APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING ROOM LAMP OF VEHICLE

• US 20120139415A1
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: LEE, Sang Ho, KIM, Kyu Hyung, LEE, Ho Geun, BAE, Jang Sik
• Granted Patent: US 8,742,664 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/79
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/80 Circuits; Control arrangements for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47

Abstract

Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for controlling a room lamp of a vehicle. The present invention relates to collecting information associated with the vehicle and information associated with an ambient environment using a global positioning system (GPS) or a controller area network (CAN) and then controlling the room lamp using at least one of turn-off of the room lamp, change of an irradiation angle of the room lamp, and adjustment of illumination of the room lamp based on the collected information.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a room lamp, the apparatus comprising:

a room lamp state determining unit to determine whether a room lamp of a vehicle being driven is turned on;

a room lamp control determining unit to determine whether to control the room lamp of the vehicle based on first information associated with the vehicle or second information associated with an ambient environment, when the room lamp is turned on; and

a room lamp control unit to control the room lamp by controlling a driver who drives the vehicle not to recognize that the room lamp is turned on, when controlling of the room lamp is required.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the room lamp control unit includes at least one of:

a turn-off unit to turn off the room lamp;

an irradiation angle change unit to change an irradiation angle of the room lamp; and

an illumination adjustment unit to adjust illumination of the room lamp.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the turn-off unit includes:

a turn-off control unit to control turn-off of the room lamp; and

a room lamp turn-off unit to turn off the room lamp according to control of the turn-off control unit,

the irradiation angle change unit includes;

an irradiation angle change control unit to control changing of the irradiation angle of the room lamp; and

a room lamp irradiation angle change unit to change the irradiation angle of the room lamp according to control of the irradiation angle change control unit, and

the illumination adjustment unit includes;

an illumination adjustment control unit to control adjusting of the illumination of the room lamp; and

a room lamp illumination adjustment unit to adjust the illumination of the room lamp according to control of the illumination adjustment control unit.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the room lamp control determining unit uses a velocity of the vehicle as the first information and uses an external brightness value of the vehicle or a current time as the second information.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the irradiation angle change unit changes the irradiation angle of the room lamp into another direction until a light of the room lamp does not reach a visual field of the driver viewing in one direction any more.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein when using the velocity of the vehicle as the first information, the room lamp control unit changes an irradiation angle level of the room lamp or adjusts an illumination level of the room lamp based on a position of an acceleration value that is based on at least one predetermined reference value, or based on whether a current velocity value is within a predetermined reference range compared to a previous velocity value.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the room lamp state determining unit determines whether the room lamp is turned on based on at least one of a result value that is input after a person who is riding in the vehicle being driven verifies whether the room lamp is turned on, and a result value that is obtained by sensing a current state of a switch that is used when turning on or turning off the room lamp.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the room lamp control apparatus is mounted within the room lamp or on one side of the vehicle within a predetermined distance from the room lamp.

9. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) communication unit to receive information about the velocity of the vehicle or information about the current time;

or

a controller area network (CAN) communication unit to receive information about the velocity of the vehicle or information about the external brightness value of the vehicle.

10. A method for controlling a room lamp, the method comprising:

a room lamp state determining operation of determining whether a room lamp of a vehicle being driven is turned on;

a room lamp control determining operation of determining whether to control the room lamp of the vehicle based on first information associated with the vehicle or second information associated with an ambient environment, when the room lamp is turned on; and

a room lamp control operation of controlling the room lamp by controlling a driver who drives the vehicle not to recognize that the room lamp is turned on, when controlling of the room lamp is required.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the room lamp control operation includes at least one of:

a turn-off operation of turning off the room lamp;

an irradiation angle change operation of changing an irradiation angle of the room lamp; and

an illumination adjustment operation of adjusting illumination of the room lamp.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the turn-off operation turns off the room lamp according to control of a turn-off control unit that is configured to control turn-off of the room lamp,

the irradiation angle change operation changes the irradiation angle of the room lamp according to control of an irradiation angle change control unit that is configured to control changing of the irradiation angle of the room lamp, and

the illumination adjustment operation adjusts the illumination of the room lamp according to control of an illumination adjustment control unit that is configured to control adjusting of the illumination of the room lamp.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the room lamp control determining operation uses a velocity of the vehicle as the first information and uses an external brightness value of the vehicle or a current time as the second information.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the irradiation angle change operation changes the irradiation angle of the room lamp into another direction until a light of the room lamp does not reach a visual field of the driver viewing in one direction any more.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein when using the velocity of the vehicle as the first information, the room lamp control operation changes an irradiation angle level of the room lamp or adjusts an illumination level of the room lamp based on a position of an acceleration value that is based on at least one predetermined reference value, or based on whether a current velocity value is within a predetermined reference range compared to a previous velocity value.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the room lamp state determining operation determines whether the room lamp is turned on based on at least one of a result value that is input after a person who is riding in the vehicle being driven verifies whether the room lamp is turned on, and a result value that is obtained by sensing a current state of a switch that is used when turning on or turning off the room lamp.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

a GPS information receiving operation of receiving information about the velocity of the vehicle as the first information and receiving information about the current time as the second information using a GPS;

or

a CAN information receiving operation of receiving information about the velocity of the vehicle as the first information and information about the external brightness value of the vehicle as the second information using a CAN.