The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 25, 1996
Filed:
Apr. 11, 1994
Jonathan H Ference, Riegelsville, PA (US);
Donald F Hausman, Emmaus, PA (US);
John F Loar, Allentown, PA (US);
Robert S Spehalski, Emmaus, PA (US);
Walter S Zaharchuk, Allentown, PA (US);
Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., Coopersburg, PA (US);
Abstract
A lighting control system operates to control multiple zones of lighting through multiple dimming circuits so as to achieve any one of several desired lighting scenes. The system includes a plurality of wallbox control units which collectively operate to multiplex digital lighting control information on a communications link. Each wallbox control unit includes a plurality of zone-intensity actuators which are manipulatable to alter the information transmitted by their respective wallbox control so as to vary the lighting intensity of an associated lighting zone. A central lighting control panel includes a microprocessor adapted to receive and processes the multiplexed information transmitted on the link, and re-transmit digital lighting control information, on a second multiplex link, to the dimming circuits. According to one aspect of the invention, the microprocessor is programmed to assign a preselected dimming circuit to any one of the zone-intensity actuators when that actuator is manipulated according to a predetermined sequence.