IP Library › Granted Patent US 12684674

Granted Patent B2

US 12684674 · App. 18/937,515 · Granted Jul 14, 2026

Illumination system and method that presents a natural show to emulate daylight conditions with smoothing dimcurve modification thereof

Inventors: Nav Sooch (Austin, TX); Horace C. Ho (Austin, TX); Rebecca Frank (Austin, TX); Jason E. Lewis (Driftwood, TX); Ryan Matthew Bocock (Austin, TX)

Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC

H05B47/115 H05B45/20 H05B47/105 H05B47/16 H05B47/19 H05B47/195 Y02B20/40

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12684674
App. No.: 18/937,515
Granted: Jul 14, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

An LED lamp and method are provided for autonomously changing the output brightness and color temperature of a plurality of LED strings to follow a first dimcurve in temporal synchronization with at least one other LED lamp. Synchronization is achieved based on a time of day determined using a clock signal. The output brightness and color temperature can transition from the first dimcurve to a second dimcurve over a predetermined number of scenes. The number of scenes is a function of a difference between the first dimcurve and the second dimcurve in at least one of the output brightness and the color temperature.

Claims (50)

1 . A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting controller, comprising:

memory circuitry to store a plurality of dimcurves, wherein each of the plurality of dimcurves defines a relationship between a correlated color temperature (CCT) and time-of-day at a respective one of a plurality of LED output intensities; and

control circuitry communicatively coupled to the memory circuitry, the control circuitry to:

cause operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust an output CCT of an LED lamp according to a first dimcurve selected from the plurality of dimcurves;

wherein the first dimcurve corresponds to a first LED output intensity;

receive, via input interface circuitry an input indicative of a change in output intensity of the LED lamp from the first LED output intensity to a second LED output intensity;

select a second dimcurve from the plurality of dimcurves;

wherein the second dimcurve corresponds to the second LED output intensity; and

wherein the change in the output CCT of the LED lamp from the first dimcurve to the second dimcurve is greater at sunrise and sunset than at solar noon; and

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the LED lamp from the output CCT corresponding to a current time-of-day on the first dimcurve to the output CCT corresponding to the current time-of-day on the second dimcurve.

2 . The LED lighting controller of claim 1 wherein to cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the first dimcurve, the control circuitry to:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the output CCT of the LED lamp through a sequence of scenes that form the first dimcurve.

3 . The LED lighting controller of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry to further:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the second dimcurve.

4 . The LED lighting controller of claim 3 wherein to cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the second dimcurve, the control circuitry to:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the output CCT of the LED lamp through a sequence of scenes that form the second dimcurve.

5 . The LED lighting controller of claim 1 wherein to cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the first dimcurve selected from the plurality of dimcurves, the control circuitry to further:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to a first natural show dimcurve selected from a plurality of natural show dimcurves, wherein each of the plurality of natural show dimcurves corresponds to a respective LED lamp output intensity.

6 . A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting control method, comprising:

causing, by LED lighting control circuitry, operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust an output correlated color temperature (CCT) of an LED lamp according to a first dimcurve selected from a plurality of dimcurves;

wherein the first dimcurve corresponds to a first LED lamp output intensity; and

wherein each of the plurality of dimcurves defines a relationship between CCT and time-of-day at respective ones of a plurality of LED output intensities;

receiving by the LED lighting control circuitry via communicatively coupled input interface circuitry, an input indicative of a change in output intensity of the LED lamp from the first LED lamp output intensity to a second LED output intensity;

selecting by the LED lighting control circuitry, a second dimcurve that corresponds to the second LED output intensity from the plurality of dimcurves;

wherein the change in the output CCT of the LED lamp from the first dimcurve to the second dimcurve is greater at sunrise and sunset than at solar noon; and

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the LED lamp from the output CCT corresponding to a current time-of-day on the first dimcurve to the output CCT corresponding to the current time-of-day on the second dimcurve.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein causing the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the first dimcurve, the control circuitry to:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the output CCT of the LED lamp through a sequence of scenes that form the first dimcurve.

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the second dimcurve.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein causing the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the second dimcurve, the control circuitry to:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the output CCT of the LED lamp through a sequence of scenes that form the second dimcurve.

10 . The method of claim 6 wherein causing the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the first dimcurve, the control circuitry to further:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to a first natural show dimcurve selected from a plurality of natural show dimcurves, wherein each of the plurality of natural show dimcurves corresponds to a respective LED lamp output intensity.

11 . A non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device that includes instructions that, when executed by control circuitry disposed in an LED lighting controller, cause the control circuitry to:

cause operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust an output correlated color temperature (CCT) of an LED lamp according to a first dimcurve selected from a plurality of dimcurves;

wherein the first dimcurve corresponds to a first LED lamp output intensity; and

wherein each of the plurality of dimcurves defines a relationship between CCT and time-of-day at respective ones of a plurality of LED output intensities;

receive via communicatively coupled input interface circuitry, an input indicative of a change in output intensity of the LED lamp from the first LED lamp output intensity to a second LED output intensity;

select a second dimcurve that corresponds to the second LED output intensity from the plurality of dimcurves;

wherein the change in the output CCT of the LED lamp from the first dimcurve to the second dimcurve is greater at sunrise and sunset than at solar noon; and

12 . The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 11 wherein the instructions that cause the control circuitry to cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the first dimcurve further cause the control circuitry to:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the output CCT of the LED lamp through a sequence of scenes that form the first dimcurve.

13 . The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 11 wherein the instructions, when executed by the control circuitry, further cause the control circuitry to:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the second dimcurve.

14 . The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 13 wherein the instructions that cause the control circuitry to cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the second dimcurve further cause the control circuitry to:

cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to transition the output CCT of the LED lamp through a sequence of scenes that form the second dimcurve.

15 . The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 11 wherein the instructions that cause the control circuitry to cause the operatively coupled LED driver circuitry to adjust the output CCT of the LED lamp according to the first dimcurve further cause the control circuitry to: