Lighting control apparatus with diagnosis and warning feature

• US 8,736,173 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Nishitani, Daisuke, Horii, Yasutoshi, Nishii, Takahito, Kamizono, Tsutomu, Nakano, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, THIENVU V
• Application Number:
  US13/135,232
• Publication Number:
  US 20120001547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,063 Days
• Field of Search: 315/82, 307/10.1, 307/10.8, 340901-905
• US Class Current: 315/82
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/543 for indicating other states or conditions of the vehicle indicating taxis' state of hire or fare G07B13/045
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 11/005 for lighting devices, e.g. indicating if lamps are burning or not
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/52 in a parallel array of LEDs

Abstract

A lighting control apparatus for a vehicle is provided which works to diagnose a malfunction of a light source which includes a plurality of lighting devices such as LEDs and emits light outside the vehicle. The lighting control apparatus determines a state of the vehicle. When the light source is determined to be malfunctioning, the lighting control apparatus operates the light source in one of predetermined warning lighting modes which is selected based on the state of the vehicle. This attracts a vehicle user'"'"'s attention to the malfunctioning light source.

Claims

1. A lighting control apparatus for a vehicle comprising:

a diagnosis circuit which diagnoses a malfunction of a light source which includes a plurality of lighting devices and emits light outside a vehicle;

a vehicle state determining circuit which determines a state of the vehicle; and

a malfunction warning circuit which operates the light source in one of predetermined warning lighting modes which is selected based on the state of the vehicle when the light source is determined by the diagnosis circuit as being malfunctioning;

wherein

the predetermined warning lighting modes comprise a flashing mode where the light source with the malfunction is flashed for a specified period of time.

2. A lighting control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the vehicle state determining circuit determines whether the vehicle is running or not as the state of the vehicle.

3. A lighting control apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein when the vehicle state determining circuit determines that the vehicle is running, the malfunction warning circuit is prohibited from operating the light source in one of the warning lighting modes.

4. A lighting control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the vehicle state determining circuit determines whether a vehicle user is getting in or out of the vehicle or not as the state of the vehicle.

5. A lighting control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a vehicle detector which detects the presence of another vehicle within an area illuminated by the light source, and wherein when no vehicle is detected in the area by the vehicle detector, and the light source is determined by the diagnosis circuit as being malfunctioning, the malfunction warning circuit changes orientation of a beam of the light emitted by the light source.

6. A lighting control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the light source is installed in a headlamp of the vehicle.

7. A lighting control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the predetermined warning lighting modes comprise a luminance mode where a luminance of the light source with the malfunction is changed for a specified period of time and a swiveled mode where the light source with the malfunction is swiveled for a specified period of time.

8. A lighting control apparatus for a vehicle comprising:

a diagnosis circuit which diagnoses a malfunction of each of a plurality of light sources each of which includes a plurality of lighting devices and which emit light outside a vehicle;

a vehicle state determining circuit which determines a state of the vehicle; and

a malfunction warning circuit which, when one of the light sources is diagnosed as being malfunctioning, operates only the one of the light sources in one of predetermined warning lighting modes which is selected based on the state of the vehicle;

wherein

the predetermined warning lighting modes comprise a flashing mode where the light source with the malfunction is flashed for a specified period of time.

9. A lighting control system as set forth in claim 8, wherein the predetermined warning lighting modes comprise a luminance mode where a luminance of the light source with the malfunction is changed for a specified period of time and a swiveled mode where the light source with the malfunction is swiveled for a specified period of time.

10. A lighting control system for a vehicle comprising:

a light source which includes a plurality of lighting devices and which emits light outside a vehicle;

an operating state sensor which monitors an operating state of the light source;

a vehicle state monitor which monitors a state of the vehicle to provide a signal indicative thereof; and

a lighting control apparatus which includes (a) a diagnosis circuit which diagnoses a malfunction of the light source based on the operating state of the light source, as monitored by the operating state sensor;

(b) a vehicle state determining circuit which determines the state of the vehicle based on the signal outputted from the vehicle state monitor; and

(c) a malfunction warning circuit which operates the light source in one of predetermined warning lighting modes which is selected based on the state of the vehicle when the light source is determined by the diagnosis circuit as being malfunctioning;

wherein

the predetermined warning lighting modes comprise a flashing mode where the light source with the malfunction is flashed for a specified period of time.

11. A lighting control system as set forth in claim 10, wherein the predetermined warning lighting modes comprise a luminance mode where a luminance of the light source with the malfunction is changed for a specified period of time and a swiveled mode where the light source with the malfunction is swiveled for a specified period of time.