Away-From-Home Lighting Alerts Based on Light Activation Cause
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lighting systems fail to provide user-friendly energy savings by indiscriminately turning off lights or notifying users, leading to user dissatisfaction and negating potential energy savings, especially when lights are turned on for valid reasons such as motion sensors or safety features.
Innovation Solution
A system that determines the cause of a light being on while a user is away and decides whether to notify the user based on that cause, allowing for personalized energy-saving actions, including immediate notifications, reports, or automatic adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the system turns off lights automatically when user is away, then energy consumption is reduced, but user convenience deteriorates when lights are needed for safety or motion detection
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the control logic by distinguishing between different light sources and their activation causes. It separates lights that should be automatically controlled (e.g., ambient lighting) from those that should remain on (e.g., security lights triggered by motion sensors or doorbells), allowing selective energy savings without compromising safety or convenience
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts its behavior based on real-time conditions. It monitors user presence, light activation causes, and contextual information to adaptively decide whether to turn off lights or notify the user, rather than applying a static automatic off rule to all lights
2Loss of energy
If the system notifies users that lights are on while away, then energy savings opportunity is identified, but user satisfaction deteriorates due to false alarms for legitimately needed lights
Solution Approach 1:
The notification system segments alerts by cause of light activation. It distinguishes between notifications for lights that should be off (e.g., manually switched on and forgotten) versus lights that should remain on (e.g., security features, motion-activated lights), sending notifications only for the former category to avoid false alarms
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides intelligent feedback by analyzing the cause of light activation before notifying the user. It uses feedback from sensors, doorbell signals, and motion detection to determine whether a notification is appropriate, reducing unnecessary alerts while maintaining energy savings opportunities
3Loss of energy
If the system turns off lights for energy saving, then energy consumption is reduced, but reliability deteriorates when lights are needed for security or safety features
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments light control by function and activation cause. It identifies lights activated by security-related triggers (motion sensors, smart doorbells, presence mimicking) and excludes them from automatic shutoff, while applying energy-saving measures to non-critical lights, thus maintaining security reliability while reducing energy consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables security and safety lights to self-regulate based on their activation causes. Lights triggered by security features automatically maintain their on-state without user intervention, while the system independently manages energy consumption for non-security lights, ensuring security functionality remains reliable
Data Source
AI summary
A method comprises receiving (101) user information, determining (103) that a user is away from home based on the user information, and receiving (105) light information from a lighting system which comprises a light source. The light information is indicative of the state of the light source. The method further comprises determining (107), based on the light information, that the light source is on while the user is away from home, determining (109) what caused the light source to be turned on if it has been determined that the light source is on while the user is away from home and deciding (111) whether or not to notify the user in dependence on the cause after the cause has been determined. After the decision has been made, the notification is transmitted (113) to a user device of the user in dependence on the decision.