US Patent 7990082 Methods and systems for operating and controlling theatrical lighting

A system and method for increasing a number of lights operated and/or controlled by dimmer boxes of theatrical light systems. In one embodiment, a master box is coupled to a chain of slave boxes in series. The master box receives a control signal and generates a switching signal for controlling the master box and the slave boxes. The switching signal is transmitted from the master box to the slave boxes through the series connections. Each of the master box and the slave boxes include a light signal input and a plurality of light signal outputs, and select among the plurality of light signal outputs according to the switching signal.