Networked Lighting Control Event Prioritization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern networked lighting systems face unpredictability and inefficiency due to command loss or delay caused by network overload, leading to suboptimal user experiences.
Innovation Solution
A method that determines the capacity of the networked lighting system and selects scenarios to execute lighting control commands, including dismissing certain events to prevent overload, sending approximate light effects, or prioritizing critical commands based on event type and system capacity, implemented as an API or hardware component.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If lighting control commands are sent over a networked lighting system, then the lighting system can be controlled remotely with color and intensity variations, but command loss or delay occurs due to network overload
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines the event type of incoming events before processing them, classifying events into different categories (e.g., user-initiated vs. system-generated). This preliminary classification allows the system to prioritize critical lighting commands and dismiss less important ones during network overload, ensuring reliable delivery of essential commands while maintaining system adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different handling strategies to different event types based on their local characteristics. Critical events (e.g., user-initiated lighting changes) are prioritized for network transmission, while non-critical events (e.g., system-generated status updates) are dismissed or approximated. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction by ensuring reliable delivery of important commands while reducing overall network load.
2Manufacturing precision
If all lighting control commands are transmitted to the networked lighting system, then complete light effect rendering is achieved, but network overload occurs causing command loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system discards certain events based on their type and the current network capacity. Non-critical events are dismissed to prevent network overload, while critical events are preserved and transmitted. This selective discarding maintains light effect rendering accuracy for important commands while preserving system processing capacity by reducing the total number of commands transmitted.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of transmitting all possible lighting commands, the system transmits only the necessary subset of commands based on event type classification. This partial action approach ensures that critical light effects are rendered with high accuracy while avoiding network overload, effectively balancing rendering precision with system productivity.
3Ease of operation
If the networked lighting system processes all incoming commands, then complete light effect control is achieved, but unpredictability increases due to buffer overflows
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary event type determination before commands are queued for transmission. By classifying events upfront, the system can predict which commands are critical and which can be dismissed, creating a stable and predictable processing pipeline that prevents buffer overflows while maintaining complete control over important light effects.
Solution Approach 2:
Different stability strategies are applied to different event types. Critical events are handled with high-priority processing to ensure predictable delivery, while non-critical events are handled with lower priority or dismissed during overload conditions. This local quality approach maintains system operation predictability while preserving ease of operation for critical lighting controls.
Data Source
AI summary
A light effect control method, computer program product and device are presented which allow an application to render a light effect by a networked lighting system based on the method, computer program product or device receiving an event being from the application. To provide a better user experience, light effects related to certain events need to be rendered even if a delay in rendering is expected whereas light effects related to other events need to be rendered without delay or else not rendered at all. As such, a decision is made to execute a first or a second scenario based on the event type of the event received and/or the capacity of the networked lighting system, wherein in the first scenario the lighting control command is always sent to the networked lighting system and in the second scenario the lighting control command is only sent to the networked lighting system if no unacceptable delay in rendering the light effect is expected.