Vehicle lighting system

• US 7,429,918 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2005
• Issued: 09/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koito Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Koito Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Watanabe, Takao
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu; Julie
• Application Number:
  US11/142,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20050275562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,216 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/468
• 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 2300/112 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/116 Vehicle at a stop
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/122 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/23 Driver's line of sight
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/312 Adverse weather
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/322 Road curvature
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/331 characterised by the driving side, e.g. on the left or right hand side
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/332 on city roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/333 on suburban or country roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/334 on motorways
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/41 preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/45 Special conditions, e.g. pedestrians, road signs or potential dangers
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/62 for adaptation between right-hand and left-hand traffic

Abstract

A vehicle lighting system for illuminating ahead of a vehicle is provided with a plurality of light sources each adapted to illuminate a different illumination area to thereby form a predetermined light distribution pattern as a whole and a control unit for determining a traffic scene in which the vehicle is running and independently changing at least either an orientations or the light quantities of the plurality of light sources so as to form a target light distribution pattern which has been set in advance for the traffic scene.

Claims

1. A vehicle lighting system for illuminating ahead of a vehicle comprising:

a plurality of light sources each adapted to illuminate a different illumination area so as to form a light distribution pattern as a whole; and

a control unit for controlling the light distribution pattern by independently changing an orientation of each of the plurality of light sources,

wherein the control unit determines a traffic scene in which the vehicle is running and independently changes the orientation of each of the plurality of light sources so as to form a target light distribution pattern set in advance for the traffic scene.

2. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes an outline of the light distribution pattern by changing the orientation of each of the plurality of light sources only by a different rotating vector.

3. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a camera for taking a photo ahead of the vehicle,

wherein the control unit determines the traffic scene from an image obtained by the camera.

4. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a position recognition unit for recognizing a country or region as the traffic scene,

wherein the control unit forms the target light distribution pattern according to a country or region obtained from the position recognition unit.

5. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a road type recognition system for recognizing the type of a road as the traffic scene based on a current position,

wherein the control unit independently changes the orientation of each of the plurality of light sources so as to cause the orientation of each of the plurality of light sources to converge on a farther and narrower area than when running on a normal road, in the event that the type of the road obtained from the road type recognition unit indicates a highway.

6. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a road type recognition system for recognizing the type of a road as the traffic scene based on a current position,

wherein the control unit independently changes the orientation of each of the plurality of light sources so as to cause the orientation of each of the plurality of light sources to diverge towards a wider area than when running on a suburban road, in the event that the road type recognition unit recognizes the current road as an urban road.

7. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a camera for taking a photo ahead of the vehicle,

wherein the control unit obtains an actual light distribution pattern from an image photo-graphed by the camera and then causes the actual light distribution pattern to coincide with the target light distribution pattern by changing the orientation of the plurality of light sources.

8. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit swings the illuminating direction of each of the plurality of light sources, so that a boundary between adjacent illumination areas is illuminated.

9. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of light sources comprises a LED element.

10. A vehicle lighting system for illuminating ahead of a vehicle comprising:

a plurality of light sources each adapted to illuminate a different illumination area so as to form a light distribution pattern as a whole;

a control unit for controlling the light distribution pattern by independently changing an orientation of each of the plurality of light sources; and

a camera for taking a photo ahead of the vehicle,

wherein the control unit determines the brightness on the road on which the vehicle is traveling ahead from an image obtained by the camera, so that a shoulder of the road is then illuminated by at least part of the plurality of light sources, in the event that the control unit determines that the brightness on the road is at a predetermined value or greater.

11. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 10, wherein the control unit swings the illuminating direction of each of the plurality of light sources, so that a boundary between adjacent illumination areas is illuminated.

12. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of light sources comprises a LED element.

13. A vehicle lighting system for illuminating ahead of a vehicle comprising:

a plurality of light sources each adapted to illuminate a different illumination area so as to form a light distribution pattern as a whole;

a control unit for controlling the light distribution pattern by independently changing an orientation of each of the plurality of light sources; and

a camera for taking a photo ahead of the vehicle,

wherein the control unit detects a dark area whose brightness is at a value or smaller from an image obtained by the camera, so that the dark area is illuminated by at least part of the plurality of light sources.

14. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 13, wherein the control unit swings the illuminating direction of each of the plurality of light sources, so that a boundary between adjacent illumination areas is illuminated.

15. The vehicle lighting system according to claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of light sources comprises a LED element.