Distributed lighting control

1. A lighting control sub-system comprising

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire based at least in part on the sensed input;

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device; and

receive a plurality of lighting control sub-system profiles;

wherein an active profile of the plurality of lighting control sub-system profiles is adaptively updated.

2. The sub-system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further operative to receive information from the external device, wherein the received information influences a current state of the lighting control sub-system, or the received information includes parameters that influence a future state of the lighting control sub-system.

3. The sub-system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further operative to receive information from the external device, wherein the received information influences at least one of the plurality of lighting control sub-system profiles.

4. The sub-system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one of the lighting control sub-system profiles comprises parameters, wherein the parameters are adaptively updated.

5. The sub-system of claim 1 , further comprising the external device adding, replacing or deleting one or more profiles of the plurality of lighting control sub-system profiles.

6. The sub-system of claim 1 , wherein the external device comprises a central controller, another lighting control sub-system, a logical group controller, or a terminal.

7. The sub-system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of sensors, wherein the controller is operative to control the light output based on a combination of sensed inputs of the plurality of sensors.

8. The sub-system of claim 7 , further comprising the controller operative to control the light output based on the combination of one or more of the sensed inputs and a lighting schedule.

9. The sub-system of claim 1 , wherein further comprising the controller operative to receive a lighting control configuration.

10. The sub-system of claim 9 , wherein the controller receives the lighting control configuration from a system operator.

11. The sub-system of claim 9 , wherein the controller receives the lighting control configuration from a central controller, thereby allowing a system user to manage the lighting control configuration.

12. The sub-system of claim 1 , further comprising the controller operative to collect sensor values over time based on at least the sensed input.

13. The sub-system of claim 12 , further comprising the controller operative to communicate the collected sensor values to the external device.

14. The sub-system of claim 1 , further comprising the controller operative to report past operating characteristics of the sub-system.

15. The sub-system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a power monitoring unit operative to measure power usage of the lighting control sub-system.

16. The sub-system of claim 1 , further comprising the controller operative to communicate with other sub-systems, and identify logical groups of two or more sub-systems.

17. The sub-system of claim 16 , wherein identifying logical groups comprises at least the controller and at least one of the other sub-systems auto-determining the logical group.

18. The sub-system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes a motion sensing group.

19. The sub-system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes an ambient light group.

20. The sub-system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes a logical switch group.

21. The sub-system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes a logical temperature group.

22. The sub-system of claim 16 , further comprising the controller operative to control the light output based on a sensor signal of a sensor of another sub-system of a common logical group.

23. The sub-system of claim 1 , further comprising the controller operative to identify an emergency condition, and initiate an emergency mode.

24. A lighting control sub-system comprising

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire based at least in part on the sensed input;

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device;

collect sensor values over time based on at least the sensed input; and

identify problems of operation of the lighting control sub-system based on the collected sensor values, and to report the identified problems of operation to the external device.

25. A lighting control sub-system comprising

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire based at least in part on the sensed input;

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device;

measure power usage of the lighting control sub-system; and

communicate the measured power usage of the sub-system to the external device.

26. A lighting control sub-system comprising

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire based at least in part on the sensed input;

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device; and

communicate with other sub-systems, and identify logical groups of two or more sub-systems;

wherein sub-systems of a common logical group communicate to each other when a sensor of one of the sub-systems of the logical group has failed.

27. A lighting control sub-system comprising

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire based at least in part on the sensed input;

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device;

identify an emergency condition, and initiate an emergency mode; and

confirm the identification of the emergency mode, comprising the controller initiating communication with a non-emergency device, and confirming the identified emergency condition if the initiated communication is not successful.

28. A lighting control system comprising

a plurality of sub-systems,

each sub-system comprising:

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

at least one sensor coupled to the controller, the at least one sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire; and

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to at least one of a central controller or another sub-system;

receive a demand response from an external power company, and adaptively communicate to the plurality of sub-systems to operate in a reduced power mode.

29. A lighting control system comprising:

a plurality of sub-systems,

two or more sub-systems capable of acting as a group and

each sub-system capable of independent action,

each sub-system comprising:

a luminaire;

a controller electrically connected to said luminaire, said controller operative to control the light output of said luminaire and to communicate with other sub-systems; and,

at least one sensor connected to said controller;

wherein sub-systems of a common logical group communicate to each other when a sensor of one of the sub-systems of the common logical group has failed.

30. The system of claim 29 , further comprising the controller operative to communicate with other sub-systems, and identify logical groups of two or more sub-systems.

31. The system of claim 30 , further comprising the controller operative to control the light output based on a sensor signal of a sensor of another sub-system.

32. The system of claim 30 , wherein identifying logical groups comprises at least the controller and at least one of the other sub-systems auto-determining the logical group.

33. The system of claim 30 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes a motion sensing group.

34. The system of claim 30 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes an ambient light group.

35. The system of claim 30 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes a logical switch group.

36. The system of claim 30 , wherein at least one of the logical groups includes a logical temperature group.

37. A lighting control system comprising:

a central controller;

a plurality of sub-systems, wherein each sub-system is capable of independent action and

each sub-system capable of acting responsive to said central controller,

each sub-system comprising:

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

at least one sensor coupled to the controller, the at least one sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to at least one of the central controller or another sub-system;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire; and

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to at least one of the central controller or another sub-system;

receive sensed values and sub-system state information for one or more of the plurality of sub-systems; and

aggregate and display the received sensed values of the one or more of the plurality of sub-systems.

38. The lighting control system of claim 37 , further comprising the central controller operative to provide a system management of the lighting control system.

39. The lighting control system of claim 38 , wherein the system management provides a user interface, allowing a user to configure operation of one or more of the plurality of sub-systems.

40. The lighting control system of claim 37 , wherein the wherein the central controller is further operative to aggregate and display the received sensed values of the one or more of the plurality of sub-systems.

41. The lighting control system of claim 40 , wherein the wherein central controller is further operative display summary statistics of the received sensed values over variable periods of time.

42. The lighting control system of claim 37 , further comprising the central controller operative to identify a failure of emergency sub-systems, and to identify and communicate to other sub-systems operation to operate in an emergency mode.

43. The lighting control system of claim 37 , further comprising the central controller operative to receive a demand response from an external power company, and adaptively communicate to the plurality of sub-systems to operate in a reduced power mode.

44. A lighting control system comprising

a plurality of sub-systems and

a central controller,

each sub-system capable of independent action,

two or more sub-systems capable of acting as a group, and

each sub-system capable of acting responsive to said central controller,

each sub-system comprising:

a luminaire;

a controller coupled to the luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire; and

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device;

wherein sub-systems of a common logical group communicate to each other when a sensor of one of the sub-systems of the common logical group has failed.

45. A lighting control system for integration with existing luminaires comprising

a controller coupled to a luminaire;

a sensor coupled to the controller, the sensor generating a sensed input;

a communication interface, the communication interface coupling the controller to an external device;

wherein the controller is operative to:

control a light output of the luminaire; and

communicate at least one of state or sensed information to the external device;

measure power usage of the lighting control sub-system; and

communicate the measured power usage of the sub-system to the external device.