WO2007110791A1

WO2007110791A1 - Target atmosphere technique for easy light management systems and atmosphere localisation / rfid-assisted sensor network

Info

Publication number: WO2007110791A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/050867
Authority: WO
Inventors: Volkmar Schulz; Wolfgang Otto Budde
Original assignee: Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2006-03-24
Filing date: 2007-03-14
Publication date: 2007-10-04

Abstract

A method and a system for programming and/or controlling a lighting system, which advantageously allows an easy and efficient programming comprising a mobile positioning unit (4), which is placed within a monitoring area of a position detector (2), the position detector (2) detects the position of the positioning unit (4), one or more lamps (3), which illuminate an area located in predefined relation to the position of the positioning unit (4) are determined and a corresponding set of data is generated, which contains reference information to the determined lamps (3).

Description

Target atmosphere technique for easy light management systems and atmosphere localisation / RFID-assisted sensor network

The invention relates to a system for programming and/or controlling a lighting system and a method therefor.

Lighting systems with controllable lighting units, which are controllable by a central control unit are being used today for office and commercial applications and will rise in significance in the near future. A problem that emerges with this development is the fact that in addition to the installation of the respective lighting units, the lighting system has to be programmed. Depending on the number of installed lighting units in the lighting system, programming can be very time-consuming and costly.

A first approach to solve this problem is disclosed in US 2002/0015097

Al. The document discloses a lighting control device, which is able to automatically control a lighting system in a room in dependence on environmental conditions, i.e. sunlight, presence of human beings and additional light sources. The lighting control device contains a sensor which is capable of producing an electronic image of the room. In dependence on the electronic image of the room, control means are able to control the lighting system in response to the measured radiation values, taken from the electronic image, to a predefined brightness distribution.

Although this lighting control device enables an automatic control, is not possible to set up user specific lighting scenarios or to allow user interaction within an existing lighting scenario. Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide a system for programming and/or controlling a lighting system, which enables the user to easily set up and control a custom lighting scenario. The object is solved according to the invention by a system for programming and/or controlling a lighting system according to claim 1 and a method for programming and/or controlling a lighting system according to claim 6. Dependent claims relate to preferred embodiments of the invention. The invention allows an easy programming of lighting systems. Especially, it is advantageously possible to set a local atmosphere in a lighting scenario, in order to identify specific areas in a room, for example entrance areas, special offers in a department store, emergency exits or the like. Here, a local atmosphere is understood to mean a set of lighting parameters for a defined position in the lighting scenario, which might include for example colour or brightness settings. The system for programming further allows to easily change existing lighting scenarios or to set different scenarios, for example a daylight and an evening setting. It is further possible to dynamically adapt a lighting scenario in dependence of non- system light sources, for example daylight, or - where needed - to trace a moving object or a person and to dynamically adapt the light- ing scenario hereto.

The system for programming and/or controlling a lighting system comprises one or more controllable lighting units. The lighting units may be of any suitable type, for example commercially available halogen, CDM, HID, SSL, UHP or LED lighting units. At least one parameter of each lighting unit is controllable. Most simple, this may be the on/off state of the respective lighting unit. Preferably, the lighting units are also controllable in terms of the brightness of the emitted light, i.e. dimmable. Most preferably, the lighting units or groups of lighting units generate light in multiple colours, whereby also the colour of the emitted light is controllable. For example, an array of coloured high-power LEDs may be used here. To control each parameter of the respective lighting units, the lighting units are connected to controlling means. The term "connected" is in the context of the present invention understood to include all suitable kinds of control connections, either wireless or wired, which allows to set the controllable parameters of the respective lighting unit. The control connection may be formed for example by a simple controllable relay. Preferably, an electrical control connection is used, for example a wired DMX (USITT DMX512, USITT DMX512/1990) connection or a LAN connection. Most preferably, a wireless control connection is used, which advantageously reduces the installation time. The wireless control connection may be established for example using ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4), WLAN (IEEE 802.11 big), Bluetooth or RFID technology, which are commercially available. The controlling means control the adjustable parameters of the respective lighting units, which may be the on/off state, brightness or colour. The controlling means may be any type of suitable electrical or electronic circuitry. For example, the controlling means may be logic circuitry, a microprocessor unit or a computer.

To program and/or to dynamically control a lighting scenario, the system comprises at least one mobile positioning unit, wherein the term "mobile" is understood to include such units, which are easily transportable by hand, i.e. having an adequate size and weight. Preferably, the positioning unit is wireless. The positioning unit is placed by the user/programmer to a desired position in a room, where a specific local atmosphere shall be applied, for example a spot light or a colour effect. The position is then detected. To detect the position of the positioning unit, the system further comprises position detector means, connected to the controlling means by a suitable connection, as mentioned before. The position detector means detect the presence and the position of the mobile positioning unit, placed within a monitoring area of the position detector means using a suitable sensor. Depending on the room size where such a program- ming system is applied, the position detector means preferably comprises more than one sensor to obtain an overall large monitoring area.

Once the position of the positioning unit is detected, this information is used by the controlling means to determine one or more lighting units, which are able to illuminate an area located in predetermined relation to the position of the positioning unit, so that a corresponding set of data is generated, which contains reference information to the determined lighting units. Using this set of data, the desired lighting effect at that specific position can be applied or the data can be stored for further use.

In a preferred embodiment, one or more lighting units are determined, which illuminate the position of the positioning unit. This embodiment enables a very efficient and easy way for programming a local scenario, as for example a spot light. If a more complex scenario is to be programmed, it is also possible to define a specific relation between the area, which is to be illuminated and the position of the positioning unit. Here, the position of the positioning unit may be not or only partly illuminated by the determined lighting units. The area located in predetermined relation to the position of the positioning unit may be of any geometric shape. For example, an annulus area, surrounding the position of the positioning unit. In the case that more than one positioning units are used, the area may also be defined by the positioning units, for example, a stripe-like area, where two positioning units define the end-points or a triangular area, defined by three positioning units. Preferably, the corresponding set of data contains mapping information of the determined lighting units respective to the detected position of the positioning unit. Using such mapping information, it is easily possible to store the desired local lighting effect (i.e. brightness and/or colour settings) in a database, which may also comprise the data for multiple lighting scenarios, set by the user, for example a daylight and an eve- ning setting.

The sensor used in the position detector means should be chosen so that the positioning unit can be detected reliably. For example, if the positioning unit is a passive device - where "passive" is understood to include all devices, which are not able send a position information or a beacon signal - the sensor should be able to detect the position of the positioning unit by its shape or colour. In this case, the positioning unit preferably exhibits a characteristic shape or colour, which is easily detectable. Using passive positioning devices, the sensor is preferably a CCD sensor, as used in digital still or video cameras, which is able to produce a digital image of the room where it is applied to. The position detector means in this case interpret the taken image using a commer- cially available image/object recognition algorithm to detect the position of the positioning unit. Then, the position information is transferred to the controlling means for determination of respective lighting units. It has to be understood, that the invention is not limited hereto. For example, it may also be possible that the position detector means transfer the taken image to the controlling means and the image/object recognition is conducted by the controlling means.

Although the position detector means detect the position of the mobile positioning unit, it is not necessary that actual three-dimensional co-ordinates of the positioning unit in the room where it is placed, are determined. It is sufficient that it is possible to generate a position reference, which enables the controlling means to determine one or more lighting units, which illuminate the position of the positioning unit. The method for determining one ore more lighting units in dependence on a position of the positioning unit may be of any suitable kind. Exemplary, the controlling means may comprise a static database, which includes a reference to lighting units, depending on the determined position, generated for example by manual input.

In a preferred approach, a model of the lighting system is obtained in an automatic discovery process of the lighting units, their controllable parameters and the impact of each lighting unit and each respective parameter setting on the environment. The result of such a step is a set of photometric data, which fully characterise the effect of the installed lighting units and each parameter setting on the environment. For the discovery process, any trichromatic or photometric measurement methods are suitable, which lead to the above set of photometric data.

As an example, the controlling means may include algorithms to "learn" the respective lighting units which illuminate a specific position, for example in a way that the effect of a lighting unit on the room is determined. An exemplary method may include that an image of the room is taken, whereby all lighting units are switched off. Then, a specific lighting unit is switched on and a further still image is taken. The impact of the specific lighting unit can then be determined using a comparison between the two taken images (before/after) and a set of photometric data in a given colour space is generated. Such a heuristic method would have to be applied to all lighting units in the lighting system and for every parameter setting of the lighting units. Each set of photometric data then represents one specific setting, i.e. a set of controllable parameters for each lighting unit, for example, colour, dimming level, light pattern, etc. Since it may be possible that multiple lighting units illuminate the same position, it may be necessary to choose the colour space of the photometric data such that linear colour and/or brightness mixing is possible, for example linear RGB or CIE XYZ. Using such a method, also in- fluences by non- system light sources or sunlight can be considered.

Once a model for the lighting system has been obtained, it is possible to determine the lighting units, which illuminate the position of the positioning unit. To determine the respective lighting units which have to be used for a desired local atmosphere at the position of the positioning unit, a solution for a photometric distribution is determined by the controlling means on the basis of the generated model of the lighting system.

In simple lighting scenarios, where only one positioning unit is present, i.e. where only one local atmosphere has to be considered, a most suitable solution for a photometric distribution can be determined easily by a simple optimisation method as known in the art. Since the only parameter for optimisation is the colour /brightness dif- ference, the optimisation method may be one-dimensional.

The most suitable solution generally shows the closest photometric distribution to the desired target lighting scenario. Naturally, it may not be possible to obtain an optimal solution for a given target lighting scenario. To obtain the most suitable solution, the colour and brightness difference between the photometric distribution and the target lighting scenario is determined using suitable equations, for example CIE94, BFD, AP, CMC or CIEDE 2000. The colour and brightness difference between the two distributions is preferably calculated using the CIEDE 2000 equation in a suitable colour space. Since a uniform distance between different colours is advantageous, the CIELAB colour space is preferred. The photometric distribution may preferably be filtered using a psychometric filter, so that the obtained solution is closest to the desired lighting scenario for the human eye.

It may be possible, that a suitable solution may only be obtained using more than one lighting units. According to the near-linearity of human colour perception, as summarised by the Grassmann's laws of additive colour mixing, for linear colour spaces, the colour resulting from combining several coloured light sources can be predicted as the sum of the tri- stimulus values of the involved light sources, when taken separately. Thus, it is possible to calculate the impact of multiple lighting units on a position by summarising the tri- stimulus values of each photometric data set of the involved lighting units. In lighting scenarios, where multiple positioning units are present, i.e. where multiple local atmospheres have to be considered in a single target lighting see- nario, determining a suitable photometric distribution is more complex. Here, the determined solution for one local atmosphere may have impact on one or more of the other local atmospheres. Therefore, generally a multidimensional optimisation method (vector optimisation) is necessary to obtain a solution for a suitable photometric distribution. Such methods are known in the art, for example, a gradient method, a genetic algorithm or a neural network, using a least square criteria, can be utilised to obtain the most suitable solution.

Instead of the above-mentioned method of obtaining a model for the lighting system and a subsequent determination of a suitable photometric distribution based on the model, the controlling means may comprise a neural network, which uses a "trial and error" method for determining a suitable photometric distribution without a model of the lighting system. The neural network therefore may compute a "first guess" of a suitable photometric distribution based on the desired lighting scenario, apply this distribution to the lighting system and then determine the impact of the applied photo- metric distribution on the environment using a camera and may then optimise the applied photometric distribution accordingly. Although this method eliminates the need for the above-mentioned modelling of the lighting system, it may be significantly slower due to the iterative algorithm. Naturally, the user may choose the most suitable method, based on the specific application. The controlling means may further comprise a database with general rules for programming the lighting system, like a minimum brightness level which has to be maintained or a maximum allowed power consumption of the lighting system. Naturally, the invention is not limited to the before-mentioned rules. The use of such rules is considered in the optimisation method as boundary conditions. It is preferred, that the positioning unit is an active unit, which is able to send a beacon signal, which enables an easier detection of its position by the position detector means. The positioning unit therefore preferably comprises a wireless communication unit and a control unit.

The control unit of the positioning unit initiates the generation of the bea- con signal which is sent using the wireless communication unit. The beacon signal may be any kind of signal, which enables a position detection of the positioning unit by the position detector means. The beacon signal may also comprise identification or other information, which may be useful to identify a specific positioning unit, when a plurality of positioning units are used. To allow an easy detection, the beacon signal is preferably an electromagnetic signal, for example an RF signal or a light signal. In this context, an electromagnetic signal is understood to include also light, especially in the visible and infrared wavelength range.

Preferably, the wireless communication unit comprises a ZigBee, WLAN, Bluetooth or RFID interface to send the beacon signal. In this case, the positioning unit emits an RF signal, which is received by the position detector means to detect the posi- tion of the positioning unit, for example by cross bearing, using a plurality of antennas. The wireless communication unit may alternatively comprise an optical interface to send an optical beacon signal.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the positioning unit comprises an infrared light emitter and the position detector means comprises a CCD sensor, capable of receiving infrared light to detect the position of the positioning unit.

The positioning unit may comprise a battery, solar cells or any other suitable power supply to power the wireless communication unit and the control unit. Since the positioning unit is a mobile device, power consumption of the electronic circuitry of the positioning unit is problematic. It is therefore preferred, that the positioning unit ex- hibits a low-power state and an operational state, in which the wireless communication unit and the control unit are activated. In the low-power state, the power consumption of the device shall be as low as possible, most preferably 0 Watt. To activate the control unit and the wireless communication unit, the system sends an activation signal to the wireless communication unit of the positioning unit. The beacon signal is advantageously only sent when necessary, which saves battery power. Since two way communication is not possible with every suitable interface, it is also within the scope of the present invention, that the wireless communication unit comprises more than one interface to communicate with the programming system.

Preferably, the wireless communication interface of the positioning unit comprises an RFID interface - also referred to as "RFID tag" -, which enables the positioning unit to be switched between the low-power state and the operational state. Acti- vation of an electrical device using RFID signals is disclosed in US 6,818,063 B2. The document discloses a system and a method for selecting and waking-up a remote device using RFID interfaces to save battery power. An activation signal is sent by an RFID transmitter/receiver to activate the remote device from a zero-power state. The RFID interface ("tag") within the remote device may be passive and RF beam powered. After the activation, a communication is established using the RFID interface or a second interface, e.g. WLAN. When the communication is complete, the remote device is brought back to the zero-power state. The disclosed system could be applied to activate the positioning unit and to establish communication between the controlling means and the posi- tioning unit of the preferred embodiment as described above.

It is especially preferred to use the energy of the transmitted RFID signal to power the subsequent transmission of the beacon signal (beam powered), which renders a battery or other power source redundant.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the positioning unit is associ- ated with a defined colour and the corresponding set of data further contains colour and/or brightness information. This preferred embodiment enables to automatically program a desired colour or brightness-level in addition to the position information. Here, the user selects a colour, which is associated to the positioning unit. The selected colour can be stored within the positioning unit and send to the position detector by means of the wireless communication unit. Preferably, the selected colour is stored in the controlling means and associated to the positioning unit by unique identification information, send by the positioning unit. Most preferably, the positioning unit comprises an adjustable colour indicator, which can be set to a defined colour representation of the associated colour. Here, the position detector means could also detect the colour by reading out the colour indicator, which may be, for example, a display or programmable RGB LEDs using the sensor. The determined lighting units, which illuminate the detected position are then programmed to the desired colour.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the positioning unit comprises a white reference surface. The white reference surface is used to provide col- our and brightness calibration. For example, if a specific colour has been chosen by a user for a determined position, the controlling means set the determined lighting unit to the desired colour. A verification of the set colour can be obtained by observing the white reference surface using the sensor of the position detector means (closed- loop operation), which will then reflect the colour. If a deviation from the desired colour is detected, the colour of the lighting unit is corrected accordingly. Naturally, the reference surface way exhibit any other colour is known to the programming system. A CCD sensor is preferably used in the position detector means in this embodiment to achieve accurate colour calibration.

The invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the figures, in which

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a system for programming and/or controlling a lighting system, installed in a room,

Fig. 2 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of a positioning unit and Fig. 3 shows a schematic view of an exemplary control and interface unit.

Figure 1 describes a typical setup of a room, equipped with several wall and ceiling mounted lighting units 3. The lighting units 3 are of different type (CDM, HID, SSL, UHP) and are controllable via the system, while further lighting units 5 are not controllable via the described system. All lighting units 3 are controlled via controlling means, here a control and interface unit - CUI 1 , which also serves as interface to the user. Details of an exemplary CUI are shown in Figure 3. A video camera 2 with a CCD chip, which observes the complete room, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, acts as input-sensor for the CUI 1. Other sensors 6 could be used, like daylight or scattered light sensors to compensate any effect on the desired scenario or to trigger the system, connected to the CUI 1 either wireless or wired. The camera 2 is sensitive in the visual spectrum and in the IR wavelength range as well.

Positioning units 4, which will be described in the following, are posi- tioned by the user at positions, where a specific local atmosphere, for example a special intensity of the light, colour or dynamic behaviour of the light, shall be applied. Figure 2 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of the positioning unit 4. It consists of a small IR-transparent flexible or stiff housing 7, which contains all components. The housing 7 is used as white reference surface when the positioning unit 4 is switched off. IR-LEDs 8 are arranged to illuminate the surrounding area in every direction to allow detection by the IR-sensitive video camera 2. The IR-LEDs 8 are controlled via the CPU 9. The positioning unit comprises a wireless communication unit 11, which contains a ZigBee interface 12 and a unique passive RFID 10, so that each positioning unit can be identified using the RFID 10. There are several groups of red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs 14 placed around the circumference, in order to illuminate the positioning unit 4, so that the user can see the applied light-effect from every direction. The CUI 1 is able switch the IR-LEDs 8 and the RGB LEDs 14 of each individual positioning unit 4 on and off, using the ZigBee interface 12. A small battery 13 is be used in order to feed the electronic components and the LEDs 13, 14. A typical diameter of the positioning unit is smaller than 3 cm, providing an easy handling. Figure 3 shows a schematic view of the CUI 1. The CUI 1 contains a color display 15 in order to select a proper color effect, e.g. via touch-screen. It further contains an RFID-reader 16 and an I/O-unit 17, which forms data links to the camera(s) 2, to the lamps 3 and to the positioning units 4. Therefore, the I/O-unit 17 comprises a camera interface 17a, an interface to control the lighting units 17c, e.g. via DMX, and a ZigBee interface 17b to communicate with the positioning units 4. The CUI 1 contains a central processor unit 18 to calculate the settings of the lighting units 3. The CUI 1 is connected to mains, but could also be battery driven.

If no positioning unit is placed close to the RF-reader 16, the display 15 should show some user-defined scenarios in order to allow the user the activation of a stored setting.

Programming of the lighting system Step 1 : Setup

The CUI 1 knows the amount of devices and the channels to use in order to switch/dim the lighting units 3. Here, wired connections are used for communication between CUI 1, camera 2 and lighting units 3. If no wired connections are being used, RFID tags could be used to announce the lamps 3 to the system, similar to step 3, alter- natively.

Step 2: Modeling of the lighting system

To learn the effect of a lighting unit 3 in the room, the CUI 1 uses the camera 2 to determine the effect of the n lighting units 3 as follows: 1. Switching all lighting-units 3 off.

2. Camera 2 takes a snapshot image (off-picture) of the room.

3. Switching on the i-th lighting unit 3 with parameter setting k (e.g. brightness level) .

4. Camera 2 takes a snapshot image (on-picture). 5. Removing/reducing the off-picture light-distribution with regard to the on-picture to receive a photometric image of the impact of the lighting unit i with the parameter setting k. 6. Repeat steps 3-5 for all n lighting units 3 and all parameter settings m to obtain a database of photometric images of all lighting units 3. A photometric (distribution) image is a numerical matrice of the tristimu- lus-values of the used colour space for each pixel of the taken image. It is thus possible to calculate the impact of a lighting unit 3 on a position, once the pixel-co-ordinates for this position are known.

Since it may be possible that multiple lighting units 3 illuminate the same position, it may be required to be able to calculate the impact of multiple lighting units 3 on the position. Therefore, as mentioned before, the photometric images are transformed to a the CIE XYZ colour space, which enables linear colour/brightness mixing.

During the before-mentioned learning (or calibration) phase, positioning units 4 could also selectively (or all at once) be turned off to utilise them as white refer- ence points for colour and or brightness calibration, using the white surface of the housing 7.

Step 3: Initialization of the positioning units 4

The positioning units 4 are announced to the CUI 1 via RFID. Therefore, they are placed close to the RFID reader 16. The CUI 1 recognises a valid RFID 10 of a positioning unit 4 and initialises the RF network to accept this positioning unit 4. The user then chooses a lighting effect using the touch screen display 15. The CUI 1 stores the actual displayed lighting scenario (e.g. colour/effect) and a reference to the ID of the positioning unit 4, e.g., a stored set of data could include the ID of the positioning unit with colour/effect information. The set of data is stored in a database 20. As long as the positioning unit 4 is close to the RFID reader 16, the user can modify the local atmos- phere associated with this positioning unit 4. If the required scenario is adjusted, the user may position the positioning unit 4 where he would like to have this effect, e.g. shelf, table, floor ceiling, etc. After initialisation of a sufficient (number is up to the user) amount of positioning units 4, the CUI 1 knows the maximum amount of positioning units 4 and the relation between positioning unit 4 and a desired local atmosphere (e.g. colour or static/dynamic effect). It is not necessary to transfer information to the positioning units 4.

Step 4: Mapping of the target scenario

After all positioning units 4 are placed in the room, the user initiates the calculation of the light-unit-control-parameters using the CUI 1. The CUI 1 will now use a time-multiplexed-method to go through the table of all known positioning units 4. By selectively switching on and off the n positioning units 4 using the previously initiated wireless channel via ZigBee, the IR-LEDs 8 of each positioning unit 4 are activated. Using the IR-sensitivity of the camera 2, the CUI 1 detects the position of a positioning unit 4 . Since only a specific positioning unit 4 is switched on at a time, the CUI 1 knows the ID of the positioning unit 4. Thus, the CUI 1 is able to determine where a desired local effect has to be applied. Since also here the camera 2 is used to detect the position of the positioning unit 4, pixel-coordinates of the position are obtained. It has to be noted, that identical viewing conditions of the camera 2 during the programming of the lighting system have to be maintained. Once the CUI 1 knows all pixel-coordinates of each positioning unit 4 and the desired lighting effect associated with each positioning unit 4, the CPU 18 of the CUI 1 calculates a target lighting scenario which includes all desired local atmospheres. The target lighting scenario is then transferred to the device independent CIE XYZ colour space to enable the calculation of colour difference. The CPU 18 of the CUI 1 will then determine which lighting units 3 have to be used to obtain a certain lighting effect at a desired position using the database of photometric images obtained in the modelling step.

To find a suitable mapping of the target lighting scenario, the CPU 18 uses an optimisation process and compares the average colour distance of the desired target lighting scenario with possible combinations of photometric images using the CIEDE 2000 equation. To obtain a reliable value for the colour distance, the target lighting scenario is compared one by one with a combination of photometric images from the database. The two photometric images are first transformed into an opponent colour space featuring one luminance and two chrominance dimensions. After that, the image dimensions are individually filtered, using spatial filters that resemble the contrast sensi- tivity function (CSF) of human vision. Consequently, image components that cannot be seen by the eye are removed whereas the most representative ones are enhanced. The spatial filtering allows colour difference to be scaled down as spatial frequency increases.

The filtered images are then transformed into the CIELAB colour space, which is a more uniform colour space, i.e. similarly perceived differences in appearance result in similar computed distance in magnitude, thence, better suited for calculation of colour difference as viewed through human eyes. Finally, the CIEDE 2000 equation is computed pixel- wise and its mean value is derived.

Since it is very time-consuming to obtain the colour difference for all possible combinations of photometric images of the database, an optimisation process is used. The optimisation process utilises a gradient method with a least square criteria as known in the art to find a suitable mapping efficiently. Naturally, other optimisation methods known in the art may be used.

Once a suitable mapping of the target lighting scenario is found, the user is guided to store this setting into the database 20 that then later can be (re-)activated using the CUI l.

Step 5: Activation of the scenario

In operation of the lighting system, the display should show some user- defined scenarios, from which the user can choose the desired setting, which is then loaded from the database 20 and applied to the lighting units 3. Step 6: Fine-Tuning

In order to guide the user during the initialisation and during the fine- tuning phase, each local scenario can be displayed be using the RGB-LEDs 14 of the positioning unit 4, thus it is possible to show the user, where a specific positioning unit 4 is located and how an effect will look like.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the wireless control unit 11 of the positioning unit 4 comprises an RFID-interface 10, using an RFID protocol, which provides collision- free, long range communication in a range of at least 1 meter, preferably in a range of usual room-sizes. Here, Philips UCODE HSL (high frequency smart label) is used, which is commercially available and which provides communication in a range of max. 8.4m. A detailed description of UCODE HSL is available from Koninkli- jke Philips Electronics N.V., as specified in the document "Short form specification SL3ICS30 01 UCODE HSL, Revision 3.0, October 2003. A further communication interface, like a ZigBee interface, within the positioning unit 4 is not necessary.

The RFID-interface 10 is capable of activating the positioning unit 4 from a zero power state, in which the electrical components of the positioning unit 4 consume no power, to an operational state, in which the electrical components of the positioning unit 4 are powered by the battery 13. Since the operation time of such a device is usually considerably short in comparison to the standby time, battery power can thus advantageously be saved. To activate the positioning unit 10, an activation signal is send by the RFID reader 16 of the CUI 1. The energy of the activation signal is used by the RFID- interface 10 to activate the positioning unit 4. Once the positioning unit 4 is activated, the RFID-interface 10 is used for communication with the CUI 1. In this embodiment, it is not necessary to present each positioning unit 4 to the CUI for detection of the unique ID, as mentioned before in step 3, because the RFID protocol used here provides long range, collision- free communication. The user may simply posi- tion the positioning units 4 in the room as desired. The CUI 1 then activates the positioning units 4, which then send the respective IDs and are thus announced to the CUI 1 for further programming. Further communication is also send to the positioning units 4 using the RFID protocol, i.e. selectively switching a positioning unit 4 on and off in before-mentioned step 3 of the programming procedure. Detection of the position of the positioning units 4 is again accomplished using the camera 2 by IR detection. After the position of each positioning device 4 is detected, the CUI 1 sends a deactivation signal, which sets all positioning units 4 to the zero power state.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. System for programming and/or controlling a lighting system comprising one or more controllable lighting units connected (3) to controlling means (1) and position detector means (2), connected to the controlling means (1), characterised in that the position detector means (2) are designed to detect the position of one or more mobile positioning units (4), the controlling means (1) are designed to determine one or more lighting units (3), which illuminate an area located in predetermined relation to the positions of said one or more positioning units (4) and the controlling means (1) are designed to generate a corresponding set of data, which contains reference information to the determined lighting units (3).

2. System according to claim 1, in which the positioning unit (4) comprises a control unit (9) and a wireless communication unit (11), which enables the position detector means (2) to detect the position of the positioning unit (4).

3. System according to claim 2, in which the positioning unit (4) comprises an infrared light emitter (8) and the position detector means (2) comprise means for infrared light detection.

4. System according to any of the claims 2 or 3, in which the wireless communication unit (11) of the positioning unit (4) comprises an RFID interface (10), which enables the positioning unit (4) to be switched between a low-power state and an opera- tional state.

5. System according to any of the preceding claims, in which the positioning unit (4) comprises a white reference surface.

6. Method for programming and/or controlling a lighting system, comprising one or more controllable lighting units (3) and position detector means (2), wherein at least one mobile positioning unit (4) is placed within a monitoring area of the position detector means (2), the position detector means (2) detect the position of the positioning unit (4), one or more lighting units (3), which illuminate an area located in predetermined relation to the position of the positioning unit (4) are determined and a corresponding set of data is generated, which contains reference infor- mation to the determined lighting units (3).

7. Method according to claim 6, wherein more than one mobile positioning units (4) are placed within a monitoring area of the position detector means (2), - the position detector means (2) detect the position of all positioning units

(4) within the monitoring area, one or more lighting units (3) are determined, which illuminate an area located in predetermined relation to the positions of the positioning units

(4).

8. Method according to any of the claims 6-7, in which one or more lighting units (3) are determined, which illuminate the positions of the one or more positioning units (4).

9. Method according to any of the claims 6-8 , in which the corresponding set of data contains mapping information of the determined lighting units (3) respective to the detected position of the positioning unit (4).

10. Method according to any of the claims 6-9, in which the generated set of data is used to set the determined lighting units (3) to defined illumination states.

11. Method according to any of the claims 6-10, in which a positioning unit (4) is associated with a defined colour and the corresponding set of data further contains colour and/or brightness in- formation.

12. Method according to claim 11, where the positioning unit (4) comprises an adjustable colour indicator (14), in which the colour indicator (14) is set to a defined colour representation of the associated colour.

13. Method according to any of the claims 11-12, in which the controllable lighting units (3) are able to emit multiple colours and the generated set of data is used to set the colour of the light emitted by the determined lighting units (3), so that the detected position is illuminated in the detected colour.

14. Method according to any of the claims 6-13, in which the positioning unit (4) comprises a control unit (4) and a wireless communication interface (11), wherein the step of detection of the position of the positioning unit (4) is carried out after the positioning unit (4) is switched from a low-power state to an operational state, the position detector means (2) detect the position of the positioning unit (4) using the wireless communication interface (19) and after the step of detection of the position, the positioning unit (4) is switched from the operational state to the low-power state.