WO2009004539A1

WO2009004539A1 - Light control system with automatic position detection of objects and method for controlling a lighting system by automatically detecting the position of objects

Info

Publication number: WO2009004539A1
Application number: PCT/IB2008/052567
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthias Wendt; Armand M. M. Lelkens
Original assignee: Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2007-06-29
Filing date: 2008-06-26
Publication date: 2009-01-08
Also published as: TW200911025A

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for controlling a lighting system by automatically detecting the position of objects. A basic idea of the invention is to automatically detect the positions of objects, particularly movable objects like mannequins, and to control a lighting system depending on the detected positions by automatically processing the detected positions in a process of creating a certain lighting atmosphere created by the lighting system from an abstract description of the lighting atmosphere (abstract atmosphere description). According to an embodiment of the invention, a light control system (10) with automatic position detection of objects (14) is provided, wherein the light control system (10) is adapted - to automatically create light control values for rendering light effects associated with the objects, - to automatically detect the positions of objects (14), and - to automatically adjust the created light control values depending on the detected positions of objects (14).

Description

LIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC POSITION DETECTION OF OBJECTS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A LIGHTING SYSTEM BY AUTOMATICALLY DETECTING THE POSITION OF OBJECTS

The invention relates to a system and method for controlling a lighting system by automatically detecting the position of objects.

Lighting systems are becoming more advanced, flexible and integrated, and will enable new forms of lighting including color lighting and dynamics, which will make it possible to create a whole variety of numerous light designs with a single lighting system. In known systems the operator of a light installation has to know all available properties that can be adjusted for a certain object to set-up a light design. If a user likes to interactively modify the light settings she/he could do that by traditionally adjusting lamp settings manually. However, that requires in-depth knowledge of the related lamps and the possible adjustments, and may be tedious.

WO 2005/107337 Al discloses a user interface for controlling a lighting device. The user interface is based on a system comprising a detection device and transponders. Bringing the transponders within the detection device so that they will be detected causes the transponders to send a response signal, which signal controls the lighting color and/or intensity of a lighting unit of the lighting device. Each transponder is programmed to control a particular color or a specific light intensity. The transponders may be RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags. This user interface enables a user to easily change lighting color and/or intensity.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for controlling a lighting system by automatically detecting the position of objects.

The object is achieved by the independent claim(s). Further embodiments are shown by the dependent claim(s). A basic idea of the invention is to automatically detect the positions of objects in a lighting environment, particularly of movable objects like mannequins in a shop, and to control a lighting system depending on the detected positions, particularly by automatically adjusting created light control values for rendering light effects associated with the objects depending on the detected positions of objects. For example, when a certain object is moved in a shop from one to another position, the new position of the object may be automatically detected and signaled to the light control system which may then automatically adjust the lighting effects associated with the moved object and its new position. In the following, some important terms used herein are explained.

The term "lighting atmosphere" as used herein means a combination of different lighting parameters such as intensities of different spectral components of lighting, the colors or spectral components contained in a lighting, the color gradient or the like. The term "abstract atmosphere description" of a lighting atmosphere means a description of the atmosphere at a higher level of abstraction than a description of settings of the intensity, color or like of every individual lighting device or unit of a lighting system. It means for example the description of the type of a lighting such as "diffuse ambient lighting", "focused accent lighting", or "wall washing" and the description of certain lighting parameters such as the intensity, color, or color gradient at certain semantic locations at certain semantic times, for example "blue with low intensity in the morning at the cash register" or "dark red with medium intensity at dinner time in the whole shopping area".

The term "semantic area" means a description of an area such a "cash register" in a shop in contrast to a concrete description of an area or a location with coordinates.

It should be understood that the abstract description of a lighting atmosphere does not comprise concrete information about a specific instance of a lighting system such as the number and locations of the used lighting units or devices and their colors and available intensities. The term "lighting system" comprises a complex system for illumination, particularly containing several lighting units, for example a plurality of LEDs (light emitting diodes) or other lighting devices such as halogen bulbs. Typically, such a lighting system applies several tens to hundreds of these lighting devices so that the composition of a certain lighting atmosphere by individually controlling the characteristics of each single lighting device would require computerized lighting control equipment.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a light control system with automatic position detection of objects is provided, wherein the light control system is adapted

- to automatically create light control values for rendering light effects associated with the objects,

- to automatically detect the positions of objects, and

- to automatically adjust the created light control values depending on the detected positions of objects.

Such a system offers an automatic control of the light effects for objects created by a lighting system. Particularly, it does not require the tedious and manual adjustment of the light control values when the target lighting environment has changed due to the movement of an object. This is particularly useful in complex lighting systems with dozens of light units, where a change in the lighting environment normally would require a kind of redesign of a lighting atmosphere, particularly an adaptation of light effects for objects. In this embodiment, lighting effects may automatically "move" with an object.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be further adapted to automatically create the light control values from an abstract description of the lighting atmosphere. For example, the light control system may process the detected positions during the process of automatically creating the certain lighting atmosphere from the abstract description of this atmosphere by means of an abstract atmosphere description language in that it adjusts the created lighting effects to the detected positions. In this process, the abstract lighting atmosphere description is automatically transferred into control values for the lighting units of a concrete lighting system. The abstract description may contain positions of semantic areas which are used to describe certain lighting effects.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be adapted - to automatically receive tag identifications from an object, and

- to detect the position of the object by processing the received tag identifications in that the positions of the tags corresponding to the received tag identifications are retrieved, and the position of the object is detected by processing the retrieved positions of the tags. Due to this embodiment, the position of an object is determined depending on the position of tags. Thus, it is possible to use for example RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or other NFC (Near Field Communication) tags with a small memory, since the memory merely needs to store a tag identification. This also reduces the amount of data transmitted from the tags into the light control system. The light control system may comprise a database with the absolute positions of each of the tags. Thus, by receiving for example three tag identifications from a certain object, the light control system may detect the object's position by retrieving the absolute positions of the tags corresponding to the received tag identifications. For the identification, a random code may be generated for each tag which allows using the technology simultaneously with other communication systems as long as the code is distinguishable from other codes. The tags may be implemented by for example cheap plastic RFID tags incorporated in carpets, floor materials, tables, etc. so that with a tag every few square centimeters, a device that is placed on top of it can deduce its position by reading the tag underneath. According to a further embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be adapted

- to look up lighting rules for an object from which tag identifications were received from a lighting rules database and

- to use the looked up lighting rules for the automatic adjusting of the created light control values. For example, if a movable object such as a mannequin or display rag gets placed within reach of an accent lamp, the light control system may determine this by means of the lighting rules database and may furthermore automatically activate an accent light. According to a further embodiment of the invention, the lighting rules database may also contain physical data of objects, and the light control system may be further adapted

- to retrieve physical data of an object from the lighting rules database and

- to use the retrieved physical data for optimizing light effect rendering during automatically creating light control values from the abstract description of the lighting atmosphere.

For example, the lighting rules database may contain physical data such as width, height, color, transparency, reflectance etc. of an object such as a mannequin. This physical data can be used to optimize light effect rendering and to take possible blocking of certain light sources by the object into account.

In an embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be further adapted to control appropriate positions of semantic areas contained in the abstract description of the lighting atmosphere corresponding to the detected positions of objects. For example, when an object "cash register" which is connected to a corresponding semantic area is moved, the new location of the object may be used to control the appropriate position of the corresponding semantic area "cash register" in the abstract description. Thus, the abstract description may be automatically updated. If the abstract description only names semantic areas and an architecture file gives locations to these areas, then the location information gathered from the inventive light control system than may modify the location in this architecture file only according to a further embodiment of the invention.

The light control system may comprise in a further embodiment of the invention a light control interface attached to a lighting infrastructure and being adapted to transmit the created light control values with a lighting control protocol of the light control interface to the lighting infrastructure. The interface allows controlling different lighting systems, i.e. lighting systems with different control protocols. According to a further embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be adapted to automatically adjust the created light control values in that the kind of lighting is controlled depending on the detected positions of an object and kind of an object. For example, the light control system may consider the available light units in a new position of an object and the light effects available at the new position, thus allowing better adapting the created lighting atmosphere to the changed environment.

According to a yet further embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be adapted to automatically adjust the created light control values in that shadowing effects due to movable objects get automatically compensated for. For example, when a mannequin is moved to a location where it would create a shadow, the light control system may automatically render the light effects for the new location of the mannequin in that the shadow from the mannequin is compensated for.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the light control system may be adapted to automatically receive proximity sensor information from an object and to adjust the created light control values accordingly. For example, the proximity sensor information may signal people standing close to the object, and the light control system may then load an alternative set of lighting rules for this object from the lighting rules database and change illumination of the object by adjusting the light control values accordingly, for example from accent lighting to a high color-rendering-index lighting. According to a further embodiment of the invention, a reader for continuously reading tag identifications may be provided, wherein the reader may be adapted to be integrated in an object of a light control system and to analyze the read tag identifications, to detect a movement of the object depending on the analysis, and to signal a detected movement of the object. The reader may be adapted to signal the detected movement via a wireless communication connection with the light control system, particularly a command center of the light control system. The wireless communication connection may be for example a radio or an optical link.

The reader may be further adapted in an embodiment of the invention to analyze the read tag identifications by detecting changes of the read tag identifications. Thus, the reader is able to easily determine any position changes of the object in which it is integrated. The reader may also be further adapted in an embodiment of the invention to signal a detected movement of the object by transmitting detected changes of the read tag identifications. This allows keeping the transmitted amount of data relatively small since data is transmitted only when an object movement is detected by the reader. According to an embodiment of the invention, the reader may be further adapted

- to store read tag identifications,

- to compare a read tag identification with a previously read tag identification, and

- to signal a detected movement of the object if the received tag identification differs from the previously received tag identification.

In this embodiment, the reader simply detects a movement by detecting a change in the read tag identifications since this is usually a clear indication that the object was moved to another location in the neighborhood of different tags. The kind of movement detection may be implemented at relatively low cost, since only a comparison of received tag identification is required for detecting a movement.

The reader may be further adapted in an embodiment of the invention to signal the intensity of a signal containing read tag identification together with a detected movement of an object. The signaled intensity could be used for more exact position detection, since it allows estimating the distance of a tag which transmitted the signal and the reader having received the signal with the tag identification.

The reader may be in an embodiment of the invention combined with a light sensor for measuring photometric data and may be adapted to transmit measured photometric data together with read tag identifications to the light control system for automatic registration of effect locations and properties. Thus, the light control system is able to detect the lighting environment more exactly based on this kind of feedback received from the light sensor. A more exact detection of the lighting environment enables are more exact and better adapted lighting control.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, an object being adapted for usage with a light control system of the invention may be provided, wherein the object may contain a reader of the invention for continuously reading tag identifications from floor or wall embedded tags in the neighborhood of the reader. The object may be for example a mannequin, a cupboard, screening walls etc. or a movable lamp. The latter make it possible for example to automatically recalculate the settings of the movable lamp after lamp movement.

The object may comprise in a further embodiment of the invention a proximity sensor for detecting whether people are standing close to the object, and it may be adapted to signal people standing close to the object. This allows controlling special light effects depending on for instance shopper's activity. For example, when a mannequin attracts a lot of shoppers, this may be detected by means of the proximity sensor and processed by the light control system to adapt the light effects used to illuminate the mannequin.

Embodiments of the invention also relate to calibration methods for the ight control system.

One embodiment of the invention provides a method for calibrating a light control system of the invention, wherein - the locations of tags in a lighting environment are detected with sensing devices combined with readers of the invention, and

- the detected tag locations are transmitted to the light control system for storing the locations together with the corresponding tag identifications in a tag positions database. The sensing devices combined with readers may be implemented as a kind of vehicle, such as a floor care device, which autonomously navigates by means of for example a tagged floor.

A further embodiment of the invention provides a method for calibrating a light control system of the invention with a tag registration device comprising a reader of the invention, wherein

- the position of the tag registration device is recorded with a camera while tag identifications get recorded with the tag registration device and

- the recorded positions are stored together with the recorded tag identifications in a tag positions database. The registration device may be also implemented as a kind of vehicle such as a floor care device and able to autonomously navigate my means of a tagged floor. The registration device may also comprise a signal lamp in order to make registration with the camera also possible in a dark environment. The camera may be for example a dark room calibration camera used for calibrating a lighting system controlled by the light control system. A further embodiment of the invention relates to a method for controlling a lighting system by automatically detecting the position of objects, comprising

- automatically creating light control values for rendering light effects associated with the objects,

- automatically detecting the positions of objects, and - automatically adjusting the created light control values depending on the detected positions of objects.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method may further comprise

- automatically creating light control values from an abstract description of the lighting atmosphere

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method may further comprise

- automatically receiving tag identifications from an object, and

- detecting the position of the object by processing the received tag identifications in that the positions of the tags corresponding to the received tag identifications are retrieved, and the position of the object is detected by processing the retrieved positions of the tags.

The method may further comprise according to an embodiment of the invention - looking up lighting rules for an object from which tag identifications were received from a lighting rules database and

- using the looked up lighting rules for the automatic adjusting of the created light control values.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the invention, the lighting rules database may contain physical data of objects, and the method may further comprise - retrieving physical data of an object from the lighting rules database and using the retrieved physical data for optimizing light effect rendering during automatically creating light control values from the abstract description of the lighting atmosphere.

According to a yet further embodiment of the invention, the method may comprise

- controlling appropriate positions of semantic areas contained in the abstract description of the lighting atmosphere corresponding to the detected positions of objects.

According to a yet further embodiment of the invention, the method may comprise

- automatically adjusting the created light control values in that the kind of lighting is controlled depending on the detected positions of an object and kind of an object.

According to a yet further embodiment of the invention, the method may further comprise - automatically adjusting the created light control values in that shadowing effects due to movable objects get automatically compensated for.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, a computer program is provided, wherein the computer program may be enabled to carry out the method according to the invention when executed by a computer. According to an embodiment of the invention, a record carrier such as a

CD-ROM, DVD, memory card, floppy disk or similar storage medium may be provided for storing a computer program according to the invention.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a computer may be programmed to perform a method according to the invention and may comprise communication means for communicating with a lighting system.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.

The invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to exemplary embodiments. However, the invention is not limited to these exemplary embodiments. Fig. 1 shows an architectural view of an embodiment of a light control system according to the invention; and Fig. 2 shows a lighting environment with a mannequin and RFID tags embedded in the floor for detecting the position of the mannequin in the lighting environment.

In the following description, (functional) similar or identical elements in the drawings may be denoted with the same reference numerals.

Light and lighting have many functions in human life, but traditionally the most important one was basic illumination. Therefore, the usual exploitation of lighting consists of a set of lamps hardwired by fixed cables to one or more switches to turn the lamps on or off. With the new solid state lighting technology it becomes feasible to install many more lamps than needed at any one time and only switch them on depending the current needs with respect to desired luminance and color. This opens up new opportunities for creating different lighting atmospheres, without changing the light installation itself. However, the larger the installed lamp base, the more difficult it becomes to manage control of the lamps: There is a need for automating the control of lamps.

Initial deployment of atmosphere and accent lighting, still with (often proprietary) complex and manual control, is known from restaurants and theatres, but it also enters more markets, e.g. shops. Light/interior designers (in fact, being artists) may adapt the color of background, functional and accent lighting to the shop and manufacturer brand, role, season/daytime and collection, etc.

Currently designing light atmospheres with light or lighting effects for objects is a tedious and very much room and installation dependent task. Therefore, an automated translation of abstract atmosphere description into control values of the lamps may be used in order to make the process of creating a lighting atmosphere more comfortable for users. Thus, a light control system may comprise a so-called rendering pipeline which enables automated translation of one specification of a light scene or lighting atmosphere, i.e. the abstract description, into a scene or atmosphere, respectively, rendered in accordance with the available light modules. Therein, a so- called abstract (atmosphere) description language (ADL) may be used in order to write the said specification. The specification is the abstract description of a lighting atmosphere in ADL. One of the roles of ADL is to allow the description of a light scene or lighting atmosphere without -among others- any explicit knowledge about the particularly installed lighting hardware or the specific layout of the room. This ability provides high flexibility and portability to design light scenes.

In the following, the process of creating a certain lighting atmosphere from an abstract description for a shop is briefly outlined. Via some design process, for example by using a lighting atmosphere composition computer program with a graphical user interface (GUI), an abstract atmosphere description is created. The abstract description merely contains descriptions of lighting effects at certain semantic areas or locations at certain semantic times/occasions. The lighting effects are described by the type of light with certain parameters. The abstract description is shop layout and lighting system independent. Thus, it may be created by a lighting designer without knowledge about a specific lighting system and lighting environment such as a room layout. The designer must know only semantic locations of the lighting environment, for example "cash register" or "shoe box 1", "shoe box 2", "changing cubicle", "coat stand" in a shoe or fashion shop. When using a GUI for creating the abstract description, it may be for example possible to load a shop layout template containing the semantic locations. Then the designer can create the lighting effects and the atmosphere by for example drag and drop from a palette of available lighting effects. The output of the computer program with the GUI may be a XML file containing the abstract description. The abstract description is then automatically translated into control values for the different lighting devices or units, i.e., lamps of a specific instance of a lighting system. During this automatic translation process, an architecture description file containing the absolute positions of the semantic areas (architecture information) is processed.

With the invention, the positions of movable objects such as mannequins that give architecture information for the position of the semantic areas, used to describe the lighting effects, may now be automatically considered in the above described process. Also changes of sensor or lamp locations may be automatically recognized and used to automatically initiate a consecutive new rendering process with updated location information according to the invention. Moreover, positions of objects that could eventually shadow the light effects may be considered during the automatic process of creating a lighting atmosphere. With an automatic position acquisition according to the present invention, a light control system can be made aware of all of these conditions and better accommodated to changing lighting environments such as rooms or buildings, as will be described in the following in detail.

For detecting the positions of movable objects in a lighting environment, some positioning technology, for example RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or NFC (Near Field Communication) technology - for simplicity, further referred to as "RFID"- may be used and further processed by a light control system to easily control a vast array of colored light sources. The positioning technology enables to automatically determine where movable objects are located and to automatically adapt the lighting conditions accordingly. Particularly, RFID technology may be used to easily adapt targeted lighting when shop furniture or display objects get moved. The new position of an object may be detected by an RFID reader in the object, which reads RFID tags that are incorporated in a dense matrix in the floor covering. Each tag has a unique identification. The object sends the identification of the tags within reach of the reader over a data connection, e.g. wirelessly via ZigBee, into the light control system. Here the object is identified e.g. by means of the related ZigBee address. The abstract lighting atmosphere description file (architecture file) containing the position information of all semantic areas of a room or a building with a lighting system gets automatically modified to reflect the actual positions. The result is that if a tagged object is being moved, the lighting effect may "move" with it automatically. In summary, an automated control of lighting for (e.g. shop) furniture or other display objects may be provided, where the lighting is automatically adapted to the position of the furniture or accessories. Examples of objects for which this might be useful are: cupboards, mannequins, wig heads, display rags, screening walls, etc. Fig. 1 shows a light control system 10 according to the invention, which comprises the following components: • An RFID tag reader 12 embedded into the bottom of some movable object 14, for example furniture or a mannequin.

• RFID tags 16 fitted into the surface of a room, for example embedded in a carpet, a floor material, or a wall material. • A data communication means to transfer the reader identification (ID) as well as tag identifications (RFIDs) within reach, e.g. via a radio link 18, for example a ZigBee radio link.

• A command center 20 receives over this radio link 18 messages from the RFID reader 12 when an RFID tag 16 is detected and is adapted to control appropriate positions of semantic areas.

• A light control interface 22 attached to the lighting infrastructure 24. This may be any available lighting control protocol, e.g. DMX or DALI, or a proprietary one.

The RFID reader 12 is constantly reading RFID tags 16 by transmitting tag identification request signals. If a RFID tag 16 is located within the range of the transmitted signals it responses with a tag identification response signal. The tag identification response signal contains identification (ID) of the responding RFID tag. The RFID reader 12 compares the received ID with the previous one and if the ID has changed, it sends the new ID over the radio link 18 to the command center 20 of the light control system 10, together with identification of the RFID reader 16 itself. If multiple IDs, i.e. IDs from several RFID tags 16, are readable all can be transmitted to the command center 20 and used in combination to estimate the position of the RFID reader 12 between RFID tags 16. Also the intensity of a received tag signal could be used for a better estimation of the position of the RFID reader 12. The command center 20, which may be implemented by a Personal

Computer (PC) executing software for creating a lighting atmosphere from an abstract atmosphere description, receives the (changed) ID or IDs and the identification of the RFID reader 16. The command center 20 has access to a lamp capabilities database 26, a RFID tag position database 28, and an object lighting rules database 30. Upon receipt of IDs over the radio link 18, the command center 20 looks up the lighting rules for the object in database 26 using the received identification of the RFID reader 16. Then, it determines the position of the object containing the RFID reader 16 by consulting the "tag positions" database 28. For an effect based light control system, the architecture description file containing the absolute positions of the semantic areas gets actualized with the position information. By combining the position of the object and the lamp positions, the command center 20 selects the appropriate light units and sets them to the correct dimming level to illuminate the object in its new position with the right color and brightness. Furthermore, it switches off (or dims to a selected default dim level) the lamps that were used to illuminate the object in its previous position, but are now no longer needed.

Fig. 2 shows a typical lighting environment of a shop with a mannequin 14 as movable object. The mannequin is lighted by spotlights 24 mounted in the ceiling of the shop. In the floor of the shop, RFID tags 16 are embedded. Each RFID tag 16 contains an unique RFID. The mannequin contains a RFID Reader which continuously reads the RFIDs of the RFID tags 16 close to the mannequin 14, i.e. within the radio link range of the RFID reader. The received RFIDs are transmitted from the RFID reader in the mannequin 14 with its own ID to the command center 20 (see Fig. 1), which retrieves the absolute positions of the RFID tags by means of the tag positions database 28. Thus, the position of the mannequin 14 may be detected by the command center 20 and used for controlling the lighting created by the light units 24.

In another embodiment, the movable object also contains a proximity sensor to detect whether people are standing close to the object. This information is also sent to the command center 20. In that case, an alternative set of lighting rules for this object might be available in the object lighting rules database 30 and the light control system 10 changes the illumination accordingly, e.g. from accent lighting to a high color- rendering-index lighting.

In further improved embodiments also movable lamps, like e.g. LED ball lamps, can be equipped with RFID readers in order to detect their position.

In another embodiment, the database 30 with object lighting rules also holds physical data of the object, particularly width, height, color, transparency, reflectance, etc., that the command center 20 can use to optimize light effect rendering and take possible blocking of certain light sources by this object into account.

In order for this light control system 10 to work, the location of all RFID tags 16 should be stored in the tag positions database 28. To make this easy, the RFID tags 16 shall be written at manufacturing time with X, Y coordinates. Envisage a tag- printer that prints the tags on a carpet row by row. As long as it is in the same row, it increases the X coordinate by 1 for each next tag. When printing the next row, it resets X to the start value and increments the Y coordinate. X and Y can start both at 0. It is ensured that they are unique by also embedding a manufacturerID and productID as additional data in each tag. When the carpet is installed, only the X, Y coordinates of the tags at the four corners need to be read. The coordinates of all the other tags can then be derived by interpolation.

In another embodiment the reader 12 is combined with a light sensor to allow for measurements of photometric data at the RFID positions and automatic registration of effect locations and properties. In the light control system 10 this can be directly correlated to darkroom calibration data gathered with digital images. In this way the system can, by placing light sensors during dark room calibration in interesting locations for semantic areas, automatically register the related RFIDs.

An alternative position registration method can use a reader together with a small light source that gets registered by the dark room calibration camera while it is moved over the floor. Every time a new RFID is detected, the system remembers the position of the small signal lamp. This signal lamp could be monochromatic, e.g. a LED lamp, that can easily be distinguished from surrounding light , for example a warm white light and a blue LED on the registering appliance. This register appliance can be integrated in a floor service device. Then the registration can be done without additional manpower required.

In a further embodiment a robotic cleaning device navigated by means of the RFID tags might be followed with the camera to register every RFID tag automatically. This can easily be done without human interaction. To support this registration a visible lamp that gets registered by the camera mounted on the cleaning device is beneficial. In the following, some embodiments of the invention are briefly summarized:

• A light control system that automatically adjusts light effects when object positions change • A light control system as above where accent light gets automatically activated if movable display objects like mannequins or display rags get placed within reach of an accent lamp.

• A light control system as above where shadowing effects due to movable objects get automatically compensated for. • A light control system as above using floor/wall embedded RFID tags to recognize object positions.

• A light control system as above where RFID readers are integrated in movable objects like furniture, lamps or display objects in order to register automatically the positions of these objects. • A light control system as above where sensing devices are combined with

RFID readers in order to automatically register the sensor positions.

• A light control system as above where cameras are used to record position of the registration reader while RFIDs get recorded

• A light control system as above where registration reader is equipped with a signal lamp that can be easily registered

• A light control system as above where registration reader is mounted in a floor care device

• A light control system as above where registration reader is mounted in a floor care device that carries a lamp that can be registered by the dark room calibration camera. The floor care device may be manually operated or automatically navigating by means of the tagged floor.

• A light control system as above that automatically recalculates lamp setting when a movable lamp is moved.

• A light control system as above where movable lamps are equipped with RFID readers that send RFID tag information read to the light control system. The invention is particularly applicable to complex lighting systems, especially for shops, flexible meeting rooms and hospitals, which may be controlled with an automatic creation of lighting atmospheres from abstract descriptions.

At least some of the functionality of the invention may be performed by hard- or software. In case of an implementation in software, a single or multiple standard microprocessors or microcontrollers configuration may be used. The invention might be implemented by single or multiple algorithms.

It should be noted that the word "comprise" does not exclude other elements or steps, and that the word "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. Furthermore, any reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Light control system (10) with automatic position detection of objects (14), wherein the light control system (10) is adapted

- to automatically create light control values for rendering light effects associated with the objects, - to automatically detect the positions of objects (14), and

- to automatically adjust the created light control values depending on the detected positions of objects (14).

2. The light control system (10) of claim 1, being further adapted - to automatically create the light control values from an abstract description of the lighting atmosphere.

3. The light control system (10) of claim 1 or 2, being further adapted

- to automatically receive tag identifications from an object (14), and - to detect the position of the object (14) by processing the received tag identifications in that the positions of the tags (16) corresponding to the received tag identifications are retrieved, and the position of the object (14) is detected by processing the retrieved positions of the tags (16).

4. The light control system (10) of claim 1, 2 or 3, being further adapted

- to look up lighting rules for an object (14) from which tag identifications were received from a lighting rules database (30) and

- to use the looked up lighting rules for the automatic adjusting of the created light control values.

5. The light control system (10) of claim 4, wherein - the lighting rules database contains physical data of objects (14), and

- the light control system (10) is further adapted to retrieve physical data of an object (14) from the lighting rules database (30) and to use the retrieved physical data for optimizing light effect rendering during the automatically creation of light control

5 values from the abstract description of the lighting atmosphere.

6. The light control system (10) of any of the claims 2 to 5, being further adapted to control appropriate positions of semantic areas contained in the abstract description of the lighting atmosphere corresponding to the detected positions of objects

10 (14).

7. The light control system (10) of any of the preceding claims, comprising a light control interface (22) attached to a lighting infrastructure (24) and being adapted to transmit the created light control values with a lighting control protocol of the light

15 control interface (22) to the lighting infrastructure (24).

8. The light control system (10) of any of the preceding claims, being further adapted to automatically adjust the created light control values in that the kind of lighting is controlled depending on the detected positions of an object (14) and kind of

20 an object (14).

9. The light control system (10) of any of the preceding claims, being further adapted to automatically adjust the created light control values in that shadowing effects due to movable objects (14) get automatically compensated for.

25

10. The light control system (10) of any of the preceding claims, being further adapted to automatically receive proximity sensor information from an object (14) and to adjust the created light control values accordingly.

30 11. A reader (12) for continuously reading tag identifications and being adapted to be integrated in an object (14) of a light control system (10) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the reader (12) is further adapted to analyze the read tag identifications, to detect a movement of the object (14) depending on the analysis, and to signal (18) a detected movement of the object (14).

12. The reader (12) of claim 11 , being further adapted to analyze the read tag identifications by detecting changes of the read tag identifications.

13. The reader (12) of claim 11 or 12, being further adapted to signal a detected movement of the object (14) by transmitting detected changes of the read tag identifications .

14. The reader (12) of claim 13, being further adapted

- to store read tag identifications,

- to compare a read tag identification with a previously read tag identification, and - to signal a detected movement of the object (14) if the received tag identification differs from the previously received tag identification.

15. The reader (12) of any of claims 11 to 14, being further adapted to signal the intensity of a signal containing read tag identification together with a detected movement of an object (14).

16. The reader (12) of any of claims 11 to 15, comprising a light sensor for measuring photometric data and being adapted to transmit measured photometric data together with read tag identifications to the light control system (10) for automatic registration of effect locations and properties.

17. An object (14) being adapted for usage with a light control system (10) of any of the claims 1 to 10, wherein the object (14) contains a reader (12) of any of the claims 11 to 16 for continuously reading tag identifications from floor or wall embedded tags (16) in the neighborhood of the reader (12).

18. The object (14) of claim 17, comprising a proximity sensor for detecting whether people are standing close to the object (14), and being adapted to signal people standing close to the object (14).

19. A method for calibrating a light control system (10) of any of claims 1 to

10, wherein

- the locations of tags (16) in a lighting environment are detected with sensing devices combined with readers (12) of any of claims 11 to 16, and

- the detected tag locations are transmitted to the light control system (10) for storing the locations together with the corresponding tag identifications in a tag positions database (28).

20. A method for calibrating a light control system (10) of any of claims 1 to 10 with a tag registration device comprising a reader (12) of any of claims 11 to 16, wherein

- the recorded positions are stored together with the recorded tag identifications in a tag positions database (28).

21. A method for controlling a lighting system by automatically detecting the position of objects (14), comprising

- automatically creating light control values for rendering light effects associated with the objects, - automatically detecting the positions of objects (14), and

- automatically adjusting the created light control values depending on the detected positions of objects (14).

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising - automatically creating the light control values from an abstract description of the lighting atmosphere

23. A computer program enabled to carry out the method according to 21 or 22 when executed by a computer.

24. A record carrier storing a computer program according to claim 23.

25. A computer programmed to perform a method according to claim 21 or 22 and comprising communication means for communicating with a lighting system.