Geographic Smart Light Controller Automates Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manual configuration of smart lighting systems is costly, inefficient, and complex, requiring precise recording of each light's position and potential errors in the configuration database, which limits the flexibility and sophistication of lighting effects.
Innovation Solution
A geographic smart light controller system that automatically discovers the location and orientation of smart lights through video capture, allowing for the creation of a database that records geographic positions and orientations, enabling flexible lighting effects without pre-defined locations, and correcting for missing lights using autonomous vehicles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual configuration is used to record each light's position and address, then the smart lighting system can be controlled, but the installation becomes costly and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical configuration processes with automated optical detection. Cameras capture images of installed lights, and image processing algorithms automatically extract position and orientation data, substituting the manual recording process with an automated vision-based system that is both faster and more accurate.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service configuration where the smart lights automatically provide their own location and orientation information through their physical characteristics visible in camera images. The lights don't require manual configuration at all - the system autonomously discovers and records their positions and orientations from captured images.
2Ease of operation
If manual configuration database is created during installation, then each light can be individually controlled, but the complexity and difficulty of installation increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the complex manual database creation process with automated image processing. Instead of manually entering configuration data into a database, the system captures images of installed lights and automatically extracts all necessary configuration information (positions, orientations, identifiers) through computer vision algorithms, dramatically simplifying the installation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary automatic configuration capture during the installation phase itself. By capturing images and extracting configuration data at the moment of installation, the system eliminates the need for subsequent manual database creation and configuration tasks, resolving the complexity issue while maintaining full control capability.
3Ease of manufacture
If pre-defined locations are designated for lights during manual configuration, then the database can be created, but the possible lighting effects are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by not imposing pre-defined locations on lights, but rather allowing the lights to define their own positions and orientations based on their actual physical installation locations captured by the camera system. This inversion enables the system to adapt to any lighting configuration rather than forcing lights into predetermined slots, greatly enhancing versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from static pre-defined locations to dynamic, actual installation-based positioning. By capturing the real-world positions and orientations of lights during installation and using these actual coordinates for control, the system becomes adaptable to any lighting design scenario, enabling sophisticated lighting effects that reflect the true spatial arrangement of lights.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques relating to a geographic lighting controller. A controller determines a target lighting pattern based on an instruction for a smart lighting effect. The controller retrieves from a database, based on the target geographic location, information identifying a first plurality of smart lights to activate as part of the smart lighting effect. The controller determines a plurality of network addresses for the first plurality of smart lights, based on the retrieved information, generates a lighting effect command relating to the first plurality of smart lights, and transmits the lighting effect command to create the smart lighting effect.