Vehicle Lamp System

• US 6,254,259 B1
• Filed: 05/18/1999
• Issued: 07/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koito Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Koito Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Shoji
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Shea, Sandra
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ton, Anabel
• Application Number:
  US09/313,201
• Time in Patent Office: 777 Days
• Field of Search: 362/464, 362/465, 362/466, 362/467, 362/276, 340/459, 340/462
• US Class Current: 362/465
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/085 due to special conditions, e.g. adverse weather, type of road, badly illuminated road signs or potential dangers B60Q1/10, B60Q1/12, B60Q1/1423 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/18 being additional front lights bracket mounted headlights B60Q1/0483
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/054 Variable non-standard intensity, i.e. emission of various beam intensities different from standard intensities, e.g. continuous or stepped transitions of intensity
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/056 Special anti-blinding beams, e.g. a standard beam is chopped or moved in order not to blind
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/312 Adverse weather
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/314 Ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/32 Road surface or travel path
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/41 preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/42 oncoming vehicle

Abstract

The present invention discloses a vehicle lamp system providing a better control in illumination of vehicle lamps in response to various weather and road conditions. The vehicle lamp system includes vehicle lamps, environment detection means for detecting weather and road surface conditions, and illumination control means for controlling an illumination of the vehicle lamps based on the weather and road surface conditions received from the environment detection means.

Claims

1. A vehicle lamp system comprising:

vehicle lamps;

image capturing means for acquiring image data of vehicle surroundings;

weather analysis means for determining weather conditions outside a vehicle from the image data received from the image capturing means;

road surface analysis means for determining road surface conditions from the image data received from the image capturing means;

reference data acquisition means for acquiring reference data to determine the weather or road surface conditions from reference data other than the image data of the vehicle surroundings, wherein the reference data acquisition means includes a control switch for activating vehicle wipers, an extraneous light detecting device for detecting ambient light, and a receiver for signals from a communication device provided on a road for receiving the weather and road surface conditions; and

illumination control means for controlling an illumination of the vehicle lamps based on the weather and road surface conditions received from the weather analysis means and the road surface analysis means.

2. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, further comprising driving means for changing a range and direction of the illumination of the vehicle lamps.

3. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, wherein the illumination includes a distribution of a luminous intensity, a light intensity, and a light color.

4. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, wherein the road surface analysis means determines the road surface conditions by a brightness contrast of a lane marker on a road.

5. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 4, wherein the brightness contrast of the lane marker is analyzed through a correlation between a brightness and a voltage output from the image capturing means.

6. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a light shielding member located below the light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially above a primary light axis;

actuation means for actuating the light shielding member along the primary light axis; and

a sub-reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially below the primary light axis.

7. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially above a primary light axis;

a sub-reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially below the primary light axis; and

actuation means for actuating the sub-reflection mirror in a pivotal motion.

8. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a lens focusing an illumination of the light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting the illumination of the light source and pivoting around a rotation center; and

a shade adjusting the illumination of the light source.

10. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing means includes a charge coupled device.

9. The vehicle lamp system comprising:

a light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting the light source;

an inner lens located in front of the light source and focusing an illumination of the light source;

an outer lens focusing the illumination of the light source after the illumination is passed through the inner lens;

actuation means for adjusting a distance between the inner lens and the outer lens;

environment detection means for detecting weather and road surface conditions;

illumination control means for controlling an illumination of the light source based on the weather and road surface conditions received from the environment detection means.

11. A vehicle lamp system comprising:

vehicle lamps;

a lamp driving device for controlling a range and a direction of an illumination of the lamps;

a lamp dimmer for controlling an intensity of the lamps;

image capturing means for acquiring image data of vehicle surroundings;

weather analysis means for determining weather conditions outside the vehicle from the image data received from the image capturing means;

road surface analysis means for determining road surface conditions from the image data received from the image capturing means;

reference data acquisition means for acquiring reference data to determine the weather or road surface conditions from reference data other than the image data of vehicle surroundings, wherein the reference data acquisition means includes a control switch for activating vehicle wipers, an extraneous light detecting device for detecting ambient light, and a receiver for signals from a communication device provided on a road for receiving the weather and road surface conditions; and

illumination control means for controlling the lamp driving device and the lamp dimmer based on the weather and road surface conditions received from the weather analysis means and the road surface analysis means.

12. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 11, wherein the illumination includes a distribution of a luminous intensity, a light intensity, and a light color.

13. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 11, wherein the road surface analysis means determines the road surface conditions by a brightness contrast of a lane marker on a road.

14. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 13, wherein the brightness contrast of the lane marker is analyzed through a correlation between a brightness and a voltage output from the image capturing means.

15. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 11, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a light shielding member located below the light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially above a primary light axis;

actuation means for actuating the light shielding member along the primary light axis; and

a sub-reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially below the primary light axis.

16. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 11, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially above a primary light axis;

a sub-reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially below the primary light axis; and

actuation means for actuating the sub-reflection mirror in a pivotal motion.

17. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 11, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a lens focusing an illumination of the light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting the illumination of the light source and pivoting around a rotation center; and

a shade adjusting the illumination of the light source.

19. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 11, wherein the image capturing means includes a charge coupled device.

18. A vehicle lamp system comprising:

a light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting the light source;

an inner lens locating in front of the light source and focusing an illumination of the light source;

an outer lens focusing the illumination of the light source after the illumination is passed through the inner lens;

actuation means for adjusting a distance between the inner lens and the outer lens;

a lamp driving device for controlling a range and a direction of an illumination of the lamps;

a lamp dimmer for controlling an intensity of the lamps;

environment detection means for detecting weather and road surface conditions;

illumination control means for controlling the lamp driving device and the lamp dimmer based on the weather and road surface conditions received from the environment detection means.

20. A vehicle lamp system comprising:

vehicle lamps;

image capturing means for acquiring image data of vehicle surroundings;

road surface analysis means for determining road surface conditions from the image data received from the image capturing means;

reference data acquisitions means for acquiring reference data to determine the road surface conditions from reference data or other than the image data of the vehicle surroundings, wherein the reference data acquisition means includes a control switch for activating vehicle wipers, an extraneous light detecting device for detecting ambient light, and a receiver for signals from a communication device provided on a road for receiving the road surface conditions; and

illumination control means for controlling an illumination of the vehicle lamps based on the road surface conditions received from the road surface analysis means.

21. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, further comprising driving means for charging a range and direction of the illumination of the vehicle lamps.

22. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, wherein the illumination includes a distribution of a luminous intensity, a light intensity, and a light color.

23. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, wherein the road surface analysis means determines the road surface conditions by a brightness contrast of a lane marker on a road.

24. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 23, wherein the brightness contrast of the lane marker is analyzed through a correlation between a brightness and a voltage output from the image capturing means.

25. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a light shielding member located below the light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially above a primary light axis;

actuation means for actuating the light shielding member along the primary light axis; and

a sub-reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially below the primary light axis.

26. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 21, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially above a primary light axis;

a sub-reflection mirror reflecting light from the light source and located substantially below the primary light axis; and

actuation means for actuating the sub-reflection mirror in a pivotal motion.

27. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a lens focusing an illuminating of the light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting the illumination of the light source and pivoting around a rotation center; and

a shade adjusting the illumination of the light source.

28. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, wherein the vehicle lamps include:

a light source;

a reflection mirror reflecting the light source;

an inner lens locating in front of the light source and focusing an illumination of the light source;

an outer lens focusing the illumination of the light source after the illumination is passed through the inner lens; and

actuation means for adjusting a distance between the inner lens and the outer lens.

29. The vehicle lamp system according to claim 20, wherein the image capturing means includes a charge coupled device.

30. A vehicle lamp system comprising:

vehicle lamps;

a lamp driving device for controlling a range and a direction of an illumination of the lamps;

a lamp dimmer for controlling an intensity of the lamps;

image capturing means for acquiring image data of vehicle surroundings;

road surface analysis means for determining road surface conditions from the image data received from the image capturing means;

reference data acquisition means for acquiring reference data to determine the road surface conditions from reference data other than the image data of vehicle surroundings, wherein the reference data acquisition means includes a control switch for activating vehicle wipers, an extraneous light detecting device for detecting ambient light, and a receiver for signals from a communication device provided on a road for receiving the road surface conditions; and

illumination control means for controlling the lamp driving device and the lamp dimmer based on the weather and road surface conditions received from the road surface analysis means.