VEHICLE LAMP AUTOCUT APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20150251585A1
• Filed: 08/05/2014
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Jeong, Jeong Hee, Hwang, Du Hyun
• Granted Patent: US 9,387,794 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/04 the devices being headlights
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/03 for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems or for circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/16 Anti-theft; Abduction

Abstract

A vehicle lamp autocut apparatus and method are provided. The vehicle lamp autocut method includes acquiring, by a controller, current positional information of a vehicle when a power supply of the vehicle is turned off and detecting whether the vehicle is safe based on the current positional information. In addition, the controller is configured to detect whether a lamp within the vehicle is a turn on state when the vehicle is safe and whether a vehicle state satisfies a lamp turn off condition when the lamp is in the turn on state. The lamp is turned off when the vehicle state satisfies the lamp off condition, thereby preventing a battery of a vehicle from being discharged.

Claims

1. A vehicle lamp autocut method, comprising:

acquiring, by a controller, current positional information of a vehicle when a power supply of the vehicle is turned off;

detecting, by the controller, whether the vehicle is safe based on the current positional information;

detecting, by the controller, whether a lamp within the vehicle is in a turn on state when the vehicle is safe;

detecting, by the controller, whether a vehicle state satisfies a lamp turn off condition when the lamp is in the turn on state; and

turning off, by the controller, the lamp when the vehicle state satisfies the lamp turn off condition.

2. The vehicle lamp autocut method of claim 1, wherein the turning off of the lamp includes:

operating, by the controller, a timer when the vehicle state satisfies the lamp turn off condition;

detecting, by the controller, whether the set time elapses using the timer; and

turning off, by the controller, the lamp when the set time elapses.

3. The vehicle lamp autocut method of claim 2, further comprising:

maintaining, by the controller, the lamp in a turn on state when the set time does not elapse.

4. The vehicle lamp autocut method of claim 2, further comprising:

maintaining, by the controller, the lamp in a turn on state when a door is opened or unlocked during the operation of the timer.

5. The vehicle lamp autocut method of claim 1, wherein in the detection of whether the vehicle state satisfies the lamp turn off condition, a smart key is not present within the vehicle and whether the doors are in a closed and locked state is detected.

6. The vehicle lamp autocut method of claim 1, further comprising:

continuously turning on, by the controller, the lamp the lamp in response to determining that the vehicle state does not satisfy the lamp turn off condition.

7. A vehicle lamp autocut apparatus, comprising:

a navigation device configured to acquire a current position of a vehicle;

a smart key module configured to detect whether the smart key is present within the vehicle;

a smart junction box configured to operate a lamp by detecting whether the lamp is turned on; and

a controller configured to detect the current position of the vehicle when a power supply of the vehicle is turned off, whether the lamp is turned on, and whether the smart key is present within the vehicle and operate the smart junction box as the confirmation result to turn off of the lamp.

8. The vehicle lamp autocut apparatus of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to transmit a lamp turn off command to the smart junction box in response to determining that the vehicle is located in a safety zone, the lamp is in a turn on state, and the smart key is not present within the vehicle.

9. The vehicle lamp autocut apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller includes a timer configured to notify that a set time elapses and the controller is configured to transmit the lamp turn off command to the smart junction box when the set time elapses.

10. The vehicle lamp autocut apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to maintain the lamp in a turn on state when a door is opened or unlocked during the operation of the timer.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions executed by a controller, the computer readable medium comprising:

program instructions that acquire current positional information of a vehicle when a power supply of the vehicle is turned off;

program instructions that detect whether the vehicle is safe based on the current positional information;

program instructions that detect whether a lamp within the vehicle is in a turn on state when the vehicle is safe;

program instructions that detect whether a vehicle state satisfies a lamp turn off condition when the lamp is in the turn on state; and

program instructions that turn off the lamp when the vehicle state satisfies the lamp turn off condition.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions that operate a timer when the vehicle state satisfies the lamp turn off condition;

program instructions that detect whether the set time elapses using the timer; and

program instructions that turn off the lamp when the set time elapses.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions that maintain the lamp in a turn on state when the set time does not elapse.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions that maintain the lamp in a turn on state when a door is opened or unlocked during the operation of the timer.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein in the detection of whether the vehicle state satisfies the lamp turn off condition, a smart key is not present within the vehicle and whether the doors are in a closed and locked state is detected.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions that continuously turn on the lamp the lamp in response to determining that the vehicle state does not satisfy the lamp turn off condition.