additional addresses, labels, etc. to the sent data packet). IP-based protocols can generally be asynchronous.

[0008] Recently, DALI+ networks have been introduced in IEC 62386 Part 104 (General Requirements - Wireless and Alternative Wired System Components). Here, DALI+ devices (application controllers, control mechanisms, and input devices) communicate with each other using the existing DALI transactions, commands, and response sets described above. However, these are carried over a wireless and / or IP-based medium, rather than the dedicated wire pairs used by the DALI network (or DALI-2, which provides a certification procedure for the devices involved; or D4i, which is an extension of DALI-2, in which LED drivers are provided with a mandatory feature set related to power requirements and intelligent data capabilities). In addition, a bridge can be implemented to connect devices in a conventional wired bus-based DALI network with an application controller in a wireless and / or IP-based DALI+ network (hereinafter also referred to as a "Part 104 network", not a conventional "Part 101 network"). As a characteristic of the wireless and / or IP-based protocol, Part 104 network data transmission is implemented in an asynchronous manner.

[0009] As mentioned above, the IEC 62386 Part 104 standard provides for the possibility that an application controller is arranged in a Part 104 network and is allowed to address control mechanisms or input devices in a conventional Part 101 network. A so-called reverse bridge is mentioned, i.e. a bridge for converting communications from an application controller in a Part 101 network to a Part 104 network, but this is considered "outside the scope of the standard" here.

[0010] However, it has proven feasible to combine a conventional DALI bus system with wireless communication via an application gateway, which converts between DALI and the corresponding wireless network protocol of choice. However, no standard is available yet. Therefore, difficulties arise in implementing devices from different suppliers.

[0011] In addition, existing implementations, where a Part 101 based application controller interfaces with DALI devices in a Part 104 based network, often utilize emulation of DALI devices in a corresponding DALI gateway. More specifically, a control device, such as a control mechanism (e.g., an LED driver), is only emulated by the gateway to respond to queries (or commands) within the limited timeframe given above by the DALI Part 101 specification by using its current emulated state information. The state information itself is continuously updated asynchronously in the DALI gateway via asynchronously operating network devices as data sources. However, no direct feedback response is provided from the corresponding Part 104 based control device to the Part 101 based application controller.

[0012] An example of a DALI gateway with similar properties is the CBU-DCS Bluetooth-controllable DALI controller from Casambi Technologies Oy of Espoo, Finland (Data Sheet CBU-DCS Bluetooth-controllable DALI Controller, September 2021, downloaded from https: / / f.hubspotusercontent40.net / hubfs / 7177595 / Data%20sheets / English / CBU_DCS_Data-Sheet_EU_EN_2_0_24092021.pdf on September 28, 2022). The CBU-DCS can be connected to a wired DALI controller and act as a wireless DALI gateway into the Casambi mesh, either in DALI broadcast mode or for controlling individually addressed DALI devices.

[0013] Document DE 102018202965A1 discloses a lighting control system in which a central unit communicates with control devices (control mechanisms) via a DALI bus. Each control device has a DALI interface ("DALI controller") and a Bluetooth interface. A handheld device communicates with each control device via Bluetooth to access the memory of the control device. A cloud-based central unit communicates with the control device via a handheld device (Bluetooth) or via a DALI bus.

[0014] In view of the structure explained above, a reverse bridge that operates based on the simulation of state information rather than timely conversion and transfer of information requires accurate knowledge of the device to be simulated. As pointed out, problems arise when the real device comes from a different vendor and when the continuous update process of the simulated device involves differences that are out of sync with the real device. In particular, the situation of sudden errors occurring on the device side must be handled with care. Summary of the invention

[0015] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a lighting control system, which is composed of a wired bus network that operates using synchronous data transmission and an asynchronous network that operates using asynchronous data transmission, and the two networks communicate using a reverse bridge, wherein an application controller is set on the synchronous bus network side, and the lighting control system avoids this asynchronous situation, and the reverse bridge does not need to continuously collect and store status information of devices on the asynchronous network side.

[0016] A further aim is to increase the flexibility of such a combined network by allowing the integration of devices from different vendors independently of the type of reverse bridge. A further aim is to allow the integration of an IP-based DALI+ network with an existing conventional DALI Part 101 network.

[0017] Various aspects and embodiments take as a starting point a lighting control system that includes at least one input device configured to provide user-derived state and / or environmental information to the lighting control system in response to a query command or an event message; and / or a control mechanism configured to provide power to one or more light sources and provide state information to the lighting control system in response to a query command. Generally, there are two types of devices in a lighting control system. The lighting control system also has an application controller that is configured to receive user-derived and / or environmental information or state information and is configured to issue a query command or receive an event message in order to obtain the information or depending on the information obtained.

[0018] In addition, a reverse bridge is provided, which is configured to communicate with the application controller via a wired network bus running using a synchronous network protocol, and the reverse bridge is configured to communicate with at least one input device and / or control mechanism via a network running using an asynchronous network protocol. Thus, the provided lighting control system is compatible with an extended and combined IEC 62386 (DALI) Part 101 and IEC 62386 (DALI) Part 104 network interconnected via a reverse bridge, which converts or transmits between an asynchronous network protocol and a synchronous network protocol. However, these aspects and embodiments are not necessarily limited to DALI applications, and the lighting control system proposed in the present invention may also be compatible with other standard or proprietary protocols.

[0019] In the above lighting control system, the reverse bridge is configured for full bidirectional communication between the application controller and the at least one input device and / or the control mechanism. This means that commands or queries ("query commands" expecting a reply) issued by the application controller on the wired bus network side are passed to the reverse bridge and forwarded to the input device or control mechanism, where the reply is prepared and transmitted back to the reverse bridge.

[0020] The reverse bridge does not need to collect and store status information just to obtain an updated status list for each device on the asynchronously operating network side. The reverse bridge can simply receive and process the information received with the reply to forward it to the application controller via the wired bus network. Different alternatives can be implemented as additional embodiments to achieve the necessary conversion to a synchronously operating wired bus network or, in the case of DALI, to a time-limited reply scheme based on a Part 101 network.

[0021] Due to the fully bidirectional communication, the reverse bridge is freed from providing analog measures and, therefore, any possible inconsistency between the state information delivered by the reverse bridge to the application controller and the actual state information of the actual input or control device can be effectively avoided. Therefore, the stability and reliability of the lighting control system are improved.

[0022] Furthermore, since the reverse bridge is freed from simulation tasks, the application controller can be constructed more simply. No complex database structures need to be controlled and processed, and polling tasks by the bridge are no longer required to obtain new or current status information. Therefore, the requirements on the internal control of the reverse bridge are relaxed and memory can be saved. Furthermore, asynchronously operating network (DALI+) devices do not need to repeatedly handle providing status information that may exceed the needs of the used network protocol (such as DALI).

[0023] In addition, since the reverse bridge becomes transparent from the perspective of the application controller when simply passing information from the input and control devices (control mechanisms), the requirements for such input and control devices also become more relaxed, making it possible to implement devices from different vendors in a combined network based on unified standards such as DALI.

[0024] According to a particularly advantageous alternative aspect, the reverse bridge is configured to transmit a forward transaction frame associated with the query command received from the application controller to the input device and / or control mechanism. The reverse bridge is also configured to send a command associated with a corresponding response frame to the application controller in response to the forward transaction frame, the response frame being received from the input device and / or control mechanism. Here, the purpose of such a command is to effectively deliver a response value to the query when a response from the asynchronously operating network side (in the case of DALI, the Part 104 network side) is actually available.

[0025] Thus, if for example a DALI network is involved, the bridge can comply with the standard protocol by initiating its own command (instead of a reply to a first command of the application controller) in order to transmit the information required by the application controller. In one embodiment, the reverse bridge is configured to issue a command formed as a forward frame and include the reply as part of the payload of the command. Thus, new command frame types can be used, e.g. with a different bit length compared to currently defined command or forward frames, or existing (DALI-) commands (e.g. with 24 bits) can be reused to deliver the reply information.

[0026] According to an alternative advantageous aspect, the reverse bridge may be configured to transmit a forward transaction frame associated with a query command received from the application controller to an input device and / or a control mechanism (similar to the above aspect). However, unlike the above aspect, the reverse bridge is also arranged to transmit a response associated with a corresponding response frame to the application controller in response to the forward transaction frame, the response frame being received from the input device and / or the control mechanism. Here, the advantage is that the response from the input device or the control mechanism is converted into a response again. Therefore, in another embodiment, in the case of DALI, the transaction type can remain the same.

[0027] Thus, according to an embodiment, in order to comply with the limited time span of a synchronously operating wired network bus, the reverse bridge may wait for further subsequent commands issued by the application controller to provide a response within a predetermined (e.g., DALI-) time span (synchronous data transmission on the wired network bus). The application controller may optionally be appropriately arranged to implement polling of the reverse bridge until the expected response is sent. Repeated commands sent from the application controller to the reverse bridge may include counters and / or flags that are related to the initial first command, allowing the reverse bridge to identify the correct command that requires a response. Thus, according to this embodiment, the application controller may be configured to issue a second command after a previously issued first command, and the reverse bridge may be configured to transmit the response in response to the second command issued by the application controller.

[0028] Furthermore, according to this aspect, as indicated above, the reply transmitted by the reverse bridge may be substantially identical to the backward reply frame received by the reverse bridge from the input device and / or the control mechanism.

[0029] In another embodiment related to this aspect, the reverse bridge may include a memory arranged as a storage page, in which the response is temporarily stored when a response is received from an input device and / or a control mechanism. Therefore, the reverse bridge may also be configured to read the response from the memory page when it receives a second command from the application controller via a wired network bus. The reverse bridge can then transmit the previously received and stored response frame to the application controller as a response. Unlike the memory management described above for the prior art (status information is retained in the DALI gateway database memory for all devices on the part 104 side), simple responses are temporarily stored here until a second command is issued. Then, the stored information is no longer needed. Therefore, the reverse bridge remains passive and does not need to care about updating information.

[0030] According to a further aspect of the lighting control system, the reverse bridge similarly comprises a memory as described in the previous aspect, wherein the reverse bridge is configured to store debugging information of a new input device and / or a new control mechanism to be introduced into the lighting control system in the memory. The application controller is further configured to initiate a debugging process with the new input device and / or control mechanism via the reverse bridge. This aspect advantageously allows the use of the reverse bridge to implement the debugging process. The debugging process is thus simplified because it is a reverse bridge that can easily synchronize information with new devices in its network.

[0031] The application controller may be configured to issue at least one command via a synchronous wired network bus, the command comprising debug information for a new input device and / or a new control mechanism. Thus, the application controller may be configured to obtain debug information from a user interface, such as a debug app, preferably executed on a mobile device, via wireless data transmission. Furthermore, the reverse bridge may be configured to receive commands and store debug information. This alternative is particularly preferred because the application controller is anyway dedicated to maintaining control of the overall configuration, and the reverse bridge is freed from additional configuration tasks and the need to have its own user interface to receive debug information. Here, the reverse bridge operates in a transparent but passive configuration, maintaining functionality and storing data only to the extent required.

[0032] According to another aspect of the present invention, a lighting control system is provided, similar to the above-mentioned aspect, the lighting control system includes at least one control mechanism, the control mechanism is configured to provide power to one or more light sources and provide status information to the lighting control system in response to a query command. In addition, the lighting control system includes an application controller, the application controller is configured to receive the status information, and is also configured to issue a query command in order to obtain the information or depending on the information obtained. Moreover, similar to the above-mentioned aspects and embodiments, the lighting control system includes a reverse bridge, the reverse bridge is configured to communicate with the application controller via a wired network bus running using a synchronous network protocol, and is configured to communicate with at least one control mechanism via a network running using an asynchronous network protocol. As previously noted, this structure is compatible with extended and combined DALI Part 101 and DALI Part 104 networks interconnected via a reverse bridge.

[0033] The lighting control system thus provided includes, in addition to one control mechanism communicating from the asynchronously operating network side (e.g., DALI Part 104 network side), another control mechanism communicating from the wired network bus side (e.g., DALI Part 101 side). The reverse bridge transmits commands from the wired network bus to the one control mechanism.

[0034] To achieve this, the reverse bridge can be configured as:

[0035] (a) At installation time, the settings of the other control mechanism arranged to communicate from the wired network bus side are copied to the one control mechanism arranged to communicate from the asynchronously operating network side.

[0036] According to this aspect, the reverse bridge enables the control mechanism provided on the asynchronously operating network side to simply "follow" the specific "real" control mechanism on the wired network bus side, rather than the simulated control mechanism commonly found in the prior art. Therefore, the specific control mechanism on the wired network bus side may not be affected and may not "recognize" that another device is imitating or copying its performance. On the other hand, since commands sent in the direction of a control mechanism provided on the synchronously operating network side are not subject to time constraints (unlike responses), these commands can be easily passed through the reverse bridge for execution.

[0037] In an embodiment, the reverse bridge may also be configured as:

[0038] (b) receiving and selectively passing commands issued by the application controller to an address of a further control mechanism arranged to communicate from the synchronous operation network side;

[0039] (c) Forwarding the received and transmitted commands to an address of a control mechanism which is arranged to communicate from the asynchronously operating network side.

[0040] To address additional communications occurring in the network, the reverse bridge can also be configured to:

[0041] (d) filtering commands issued by the application controller to an address of a third control mechanism arranged to communicate from the network bus side operating synchronously, and preventing the commands from being passed to the one control mechanism arranged to communicate from the network side operating asynchronously; and / or

[0042] (e) filtering any query issued by the application controller to the address of a control mechanism or control device arranged to communicate from the wired network bus side and preventing the command from being passed to the one control mechanism arranged to communicate from the network side operating asynchronously.

[0043] The advantage of the proposed "following mode" is that it is very simple to implement and hardly affects the configuration of the wired network bus side. This particularly relates to DALI implementations of combined wired / wireless networks.

[0044] Further aspects and embodiments of the present invention relate to the specific structure of the network as used in the previous aspects. For example, in the lighting control system of the previous aspects, the asynchronously operated network running using an asynchronous network protocol is a wireless network, wherein the network protocol at the transport layer is preferably Thread, Zigbee, Wifi or Bluetooth / BLE. Note that the DALI Part 104 specification provides many transmission alternatives to conventional wired DALI bus systems, which can be wireless and wired. One of the underlying communication protocols in the DALI Part 104 specification is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which is related to the Internet Protocol (IP). UDP implements wired (e.g., Ethernet) or wireless (e.g., Thread, Wifi) options. The new specification supports DALI with Thread, which is a wireless, IP-based protocol. Nevertheless, other protocols (like those mentioned above) may be supported in the future, so that the various aspects of the present invention detailed above are by no means limited to Thread-based DALI Part 104-based networks.

[0045] Nevertheless, the above aspects should be considered to become particularly advantageous when the input devices and / or control mechanisms on one side and the application controller on the other side are configured to communicate with each other using the DALI protocol (IEC 62386) via a reverse bridge, the wired network bus being a DALI-bus and each of the input devices and / or control mechanisms, the application controller and the reverse bridge being provided with a corresponding DALI network interface (the reverse bridge being optionally provided with two or more interfaces - at least one on each side).

[0046] Furthermore, the application controller and the reverse bridge may be configured to communicate with each other using part 101 of the DALI protocol (IEC 62386-101), and / or the input device and / or control mechanism and the reverse bridge may communicate with each other using part 104 of the DALI protocol (IEC 62386-104). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] Further advantages, features and details of the various aspects become apparent from the claims, the following description of preferred embodiments and the drawings.In the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same features and functions.

[0048] In it:

[0049] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a lighting control system according to a first embodiment is shown;

[0050] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a lighting control system according to a second embodiment;

[0051] Figure 3A schematic diagram showing a lighting control system according to a third embodiment;

[0052] Figure 4 A schematic diagram showing a lighting control system according to a fourth embodiment is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] In the following description of preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the various aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to the details of the construction and arrangement of the components shown in the following description and the accompanying drawings. The embodiments may be practiced or executed in various ways. It should also be noted that the expressions and terms used in the present invention are only for the purpose of specific description and should not be interpreted in a restrictive manner by the technician. In addition, in the following description, the same figure numbers in various embodiments or drawings represent the same or similar features or objects, so that in some cases, the same repeated detailed descriptions can be omitted to maintain the compactness and clarity of the presentation.

[0054] In the following, four embodiments will be explained in more detail, each of which is based on a combined DALI Part 101 and Part 104 network. As noted, the principles developed with respect to these embodiments may also be applied to other standards or even proprietary devices, and may also be applied to advanced DALI systems developed in the future but based on the current definition. It should be noted that the name of DALI may change in such further improvements or standard versions (such as "D4i"), while the embodiments detailed below may still be compatible with such advanced DALI standards.

[0055] Furthermore, the Part 104 based network shown in the figure is supported by Thread as an underlying IP protocol. However, it will be appreciated that other underlying protocols may be implemented in a similar manner, even if it is not wireless (such as Thread), but wired (such as Ethernet). The standard DALI+ (including Part 104 based networks) employed in the embodiments and drawings, etc., includes a system address that multiplies the number of possible devices by 255, and in the case of using an IP based carrier (such as Thread), this is further extended to provide virtually unlimited addressing capabilities. Accordingly, the number of devices on the Part 104 network side shown in the embodiments may likewise be increased to any number as desired. According to the standard, the number of devices on the Part 101 network side may be limited to 64 each of input devices and control mechanisms.

[0056] Figure 1 and Figure 2The two first embodiments shown in the figure show a DALI lighting control system, including an application controller 4, which is connected to a wired network bus 6 based on the two-wire (classic) DALI part 101 (via a DALI interface); a reverse bridge 5 device having a two-wire DALI interface and an interface based on part 104 (here wireless). In addition, multiple control mechanisms 3, 3i... and input devices 2, 2i... are all configured to include a 104-based (here wireless) interface. Note that for clarity, the DALI interface mentioned (whether based on part 101 or based on part 104) is not shown in the figure. Figure 7 represents a wireless asynchronously operated network based on DALI part 104.

[0057] The first embodiment is Figure 1 , and may be most preferred. The application controller 4 and the reverse bridge may be adapted and configured to exchange specific commands that allow full bidirectional communication between the application controller 4 and the control mechanism 3, 3i and the input device 2, 2i, without the need to simulate status information or the like. First, the communication process begins with the application controller 4 sending a query command 10a to the reverse bridge 5. The query command may be part of a transaction containing one or more commands that instruct the control mechanism to adapt the lighting conditions (e.g., change the power supply) or to make a simple query to obtain status information or change settings. In both cases, the application controller 4 may expect confirmation or information to be sent back to the application controller via a reply in one or more frames.

[0058] The reverse bridge 5 is configured to receive the query command 10a at its corresponding DALI part 101 interface via the wired network bus 6 based on DALI part 101, and transmit it via its corresponding other interface to the wireless asynchronously operated network 7 based on DALI part 104. The query command is thereby forwarded on the wireless network as an encapsulated part 104-based forward transaction frame 10b and received by the control mechanism 3 or the input device 2, depending on the short address contained in the forward transaction frame.

[0059] The control mechanism 3 or input device 2 (whichever is applicable) responds to the reverse bridge 5 with a response frame 10c, including an acknowledgement of the request or other information. The reverse bridge then issues a command 20a to ultimately deliver the response value requested by the original query command 10a to the application controller 4 as part of the payload of the command 20a (e.g., DALI data transfer register 2 (DTR2)). As noted above, in communications, a frame may be formed from one or more commands (e.g., a combination of instructions to set the DTR0 register and use DTR0), and one or more frames may form a transaction, which, when transmitted over a wired bus, requires a dedicated timed scheme for transmitting its components.

[0060] Such a command 20a according to this embodiment can be implemented in various alternatives. The purpose of the command 20a is to efficiently deliver the answer value of the previous query command 10a from the application controller 4 just when the answer from the 104 side is available at the reverse bridge 5. Thus, the query command 10a can be a single query or a transaction containing multiple commands and queries specified in accordance with the DALI standard part 101. In the non-limiting specific embodiment detailed below, each transaction can address up to 7 queries by the commands prepared by the reverse bridge 5.

[0061] According to one particular option, a new command frame type may be specified and utilized. The new command frame type may include, for example, a 20-bit frame. The frame bits may be arranged as follows: SSSS XXXXXXXX YYYYYYYY. Using such a bit arrangement, up to 4 frames may be needed to provide all the response values ​​(information or confirmation). In the above bit arrangement, S represents a sequence number that is incremented for each transaction 10a, X represents a bit mask with a response flag (inside the first frame) or subsequent response values ​​2, 4, 6, and Y represents response values ​​1, 3, 5, 7.

[0062] According to a further specific option, DALI commands of an existing command set may be reused to deliver the reply value. Here, the 24-bit special commands DTR1:DTR0 or DTR2:DTR1 are preferred, since a payload of two bytes is possible with a single 24-bit command. The bit arrangement in the frame is then AAAAAAAA XXXXXXXX YYYYYYYY, again up to 4 frames are needed to provide all the acknowledgement values. In the above bit arrangement, A represents the address byte 0xC7 or 0xC9 for the commands DTR1:DTR0 and DTR2:DTR1 respectively, X represents the bit mask with the acknowledgement flag (inside the first frame) or the following acknowledgement values ​​2,4,6, and Y represents the acknowledgement values ​​1,3,5,7.

[0063] In such Figure 1 In the preferred implementation of the forward command 20a shown in , the bit mask with the flags is prepared as follows. As noted, up to 4 frames (described above as 20 or 24 bit frames) are required to provide up to 7 reply values. These 4 frames can be sent in one transaction by the reverse bridge 5 on the 101 part bus 6 to the application controller 4 to avoid interruption. Typically, the application controller 4 can only expect such frames from the reverse bridge. Here, it is expected that no other application controllers in the system will send forward frames.

[0064] In order to optimize the number of required commands, it is useful to provide only those values ​​of command queries 10a within the entire transaction of the relevant command queries 10a, which result in a reply value on the network 7 side running asynchronously on the 104th part. The bit mask (e.g., the X bit in the first frame) can effectively indicate which query command actually generated a reply. For example, in the first frame, the bit mask is set to: XXXXXXXX→CFFFFFFF, where C indicates whether any query in the query generates multiple replies on the 104th part side, and F indicates that the query bit mask has one bit for each of up to 7 queries in the entire transaction, indicating whether a reply was received from the 104th part side (e.g., =1) or no reply was received (e.g., =0). For example, starting from the least significant bit representing the first command query in the total transaction, non-query commands in the entire transaction are discarded in the bit representation.

[0065] Therefore, only the response values ​​of those query commands with "1" in the bit mask will be added as the Y bit and the subsequent X bit, thereby effectively avoiding the transmission of useless bits for queries that have not received a response. In addition, if multiple devices respond to the minimum query in the query, the C bit is set in the above bit mask. In this case, the query that generates multiple responses can provide a value of 0xFF indicating MASK.

[0066] Here are some examples:

[0067] (a) A transaction with 1 query command that creates a reply:

[0068] Query: 0x0190 →QUERY STATUS is sent to the control mechanism (3) short address 0

[0069] Response: DTR2:DTR1(0x01,0x04) → generates a valid reply with value 0x04 → (0xC90104).

[0070] (b) A transaction with 2 query commands and creating a reply after receiving the command:

[0071] Query: 0x0391 0x0103 0x0190 →QUERY CONTROL GEAR PRESENT (addr:1), STEPUP (addr:0), QUERY STATUS (addr:0)

[0072] Response: DTR2: DTR1 (0x02, 0x0B) → valid reply with value 0x0B (ie, the third command frame corresponds to the second query command).

[0073] (c) Transaction with 7 query commands, all answered:

[0074] Query: 0x01C5, 0x01C5, 0x01C5, ..., → READ MEMORY LOCATION (DTR1, DTR0) 7 times

[0075] Response: DTR2: DTR1 (0x7F, 0x01), DTR2: DTR1 (0x02, 0x03), DTR2: DTR1 (0x04, 0x05), DTR2: DTR1 (0x06, 0x07) → Generate 7 response values ​​(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

[0076] Figure 2 A second embodiment is shown. Figure 1 As depicted, the transaction begins with the application controller 4 sending a query command 10a to the reverse bridge 5. The query command may be a command instructing the control mechanism to modify the lighting conditions (eg, change the power supply) or a simple query to obtain status information or change a setting.

[0077] The reverse bridge 5 is configured to receive the query command 10a at its corresponding DALI part 101 interface via the wired network bus 6 based on DALI part 101, and transmit it via its corresponding other interface to the wireless asynchronously operated network 7 based on DALI part 104. The query command is thereby forwarded on the wireless network as a forward transaction frame 10b based on the encapsulation part 104 and received by the control mechanism 3 or the input device 2, depending on the short address contained in the forward query frame.

[0078] The control mechanism 3 or the input device 2 (whichever is applicable here) replies to the reverse bridge 5 with a reply frame 10c, including a confirmation of the request or other information. The reverse bridge 5 then stores the information in the memory 8 (MEM) and waits for another query command 30a from the application controller. If a query command is issued, the reverse bridge 5 reads the information (the reply value) from the memory 8 and includes it in the frame of the reply 30b and sends it to the application controller 4.

[0079] Figure 3 A third embodiment is shown in FIG. 4 . Here, the application controller 4 transmits a plurality of commands 40 a to set values ​​in the memory 8 (to the corresponding memory page; MEM), including debug information such as EUI64 (64-bit Extended Unique Identifier, representing a MAC address format for identifying network devices standardized by IEEE) and a debug secret PSKd of a Thread-based part 104 device (control mechanism 3 or input device 2). After completing the data transfer to the memory 8, the reverse bridge 5 uses the information then read out from the memory 8 to start the debug process of the device newly joined to the network.

[0080] The preferred implementation of the memory page in the memory 8 is as follows. The memory page contains information about the devices (control mechanism 2, input device 2) present on the side of the network 7 running asynchronously in part 104, and information about the secret reply that can be used to poll and join the device that will join the network (where the reverse bridge 5 acts as a Thread debugger). An example of a memory page is shown in Table 1.

[0081] Table 1:

[0082]

[0083] In more detail, the memory 8 holds a reply value that can be used for polling (as an alternative to the command 20a that sends a reply in the first embodiment). In addition, the short address of the application controller 2 indicates whether the application controller 2 expects to receive an indication of the reply value. 0xFF (MASK) disables notification. Alternative command formats can use short addressing to send information to the application controller 2.

[0084] Additionally, the EUI-64 and PSKd are joiner secrets specific to the Thread protocol (as an example of a Part 104 network technology). Once the last byte of PSKd is written, the reverse bridge 5 begins acting as a Thread debugger and adds the device (input device 2 or control mechanism 3) with the given EUI-64 (which corresponds to a MAC address as noted above) to the list of devices expected to be added to the network. Any success or failure can be observed by reading the status byte (address 0x36). The process starts when the J bit is set in the Run / Status byte, and terminates when the J bit is clear (when read). The E bit may indicate that an error has occurred.

[0085] The bit mask of addresses 0x24..0x2B and addresses 0x2C..0x34 indicates which short address is used on the asynchronously operating network 7 on the 104 side of the reverse bridge 5. The identification of the short address that has been used starts when the D bit is set in the operation / status byte and ends when the D bit is cleared (when reading). The reverse bridge 5 is configured to automatically assign short addresses to devices (control mechanisms 3 and / or input devices 2) on the 104 side (e.g. using an address search known from conventional DALI) when the A bit is set in the operation / status byte.

[0086] Figure 4A fourth embodiment is shown in FIG. Here, the DALI devices present in the network 7 operating asynchronously in part 104 are not simulated, but a real DALI-2 device (the "additional" control mechanism 3 b) is implemented on the wired network bus 6 side of part 101, and the reverse bridge 5 is configured to make one or more devices in the network operating asynchronously in part 104 "follow" this device. More specifically, the reverse bridge 5 is configured as follows:

[0087] - During installation, the settings (70) of the other control mechanism 3b arranged to communicate from the wired network bus 6 side are copied to the one control mechanism 3 arranged to communicate from the asynchronously operating network 7 side.

[0088] In addition, reverse bridge 5 can be configured as:

[0089] - receiving and selectively passing on commands (60a) issued by the application controller 2 to the address of the further control mechanism 3b, which is arranged to communicate from the wired network bus 6 side; and

[0090] - Forwarding the received and transmitted command ( 60 b ) to the address of the one control device 3 , which is arranged on the side of the asynchronously operated network 7 .

[0091] In addition, to process other commands and / or queries, the reverse bridge 5 is also configured to:

[0092] - filtering commands issued by the application controller 2 to the address of a third control mechanism arranged to communicate from the wired network bus 6 side and preventing the command from being passed to a control mechanism 3 arranged on the asynchronously operating network 7 side; and / or

[0093] - Filtering any query issued by the application controller 2 to the address of a control mechanism or control device, which is arranged to communicate from the side of the wired network bus 6, and preventing the command from being passed to a control mechanism 3 arranged to communicate on the side of the network 7 operating asynchronously.

[0094] List of Figure Numbers:

[0095] 1Lighting control system

[0096] 2 Input devices (e.g., sensors, switches)

[0097] 2a New input device (to be debugged)

[0098] 3 Control mechanism (e.g. LED driver)

[0099] 3a New control mechanism (to be commissioned)

[0100] 3b "Other" control mechanisms: connected within the wired bus network

[0101] 4 Application Controller

[0102] 5 Reverse Bridge

[0103] 6 synchronously running networks (wired network bus)

[0104] 7 Asynchronous operation of the network (for example, wireless networks (Thread) or Ethernet)

[0105] 8 Memory

[0106] 9 User Interface (Debugging App)

[0107] 10a Query Command

[0108] 10b forward transaction frame

[0109] 10c response frame

[0110] 20a command

[0111] 30a Second Command

[0112] 30b The reply provided in response to the query command 30a

[0113] 40a Debug Setting Command

[0114] 50 Messages between a bridge and a control mechanism or control device in an asynchronous network

[0115] 60a command (no query)

[0116] 60b forward frame follows command.

Claims

1. A lighting control system (1), comprising: at least one input device (2) configured to provide user-derived status and / or environment information to the lighting control system in response to a query command (10a); and / or at least one control mechanism (3) configured to provide power to one or more light sources and provide status information to the lighting control system in response to a query command (10a); an application controller (4) configured to receive the user-derived information and / or environmental information or status information, and configured to issue a query command (10a) in order to obtain the information or depending on the obtained information; and a reverse bridge (5) configured to communicate with the application controller (4) via a wired network bus (6) operating using a synchronous network protocol, and configured to communicate with the at least one input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3) via a network (7) operating using an asynchronous network protocol; The reverse bridge (5) is configured for bidirectional communication between the application controller (4) and the at least one input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3).

2. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 1, wherein: The reverse bridge (5) is configured to transmit at least one forward transaction frame (10b) associated with the query command (10a) received from the application controller (4) to the input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3), and in response to the at least one forward transaction frame (10b), issue a command (20a) associated with a corresponding response frame (10c) received from the input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3) to the application controller (4).

3. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 2, wherein: The reverse bridge is configured to issue a command (20a) formed as a forward frame and including a reply (11c) as part of the payload of the command (20a).

4. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 1, wherein: The reverse bridge (5) is configured to transmit a forward query frame (10b) associated with the query command (10a) received from the application controller (4) to the input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3), and to transmit a response (30b) associated with a corresponding response frame (10c) received from the input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3) to the application controller (4) in response to at least one forward transaction frame (10b).

5. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 4, wherein: The application controller (2) is configured to issue a second command (30a) after the first query command (10a) issued previously; and The reverse bridge (5) is configured to transmit the reply (30b) in response to the second command (30a) issued by the application controller (2).

6. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 5, wherein: The reverse bridge (5) comprises a memory (8), wherein the reply value from the reply frame (10c) is temporarily stored in the memory when received from the input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3); and The reverse bridge (5) is configured to read out a response (10c) from the memory (8) upon receiving the second command (30a) and to transmit the response value from the response frame (10c) as a response (30b) to the application controller (4).

7. The lighting control system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The reverse bridge (5) comprises a memory (8) and is configured to store debugging information of a new input device (2a) and / or a new control mechanism (3a) to be introduced into the lighting control system (1) in the memory (8); and The reverse bridge (5) is configured to initiate a commissioning process with the new input device (2a) and / or control mechanism (3a).

8. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 7, wherein: The application controller (4) is configured to issue at least one command (40a) via the wired network bus (6) using the synchronous network protocol, wherein the command (40a) contains the debugging information of the new input device (2) and / or the new control mechanism (3); and The reverse bridge (5) is configured to receive the command (40a) and store the debugging information in the memory (8); Wherein, preferably, the application controller (4) is configured to obtain the debugging information directly from a user interface (9) preferably executed on a mobile device via wireless data transmission.

9. A lighting control system (1), comprising: at least one control mechanism (3) configured to provide power to one or more light sources and provide status information to the lighting control system in response to a query command (10a); An application controller (4) configured to receive the state information and to issue a query command (10a); a reverse bridge (5) configured to communicate with the application controller (2) via a wired network bus (6) operating using a synchronous network protocol, and configured to communicate with the at least one control mechanism (3) via a network (7) operating using an asynchronous network protocol; In addition to a control mechanism (3) communicating with the reverse bridge on one side of the network (7) operating using an asynchronous network protocol, the lighting control system (1) includes a further control mechanism (3b) communicating from one side of the wired network bus (6) operating using a synchronous network protocol; Wherein, the reverse bridge (5) is configured as: - when installed, the settings of the further control means (3b) arranged to communicate from the wired network bus (6) side are copied to the one control means (3) arranged to communicate on the asynchronously operating network (7) side.

10. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 9, wherein: The reverse bridge (5) is also configured as: - receiving and selectively passing commands issued by the application controller (2) to the address of the further control mechanism (3b), the further control mechanism being arranged to communicate from the wired network bus (6) side; - forwarding the received and transmitted commands to the address of said one control mechanism (3), said one control mechanism being arranged to communicate on the side of said asynchronously operating network (7); Wherein, the reverse bridge (5) is preferably further configured as: - filtering a command issued by the application controller (2) to an address of a third control mechanism, the third control mechanism being arranged to communicate from the wired network bus (6) side, and preventing the command from being passed to the one control mechanism (3) arranged on the asynchronously operating network (7) side; and / or - filtering any query issued by the application controller (2) to the address of a control mechanism or control device, the control mechanism or the control device being arranged to communicate from the wired network bus (6) side, and preventing commands from being passed to the one control mechanism (3) arranged on the asynchronously operating network (7) side.

11. The lighting control system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein: The network (7) running using an asynchronous network protocol is a wireless network, wherein the network protocol on the transport layer is preferably Thread, Zigbee, Wifi or Bluetooth / BLE.

12. The lighting control system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein: The input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3) on one side and the application controller (4) on the other side are configured to communicate with each other via the reverse bridge (5) using the DALI protocol (IEC 62386), the wired network bus (6) running using the synchronous protocol is a DALI bus and each of the input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3), the application controller (4) and the reverse bridge (5) is provided with a corresponding DALI network interface.

13. The lighting control system (1) according to claim 12, wherein: The application controller (4) and the reverse bridge (5) are configured to communicate with each other using part 101 of the DALI protocol (IEC62386-101); and The input device (2) and / or the control mechanism (3) and the reverse bridge (5) communicate with each other using part 104 of the DALI protocol (IEC 62386-104).

Images