Adaptive instrument display brightness control system
First Claim
1. A system for adjusting an illumination intensity, said system comprising:
- sensing means for sensing ambient light intensity;
illumination means for providing illumination;
switch means for adjusting the intensity of the illumination means; and
control means for controlling the illumination intensity of the illumination means, said control means being responsive to a signal from the sensing means and a signal from the switch means, said control means adjusting the illumination intensity of the illumination means over a range of sensed ambient light intensities based on a combination of the ambient light intensity and the position of the switch means, wherein the control means automatically provides an illumination intensity signal to the illumination means to set a first illumination intensity at a particular ambient light intensity based on the ambient light intensity, and automatically provides a second illumination intensity signal to the illumination means to set a second illumination intensity at the particular ambient light intensity based on an adjusted position of the switch means, said control means storing illumination data indicative of the second illumination intensity so as to set the illumination intensity of the illumination means for a subsequently sensed ambient light intensity that is the same as the particular ambient light intensity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An adaptive instrument display brightness control system that automatically controls the instrument display brightness of a vehicle based on a vehicle operator'"'"'s changes to the display brightness and particular ambient light conditions. An ambient light intensity sensor sends an ambient light intensity signal to a microprocessor which then selects a brightness look-up value from a look-up table based on the light intensity to illuminate the instrument display. If the vehicle operator adjusts the instrument display brightness, and the change to the brightness is within a learning range of the system, the microprocessor will set an adaptive timer to validate the change. After the timer has expired, the microprocessor will adjust the look-up value to a predetermined percent of the difference between the original look-up value and a new look-up value coinciding with the new illumination setting.
163 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A system for adjusting an illumination intensity, said system comprising:
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sensing means for sensing ambient light intensity; illumination means for providing illumination; switch means for adjusting the intensity of the illumination means; and control means for controlling the illumination intensity of the illumination means, said control means being responsive to a signal from the sensing means and a signal from the switch means, said control means adjusting the illumination intensity of the illumination means over a range of sensed ambient light intensities based on a combination of the ambient light intensity and the position of the switch means, wherein the control means automatically provides an illumination intensity signal to the illumination means to set a first illumination intensity at a particular ambient light intensity based on the ambient light intensity, and automatically provides a second illumination intensity signal to the illumination means to set a second illumination intensity at the particular ambient light intensity based on an adjusted position of the switch means, said control means storing illumination data indicative of the second illumination intensity so as to set the illumination intensity of the illumination means for a subsequently sensed ambient light intensity that is the same as the particular ambient light intensity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for automatically adjusting a display brightness of an instrument display of a vehicle based on ambient light intensity, said system comprising:
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a light sensor, said light sensor determining the ambient light intensity and providing a signal indicative of the ambient light intensity; an illumination source, said illumination source illuminating the display; a variable intensity switch, said variable intensity operable to vary the intensity of the illumination source; and a control device being responsive to the signal from the light sensor and providing a signal to the illumination source that will set an intensity level of the illumination source dependent on the signal from the light sensor, wherein the intensity level is based on illumination values stored in the control device, said illumination values being changed to adjusted illumination values in response to an adjustment of the intensity of the illumination source by the variable intensity switch. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A system for automatically adjusting the illumination of a vehicle instrument display, said system comprising:
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a sensing device that senses ambient light intensity, said sensing device providing a signal indicative of the ambient light intensity; an illumination device for illuminating the instrument display; a variable intensity switch that adjusts the intensity of the illumination device; and a control device that controls the illumination intensity of the illumination device, said control device being responsive to the signal from the sensing device and the signal from the switch, said control device including an illumination table that stores a series of illumination values where each illumination value in the illumination table represents an illumination intensity of the illumination device, said control device using a target illumination value from the illumination table to set the intensity of the illumination device based on the signal from the sensing device at a particular ambient light intensity, said control device adjusting the target illumination value to provide an adjusted target illumination value for the particular ambient light intensity based on an adjusted position of the intensity switch and the ambient light intensity, and said control device using the adjusted target illumination value to set the intensity of the illumination device based on the signal from the sensing device for subsequent ambient light intensities at the particular ambient light level. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of adjusting an illumination intensity, said method comprising the steps of:
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sensing ambient light intensity; providing illumination at a predetermined intensity; and controlling the intensity of the illumination, said step of controlling the illumination intensity including automatically setting a first illumination intensity at a particular ambient light intensity based on the ambient light intensity, and automatically setting the illumination intensity to a second illumination intensity at the particular ambient light intensity based on an adjusted position of a switch for adjusting the illumination intensity, wherein the step of controlling the intensity of the illumination includes storing illumination data indicative of the second illumination intensity so as to set the illumination intensity for a subsequently sensed ambient light intensity that is the same as the particular ambient light intensity. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification