Patent attributes
A light source is provided with a digitally addressable lampshade that includes a plurality of regions of controllable opacity. Systems and methods are described for controlling the digital lampshade. In an exemplary embodiment, an addressable lampshade effects a time-varying pattern of changes to the opacity of the regions to generate a lamp identification pattern. A lamp is identified from the patterns by a camera-equipped mobile device. The mobile device then causes the identified lamp to generate a position-determining pattern of light. The mobile device determines its own position relative to the lamp based on the pattern of light received by the camera. The mobile device then instructs the digital lampshade, according to user input, to allow illumination or to provide shade at the determined position of the mobile device.
