Notification lighting control

1. A control unit for use in a lighting system comprising a plurality of light sources, the plurality of light sources comprising notification light sources and background light sources, the control unit comprising:

an interface for communication with a notification service; and

a control module, the control module configured to:

control the plurality of light sources to emit light in accordance with background light settings;

receive, via said interface, notification light settings that are to be supplied to one or more of the plurality of light sources assigned as notification light sources by the notification light settings to provide a visual notification of an event that are transmitted from the notification service;

compare the background light settings with the notification light settings in order to determine, based on a predetermined threshold, whether sufficient contrast will be provided; and

determine based on said comparison that one or more of the background light settings for the background light sources and the notification light settings for the notification light sources are to be modified such that the contrast between the background light settings of the background light sources and the notification light settings of the notification light sources is enhanced;

wherein in response to determining that the received notification light settings are to be modified, the control module is configured to modify the received notification light settings to generate modified notification light settings, and control the one or more notification light sources in accordance with the modified notification light settings, and

wherein in response to determining that the background light settings are to be modified, the control module is configured to modify the background light settings to generate modified background light settings, and control background light sources of the plurality of light sources in accordance with the modified background light settings.

2. The control unit of claim 1 , further comprising a memory storing possible light settings associated with each of the plurality of light sources, and the control module is configured to modify the received notification light settings based on possible light settings associated with the light sources assigned as notification light sources, and modify the background light settings based on possible light settings associated with the background light sources.

3. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to determine based on said comparison that brightness settings of the notification light settings are to be modified, and in response, modify the brightness settings of the notification light settings to generate the modified notification light settings.

4. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to determine based on said comparison that brightness settings of the background light settings are to be modified, and in response, modify the brightness settings of the background light settings to generate the modified background light settings.

5. The control unit of claim 3 , wherein the comparison comprises comparing the brightness settings of the background light settings with the brightness settings of the notification light settings.

6. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to determine based on said comparison that static colour settings of the background light settings are to be modified, and in response, modify the static colour settings of the background light settings to generate the modified background light settings.

7. The control unit of claim 6 , wherein the comparison comprises a colour spectrum comparison of the static colour settings of the background light settings and colour settings of the notification light settings.

8. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to determine based on said comparison that dynamic colour settings of the background light settings are to be modified, and in response, modify the dynamic colour settings of the background light settings to generate the modified background light settings.

9. The control unit of claim 6 , wherein the comparison comprises a colour spectrum comparison of the dynamic colour settings of the background light settings and colour settings of the notification light settings.

10. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to determine based on said comparison that a temporal characteristic of the received notification light settings is to be modified, and in response, modify the temporal characteristic of the notification light settings to generate the modified notification light settings.

11. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more notification light sources in accordance with the modified notification light settings and/or the background light sources in accordance with the modified background light settings, for a predetermined period of time, and upon expiry of the predetermined period of time, the control module is configured to control the plurality of background light sources to emit light in accordance with said background light settings.

12. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more notification light sources in accordance with the modified notification light settings and/or the background light sources in accordance with the modified background light settings, until an instruction to stop the visual notification is received, and upon receipt of said instruction, the control module is configured to control the plurality of background light sources to emit light in accordance with said background light settings.

13. The control unit of claim 2 , wherein the control module is coupled to a plurality of sensors, and the memory stores location information of each of the plurality of light sources and location information of each of the plurality of sensors, wherein the control module is configured to detect presence and/or motion of a user based on a sensor signal output from a sensor of the plurality of sensors, and modify at least one of the received notification light settings and the background light settings in response to said detection.

14. A method for controlling a plurality of light sources of a lighting system comprising, the plurality of light sources comprising notification light sources and background light sources, the method comprising:

receiving notification light settings that are to be supplied to one or more of the plurality of light sources assigned as notification light sources by the notification light settings to provide a visual notification of an event that are transmitted from a notification service;

comparing background light settings with the notification light settings in order to determine, based on a predetermined threshold, whether sufficient contrast will be provided; and

determining based on said comparison that one or more of the background light settings and the notification light settings are to be modified such that the contrast between the background light settings and the notification light settings is enhanced;

wherein in response to determining that the received notification light settings are to be modified, the method further comprising modifying the received notification light settings to generate modified notification light settings, and controlling the one or more notification light sources in accordance with the modified notification light settings, and

wherein in response to determining that the background light settings are to be modified, the method further comprising modifying the background light settings to generate modified background light settings, and controlling background light sources in accordance with the modified background light settings.

15. A computer program product for controlling a plurality of light sources of a lighting system, the plurality of light sources comprising notification light sources and background light sources, the computer program product comprising code embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and being configured so as when executed on a processor to:

receive notification light settings that are to be supplied to one or more of the plurality of light sources assigned as notification light sources by the notification light settings to provide a visual notification of an event that are transmitted from a notification service;

compare background light settings with the notification light settings in order to determine, based on a predetermined threshold, whether sufficient contrast will be provided; and

determine based on said comparison that one or more of the background light settings for the background light sources and the notification light settings for the notification light sources are to be modified such that the contrast between the background light settings of the background light sources and the notification light settings of the notification light sources is enhanced;

wherein in response to determining that the received notification light settings are to be modified, modify the received notification light settings to generate modified notification light settings, and control the one or more notification light sources in accordance with the modified notification light settings, and

wherein in response to determining that the background light settings are to be modified, modify the background light settings to generate modified background light settings, and control background light sources in accordance with the modified background light settings.