VEHICLE LIGHTING DEVICE AND LIGHTING METHOD
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Accused Products
Abstract
The light distribution region of headlights (12) is divided into a plurality of regions, and each of the divided regions can be irradiated or non-irradiated by light, and the light distribution characteristic can be changed separately for each divided region. The radiation or non-radiation of light to each divided region is controlled by a light distribution control ECU (14). Besides, light reflection/emission regions (hatched portions in FIG. 4) are detected by detecting light regions of reflection, such as white lines, reflectors, etc., and light regions of light emission, such as street lights or the like, are detected. Then, divided regions corresponding to light distribution region irradiated by the headlights (12) which correspond to the detected light reflection/emission regions are specifically determined, and the headlights (12) are controlled so that the light radiated to the specifically determined divided regions 22 becomes dark in light distribution relative to other regions.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1-16. -16. (canceled)
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17. A lighting method comprising:
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lighting an outside of a vehicle; detecting at least one light region that is at least one of a region that reflects light and a region that emits light on a road on which the vehicle travels; causing light distribution to the at least one light region in a light distribution region that is lighted to be relatively darker than the light distribution to another region on the road on which the vehicle travels; determining the light region that is apart from the vehicle by at least a predetermined distance, among the at least one light region; causing light distribution to the determined light region to be relatively darker than the light distribution to another region on the road on which the vehicle travels; and specifically determining, as the light region apart from the vehicle by at least the predetermined distance, the light region that corresponds to a region that is apart from the vehicle by at least a braking distance that is determined beforehand.
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18. A vehicle lighting device comprising:
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a vehicle illuminator that changes light distribution characteristic separately for each of plurality of divided regions of a light distribution region; a detection device that detects at least one light region that is at least one of a region that reflects light and a region that emits light on a road on which the vehicle travels; and a control device that controls the vehicle illuminator so that, in a light distribution region that is lighted by the vehicle illuminator, the light distribution to the at least one light region detected by the detection device becomes relatively darker than the light distribution to another region on the road on which the vehicle travels; specific determination device for specifically determining the light region that is apart from the vehicle by at least a predetermined distance, among the at least one light region detected by the detection device, wherein; the control device controls the vehicle illuminator so that the light region specifically determined by the specific determination device has a dark light distribution relative to another region; and the specific determination device specifically determines, as the light region apart from the vehicle by at least the predetermined distance, the light region that corresponds to a region that is apart from the vehicle by at least a braking distance that is determined beforehand. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A vehicle lighting device comprising:
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a vehicle illuminator that changes light distribution characteristic separately for each of plurality of divided regions of a light distribution region; a detection device that detects at least one light region that is at least one of a region that reflects light and a region that emits light on a road on which the vehicle travels; a control device that controls the vehicle illuminator so that, in a light distribution region that is lighted by the vehicle illuminator, the light distribution to the at least one light region detected by the detection device becomes relatively darker than the light distribution to another region on the road on which the vehicle travels; and rain determination device that determines whether or not it is raining, wherein the control device prohibits a control of the vehicle illuminator, if it is determined by the rain determination device that it is raining. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A lighting method comprising:
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lighting an outside of a vehicle; detecting at least one light region that is at least one of a region that reflects light and a region that emits light on a road on which the vehicle travels; causing light distribution to the at least one light region in a light distribution region that is lighted to be relatively darker than the light distribution to another region on the road on which the vehicle travels; determining whether or not it is raining; and prohibiting a control of the lighting the outside of the vehicle, if it is determined that it is raining.
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Specification