Device for controlling the interior lighting of a motor vehicle

• US 10,093,227 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2017
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Valeo Vision (Valeo SE)
• Original Assignee: Valeo Vision (Valeo SE)
• Inventors: Fleurence, Thierry, Koniec, Aymeric
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Tung X
• Application Number:
  US15/464,847
• Publication Number:
  US 20170267169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 315 77, 315 82
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/74 for overall compartment lighting; for overall compartment lighting in combination with specific lighting, e.g. room lamps with reading lamps general lighting mounted on specific fittings B60Q3/20; general lighting for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/43
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/80 Circuits; Control arrangements for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/85 for manual control of the light, e.g. of colour, orientation or intensity
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/12 using optical feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/125 by using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A device for controlling the interior lighting of a motor vehicle comprises at least one lighting module capable of emitting a light beam in the passenger compartment, and means for detecting a plurality of gestures of an occupant of the vehicle forming a determined sequence triggering the control of the interior lighting module.

Claims

1. A device for controlling interior lighting of a motor vehicle, the device comprising:

at least one lighting device configured to emit a beam of light in a passenger compartment; and

a detector configured to

detect a plurality of gestures of an occupant of the vehicle, forming a determined sequence triggering control of said interior lighting device, and

detect, capture, and record a gesture sequence of the occupant of the vehicle in an active detection area of the passenger compartment and analyze the gesture sequence to transmit data representing said gesture sequence, the detected gesture sequence including a succession of gestures defined by movement of all or part of a body of at least one occupant, the active detection area being defined by boxes in which presence of a determined part of the body is identified, the detector analyzing movement of the succession of boxes corresponding to the movement of the detected part of the body to determine the data representing the gesture sequence.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

control circuitry, connected to said detector, configured to receive the data representing said recorded gesture sequence, compare the data representing said recorded gesture sequence with at least one reference gesture sequence, and determine whether threshold conditions for triggering a lighting function have been met,

said control circuitry being configured to generate and transmit at least one instruction to activate and/or deactivate and/or vary light intensity and orientation of a beam emitted by the at least one lighting device.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the gesture sequence is defined by its vertical and/or horizontal and/or diagonal orientation and its speed of performance.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the active detection area extends along the median axis of the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

5. The device according to claim 2, wherein the active detection area extends along the median axis of the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the detector includes a sensor and/or at least one camera.

7. The device according to claim 2, wherein the detector includes a sensor and/or at least one camera.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the detector includes a single camera.

9. The device according to claim 7, wherein the detector includes a plurality of cameras.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein the detector includes at least one infrared sensor and/or ultrasound sensor and/or radar sensor.

11. The device according to claim 7, wherein the detector includes at least one infrared sensor and/or ultrasound sensor and/or radar sensor.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein the camera includes one or more still and/or motion cameras.

13. The device according to claim 7, wherein the camera includes one or more still and/or motion cameras.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the data representing the gesture sequence define one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional geometric shapes and/or positions and/or movement paths.

15. The device according to claim 2, wherein the data representing the gesture sequence define one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional geometric shapes and/or positions and/or movement paths.

16. A method for controlling interior lighting of a vehicle, wherein following performance of at least one gesture sequence of at least one occupant in a detection area of a passenger compartment, the method comprising following steps:

capturing and recording 2D and/or 3D images of said gesture sequence;

analyzing the images in order to generate data representing said gesture sequence;

transmitting said representative data to control circuitry;

analyzing said data relating to the one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional geometric shape and/or the position and/or the movement path of said gesture sequence;

comparing said data relating to said recorded gesture sequence with at least one reference gesture sequence stored in a database;

determining whether threshold conditions for triggering a lighting function are met; and

transmitting and executing at least one instruction to activate and/or deactivate and/or vary luminous intensity of a light beam emitted in the passenger compartment.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising learning at least one new reference gesture sequence.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein a sensor and a camera which are separate from one another and are configured to interact with one another are implemented in the analyzing the images step, said camera being implemented only when the sensor has detected the start of a gesture that initiates a gesture sequence.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising learning at least one new reference gesture sequence.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein a camera which continuously retrieves images targeted on the detection area is implemented in the analyzing the images step.