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APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING ILLUMINATION RANGE OF VEHICLE LIGHTS

  • US 20150151670A1
  • Filed: 05/28/2013
  • Published: 06/04/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An apparatus that is mounted to a vehicle and controls an illumination range of headlights of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

  • acquiring means for acquiring presence information that indicates information as to whether or not another vehicle is present in a lateral or rear direction relative to the vehicle; and

    changing means for changing the illumination range of the headlights to a narrower range when the acquiring means acquire presence information indicating presence of the other vehicle,whereinthe acquiring means is configured to acquire a relative motion vector indicating relative travel directions between the other vehicle and the vehicle, in addition to the presence information, andthe changing means i) estimate a moving time period that indicates time taken for the other vehicle to enter the illumination range, on the basis of the relative motion vector, the moving time period depending on where the other vehicle is present in the lateral or rear direction, and ii) change the illumination range of the headlights to a narrower range after lapse of a wait time period that is set with the moving time period as being an upper limit.

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