Osram Sylvania Inc.

Jeremy Spaulding

Mervyn Anthony

Karlin Jessen

Jeffrey William Holt

Vimlesh Shukla

Charles A Brunault

Joseph Allen Olsen

Seung Cheol Ryu

Alan Sarkisian

Joseph Laski

Ernest A Davey, Jr

A system and method for determining vehicle position uses light based communication (LBC) signals and a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) to determine the vehicle position. Each vehicle includes a LBC system having an array of transmitting light emitting diodes (LEDs) and an array of receiver photodiodes for transmitting and receiving pulsed light binary messages. Each LBC system has a controller coupled to the transmitter diodes and receiver diodes. The controller includes a vehicle communication module that may be executed by a processor to determine the distance. The processor models a first distance between a first transmitting LBC system and a first receiving LBC system, then models a second distance between a second transmitting LBC system and the first receiving LBC system, and then determines the distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle using trilateration of the first distance and the second distance.

System and method for determining vehicle position based upon light-based communication using signal-to-noise ratio or received signal strength indicator

Techniques and architecture are disclosed for gesture-based control techniques for lighting systems. In some cases, the lighting system may include a camera and/or other suitable componentry to interpret gestures made by a user for controlling light output. In some such cases, the gesture performed and/or the location of the gesture may determine how the light output is controlled. In some cases, the gestures may be performed by moving a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or dedicated light controller device. In some such cases, sensors included in or otherwise operatively coupled to the computing device (gravitational sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopic sensors, etc.) may be used to detect the movement of the device and the related gestures. The gestures may be used to navigate a user interface that allows a user to control light output by adjusting different attributes of the light output, such as light intensity and color.

Gesture-based control techniques for lighting systems

A system and method for determining vehicle position uses light based communication (LBC) signals and a time-of-flight (TOF) pulse. Each vehicle includes a LBC system having light emitting diodes (LEDs) and receiver photodiodes capable of sending and receiving pulsed light binary messages. The LBC system may also include a TOF transceiver for sending and receiving TOF pulses, or the transmitter and receiver diodes may be used to send and receive TOF pulses. Each LBC system has a controller coupled to the transmitter diodes and receiver diodes (and the TOF transceiver when present). The controller includes a processor configured to determine the distance between vehicles. Optical characteristics are used to discern relative angle, a header is used to determine relative orientation, and the time-of-flight is used to determine distance, which together may be used by the processor to determine the relative location between transmitting vehicle and the receiving vehicle.

System and method for determining vehicle position based upon light-based communication and time-of-flight measurements

Techniques are disclosed for providing spatially-defined and/or distance-defined light-based communications within a vehicle/roadway environment. In some embodiments, the techniques can be used to vary the data content of a given transmitted light-based communications signal based on factors such as position, distance, and/or proximity of the transmitting source and the receiver. In some embodiments, the techniques can be used to vary the processing or other handling of a received light-based communications signal based on one or more of such factors. In some instances, the disclosed techniques can be utilized to tailor light-based vehicle-to-X (V2X) communications for dissemination between and among vehicles and infrastructure in a vehicle/roadway environment. To that end, a node may host a transmitter (e.g., laser, LED, or other solid-state light source) configured to emit such light-based communication signals and/or a receiver (e.g., a photosensor or other light-based data input device) configured to sense such signals.

Spatially and/or distance defined light-based communications in a vehicle/roadway environment

Techniques and architecture are disclosed for a lighting system for contained environments, such as elevators or other such environments. The lighting system can include one or more luminaires and/or one or more display devices that include tunable output controlled to automatically change the ambient lighting and/or presentable content (e.g., imagery, video, audio) based on one or more conditions related to the contained environment. Conditions that can be used in controlling the lighting system output within the contained environment can include, for example, the position or operation of the contained environment, the control of the contained environment, the occupancy within the contained environment, the time of day at the location of the contained environment, and the calendar date at the location of the contained environment. In some cases, the lighting system may constitute the general illumination within the contained environment, but may be supplemental as well.

Lighting system for contained environments

Techniques are disclosed for light-based communication using a passive light-reflective device having specially coded reflective or printed optics. The optics can be mounted to an object and configured to reflect light such that a receiver is able to receive the reflected light. The optics are further configured to alternatively display a number of different patterns that change as the receiver moves with respect to the optics, thus causing the receiver to receive an apparent stream of modulated light, which represents coded information that can be decoded into meaningful information. The optics can be mounted to a traffic control or other roadside device. As a vehicle approaches and passes the traffic control device, light reflects off of the optics in a series of patterns. This reflected light can be received by the vehicle and processed to relay the information to the operator or on-board vehicle system.

Passive light-based data communication

There is herein described a light output control method for a controlling a lighting device by a motion of an object near an environment, the lighting device comprising a video sensor and a light-emitting unit, the light output control method comprising steps of emitting an infrared light onto at least a part of the object and at least a part of the environment, collecting the infrared light reflected by at least the part of the object and at least the part the environment as a two-dimensional depth data sequence of the video sensor, computing the motion of the object by utilizing the two-dimensional depth data sequence, and controlling the light-emitting unit to change an attribute of the output light if the motion of the object complies with a predetermined condition.

Light control method and lighting device using the same

Techniques are disclosed for providing a decentralized intelligent nodal lighting system. The intelligent nodal lighting system may be controlled using a wireless protocol, such as Wi-Fi, and each lighting node in the system may have its own independent Wi-Fi address and may receive, store, and interpret commands from a wirelessly connected controller. Each intelligent light node may contain a CPU and memory for storing and interpreting commands from the controller to achieve a desired light color, intensity, or quality. In some embodiments, individual lighting nodes may be dynamically added or removed from the lighting system without interrupting the system's operation.

Growing community of inventors

Marblehead, MA, United States of America

Jeremy Spaulding