Lighting system with driver assistance capabilities
First Claim
1. A method for providing driver assistance to a driver of a vehicle, comprising:
- providing a vehicle with a visible-light source emitting visible light and having a function of illuminating an environment adjacent to the vehicle or emitting a signal, said visible-light source being a light emission diode;
driving the visible-light source using a visible-light source controller to emit visible light in a predetermined mode using driving data, with visible light in the predetermined mode being visible to an unaided human eye to maintain said function of illuminating an environment adjacent to the vehicle or emitting a signal, said driving the visible-light source including pulsating the visible light to generate a pulsed visible light signal having an emitted visible-light pulse;
providing said driving data to a data/signal processor;
receiving a reflection/backscatter of the emitted pulsed visible light signal from an object, at a visible light optical detector, and generating detected light data having a detected visible-light pulse using said visible light optical detector, said reflection/backscatter being sampled at an acquisition rate to generate said detected light data;
identifying, by said data/signal processor, at least one of a presence and a position of the object using said driving data and said detected light data as a function of the reflection/backscatter received and of the predetermined mode;
detecting, by said data/signal processor, a visibility in said environment using said driving data and said detected light data, said visibility being a presence of at least one of fog, snow, dust, smoke, rain, ice, gas, liquid, airborne particle and smog in said environment;
wherein said identifying and said detecting by said data/signal processor use a relation between said emitted visible-light pulse driven by said driving data and said detected visible-light pulse sampled in said detected light data; and
triggering, using a driver assistance processor system, at least one of an interaction with a driver of the vehicle and an action of the vehicle as a function of at least one of the presence of the object, the position of the object and the visibility detected by said data/signal processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for providing driver assistance, comprising providing a vehicle with a visible-light source, driving the source to emit visible light in a predetermined mode, receiving a reflection/backscatter of the emitted visible light from an object and generating detected light data; identifying, using the driving data and the detected light data, at least one of a presence and a position of the object as a function of the reflection/backscatter received and of the predetermined mode, detecting a visibility in the environment using the driving data and the detected light data, triggering at least one of an interaction with a driver of the vehicle and an action of the vehicle as a function of at least one of the presence of the object, the position of the object and the visibility detected by the data/signal processor.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for providing driver assistance to a driver of a vehicle, comprising:
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providing a vehicle with a visible-light source emitting visible light and having a function of illuminating an environment adjacent to the vehicle or emitting a signal, said visible-light source being a light emission diode; driving the visible-light source using a visible-light source controller to emit visible light in a predetermined mode using driving data, with visible light in the predetermined mode being visible to an unaided human eye to maintain said function of illuminating an environment adjacent to the vehicle or emitting a signal, said driving the visible-light source including pulsating the visible light to generate a pulsed visible light signal having an emitted visible-light pulse; providing said driving data to a data/signal processor; receiving a reflection/backscatter of the emitted pulsed visible light signal from an object, at a visible light optical detector, and generating detected light data having a detected visible-light pulse using said visible light optical detector, said reflection/backscatter being sampled at an acquisition rate to generate said detected light data; identifying, by said data/signal processor, at least one of a presence and a position of the object using said driving data and said detected light data as a function of the reflection/backscatter received and of the predetermined mode; detecting, by said data/signal processor, a visibility in said environment using said driving data and said detected light data, said visibility being a presence of at least one of fog, snow, dust, smoke, rain, ice, gas, liquid, airborne particle and smog in said environment; wherein said identifying and said detecting by said data/signal processor use a relation between said emitted visible-light pulse driven by said driving data and said detected visible-light pulse sampled in said detected light data; and triggering, using a driver assistance processor system, at least one of an interaction with a driver of the vehicle and an action of the vehicle as a function of at least one of the presence of the object, the position of the object and the visibility detected by said data/signal processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25)
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13. A driver assistance lighting system comprising:
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a light source emitting visible light and having a function of emitting visible light to illuminate an environment adjacent to the vehicle or emit a signal, wherein said visible-light source is a light emission diode; a source controller for driving the light source, using driving data, into emitting visible light in a predetermined mode in which the light remains visible to an unaided human eye while being driven by the source controller such that the light source maintains said function of illuminating an environment adjacent to the vehicle or emitting a signal, said source controller comprising a pulse/modulation driver to drive the visible-light source in the predetermined mode and generate a pulsed visible light signal having an emitted visible-light pulse; an optical detector adapted to detect the visible light as reflected/backscattered by an object to produce detection data having a detected visible-light pulse, said optical detector including an analog-to-digital converter, said reflected/backscattered visible light being sampled at an acquisition rate by said analog-to-digital converter; a data/signal processor for receiving said detection data from the optical detector and said driving data, the data/signal processor producing a data output associated to at least one of a presence and a position of the object as a function of the predetermined mode and the reflected/backscattered light detected, using a relation between said emitted visible-light pulse driven by said driving data and said detected visible-light pulse sampled in the detection data, said data/signal processor further detecting a visibility in said environment using said predetermined mode and said detection data, said visibility being provided with said data output, said visibility being a presence of at least one of fog, snow, dust, smoke, rain, ice, gas, liquid, airborne particle and smog in said environment; and a driver assistance processor system for triggering at least one of an interaction with a driver of the vehicle and an action of the vehicle as a function of at least one of said presence of said object, said position of said object and said visibility detected by said data/signal processor. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26)
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Specification