US 2,006,170,376 · Filed 2006-01-24
The Patent That Made Office Lighting Actually Customizable
Imagine being able to control all the lights in your workspace from your desk — dimming them, changing their color, or turning them on and off with ease. This patent covers a whole system where LED lights are wired together through special power distribution built into walls and dividers, so you can personalize your lighting without calling IT.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a networked lighting system for personal workspaces where multiple LED-based lighting units can be individually controlled and customized by an occupant. What's protected here is the combination of: LED lighting units arranged throughout a workspace, power distribution schemes (like wiring built into dividers and partitions) that supply power conveniently to those lights, and control methods that let a single person adjust lighting conditions across their area. Competitors copying this integrated approach to workspace lighting customization and power delivery would infringe.
Why it matters
Before smart, networked lighting became common in offices, workspace lighting was typically a fixed overhead grid controlled by facilities management — not the person actually working there. This patent represents an early push toward personalized workplace environments where occupants have agency over their own lighting, color, and brightness. For Color Kinetics, this was part of establishing LED-based lighting customization as a category, laying groundwork for the smart office and workplace wellness trends that followed.
Real-world use
Every time an office worker adjusts the brightness or color of their desk lights from an app or control panel without rewiring their cubicle, they're benefiting from the kind of networked, power-distributed lighting system this patent describes.
Original USPTO abstract
Methods and apparatus for customization of a workspace, including lighting in the workspace. Multiple LED-based lighting units arranged in a personal workspace may be conveniently controlled by an occupant of the workspace to customize or personalize workspace lighting. Workspace customization, including lighting conditions, further is facilitated by various power distribution schemes to allow convenient access to power in the workspace for lighting units and other electronic devices. Workspace dividers, partitions and walls may be particularly configured to accommodate power distribution systems and various components of networked lighting systems in the workspace environment.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,006,170,376
- Filing date
- 2006-01-24
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Color Kinetics Incorporated
- Inventor(s)
- PIEPGRAS COLIN, MOLLNOW TOMAS, DOWLING KEVIN J.
- CPC class
- E06B3/6722
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