METHOD AND CONTROL UNIT FOR VALIDATING AN ILLUMINATION-RANGE TEST VALUE OF A LIGHT CONE OF A VEHICLE HEADLIGHT

• US 20130158960A1
• Filed: 05/12/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Rentschler, Tobias, Renner, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 9,589,080 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/10 due to vehicle inclination, e.g. due to load distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 11/065 details about the image analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 11/068 with part of the measurements done from inside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road

Abstract

A method for validating an illumination-range test value of a light cone of at least one headlight of a vehicle. The method includes reading in a reflection intensity of a point on at least one road marking illuminated by the light cone; generating a reflection intensity model for the road marking, based on the obtained reflection intensity and a particular distance of the point from the vehicle, the reflection intensity model being designed to assign different reflection intensities to different positions on the road marking in front of the vehicle; determining an illumination-range plausibility value, at which, according to the reflection intensity model, a reflection intensity is reached, which corresponds to a reflection-intensity threshold value; and comparing the illumination-range plausibility value to the illumination-range test value, to validate the illumination-range test value, if the illumination-range plausibility value is inside a tolerance range around the illumination-range test value.

Claims

1-9. -9. (canceled)

10. A method for validating an illumination-range test value of a light cone of at least one headlight of a vehicle, comprising:

reading in a reflection intensity of a point on at least one road marking illuminated by the light cone;

generating a reflection intensity model for the road marking based on a measured reflection intensity and a particular distance of a point from the vehicle, the reflection intensity model to assign different reflection intensities to different positions on the road marking in front of the vehicle;

determining an illumination-range plausibility value, at which, according to the reflection intensity model, a reflection intensity is reached, which corresponds to a reflection-intensity threshold value; and

comparing the illumination-range plausibility value to the illumination-range test value to validate the illumination-range test value, if the illumination-range plausibility value is inside a tolerance range around the illumination-range test value.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the illumination-range test value is determined based on a detection of an object situated in the light cone.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein in the reading-in, the reflection intensity is measured at a point on the road marking at which the reflection intensity is at a maximum over all points on the road marking.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein in the reading-in, the reflection intensity is measured of a point, which is situated on a longest of a plurality of road markings illuminated by the light cone.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein in the determining, a reflection-intensity threshold value is used which is a function of a type of headlight used in the vehicle.

15. A method for controlling a variable illumination range system of a vehicle, comprising:

reading in a reflection intensity of a point on at least one road marking illuminated by a light cone of at least one headlight of the vehicle;

generating a reflection intensity model for the road marking based on a measured reflection intensity and a particular distance of a point from the vehicle, the reflection intensity model to assign different reflection intensities to different positions on the road marking in front of the vehicle;

determining an illumination-range plausibility value, at which, according to the reflection intensity model, a reflection intensity is reached, which corresponds to a reflection-intensity threshold value;

comparing the illumination-range plausibility value to the illumination-range test value to validate the illumination-range test value, if the illumination-range plausibility value is inside a tolerance range around the illumination-range test value; and

controlling the variable illumination range system based on the validated illumination-range test value.

16. A device for validating an illumination-range test value of a light cone of at least one headlight of a vehicle, the device comprising:

a unit to read in a reflection intensity of a point on at least one road marking illuminated by the light cone;

a unit to generate a reflection intensity model for the road marking based on the measured reflection intensity and a particular distance of the point from the vehicle, the reflection intensity model to assign different reflection intensities to different positions on the road marking in front of the vehicle;

a unit to determine an illumination-range plausibility value, at which, according to the reflection intensity model, a reflection intensity is reached which corresponds to a reflection-intensity threshold value; and

a unit to compare the illumination-range plausibility value to the illumination-range test value, and to validate the illumination-range test value if the illumination-range plausibility value is inside a tolerance range around the illumination-range test value.

17. A control unit to validate an illumination range test value of a light cone of at least one headlight of a vehicle, the control unit configured to read in a reflection intensity of a point on at least one road marking illuminated by the light cone, to generate a reflection intensity model for the road marking based on a measured reflection intensity and a particular distance of a point from the vehicle, the reflection intensity model to assign different reflection intensities to different positions on the road marking in front of the vehicle, to determine an illumination-range plausibility value, at which, according to the reflection intensity model, a reflection intensity is reached, which corresponds to a reflection-intensity threshold value, and to compare the illumination-range plausibility value to the illumination-range test value to validate the illumination-range test value, and if the illumination-range plausibility value is inside a tolerance range around the illumination-range test value.

18. A computer readable medium storing program code to validate an illumination range test value of a light cone of at least one headlight of a vehicle, the program code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to perform the steps of:

reading in a reflection intensity of a point on at least one road marking illuminated by the light cone;

generating a reflection intensity model for the road marking based on a measured reflection intensity and a particular distance of a point from the vehicle, the reflection intensity model to assign different reflection intensities to different positions on the road marking in front of the vehicle;

determining an illumination-range plausibility value, at which, according to the reflection intensity model, a reflection intensity is reached, which corresponds to a reflection-intensity threshold value; and

comparing the illumination-range plausibility value to the illumination-range test value to validate the illumination-range test value, if the illumination-range plausibility value is inside a tolerance range around the illumination-range test value.