System for adjusting brightness of vehicle lighting, vehicle having the same, and control method thereof

• US 9,365,157 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2014
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Oh, Wontaek
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, THUY V
• Application Number:
  US14/563,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20160101725A1
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• Field of Search: 362/487, 362/488, 362/543, 362/544, 307/10.1, 307/10.8, 315/77, 315/80, 315/149, 315/152
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/33 Illumination features
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/349 Adjustment of brightness
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/48 Sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/33 Illumination features
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/349 Adjustment of brightness
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/48 Sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/50 Instruments characterised by their means of attachment to or integration in the vehicle B60K35/231 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/60 Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/18 for varying the light intensity

Abstract

A vehicle having a light in an exterior and a cluster and a center fascia in an interior includes a first lighting unit provided in the cluster, a second lighting unit provided in the center fascia, a recognizer configured to recognize ON and OFF operations of the light, a detector configured to detect illuminance, and a controller configured to adjust luminance of the first and second lighting units based on operation information of the light and the illuminance. A structure of the lighting unit within the center fascia may be simplified by adjusting brightness of the lighting unit within the center fascia in the controller configured to control the lighting unit of the cluster and therefore manufacturing cost may be reduced.

Claims

1. A system for adjusting brightness of vehicle lighting comprising:

a first lighting unit provided in a cluster;

a luminance input configured to receive an input of a target luminance of the first lighting unit,

a second lighting unit provided in a center fascia;

a recognizer configured to recognize ON and OFF operations of a light provided in an exterior of vehicle;

a detector configured to detect an external illuminance; and

a controller configured to adjust a luminance of the first and second lighting units based on operation information of the light and the external illuminance,

wherein the controller adjusts the luminance of the first and second lighting units to a maximum luminance when the light is in an ON operation state and the detected external illuminance is greater than or equal to a reference illuminance,

adjusts the luminance of the first and second lighting units to the maximum luminance when the light is in an OFF operation state, and

adjusts the luminance of the first and second lighting units to the target luminance of the first lighting unit when the light is in the ON operation state and the detected external illuminance is less than the reference illuminance.

2. The system according to claim 1,

wherein the controller adjusts the luminance of the first and second lighting units to the maximum luminance when the target luminance is the maximum luminance.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller outputs an adjustment signal corresponding to the maximum luminance to the second lighting unit when the luminance of the first lighting unit is the maximum luminance and outputs an adjustment signal corresponding to a luminance reduced by a predetermined magnitude to the second lighting unit when the luminance of the first lighting unit is the reduced luminance, and

wherein the second lighting unit is adjusted to the maximum luminance when the luminance of the first lighting unit is the maximum luminance, and the second lighting unit is adjusted to the reduced luminance when the luminance of the first lighting unit is the reduced luminance.

4. A vehicle having a system for adjusting brightness of vehicle lighting, comprising:

a detector configured to detect an external illuminance;

a cluster having a first lighting unit and configured to receive ON and OFF operation information of a light provided in an exterior of vehicle and the external illuminance, to determine a luminance of the first lighting unit based on the received light operation information and the external illuminance, to control luminance of the first lighting unit to the determined luminance, and to output an adjustment signal corresponding to the determined luminance;

a luminance input configured to receive an input of a target luminance of the first lighting unit; and

a second lighting unit configured to adjust the luminance of the second lighting unit based on the adjustment signal output from the cluster,

wherein the cluster adjusts the luminance of the first lighting unit to the target luminance when the light is in an ON operation state and the detected external illuminance is less than a reference illuminance.

5. The vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the second lighting unit is provided in a center fascia.

6. The vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cluster receives the ON and OFF operation information of the light and the external illuminance using controller area network (CAN) communication.

7. The vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cluster adjusts the luminance of the first lighting unit to the maximum luminance when the light is in the ON operation state and the detected external illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference illuminance.

8. The vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cluster adjusts the luminance of the first lighting unit to the maximum luminance when the light is in an OFF operation state.

9. The vehicle according to claim 4,

wherein the cluster adjusts the luminance of the first lighting unit to the maximum luminance when the target luminance is the maximum luminance.

10. The vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cluster outputs an adjustment signal corresponding to a maximum luminance to the second lighting unit when the luminance of the first lighting unit is the maximum luminance, and outputs an adjustment signal corresponding to a luminance reduced by a predetermined magnitude to the second lighting unit when the luminance of the first lighting unit is the reduced luminance.

11. The vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising a third lighting unit configured to supply light to a character engraved on each of a plurality of buttons on the third lighting unit,

wherein the cluster outputs an OFF signal to the third lighting unit when the detected external illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference illuminance, and outputs an ON signal to the third lighting unit when the detected external illuminance is less than the reference illuminance.

12. The vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the cluster outputs an adjustment signal corresponding to the maximum luminance to the second lighting unit when the detected external illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference illuminance, and outputs an adjustment signal corresponding to a luminance lower than the maximum luminance to the second lighting unit when the detected external illuminance is less than the reference illuminance.

13. A control method for lighting device of a vehicle, comprising steps of:

receiving operation information of a light provided in an exterior of the vehicle and a detected external illuminance;

adjusting a luminance of a first lighting unit provided in a cluster based on the operation information of the light and the detected external illuminance; and

outputting an adjustment signal corresponding to the adjusted luminance of the first lighting unit to a second lighting unit provided in a center fascia;

wherein the step of adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit includes steps of;

receiving an input of a target luminance; and

adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit to the target luminance when the light is in an ON operation state and the detected external illuminance is less than a reference illuminance.

14. The control method according to claim 13, wherein the step of outputting the adjustment signal includes steps of:

comparing the detected external illuminance to the reference illuminance;

outputting an adjustment signal corresponding to a maximum luminance to the second lighting unit when the detected external illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference illuminance; and

outputting an adjustment signal corresponding to a luminance lower than the maximum luminance to the second lighting unit when the detected external illuminance is less than the reference illuminance.

15. The control method according to claim 13, wherein the step of adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit includes a step of:

adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit to a maximum luminance when the light is in the ON operation state and the detected external illuminance is greater than or equal to the reference illuminance.

16. The control method according to claim 13, wherein the step of adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit includes a step of:

adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit to a maximum luminance when the light is in an OFF operation state.

17. The control method according to claim 13, wherein the step of adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit includes a step of:

adjusting the luminance of the first lighting unit to a maximum luminance when the target luminance is the maximum luminance.