Method for assigning light sensors for regulating the lighting in a lighting system

1. A method for assigning a plurality of light sensors for regulating the lighting in a lighting system in a space to be illuminated, said lighting system comprising:

a plurality of lighting groups, where each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups comprises one or more luminaires,

a control device configured to regulate a luminous flux of each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, and

a plurality of light sensors where each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors is assigned to each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, the luminous flux of each lighting group being regulated by a corresponding light sensor of the plurality of light sensors,

wherein the method comprises:

switching the lighting of the lighting system into a first switching state such that a first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups emits light with a predetermined luminous flux;

switching the lighting of the lighting system into a second switching state such that the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups emits light with a reduced luminous flux by comparison with the predetermined luminous flux or emits no light;

measuring a luminance of the light reflected by a reference surface by all of the light sensors of the plurality of light sensors in the space to determine a first measurement value in the first switching state and a second measurement value in the second switching state for all of the light sensors of the plurality of light sensors;

determining a difference value from the first and second measurement values for each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors;

comparing all of the difference values determined for each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to each other, and

assigning at least one light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the comparison, and

storing the assignment, such that the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups can be regulated to a constant illuminance on the reference surface in a control loop based on the measurement values continuously detected by the at least one assigned light sensor.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the assigning of the at least one light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group occurs when the difference value is the highest among the difference values determined.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising

assigning at least one second light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups when the difference value determined lies within a predetermined interval distance from the highest difference value.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising

assigning at least one second light sensor to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups when a size of the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups exceeds a predetermined third number of luminaires.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the luminous flux of the remaining lighting groups other than the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups is switched off or remains switched off, or is reduced or remains reduced to a low dimming value during the switching the lighting of the lighting system into the first switching state.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein

the luminous flux of the remaining the lighting groups of the plurality of lighting groups is switched off or remains switched off, or is reduced or remains reduced to a low dimming value, during the switching the lighting of the lighting system into the second switching state.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the switching of the first lighting group into both of the first switching state and into the second switching state occurs by dimming or turning off the light sources of the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least two light sensors of the plurality of light sensors are assigned to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups; and

further comprising setting weighting factors for the regulation of the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the measurement values continuously detected during operation by the at least two light sensors of the plurality of light sensors and further based on the comparison of the difference values of the at least two assigned light sensors of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein

the weighting factors comprise a higher weighting factor for a comparatively higher difference value and a lower weighting factor for a comparatively lower difference value.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the method occurs successively for the remaining lighting groups of the plurality of lighting groups other than the first lighting group.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 ,

further comprising deactivating any light sensor not assigned to a lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,

further comprising initiating the method during operation of the lighting system by an event.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein

the event is the setting and storage of a regulation setpoint value in the control device.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein

the event occurs by way of a pushbutton, a motion detector, a time switch, or combinations thereof.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising:

assigning at least one light sensor of the plurality of lighting sensors to a new lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the comparison of the difference values determined, and

storing the new assignment in the control device only if a change in the difference values in the comparison exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the method occurs by the control device.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the luminaires and the plurality of light sensors of the lighting system are connected to the control device in an individually addressable manner via a common data bus, and wherein each lighting group and its corresponding luminaires grouped therein and/or the assignment of each light sensor to a respective lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups are/is stored in a cache memory of the control device or of the plurality of light sensors.

18. A control device for assigning a plurality of light sensors for regulating the lighting in a lighting system in a space to be illuminated, said lighting system comprising:

a plurality of lighting groups, where each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups comprises one or more luminaires,

a control device configured to regulate a luminous flux of each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, and

a plurality of light sensors where each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors is assigned to each lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups, the luminous flux of each lighting group being regulated by a corresponding light sensor of the plurality of light sensors,

wherein the control device is configured to carry out a method; wherein the method comprises:

switching the lighting of the lighting system into a first switching state such that a first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups emits light with a predetermined luminous flux;

switching the lighting of the lighting system into a second switching state such that the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups emits light with a reduced luminous flux by comparison with the predetermined luminous flux or emits no light;

measuring a luminance of the light reflected by a reference surface by all of the light sensors of the plurality of light sensors assigned to the respective surface in the space to determine a first measurement value in the first switching state and a second measurement value in the second switching state for all of the light sensors of the plurality of light sensors;

determining a difference value from the first and second measurement values for each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors;

comparing all of the difference values determined for each light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to each other,

assigning at least one light sensor of the plurality of light sensors to the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups based on the comparison, and

storing the assignment, such that the first lighting group of the plurality of lighting groups can be regulated to a constant illuminance on the reference surface in a control loop based on the measurement values continuously detected by the at least one assigned light sensor.