Headlight Control Apparatus for Automobile
First Claim
1. A headlight control apparatus, comprising:
- a headlight which irradiates a front direction of a vehicle, the light quantity in each partial area in an irradiation range of the headlight being controllable independently of another partial area;
a camera which is mounted on the vehicle to capture an image in the front direction of the vehicle; and
a control unit which detects the position of a light spot in the image inputted from the camera, and controls an irradiation pattern of the headlight based on the position of the light spot, wherein the control unit controls the headlight so as to reduce the light quantity in a certain area above the position of the detected light spot.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a headlight control apparatus which suppresses a feeling of strangeness given to a driver of an own vehicle by hunting due to reflector light while preventing a preceding vehicle and an on-coming vehicle from being dazzled, based on a video image obtained by a camera. The headlight is controlled by detecting the position of a light spot in the image captured by the camera to perform irradiation with a pattern which reduces the light quantity of a certain area above the detected light spot. Thereby, even if hunting occurs due to the reflector light, the irradiation light quantity of an entire irradiation area of the headlight does not vary, but only the irradiation light quantity for a partial area above a reflector varies, and therefore, the feeling of strangeness given to the driver can be suppressed.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A headlight control apparatus, comprising:
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a headlight which irradiates a front direction of a vehicle, the light quantity in each partial area in an irradiation range of the headlight being controllable independently of another partial area;
a camera which is mounted on the vehicle to capture an image in the front direction of the vehicle; and
a control unit which detects the position of a light spot in the image inputted from the camera, and controls an irradiation pattern of the headlight based on the position of the light spot, wherein the control unit controls the headlight so as to reduce the light quantity in a certain area above the position of the detected light spot. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 16)
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2. A headlight control apparatus, comprising:
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a headlight which irradiates a front direction of a vehicle, the light quantity in each partial area in an irradiation range of the headlight being controllable independently of another partial area;
a camera which is mounted on the vehicle to capture an image in the front direction of the vehicle;
an image processing part which detects the position of a light spot in the image inputted from the camera, and generates an irradiation pattern of the headlight based on the position of the light spot; and
a headlight control part which receives an input of the irradiation pattern from the image processing part, and controls irradiation of the headlight based on the irradiation pattern, wherein the image processing part generates the irradiation pattern which reduces the light quantity in a certain area above the position of the detected light spot. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification