Lighting control system

Claim 2

A lighting control system for storing and playing back a plurality of combinations of light control signals comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keyboard switches thereon; a plurality of manual light controls for individually controlling a plurality of SCR light controllers; means coupled to said light controls for converting the setting of each of said light controls to a digital signal representing said setting; read-write semiconductor memory means for storing digital information and presenting said digital information responsive to a memory address signal and a read-write signal; means coupled to said keyboard switches and responsive to each of said keyboard switches to address the first of a unique series of memory locations in said memory means by the operation of each of said keyboard switches; a record switch; means coupled to said record switch for providing a write signal to said memory means, for selecting the digital signal corresponding to the setting of the first of said light controls, and for sequentially advancing saId memory address signal and selecting the signal corresponding to the setting of the next of said light controls until the digital information corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light controls has been stored in said memory; first and second registers for each of said plurality of light controls, the input of said registers being coupled to the output of said memory means, each of said registers being responsive to a load signal to store the output of said memory; first and second play switches; means coupled to said first play switch for providing a read signal to said memory means, for sequentially advancing said memory address signal and sequentially providing a load signal to each of said first registers, whereby the digital signal corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light controls for the last keyboard switch to be actuated may be stored in said first registers; means coupled to said second play switch for providing a read signal to said memory means, for sequentially advancing said memory address signal and sequentially providing a load signal to each of said second registers, whereby the digital signal corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light control for the last keyboard switch to be activated may be stored in said second registers; conversion means coupled to each of said first and second registers associated with each of said light controls for converting digital signals in said first and second registers to analog signals; and combining means coupled to said conversion means and operative by a single control to variably combine the outputs of said conversion means so as to provide a plurality of analog output control signals for control of an SCR controller, each of which is a variable combination of the analog signals corresponding to the digital signal stored in the corresponding first and second registers.

Claim 3

The light control system of claim 1 further comprised of a switch means associated with each of said light controls and means coupled to said last named switch means for causing any of said analog output control signals to be controlled by the setting of the respective said light control instead of by the digital signal stored in the respective first and second registers.

Claim 4

The light control system of claim 2 further comprised of an all-on manual switch means and a variable manual master control means, said all on manual switch means being a means for causing all of said analog output control signals to be controlled by the respective said light control, said variable manual master control means being a means for changing all of said analog output control signals in response to the setting of said variable manual master control means.

Claim 5

The light control system of claim 1 further comprised of a rechargeable battery pack, said battery pack being coupled to said semiconductor memory and being a means for providing power to the memory cells when the main power is off so as to provide retention of digital information stored in said memory.

Claim 6

The light control system of claim 1 wherein said control for said combining means is operative between first and second positions to vary said analog output control signals from the signals corresponding to the digital signals stored in said first registers when in said first position to the signals corresponding to the digital signals stored in said second registers when in said second position, further comprised of a means coupled to said combining means for automatically causing the digital signals stored in said memory means corresponding to the memory locations associated with the one of said keyboard switches immediately following the one of said keyboard switches corresponding to the digital signals stored in said first registers to be stored in said second registers when said control is moved to said first position, and the digital signal stored in said memory means corresponding to the meMory locations associated with the one of said keyboard switches immediately following the one of said keyboard switches corresponding to the digital signals stored in said second registers to be stored in said second registers when said control is moved to said second position, whereby said analog output control signals may be caused to sequentially and smoothly vary through a series of combinations by the movement of said control for said combining means between first and second positions.

Claim 7

The light control system of claim 1 further comprised of first and second fader control means associated with said conversion means coupled to said first and second registers respectively, said first fader control means being a means for varying the outputs of said conversion means for said first registers in accordance with the setting of said first fader means, and second fader means being a means for varying the outputs of said conversion means for said second registers in accordance with the setting of said second fader means.

Claim 8

The light control system of claim 6 further comprised of a memory master fader control means, said memory master fader control means being coupled to said first and second fader control means and operative to vary the output of said conversion means for said first and second registers in accordance with the setting of said memory master fader means.

Claim 9

The light control system of claim 1 further comprised of first, second and third light display means, coupled to said keyboard switches, said first light display means being a means for displaying characters corresponding to the last of said keyboard switches to be actuated, said second and third light display means being further coupled to said first and second play switches, respectively, and responsive thereto to display characters corresponding to the keyboard switch associated with the digital signals stored in said first and second registers, respectively.

Claim 10

A lighting control system for storing and playing back a plurality of combinations of light control signals comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of sequentially numbered keyboard switches thereon; a plurality of manual light controls of the potentiometric type for individually controlling a plurality of SCR light controllers; an analog to digital converter coupled to said light controls through a set of first gates for selecting and converting the setting of each of said light controls to a digital signal representing said setting; a read-write semiconductor memory for storing digital information and presenting said digital information in parallel form responsive to a memory address signal and a read-write signal; a first coder coupled to said keyboard switches to provide a parallel digital output signal in response to the actuation of any of said keyboard switches; a keyboard counter adapted for parallel loading coupled to said first coder; a reference clock; provided a continuous train output a comparison circuit; a preset counter; a channel address counter adapted to repetitively count through a number equal to the number of said plurality of light controls; a memory address counter coupled to said memory means, said comparison circuit being coupled to said keyboard counter and said pre-set counter and adapted to provide an enable signal to couple said clock to said memory address counter and said channel address counter until a comparison is obtained between said keyboard counter and said pre-set counter outputs, said channel address counter being coupled to said first gates whereby said light controls will be sequentially coupled to said analog to digital converter as said channel address counter counts up to its largest count, said channel address counter being coupled to said preset counter to advance said preset counter by one count when said channel address counter returns to its lowest count; a record switch; control means coupled to said record switch aNd said channel address counter for sequentially enabling the operation of said analog to digital converter, for providing a write signal to said memory means to store the output of said analog to digital converter in the memory location corresponding to said memory address counter count, and for advancing the count of said memory address counter and said channel address counter by one count, said channel address counter being coupled to said control means to disenable said control means after the analog to digital conversion and storage in said memory means of each of said light control settings; first and second registers for each of said plurality of light controls, the input of said registers being coupled to the output of said memory means, each of said registers being responsive to a load signal to store the output of said memory; first and second play switches; means coupled to said first play switch and responsive thereto for providing a read signal to said memory means, for sequentially advancing said memory address signal and sequentially providing a load signal to each of said first registers, whereby the digital information corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light controls associated with the count in said keyboard counter may be stored in said first registers; means coupled to said second play switch for providing a read signal to said memory means, for sequentially advancing said memory address signal and sequentially providing a load signal to each of said second registers, whereby the digital information corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light controls associated with the count in said keyboard counter may be stored in said second registers; conversion means coupled to each of said first and second registers associated with each of said light controls for converting digital signals in said first and second registers to analog signals; and combining means coupled to said conversion means and operative by a single control to variably combine the outputs of said conversion means so as to provide a plurality of analog output control signals for control of an SCR controller, each of which is a variable combination of the analog signals corresponding to the digital signal stored in the corresponding first and second registered.

Claim 11

A lighting control system for storing and playing back a plurality of combinations of light control signals comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of sequentially numbered keyboard switches thereon; a plurality of manual light controls of the potentiometric type for individually controlling a plurality of SCR light controllers; an analog to digital converter coupled to said light controls through a set of first gates for selecting and converting the setting of each of said light controls to a digital signal representing said setting; a read-write semiconductor memory for storing digital information and presenting said digital information in parallel form responsive to a memory address signal and a read-write signal; a first coder coupled to said keyboard switches to provide a parallel digital output signal in response to the actuation of any of said keyboard switches; a keyboard counter adapted for parallel loading coupled to said first coder; a reference clock; provided a continuous train output a comparison circuit; a preset counter; a channel address counter adapted to repetitively count through a number equal to the number of said plurality of light controls; a memory address counter coupled to said memory means, said comparison circuit being coupled to said keyboard counter and said pre-set counter and adapted to provide an enable signal to couple said clock to said memory address counter and said channel address counter until a comparison is obtained between said keyboard counter and said pre-set counter outputs, said channel address counter being coupled to said first gates whereby said light controls will be sequentially coupled to said analog to digital converter as said channel address counter counts up to its largest count, said channel address counter being coupled to said preset counter to advance said preset counter by one count when said channel address counter returns to its lowest count; a record switch; control means coupled to said record switch aNd said channel address counter for sequentially enabling the operation of said analog to digital converter, for providing a write signal to said memory means to store the output of said analog to digital converter in the memory location corresponding to said memory address counter count, and for advancing the count of said memory address counter and said channel address counter by one count, said channel address counter being coupled to said control means to disenable said control means after the analog to digital conversion and storage in said memory means of each of said light control settings; first and second registers for each of said plurality of light controls, the input of said registers being coupled to the output of said memory means, each of said registers being responsive to a load signal to store the output of said memory; first and second play switches; means coupled to said first play switch and responsive thereto for providing a read signal to said memory means, for sequentially advancing said memory address signal and sequentially providing a load signal to each of said first registers, whereby the digital information corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light controls associated with the count in said keyboard counter may be stored in said first registers; means coupled to said second play switch for providing a read signal to said memory means, for sequentially advancing said memory address signal and sequentially providing a load signal to each of said second registers, whereby the digital information corresponding to the setting of each of the plurality of said light controls associated with the count in said keyboard counter may be stored in said second registers; conversion means coupled to each of said first and second registers associated with each of said light controls for converting digital signals in said first and second registers to analog signals; and combining means coupled to said conversion means and operative by a single control to variably combine the outputs of said conversion means so as to provide a plurality of analog output control signals for control of an SCR controller, each of which is a variable combination of the analog signals corresponding to the digital signal stored in the corresponding first and second registered.

Claim 12

The light control system of claim 9 further comprised of a switch means associated with each of said light controls and means coupled to said last named switch means for causing any of said analog output control signals to be controlled by the setting of the respective said light control instead of by the digital information stored in the respective first and second registers.

Claim 13

The light control system of claim 10 further comprised of an all-on manual switch means and a variable manual master control means, said all on manual switch means being a means for causing all of said analog output control signals to be controlled by the respective said light control, said variable manual master control means being a means for changing all of said analog control signals in response to the setting of said variable manual master control means.

Claim 14

The light control system of claim 9 wherein said keyboard counter is adapted to count up in response to a count up pulse applied thereto and said control for said combining means is operative between first and second positions to vary said analog output control signals from the signals corresponding to the digital signals stored in said first registers when in said first position to the signals corresponding to the digital signals stored in said second registers when in said second position, further comprised of; means coupled to said combining means, said means coupled to said final and second play switches and said keyboard counter for automatically causing a countup pulse to be coupled to said keyboard counter and for activating said means coupled to said second play switch when said control is moved to sAid first position, and for automatically causing a countup pulse to be coupled to said keyboard counter and for activating said means coupled to said first play switch when said control is moved to said second position, whereby said analog output control signals may be caused to sequentially and smoothly vary through a series of combinations by the movement of said control for said combining means between first and second positions.

Claim 15

The light control system of claim 9 further comprised of first and second fader control means associated with said conversion means coupled to said first and second registers respectively, said first fader control means being a means for varying the outputs of said conversion means for said first registers in accordance with the setting of said first fader means, and second fader means being a means for varying the outputs of said conversion means for said second registers in accordance with the setting of said second fader means.

Claim 16

The light control system of claim 13 further comprised of a memory master fader control means, said memory master fader control means being coupled to said first and second fader control means and operative to vary the output of said conversion means for said first and second registers in accordance with the setting of said memory master fader means.

Claim 17

The light control system of claim 9 further comprised of first, second and third light display means, coupled to said keyboard switches, said first light display means being a means for displaying characters corresponding to the last of said keyboard switches to be actuated, said second and third light display means being further coupled to said first and second play switches, respectively, and responsive thereto to display characters corresponding to the keyboard switch associated with the digital signals stored in said first and second registers, respectively.

Claim 18

The light control system of claim 9 further comprised of a rechargeable battery pack, said battery pack being coupled to said semiconductor memory and being a means for providing power to the memory cells when the main power is off so as to provide retention of digital information stored in said memory.