High-capability illumination systems (e.g., light players capable of dynamic spectrum output over time) can reproduce or approximate simple or complex illumination in virtually any environment. For example, a high-capability illumination system may be able to dynamically control the intensity, the spectral power distribution, the apparent spatial origins, and the directional and divergence characteristics of the illumination in an environment such as an office, a store, a theater, a room of a home, a work place, a green house, or a laboratory. Such systems may be able to mimic almost any illumination, e.g., to reproduce or approximate light from any natural or artificial light sources. A high-capability illumination system may further be able to select and produce illumination for many different purposes, including optimizing energy efficiency of light production for human vision, displaying illuminated items to their best advantage, producing an aesthetically pleasing static or dynamic lighting effect, optimizing a specific human activity such as working, sleeping, or waking, improving health or alertness (e.g., through illumination patterns that influence circadian rhythms or remedy jet lag), optimizing or altering plant growth or biological processes, creating a controlled electromagnetic event in a laboratory or other setting, or providing lighting to accompany music, video, games, or other presentations.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,021,021, entitled “Authoring, Recording and Replication of Lighting” describes a high-capability illumination system and particularly a luminaire that independently varies the respective intensities of multiple spectral channels. In such a system, the combined illumination from all of the spectral channels, e.g., the sum of the component spectral power distributions at their respective intensities, may produce or approximate a target spectral power distribution.
Programmable high-capability illumination systems generally need content that indicates the nature of the illumination to be produced, but the range of possible differences in illumination systems presents difficulty producing the same illumination in different environments with different illumination systems. For example, different multi-channel luminaires may have different numbers of spectral channels, and even if two luminaires have the same number of spectral channels, emission characteristics of the spectral channels such the peak wavelengths, the shapes of the spectral power distributions, and the maximum intensities or power produced by the respective spectral channels of one luminaire may differ from the corresponding emission characteristics of the spectral channels of the other luminaire. Further, an illumination system for an environment may include any number of light sources, and the positions and orientations of the light sources may differ greatly from one illumination system to the next. Accordingly, a custom-built illumination system (e.g., a high-end home system or a system for a concert hall or a theater) may be uniquely created for a particular structure, building, or room and may require content created specifically for that system. Because of the differences between illumination systems, custom-built illumination systems are generally unable to use content that was created for other illumination systems.
The drawings illustrate examples for the purpose of explanation and are not of the invention itself. Use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similar or identical items.