Control system and method

Abstract

A control system and method for managing a plurality of lighting devices, such as wireless lighting devices is provided. The system and method exploit unique characteristics of the data being transported to overcome challenges of latency, scale, and decentralization. Mathematical models of data patterns in traditional control protocols are used to reduce the size and rate of packet transmissions over a single- or multi-hop wireless mesh network. Device information and data models may be distributed via a maintenance channel, yielding a decentralized control architecture. Embodiments of device information include without limitation inherent digital application data content, device metadata, and inferred location cues (RSSI, AoA).

Description

CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHODCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.63 / 605,569, filed December 3, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein.FIELD

[0002] The present patent document relates generally to entertainment lighting systems and more particularly to apparatus and methods for controlling devices used in entertainment lighting and atmospheric effect applications.BACKGROUND

[0003] Lighting systems used in entertainment lighting applications — such as stage shows, sport events, night clubs, theme parks, and the like — have become complex computer-controlled systems utilizing broad varieties of stationary and moving lighting and effects devices.

[0004] For example, multi-parameter light fixtures, which include light fixtures having individually remotely adjustable beam size, color, shape, angle, and other light characteristics, are widely used in the lighting industry because they facilitate significant reductions in overall lighting system size and permit dynamic changes to the final lighting effect. Applications and events in which multi-parameter light fixtures are used to great advantage include showrooms, television lighting, stage lighting, architectural lighting, live concerts, and theme parks.

[0005] In conventional lighting systems, control cables are provided between a central post controller, or one of possibly several subordinated controllers, and individually controlled devices, such as the multi-parameter light fixtures, dimmers, stepper motors, fog / smoke / snow generators, and the like. Installation of such control cables is a difficult, expensive, and time-consuming procedure. In addition, the control cables limit the applications and use of lighting devices due to the restrictions in the location and length of the cables. Furthermore, the cables contaminate an operating space of a show and may constitute a personnel and public safety hazard.

[0006] There are also several well-known lighting industry standard wired control protocols, such as DMX512, RDM, and ACN, that can be used to control lighting systems. While the DMX512 protocol has been updated several times since its adoption, the basic communications protocol remains the same. Basically, the DMX512 protocol consists of a stream of data which is communicated one-way from the control device to the light fixture or atmospheric effects device using an Electronics Industry Association (“EIA”) standard for multipoint communications known as RS-485.

[0007] FIG. 1 shows an illustrative system based on the DMX512 protocol. Power mains 12 provide AC power to a central controller 10 and light fixtures 20, 22, 24, 26, 32, 34 and 36 over standard building electrical wiring 14. Communications cable 16 is run from the central controller 10 to the first multi-parameter light fixture 20, and additional communication cable segments 21, 23, 25, 31, 33 and 35 sequentially connect the light fixtures 22, 24, 26, 32, 34 and 36. While only seven multi-parameter light fixtures are shown in FIG. 1 for clarity, typically multi-parameter lighting systems may have thirty ormore such light fixtures. Communication is in a single direction, as shown by arrows adjacent to the communications cable 16 and cable segments 21, 23, 25, 31, 33 and 35. From time to time, light fixtures must be placed in locations which are hard to reach or otherwise present difficulties during installation and cabling. A hard to reach or difficult area 30 containing light fixtures 32, 34 and 36 is included in FIG. 1.

[0008] As a result of these challenges, in more recent years, control systems have been developed for wireless transmitting DMX or other industry standard lighting control signals from a controller to a controlled device.However, control systems for wireless lighting applications, particularly those with dynamically changing parameters which must be enacted in a timely manner across a multitude of remote devices — such as a DMX universe or multiple DMX universes — face a number of challenges to meet increasing demands.

[0009] For example, as wireless networks grow in size — both in terms of number of devices and spatial size — there is a need for network systems that permit decentralization, e.g., that support multiple controllers in a network.

[0010] Similarly, latency issues have limited the size of potential networks both in terms of number of devices and their spatial separation from the wireless controller in order to ensure that devices provide the performance expectations required for the application. Thus, there is a need for a control system that has enhanced performance characteristics due to decreased latency between control inputs and synchronous device action.

[0011] Further, current technologies are limited in terms of their scale. Thus, there is a need for an improved control system that permits increased numbers of remote devices.

[0012] Examples of application domains where these challenges (decentralization, performance or latency, and scale) are especially prominent are stage and live- performance lighting applications. In these application domains timing of lighting changes is critical and the demand for larger numbers of lights with increased capabilities and commensurate increase in control data bandwidth requirements compounds the problems. Another example application domain where the above challenges are prevalent is architectural lighting. The proliferation of LED lighting and the fine-grained control opportunity created by that technology, in combination with the potential long-range physical distance between the system’s data transmitter and receiver, places increasing stress on the ability of wireless control systems to perform acceptably at scale.

[0013] The current state of the art in these applications is to deploy wired digital networks, using lighting-specific protocols such as DMX / RDM, DALI, ArtNET, etc. When wireless techniques are used, they are either direct adaptations of the lightingspecific wired protocols (e.g. wireless DMX) and / or application of general-purpose wireless protocol data-transport layers (e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) in which the lighting specific control protocol is transported. These wireless adaptations are not well suited to meeting the challenges outlined above when dealing with either a one-to-many or many- to-many (mesh) network topology. This has limited the application of wireless technology from being used in lighting applications that have to deal with the latency, scale and / or decentralization issues described above.

[0014] Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved method and system for controlling lighting and effects devices in entertainment lighting applications.SUMMARY

[0015] A control system and method for managing a plurality of lighting and / or effect devices, such as wireless lighting and effect devices is provided. The system and method exploit unique characteristics of the data being transported to overcome challenges of latency, scale, and decentralization. Mathematical models of data patterns in traditional control protocols are used to reduce the size and rate of packet transmissions over a single- or multi-hop wireless mesh network. Device information and data models may be distributed via a maintenance channel, yielding a decentralized control architecture. Embodiments of device information include without limitation inherent digital application data content, device metadata, and inferred location cues (RSSI, Ao A).

[0016] The systems and methods of the present patent document may be used for encoding, decoding, serializing, and packetizing data for efficient wireless transfer so as to overcome the above-mentioned challenges of scale, performance, and decentralization which are endemic in timing-critical lighting applications. The disclosed system and methods exploit the specific characteristics of lighting data to yield substantially improved performance over both general-purpose wireless transport protocols and wireless encapsulations of wire-protocols.

[0017] In some embodiments, lighting data is communicated to a plurality of devices using a channelized approach, for example 512 channels of 8-bit lighting data. A system isemployed whereby a transceiver module of a data sender or controller performs an analysis of a channel-block and successively applies a set of mathematical models to characterize, compress, and intelligently segment the data for transmission. The compression method employed is unique in its use of a set of operational codes or “opcodes” which are known to the sender and receiver transceiver modules and represent mathematical transforms characteristic of common lighting functions. Exemplary embodiments of those opcodes are additive and subtractive offsets, equivalency, linear scaling, and exponential scaling. As a part of packet encoding, these opcodes are applied selectively to portions of the channel-block based, for example, on an embedded channel bitmask, an in-stream packet length specifier, or other block delimiter.

[0018] Device information (e.g., metadata), link characteristics, and data characteristics of the application byte-stream itself are proactively communicated over the network, preferably wireless network. The system may use properties of the device metadata to determine routes for repeating communication on behalf of another device on the network, thereby enabling the decoupling of the initiating device from the intended recipient. The metadata is also used to provide low-latency responsiveness to interrogation by lighting controllers (e.g. RDM queries) while the link and data characteristics are used to propagate new data models across the network for subsequent use in real time lighting data transfers. The foregoing “maintenance” data may be transported concurrently with but independent from the “application” data. In other embodiments these independent data streams are carried over distinct wireless links which may be separated in the frequency or time domains. They may also utilizedifferent modulation schemes or protocols. Devices in the network may selectively propagate these respective data streams to neighboring devices in order to increase wireless range and minimize packet loss by determining the shortest or most reliable path to any device in the network.

[0019] In some embodiments, wireless location cues including, but not limited to, Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and Angle of Arrival (AoA) are used as inputs to the data model in combination with the binary data being transmitted. This may provide additional decentralization of control by allowing proximity- and / or locationbased modulation of the data.

[0020] Further aspects, objects, desirable features, and advantages of the various inventions that are the subject of the present disclosure will become manifest and be better understood from the following description considered in connection with accompanying drawings in which various embodiments of the disclosed inventions are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of any of the disclosed inventions.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a prior art lighting system.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a high-level schematic illustration depicting a control system for entertainment lighting applications in accordance with one embodiment of the present patent document.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a high-level schematic illustration depicting a control system for entertainment lighting applications in accordance with another embodiment of the present patent document.

[0024] FIG. 4 is an example of a data structure implementing a functional expression of a command according to an embodiment of the present patent document for effecting changes to non-sequential channels within a network.

[0025] FIG. 5 is another example of a data structure implementing a functional expression of a command according to an embodiment of the present patent document for effecting changes to sequential channels within a network.

[0026] FIGS. 6A-6E schematically illustrate how a compression protocol according to an embodiment of the present patent document may be used to send commands with less data than would otherwise be required by a standard industry control protocol.

[0027] FIG. 7 is another example of a data structure implementing a functional expression of an exemplary command according to an embodiment of the present patent document for effecting changes to sequential range of channels within a network.

[0028] FIG. 8 is still another example of a data structure implementing a functional expression of a command according to an embodiment of the present patent document for setting sequential channels within a network to a specified value.

[0029] FIG, 9 is yet another example of a data structure implementing a functional expression of an exemplary command according to an embodiment of the present patent document for increasing the value of certain channels specified by a bitmask by a specified value.

[0030] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements common to the figures.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] While it should be understood that the inventions described herein are described in connection with particular examples, the scope of the inventions are not limited to the specific examples. Rather, those skilled in the art will appreciate after reviewing the present disclosure that the following teachings can be used in a much wider variety of applications than the examples specifically mentioned herein.

[0032] Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals designate like or corresponding components throughout the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 2 a high- level, schematic diagram depicting a wireless control system for entertainment lighting applications in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] Embodiments of the present invention illustrated herein are generally directed to a wireless control system and a method for operating lighting and effects devices used in entertainment lighting applications. Such applications may include, but are not limited to, theater, concert, museum, motion picture, night clubs, television, sport event, public gathering, cruise ship, casino, amusement / theme park lighting applications, and the like. While the embodiments shown in the figures are wireless, the control protocol techniques and apparatus described herein may also be used in wired or combination wired and wireless networked systems in addition to wireless systems to achieve similar improvements in distribution, performance, and scale.

[0034] In the context of the present invention, the terms “controlled devices” and“devices” are used interchangeably in reference to stationary and moving luminaires, dimmers, stepper motors, fog / smoke / snow generators, and the like. Hereafter, similar apparatuses, devices and interfaces are identified using the same numeric references, except that suffixes may be added, when appropriate, to differentiate such apparatuses, devices, and interfaces.

[0035] FIG. 2 is a high-level, schematic diagram depicting a wireless control system 100 for entertainment lighting applications in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 generally comprises a lighting / show controller 120, a plurality of N controlled devices 122 where N is an integer and N ^1, and one or more optional remote controllers 130 (one optional controller 130 is shown). The system may also include an optional remote monitor (not shown) that may be part of an optional remote controller 130 or operatively connected thereto, lighting controller 120, and / or transceiver module 110.

[0036] The controller 120, may for example, be a specialized or general-purpose computer executing a predefined or interactive program for operating the controlled devices 122 during a lighting application. Such a program may be stored in an internal program memory 128 of the controller 120 or a remote computer (not shown) operatively coupled to the controller 120. Alternatively, such a program may be stored in the program memory 134 of remote controller 130, which may, for example, be operatively connected to the controller 120 over a wired connection. In other embodiments, remote controller 130 may be wirelessly connected to controller 120.

[0037] To operate devices 122, the controller 120 produces corresponding instructions(i.e., data and / or commands) in a format of one of several industry-standard control protocols. The devices 122 used in the lighting application with the controller 120 are compatible with at least one of such control protocols.

[0038] In one embodiment, the controller 120 and devices 122 use the DMX512 control protocol developed by the U.S. Institute for Theater Technology, Inc. (USITT) Engineering Commission and adopted by the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA). In other embodiments, the Remote Device Management (RDM) protocol may be used in addition to the DMX512 protocol or the Advanced Control Network (ACN) protocol may be used. Both of these protocols were developed by ESTA, and both of these protocols may also be used by the controller 120 and / or devices 122. The DMX protocol employs data packets that includes a plurality of independent data / command channels (e.g., 512 channels per DMX Universe), where each channel may correspond to a controlled parameter of one of the devices 122 (e.g., setting of a dimmer, position of a stepper motor, and the like). Further, in some embodiments, one or more channels may be assigned to the transceivers 110 to permit functional control expressions to be communicated from controller 120 to devices 122 as described in more detail below in order to improve overall network performance and reduce network latency.

[0039] Generally, each device 122 may have a plurality of controlled parameters and be operated using a corresponding number of the data / command channels in the control protocol. As a result, each device 122 comprises a known means for setting an address of the device (e.g., DMX512 address) such as a binary coded decimal (BCD) switch orprogramable interface for on-site setting an address of the device (e.g., DMX512 address). Each controller 120 and device 122 may also include an optional pass-through control protocol interface 124 having one or more connectors (not shown) for a wired communication link to controlled devices 122 without wireless capabilities.

[0040] In system 100, the controller 120 and each of the controlled devices 122 comprises a transceiver module 110. The transceiver modules 110 may be used in existing controllers and lighting / effects devices having wired control interfaces, as shown in FIG. 2. In the depicted embodiment, the transceiver modules 110 and components thereof of the controller 120 and devices 122 are identified using alphabetic (“C”) and numeric (1 through N) suffixes, respectively.

[0041] Together, the transceiver modules 110 facilitate a bidirectional wireless interface 150 (i.e., radio-frequency (RF) interface) between the controller 120 and one or more devices 122 within the RF range of the respective transceiver modules 110. In operation, the interface 150 propagates data and commands from the controller 120 to the devices 122, as well as propagates feedback / status data from the devices 122 to the controller 120. Further, in some embodiments, one device 122 may propagate data and commands from the controller 120 to another device 122 over a wireless interface 152.In such circumstances, feedback and status may be propagated back from one device (e.g., 122(N)) to another device (e.g., 122(1)) over wireless interface (e.g., 152(N)) and then back to controller over wireless interface 150 (e.g., 150(1)).

[0042] In one embodiment, each transceiver module 110 comprises a control protocol interface 116 for receiving data and / or command signals from control protocol interfacecommand signals may originate from host module 126(C) based on a program stored in program memory 128. Alternatively, data and / or command signals may originate from optional remote controller 130 via a wired communication link between control protocol interface 132 of remote controller 130 and control protocol interface 124(C) of controller 120. In this case, such data and / or command signals may be stored in program memory 134 of remote controller 130.

[0043] Transceiver modules 110 may further comprise a compression protocol module 112 and a transceiver 114 having a transmitting / receiving antenna 118. Communications between the host module 126 and the transceiver module 110 are performed using an industry-standard control protocol supported by the respective host apparatus (e.g., DMX512 control protocol).

[0044] In the depicted embodiment, the transceiver module 110 is a modular unit that may be incorporated in the controller 120 and devices 122 in a form of electronic hardware, e.g., printed circuit board (PCB), plug-in module, and the like. In an alternate embodiment, at least a portion of the transceiver module 110 may be in the form of software, executed by one or more processors (not shown) of the host module 126 of controller 120 and devices 122. In yet another embodiment, the transceiver 110 or a portion thereof may be an integral part of a host apparatus (i.e., controller 110 or device 122).

[0045] The controller 120, inputs the transceiver module 110 with data and commands directed to the devices 122 via wired control protocol interfaces 124(C),116(C). Similarly, outputs from the transceiver module 110 feedback / status data received, via the wireless interface 150, from one or more devices 122 are provided to the host module 126 of controller 120 via wired control protocol interfaces 116(C), 124(C). Correspondingly, in the devices 122, the data and commands received, via the wireless interface 150 or 152, by the transceiver module 110 from the controller 120 are outputted by means of the wired control protocol interfaces (e.g., 116(N), 124(N)), which are also used for inputting the transceiver with the feedback / status data requested by the controller 120 from a device host module, such as host module 126(N) from device 122(N).

[0046] The compression protocol module 112, among other things, may be configured to convert the industry-standard control protocol of the inputted data and commands to a format of a transmission protocol compatible with the wireless broadcasting technology utilized in the transceiver module 110. Accordingly, the compression protocol module 112 is also configured to convert data and / or commands received, via the wireless interface 150, by the transceiver module 110 of a device 122 to a format of an industrystandard control protocol (e.g., DMX512 protocol) used by the host module 126 of the host apparatus of the transceiver module 110.

[0047] The transceivers 114 use wireless broadcasting technology (i.e., RF technology) to establish the bidirectional wireless interfaces 150, 152 between the controller 120 and one or more devices 122 and between two or more devices 122. In operation, transceiver 114 broadcasts the data and commands converted using compression protocol module112, as well as forwards to the compression protocol module 112 the received data and commands.

[0048] In one embodiment, transceiver 114 operates at one of a plurality of radio channels (e.g., 32 or more channels) at about 2.4 GHz using the Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) or Spread Spectrum Frequency Channel Hopping Radio (SSFCHR) technology. In another embodiment, FHSS is also known as Frequency Hopping Code Division Multiple Access (FH-CDMA). In lighting applications, the SSFCHR technology provides high electromagnetic immunity (EMI), high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), and high reliability of the wireless interfaces 150, 152. Alternatively, other wireless technologies can be used such as IEEE 802.11 Ethernet Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). DSSS is also known as Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA). Preferably the transceivers 114 and their corresponding antenna(s) 118 are capable of transmitting and receiving on any standard 802.15.4 channel, in both the 2.4 GHz and sub-GHz spectrum. This will allow for enhanced network performance in congested environments. Additionally, this will provide a more robust network by allowing devices 122 to repeat on either spectrum, creating a fallback option for the network in case of congestion. Preferably the transceiver module and its one or more transceivers 114 included in transceiver module 110 also have Bluetooth capability, and more preferably Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) capabilities. This will allow devices 120, 122 to be configured over BLE using settings discovered from the fixture menu. Further, auxiliary functions may be provided via BLE, such as the ability to set individual DMXchannels of devices 122 and / or transceiver modules 110 without the overhead incurred from an RDM “write and response” message.

[0049] The compression protocol module 112 is generally an electronic circuit (e.g., integrated electronic circuit, or IC), a set of programming instructions, or a combination thereof administering operation of the transceiver module 110 in its corresponding transceiver(s) 114. Among other functions, the compression protocol module 112 may select radio channels used by the transceiver 114, provide the transceiver's status and diagnostic information, and the like. As described in connection with FIGs. 4-9, the compression protocol module also enables the use unique functional expressions or data structures to reduce network traffic and more quickly transmit time sensitive operations, thereby enhancing the performance and reducing the latency of the network.

[0050] Remote controller 130 may be a lighting / show controller that, in operation, can substitute and / or override the controller 120. Generally, the remote controller 130 is a portable or handheld computer adapted for in-situ operation by service personnel installing and / or operating the devices 122.

[0051] In one embodiment, the remote controller 130 uses the DMX512, RDM, or ACN protocol and is coupled to the transceiver module 110(C) using a wired interface established between control protocol interfaces 124, 132. In an alternate embodiment (not shown), the remote controller 130 may also be coupled to the transceiver modules 110 of the devices 122, e.g., to perform on-site testing of the devices.

[0052] A monitor may be included in remote controller 130 or separately provided in a portable or handheld computer also operated by the service personnel and operativelycoupled to the transceiver module 110(C) of the controller 120. The monitor and transceiver module 110(C) may, for example, be coupled using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable. In operation, the monitor may be used to analyze, in real time, communication links between the controllers 120 or 130 and devices 122, as well as program and / or configure the controllers and respective transceivers (e.g., assign / modify operating instructions, device addresses, radio channels, channel power, and the like).

[0053] Preferably the monitor includes a display presenting, in a visual format, the status of the different wireless communication links 150, 152 within the network.

[0054] The transceiver module 110, may for example, be fabricated on a multi-layer PCB and provided with a plug-in connector facilitating connectivity with the controllers 120 and devices 122 designed for using the DMX512 or other control protocols.

[0055] FIG. 3 is a high-level schematic diagram depicting a wireless control system 200 for entertainment lighting applications in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The system 200 generally comprises a lighting / show controller 220, a plurality of the N controlled devices 222, and a plurality of the (N+l) transceiver modules 110. The system may also include an optional remote monitor (not shown) that may be part of an optional remote controller 130 or operatively connected thereto, lighting controller 120, and / or transceiver module 110.

[0056] In this embodiment, the transceiver module 110 is generally a stand-alone apparatus (e.g., PCB and / or IC) having a protective enclosure and a means of connectivity to the controller 220 and devices 222. In the depicted embodiment, such connectivity is provided using a cableless coupling 202 (e.g., connector-to-connector coupling).

[0057] Coupling 202 may be adapted for transmitting data and commands in a format of the industry-standard control protocol (e.g., DMX512 protocol) used by the controller 220 and devices 222. In an alternate embodiment (not shown), coupling 202 may be replaced with a short cable (not shown) connecting the transceiver module 110 to the controller 220 or device 222.

[0058] FIGs. 4 and 5 provide exemplary data structures 400, 500 for implementing a functional expression of a compression protocol by compression protocol modules 112 according to embodiments of the present patent document. FIG. 4 provides an example of a data structure 400 that may be used for more efficiently communicating changes to non-sequential channels within a network. The data structure 400 includes a l-byte opcode for instructing the function to apply. A l-byte “data” byte instructing the data to be used in the functional expression. A byte for instructing the receiving devices the beginning channel in the data array at which the changes are to begin being applied. And finally, an instream bitmask to inform the receiving device whether a byte corresponding to a channel at the specified offset plus bit index should apply the specified function.

[0059] FIG. 5 provides an example of a data structure 500 that may be used for more efficiently communicating changes to sequential channels within a network. The data structure 500 includes a l-byte opcode for instructing the function to apply. A l-byte “data” byte instructing the data to be used in the functional expression. A byte for instructing the receiving devices the beginning channel in the data array at which the changes are to begin being applied. And finally, a byte specifying the number of sequential bytes (or channels) to which to apply the specified function.

[0060] Based on the disclosure herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that different data structures may be employed. For example, in other embodiments different orders of one or more of the opcode, data, offset, length, and bitmask data fields may be altered within the data structures.

[0061] FIGS. 6A-6E illustrate how a compression protocol according to an embodiment of the present patent document may be used to communicate a channelblock or a portion of a channel-block of DMX512 data more efficiently and have devices 122, 222 with the network act on the compressed functional expressions of the instant patent document.

[0062] FIG. 6A illustrates a series of operation codes in table 602. The operation codes or opcode table 602 in FIG. 6A may be stored in memory 113 of transceiver modules 110 so that transceiver modules 110 of the controller 110, 210 and the receiving devices 122, 222 know the available functions to apply and may use those operations code in compressing and decompressing data. Table 602 provides exemplary opcodes in hexadecimal format, however, for clarity, such codes would be communicated in binary format over the wireless links 150, 152. The compression method of the present patent document uses a a set of operational codes or “opcodes” such as illustrated in table 602, which are known to the sender and receiver transceiver modules 110 and represent mathematical transforms characteristic of common lighting functions. In table 602 the opcode OxFA corresponds to the add function and the opcode OxFB corresponds to the subtract function. As will be observed more clearly below, these functions add and subtract a defined offset to existing values in specified data channels. Table 602 alsoindicates that the opcode OxFC may be used to represent the function of equals or equivalency. This function may be used to set the existing data values of specified channels to a defined value. In other embodiments, opcodes for linear scaling and / or exponential scaling could also be defined as well as other opcodes.

[0063] The opcodes included in table 602 are stored in memory 113. As a part of packet encoding process, the opcodes stored in memory 113 in table 602 are applied selectively to portions of the DMX channel-block to be encoded based on a byte-level analysis of changes amongst the entire data array of the control protocol in order to select the most succinct function(s) to describe the set of changes from frame to frame included in the control protocol program stored in memory 128 or to be provided by remote controller 130. The analysis of the control program (or application data), such as DMX program data, to determine the appropriate opcodes to apply to the different portions of the channel code may be carried out using host module 126 and / or compression protocol module 112 of controller 120.

[0064] FIG. 6B is a schematic providing an illustrative DMX channel data stream map 604 to two light fixtures 606, 608. As illustrated, each of light fixtures 606 and 608 have six channels. In the present embodiment, the six channels of the light fixture 606 are mapped to the first six channels (i.e., channels 1-6) of the DMX data stream 605 by setting the first channel of light fixture 606 to channel 1. Similarly, the first six channels of the second light fixture 608 are mapped to second set of six channels (i.e., channels 7-12) of the DMX data stream 605 by setting the first channel of light fixture 608 to channel 7. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, light fixtures 606, 608 could bemapped to the same six channels. Alternatively, they could also be mapped to other channels in the DMX data stream or channel-block.

[0065] FIGS. 6C-6E collectively illustrate how a compression protocol according to an embodiment of the present patent document may be used to effect changes in devices 122 (e.g., fixtures 606, 608) using less data than would be required if a frame of DMX data had to be broadcast to effect the change. More particularly, FIG. 6C schematically illustrates the state diagram of each channel of the six channel light fixtures 606, 608 in their current state 610. FIG.6D schematically illustrates command 402 being issued 620.Command 402 is a functional expression and is transmitted from a controller 120 to a device 122 over a data link 150 or data links 150, 152. The functional command 402 has the data structure 400 shown in FIG. 4. Finally, FIG. 6E schematically illustrates the state diagram of each six channels of light fixtures 606, 608 in state 630 following the execution of the command 402 by the host modules 126 of fixtures 606, 608.

[0066] To execute the command 402, it can be decoded into relevant DMX data at compression protocol module 112 of transceiver 112 of the devices 606, 608, respectively, and then the corresponding DMX data sent to the host processor module 126 via control protocol interfaces 116, 124. Alternatively, command 402 can be directly sent to host module 126 after it is received by transceiver 114 and decapsulated by the transceiver module.

[0067] As seen in FIG. 6E in state 630 following execution of command 402, the original tilt position of each fixture 606, 608 is increased by a value of 45. As a result, the tilt value of fixture 606 is increased from a value of 11 to 56 through command 402, andthe tilt of fixture 608 is increased from a value of 22 to 67. This is accomplished by transmitting a command 402 comprising an “add” opcode OxFA in the opcode or function byte, the data byte is set to the value 45, the offset byte is set to a value of 0x00 or 0, and then a bit mask is transmitted in the command 402 informing the system to change the tilt channels of the fixtures 606, 608, and possibly other light fixtures by adding a value of 45 to the current value.

[0068] FIG, 9 illustrates a command 900 having a data structure 400 as shown in FIG. 4. Command 900 adds (function code OxFA) a value of 59 (0x3B) to the current value of bytes at channel or position 3, 4, 7, .... as reflected by the bit mask and value of the offset being set at 0x00.

[0069] FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a DMX data stream 700 comprising a command 702 having a data structure according to another embodiment of the present invention. The command 702 is provided midstream in the DMX data stream 700 at bytes or channels 5,6, and 7. According to the command a value of 3 (see 0x03 in channel 7) is subtracted (see opcode OxFB in channel 5) from the nextl5 bytes or channels (see OxOA in channel 6). Thus, the instream command 702 may be used to effect changes to a sequential range of channels within a network, such as systems 100 or 200, more quickly and with less data than required by the full DMX data stream. Further, additional instream commands according to the present invention may be provided at other locations with the DMX data stream. When using instream commands according to the present invention to compress a lighting control protocol data stream, the channels at which the command 70 will appear must be propagated through the network tocompression protocol modules 112 so that they will know what channels correspond to a command 702 and can properly decode the command 702.

[0070] FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a command 800 having a data structure like data structure 500 of FIG. 5 in order to effect changes to a sequential range of channels within a network, such as systems 100 or 200. Specifically, the command 800 of FIG. 8 sets the data values in 127 channels or bytes (OxlF) equal to (opcode OxFC) the value of 31 (Ox IF) starting at channel number or byte 8 (offset equals 0x08).

[0071] The command instructions and their corresponding data structures may be used in wired, wireless, and mixed lighting networks. They can also be used in uni- and bi-directional communications within the network.

[0072] The host module 126 of controller 120 or, alternatively, the compression protocol module 112 may be configured to compare byte-level changes amongst the entire data array of the lighting control program stored in program memory 128 in order to select the most succinct way to describe the set of changes using the data structures described herein, e.g. a data structure comprising an opcode, data value, offset, and for example, an embedded channel bitmask, an in-stream packet length specifier, or other block delimiter.

[0073] A variety of comparison technique may be employed, including, but not limited to, mid-stream RLE-type compression.

[0074] Host modules 126 of receiving devises 122 will use function codes and other data provided in command instructions included in the data stream to apply functional changes to the current state of specified channels in network 100, 200.

[0075] The data structures of the commands of the present invention exploit knowledge of common lighting control change types and device configurations to optimize network latency and scalability. For example, a fader has been mapped to the brightness (‘R’, ‘G’, and ‘B’ channels) of several 3-color lights and will scale each channel linearly from 0% to 100%. Thus, a sequential change message can be sent to describe the update, as multiple adjacent bytes will be equally affected by the change. Similarly, a scene change will set all moving-head fixtures’ ‘pan’ channel equal to 50% (center). Further, it is likely that a non-sequential change message can be sent to describe the update, as moving-head fixtures typically use adjacent channels for other features (color, tilt, width, etc.).

[0076] The protocol described herein may also make use of segmentation and reassembly of messages to meet size requirements when encapsulated within a transport protocol (e.g. OpenThread, BLE, etc.).

[0077] In bidirectional networks such as RDM, additional work may be done to discover the initial state of the network (such as current values of channels, device addresses, and device capabilities). Host devices may be configured to proactively discover relevant information about the network so as to be able to promptly respond to requests.

[0078] In wireless settings, when using protocols with strict wired timing requirements, the controller 120 may make use of deferred acknowledgments or optimistic responses while querying for certain states of the devices 122 on the network.

[0079] Mid-stream change messages may be combined with subsets of other (e.g.RDM-specific) protocols to similarly describe like-kind changes across addressed features and devices.

[0080] In certain wireless networks where the signal strength between two devices poses an issue for reliable reception of data, devices 122 may act as ‘repeaters’ for messages (queries, commands, or responses) on behalf of other devices 120, 122. Alongside normal mesh network management communications, relevant neighboring device information is proactively distributed and cached in memory 128 to populate the network state and capabilities.

[0081] In traditional lighting protocol implementations (specifically DMX), the host module 126 of controller 120 usually has no concept of what parameters each byte in the stream map to on the receiving devices. In some embodiments of the present invention, certain characteristics of devices 122 may be mapped to predefined channels, or alternatively, users may be permitted to define which characteristics may be mapped to any byte of the data stream. In this manner, changes to these bytes may then be processed by priority, ensuring the most important changes be sent via the wired or wireless interface before processing changes to the lower-priority bytes. For example, ‘Strobe rate’ may be a channel type that deserves higher priority to guarantee multiple lighting fixtures are visibly in sync when strobing at high rates, so the host module 126 of controller 120 may be programmed to check and process changes to all ‘strobe rate’ -type bytes (e.g., byte number 8, 14, 34, etc.) before checking and processing other bytes’ changes sequentially (from byte number 1).

[0082] While various embodiments of a control system and its respective components have been presented in the foregoing disclosure, numerous modifications, alterations, alternate embodiments, and alternate materials may be contemplated by those skilled in the art and may be utilized in accomplishing the various aspects of the described inventions. For example, while the embodiments illustrated in FIGs 1 and 2 rely on wireless data links between the controller and controlled devices, in other embodiments, the wired links may be used but the data compression techniques described herein may still be employed to reduce network latency and improve network performance. Thus, it is to be clearly understood that the present description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of any of the inventions that may be claimed in the claims that follow.

Claims

CLAIMSWe claim:

1. A wireless control system for entertainment lighting applications, comprising: a controller configured to execute a predefined or interactive program for operating a plurality of lighting and / or effects devices; a plurality of controlled devices, each having at least one adjustable parameter; a plurality of transceiver modules, wherein one of the plurality of transceiver modules is operatively connected to the controller and wherein each of the controlled devices is operatively connected to one of the plurality of transceiver modules, each transceiver module including: a control protocol interface for receiving and transmitting control data; a compression protocol module for encoding and decoding the control data; a memory storing predefined operation codes and corresponding mathematical transforms; a transceiver for wireless bidirectional communication; wherein the compression protocol module of the transceiver module operatively connected to the controller is configured to: analyze the control data for patterns in channel-blocks; apply mathematical transforms, represented by the predefined operation codes, to compress the data; transmit the compressed data over a wireless network; and wherein the compression protocol module of each transceiver module operatively connected to one of the plurality of controlled devices is configured to decode the compressed data at the receiving transceiver module to reconstruct the control data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver modules operate using a frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) communication protocol to enhance electromagnetic immunity and signal reliability.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mathematical transforms include at least two selected from the group consisting of: an additive offset, a subtractive offset, an equivalency, a linear scaling, and exponential scaling.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver modules are configured to utilize separate wireless channels for transmitting control data and maintenance data concurrently.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the compression protocol module enables mid-stream changes to specific channels using embedded bitmask data structures.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a remote controller wirelessly connected to the transceiver module of the controller, the remote controller configured to override or supplement the controller’s commands.

7. A method for controlling a plurality of lighting devices in an entertainment lighting system, the method comprising: encoding lighting control data using a compression protocol module of a controller by: identifying patterns and redundancies in a channel-block of control data; applying a set of mathematical transforms, represented by predefined operation codes, to compress the control data; and transmitting the compressed control data over a wireless network.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of decoding the compressed control data at a receiving transceiver module by: interpreting the operation codes to reconstruct the original lighting control data; transmitting the reconstructed control data to the corresponding lighting devices; adjusting the lighting parameters of the devices based on the reconstructed control data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising using device metadata, including location cues such as Received Signal Strength Indication (RS SI) and Angle of Arrival (AoA), to dynamically adjust the lighting control data.

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