DETERMINATION OF STREET CONDITION BY ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT

Abstract

The present invention provides a luminaire (1), in particular a street lamp. The luminaire comprises at least one lighting means (5), such as at least one light emitting diode, at least one sensor unit (15) including an acoustic sensor (2) configured to measure environmental sound, and further comprising a processing unit (3). The processing unit (3) is configured to identify an environmental situation of the luminaire (1), in particular the street condition at the street lamp, on the basis of at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound, such as the amplitude, frequency or pattern of the measured environmental sound and/or control information for controlling light emission.

Claims

1. A luminaire (1), in particular a street lamp, comprising at least one lighting means (5), such as at least one light emitting diode, at least one sensor unit (15) including an acoustic sensor (2) configured to measure environmental sound, and further comprising: a processing unit (3), wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to identify an environmental situation of the luminaire (1), in particular the street condition at the street lamp, on the basis of at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound, said at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound comprising the amplitude, frequency or pattern of the measured environmental sound.

2. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to detect a change of the at least one characteristic of the environmental sound measured by the at least one acoustic sensor (2) and to identify on the basis of the detected change of the at least one environmental sound characteristic the environmental situation of the luminaire (1).

3. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to control the light emission by the at least one lighting means (5), in particular to change the light intensity, light color and/or color temperature of the light emission, on the basis of the identified environmental situation.

4. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to communicate the identified environmental situation to an operating unit (4) of the luminaire (1) and/or to extern, in particular to at least one external control unit.

5. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to determine control information based on the identified environmental situation and to communicate the determined control information to the operating unit (4) of the luminaire (1) and/or to at least one external control unit.

6. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to identify the environmental situation out of a list of different environmental situations, wherein the different environmental situations are linked to different threshold values or ranges for the at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound; the processing unit (3) is configured to identify the environmental situation out of a list of different environmental situations, wherein the different environmental situations are linked to different threshold values or ranges for the detected change of the at least one environmental sound characteristic; and/or the processing unit is configured to identify the environmental situation by processing the measured environmental sound using mathematical algorithms.

7. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to identify the environmental situation using at least one additional time information.

8. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to detect at least one environmental event on the basis of the at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound and detect the frequency of the occurrence of the detected event within a time range in order to identify at least one characteristic of the identified environmental situation.

9. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to detect at least one environmental event, such as a moving vehicle, on the basis of the at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound and evaluate the at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound in order to identify at least one characteristic of the detected environmental event, wherein said at least one characteristic speed or velocity of the moving vehicle.

10. The luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit (3) is configured to repeatedly process with a time interval the at least one characteristic of the environmental sound measured by the at least one acoustic sensor (2), and/or the processing unit (3) is configured to process the at least one characteristic of the environmental sound measured by the at least one acoustic sensor (2) in response to a command received from extern.

11. A street lighting system, comprising at least one luminaire (1), in particular at least one street lamp, and at least one central control unit (12) for controlling the at least one luminaire (1), wherein the at least one luminaire (1) comprises at least one lighting means (5), such as at least one light emitting diode, and at least one sensor unit (15) including an acoustic sensor (2) configured to measure environmental sound, and further comprising a processing unit (3) configured to identify an environmental situation of the at least one luminaire (1), in particular the street condition at the street lamp, on the basis of at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound, said at least one characteristic comprising the amplitude, frequency or pattern of the measured environmental sound; the at least one luminaire (1) is configured to communicate the identified environmental situation and/or control information determined therefrom to the at least one central control unit (12); and the at least one central control unit (12) is configured to control the light emission by the at least one luminaire (1), in particular to change the light intensity, light color and/or color temperature of the light emission, on the basis of the identified environmental situation and/or the determined control information.

12. The system (6) according to claim 11, wherein the system (6) comprises at least one further luminaire (14), in particular at least one further street lamp, and the at least one central control unit (12) is configured to control the light emission by the at least one further luminaire (14) on the basis of the identified environmental situation and/or using the information, in particular the identified environmental situation, received from the at least one luminaire (1).

13. A method for identifying an environmental situation by a luminaire (1) according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the step of identifying an environmental situation of the luminaire (1), by the processing unit (3), on the basis of at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound, said at least one characteristic comprising the amplitude, frequency or pattern of the measured environmental sound.

14. The luminaire (1) according to claim 8, wherein the at least one environmental event is a rain drop or a moving vehicle, the at least one characteristic of the identified environmental situation is rainfall intensity or traffic density.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0097] In the following, the invention is described exemplarily with reference to the enclosed figures, in which

[0098] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a luminaire according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0099] FIGS. 2A and 2B are each a block diagram of an acoustic sensor of a luminaire according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0100] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0101] In the Figures corresponding elements are denoted with identical reference signs.

[0102] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a luminaire according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0103] As shown in FIG. 1, a luminaire 1 comprises at least one lighting means 5, at least one acoustic sensor 2, a processing unit 3 and an operating unit 4 for providing electrical energy to the at least one lighting means 5 from an external energy source 7, such as mains and/or a battery, wherein the battery may be a rechargeable battery. The acoustic sensor 2 and the processing unit 3 are integrated in a sensor unit 15, which further comprised a memory 16 as storage unit.

[0104] The above description of the luminaire according to an aspect of the invention is also valid for the luminaire 1 of FIG. 1. That is, the above description of the at least one lighting means, the at least one acoustic sensor and the processing unit of the luminaire according to an aspect of the invention is also valid for the at least one lighting means 5, at least one acoustic sensor 2 and processing unit 3 of the luminaire 1 according to FIG. 1.

[0105] The operating unit 4 is controllable by the processing unit 3 (as indicated by the solid line between the elements 3 and 4 in FIG. 1) and is configured to supply the at least one lighting means 5 with electrical energy. Since the light emission by the at least one lighting means 5 is dependent on the electrical energy supplied by the operating unit 4 to the at least one lighting means 5, the processing unit 3 is configured to control the light emission by the at least one lighting means 5 by controlling the operating unit 4. In particular, by controlling the energy supply by the operating unit 4 to the at least one lighting means 5. The term “lighting means driver” may be used as a synonym for the term “operating unit”. For controlling the light emission of the lighting means 5, the sensor unit 15 and the operating unit 4 are connected such that the processing unit 3 can send information about identified environmental situations or control information derived by the processing unit 3 based on the identified environmental situations to the operating unit 4. The sensor unit 15 and the operation unit 15 both may be connected to a bus system. For lighting applications, DALI or DALI-2 are preferred.

[0106] Preferably, the operating unit 4 is configured to convert electrical energy, in particular an input voltage or input current, supplied from the external energy source 7, such as mains, into a different electrical energy level, in particular a higher or lower output voltage or output current. Further, the operating unit 4 preferably comprises at least one actively switched DC-to-DC converter with at least one switch, such as a transistor, and at least one electrical energy storage, such as a choke or an inductivity. An input voltage or current may be converted by the DC-to-DC converter into a higher or lower output voltage or current, depending on the type of DC-to-DC converter, by actively switching the at least one switch. Examples of an actively switched DC-to-DC converter are a boost converter, a buck converter, a flyback converter, a resonant converter etc.

[0107] In case the operating unit 4 comprises at least one actively switched DC-to-DC converter, the processing unit 3 is configured to control the switching of the at least one switch of the DC-to-DC converter in order to control the electrical energy provided by the operating unit 4 to the at least one lighting means 5. Controlling the switching of the at least one switch also includes indirect control by providing information on an identified environmental situation or control information. The provided information may then internally in the operation unit 4 processed to generate a switch signal, which switches the switch in the end.

[0108] The at least one acoustic sensor 2 is configured to measure environmental sound and to provide the measurement results to the processing unit 3 (as indicated by the solid line between the elements 2 and 3 in FIG. 1).

[0109] The processing unit 3 is configured to process the measured environmental sound, received from the at least one acoustic sensor 2, in order to identify an environmental situation of the luminaire 1. That is, the processing unit 3 is configured to identify the environmental situation of the luminaire 1 on the basis of at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound, such as the amplitude, frequency or pattern of the measured environmental sound. In particular, the processing unit 3 is configured to identify the environmental situation of the luminaire 1 on the basis of the amplitude, frequency and/or pattern of the measured environmental sound. A correspondence between measured values of characteristics (or changes thereof) and associated environmental situations are stored in the memory 16. Further, the memory can store a correspondence table, for example, a look-up table, to enable determination of control information based on an identified environmental situation. The memory 16 may further store algorithms for computing environmental situations from the measured sound.

[0110] The processing unit 3 is preferably configured to detect a change of the at least one characteristic of the environmental sound measured by the at least one acoustic sensor 2 and to identify on the basis of the detected change of the at least one environmental sound characteristic the environmental situation of the luminaire 1.

[0111] As outlined already above, the sound caused by a vehicle driving over ice or snow on a street is different to the sound caused by a vehicle driving on a street without ice and snow. Weather conditions, such as light rainfall, heavy rainfall, wind, thunder etc., each cause a characteristic environmental sound that is indicative of/characteristic of the respective weather condition. For example, in case there is heavy rainfall, this causes an environmental sound indicative of the heavy rainfall, which may be measured by the at least one acoustic sensor 2 of the luminaire 1.

[0112] The processing unit 3 of the luminaire 1 may then identify on the basis of the measured environmental sound the presence of heavy rainfall as the environmental situation of the luminaire 1.

[0113] Moreover, street users, such as vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, persons, each cause a characteristic environmental sound that is indicative of the respective street user.

[0114] For example, in case there is a vehicle passing by the luminaire 1, this causes an environmental sound indicative of the moving vehicle, which may be measured by the at least one acoustic sensor 2 of the luminaire 1. The processing unit 3 of the luminaire 1 may then identify on the basis of the measured environmental sound the passing by of a vehicle as the environmental situation of the luminaire 1.

[0115] Furthermore, the sound caused by a vehicle driving on a street with a damage, such as a pothole, is different to the sound caused by the vehicle driving on a street without any damage, i.e. with a smooth street surface. Thus, the processing unit 3 may identify on the basis of the environmental sound whether the street comprises a damage, such as a pothole, or not.

[0116] The processing unit 3 is configured to control the light emission by the at least one lighting means 5 on the basis of the identified environmental situation. In particular, the processing unit 3 is configured to change the light intensity, light color and/or color temperature of the light emission by the at least one lighting means 5 on the basis of the identified environmental situation. To control the light emission the processing unit 3 generates control information or provides information on the identified environmental situation to the operation unit 4.

[0117] The processing unit 3 is configured to communicate the identified environmental situation and/or the contol information derived therefrom to extern. In particular, the processing unit 3 is configured to communicate with at least one element of a system 6, such as at least one central control unit of the system 6 (as indicated in FIG. 1 by the solid line between the elements 15 and 6). The luminaire 1 may be a part of the system 6.

[0118] The processing unit 3 is a part of the sensor unit 15. This case is shown in FIG. 2A showing a sensor unit 15 including the acoustic sensor 2 with a processing unit.

[0119] FIG. 2A and 2B are each a block diagram of sensor units of a luminaire according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0120] The sensor units of FIG. 2A and 2B may be used in a luminaire according to an aspect of the invention. The sensor unit 15 of FIG. 2B may be used in a luminaire of the system according to a further aspect of the invention and in a luminaire of the system according to another aspect of the invention.

[0121] The above description with respect to the at least one sensor unit 15 of the luminaire according to an aspect of the invention and the above description with respect to the at least one sensor unit of the luminaire of FIG. 1 is also valid for the sensor units of FIGS. 2A and 2B.

[0122] The sensor unit 15 of FIG. 2A comprises [0123] a microphone 21 as acoustic sensor for measuring the environmental sound, [0124] a signal processing unit 22 for signal processing the measurement signals received from the microphone 21, [0125] a processing unit 23 for identifying an environmental situation on the basis of at least one characteristic of the environmental sound measured by the microphone 21 and optionally signal processed by the signal processing unit 22, [0126] a memory 16, and [0127] a communication interface 24 for communicating with the operation unit 4 and/or extern, in particular for communicating information to extern.

[0128] The at least one characteristic of the environmental sound may be an amplitude, frequency or pattern of the environmental sound. The information communicated by the communication interface 24 may be the identified environmental situation.

[0129] The communication interface 24 is configured for a wireless and/or wired communication with extern. The communication interface 24 may be an interface according to the DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) industry standard or DALI-2 industry standard.

[0130] The processing unit 23 is configured to perform the processes that may be performed by the processing unit of the luminaire according to an aspect of the invention as described above, in particular by the processing unit 3 of the luminaire 1 of FIG. 1. That is, the processing unit 23 preferably corresponds to the processing unit 3 of the luminaire 1 according to an aspect of the invention of FIG. 1.

[0131] The acoustic sensor of FIG. 2B differs to the acoustic sensor of FIG. 2A in that the acoustic sensor of FIG. 2B does not comprise a processing unit 23.

[0132] That is, the sensor unit of FIG. 2B comprises [0133] a microphone 21 as acoustic sensor 2 for measuring the environmental sound, [0134] an optional signal processing unit 22 for signal processing the measurement signals received from the microphone 21, and [0135] a communication interface 24 for communicating with extern or to a separate processing unit within the luminaire.

[0136] In particular, the communication interface 24 is configured to communicate the measurement results (measured environmental sound) of the microphone 21, which may be signal processed by the optional signal processing unit 22, to extern.

[0137] The communication interface 24 is configured for a wireless and/or wired communication with extern. The communication interface 24 may be an interface according to the DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) industry standard or DALI-2 industry standard. In particular, the communication interface 24 is configured to communicate the acoustic sound measured by the acoustic sensor 2, in particular by the microphone 21, to a processing unit of a luminaire and/or to a central control unit extern to the luminaire, in case the acoustic sensor is part of the luminaire.

[0138] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0139] Thus, the above description with regard to the system according to a further aspect of the invention and the description with regard to the system according to another aspect of the invention is also valid for the system 6 of FIG. 3.

[0140] As shown in FIG. 3, the system 6 comprises a plurality of luminaires. Namely, the system 6 comprises five luminaires 1 comprising at least one acoustic sensor for providing lighting and measuring environmental sound and one further luminaire 14 for providing lighting. The system 6 may comprise also a different number of luminaires 1 and 14. That is, the number of luminaires shown in FIG. 3 is only by way of example for describing an embodiment of the invention and is not limiting the invention.

[0141] At least one of the luminaires 1 corresponds to the luminaire according to an aspect of the invention, as described above, in particular to the luminaire 1 according to FIG. 1. Therefore, the description with regard to the luminaire according to an aspect of the invention and the description with regard to the luminaire 1 of FIG. 1 is valid for this at least one luminaire 1.

[0142] On the top of FIG. 3, two luminaires 1 and the further luminaire 14 are electrically supplied from a common supply line 13 and, on the bottom of FIG. 3, three luminaires 1 are electrically supplied from a common supply line 13. These two groups of luminaires may for example correspond to the luminaires of two different streets.

[0143] The luminaires of each group may communicate via the respective supply line 13 (power line communication) with a corresponding communication sub-unit 8, such as a concentrator unit.

[0144] Each communication sub-unit 8 may then communicate data to an optional communication unit 9. The communication unit 9 is configured to communicate via a network 10, such as the internet, data to central control units 12. Alternatively or additionally, at least one of the communication sub-units 8 may communicate directly data via the network 10. In particular, the communication unit 9 and/or at least one of the communication sub-units 8 are configured to communicate data to an optional server 11 of the system 6. At least one central control unit 12 is configured to communicate data via the server 11, in particular to receive data from the server 11.

[0145] The communication between the elements of the system 6 may be wireless and/or wire-bound and is not limited to a specific communication method and communication protocol.

[0146] The number of central control units 12, optional server 11, optional communication unit 9 and communication sub-units 8 of the system 6 of FIG. 3 is only by way of example for explaining an embodiment of the invention and is not limiting the invention. The number of control units 12, optional server 11, optional communication unit 9 and communication sub-units 8 may, thus, be different compared to the number shown in FIG. 3.

[0147] The following explanation with regard to one central control unit 12 of the system 6 is also valid for the other central control unit(s) 12 of the system 6.

[0148] The central control unit 12 may receive from one or more luminaires 1 an identified environmental situation and/or control information. On the basis of the received information of a first luminaire 1 or a plurality of luminaires, the central control unit 12 may control the light emission by the first luminaire and/or control the light emission by at least one other luminaire, such as another luminaire 1 or the further luminaire 14. Collecting information from a plurality of luminaires allows to determine an improved situation understanding. In case that the resulting control of a luminaire 1 contradicts the control of a luminaire performed internally in the luminaire 1, the local control of the luminaire may be overruled by control information receive from the central control unit 12. The luminaires 1 may also be configured to ignore control information received from extern.

[0149] Additionally, the central control unit 12 may receive from one or more luminaires 1, which do not comprise a processing unit but at least one acoustic sensor, measured environmental sound.

[0150] The central control unit 12 is configured to identify on the basis of the measured environmental sound, in particular on the basis of at least one characteristic of the measured environmental sound, an environmental situation of the respective luminaire 1. On the basis of the identified environmental situation of the respective luminaire 1, the central control unit 12 may control the light emission by the respective luminaire 1 and/or control the light emission by at least one other luminaire, such as another luminaire 1 or the further luminaire 14.

[0151] The central control unit 12 may identify on the basis of the measured environmental sound received from at least two luminaires 1 an overall environmental situation of the system 6.

[0152] Additionally or alternatively, the central control unit 12 may identify on the basis of the environmental situations of at least two luminaires 1 an overall environmental situation of the system 6.

[0153] The central control unit 12 may control the light emission by at least one luminaire of the system 6 on the basis of the identified overall environmental situation of the system 6.

[0154] Controlling the light emission of a luminaire by the central control unit 12 may include changing the light intensity, light color and/or color temperature of the light emission but also geometry and/or direction of the emitted light. For changing the direction and/or opening angle of the emitted light, the luminaire may comprise actuators for actuating optical devices of the luminaire.

[0155] For example, in case the two luminaires 1 and the one further luminaire 14 on the top of FIG. 3 correspond to street lamps of a street, wherein the two luminaires 1 are placed at different spots of the street, e.g. one at the beginning and one at the end of the street, then the central control unit 12 is configured to identify respectively determine an overall street condition (overall environmental situation) of the street on the basis of the environmental situation of each of the two luminaires 1. The environmental situation of each of the two luminaires 1 may be identified directly by a processing unit of the respective luminaire 1 or by the central control unit 12. This listing of claims will replace all prior versions, and listings, of claims in the application: