Lighting system for a vehicle

• US 9,440,518 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Song, Su Bin
• Primary Examiner(s): Breval, Elmito
• Application Number:
  US14/459,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20150197139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 3/04 adjustable in transparency
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/0023 the element being a sensor, e.g. distance sensor, camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1423 Automatic dimming circuits, i.e. switching between high beam and low beam due to change of ambient light or light level in road traffic
• 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 2300/314 Ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/148 the main emission direction of the LED being perpendicular to the optical axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 45/43 using gas
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 45/48 with means for conducting heat from the inside to the outside of the lighting devices, e.g. with fins on the outer surface of the lighting device

Abstract

A lighting system for a vehicle is provided. The lighting system includes a sensor module, a control mode, a shutter glass, and a headlamp module. The sensor module senses light entering from outside of the vehicle to generate a sensing signal. The control module generates shutter and lighting operation signals based on the sensing signal. The shutter glass is opened and closed according to the shutter operation signal. The headlamp module has a light source unit that alternately emits a first light having a first luminance and a second light having a second luminance according to the lighting operation signal. The control module controls the shutter and lighting operation signals to enable the light source unit to alternately emit the first and second lights in synchronization with the opening and closing operations of the shutter glass.

Claims

1. A lighting system for a vehicle, the lighting system comprising:

a sensor module configured to sense light entering from outside of the vehicle to generate a first sensing signal;

a control module configured to generate a shutter operation signal and a lighting operation signal based on the first sensing signal;

a shutter glass configured to be opened and closed according to the shutter operation signal; and

a headlamp module having a light source unit, wherein the light source unit is configured to alternately emit a first light having a first luminance and a second light having a second luminance according to the lighting operation signal,

wherein the control module is configured to control the shutter operation signal and the lighting operation signal to enable the light source unit to alternately emit the first light and the second light in synchronization with the opening and closing operations of the shutter glass.

2. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the control module comprises:

a signal generating unit configured to generate the shutter operation signal and the lighting operation signal; and

a calculation unit configured to determine duty cycles and periods of the shutter and lighting operation signals.

3. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein the calculation unit is configured to first determine a value corresponding to an illumination intensity of the sensed light from the first sensing signal, and to second determine the duty cycles and periods of the shutter and lighting operation signals based on the first determination.

4. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein the first sensing signal includes a square wave signal corresponding to an illumination intensity of the sensed light.

5. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein the shutter operation signal has a first level for closing the shutter glass when the first sensing signal has a logic high level, and

wherein the shutter operation signal has a second level for opening the shutter glass when the first sensing signal has a logic low level.

6. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein the calculation unit is configured to first determine a duty cycle and a period of the first sensing signal, and to second determine the duty cycles and periods of the shutter and lighting operation signals based on the first determination.

7. The lighting system of claim 6, wherein the shutter glass is opened and closed when the shutter operation signal has a logic low level and a logic high level, respectively.

8. The lighting system of claim 6, wherein the shutter glass is closed and opened when the shutter operation signal has a logic low level and a logic high level, respectively.

9. The lighting system of claim 6, wherein the light source unit is configured to emit the first light when the lighting operating signal has a logic low level, and the second light when the lighting operating signal has a logic high level, the second luminance having a higher value than that of the first luminance.

10. The lighting system of claim 6, wherein the determined duty cycles and periods of the shutter and lighting operation signals are identical to the determined duty cycle and period of the first sensing signal.

11. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light source unit is configured to emit the first light when the shutter glass is closed and the second light when the shutter glass is opened, the second luminance having a higher value than that of the first luminance.

12. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the control module comprises:

a calculation unit configured to determine a value corresponding to an illumination intensity of the sensed light from the first sensing signal; and

a comparing unit configured to compare the determined value of illumination intensity with a reference value,

wherein the control module is configured to generate a shutter operation signal for opening the shutter glass when the value of illumination intensity of the sensed light is equal to or smaller than the reference value.

13. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the shutter glass is disposed in a portion of a windscreen of the vehicle.

14. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the shutter glass is disposed in wearable glasses.

15. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the senor module includes first and second sensor units, the first and second sensor units being configured to sense third and fourth lights, respectively, and to generate second and third sensing signals, respectively based on the third and fourth sensed lights,

wherein the first and second sensor units are disposed in different positions from each other, and

wherein the second sensing signal having a higher value than that of the third sensing signal is determined as the first sensing signal.

16. A lighting system for a vehicle, the lighting system comprises:

a control module configured to generate first and second square wave signals synchronized to each other;

a shutter glass disposed within a field of view of an occupant of the vehicle, wherein the shutter glass is configured to be opened and closed according to the first square wave signal; and

a headlamp module having a light source unit, wherein the light source unit is configured to alternately emit a first light having a first luminance and a second light having a second luminance according to the second square wave signal.

17. The lighting system of claim 16, further comprising a sensor module configured to sense light entering from outside of the vehicle to generate a sensing signal, and to output the generated sensing signal to the control module.

18. The lighting system of claim 17, wherein the sensing signal includes a third square wave signal having a first duty cycle and a first period, and

wherein the first and second square wave signals are synchronized with the third square wave signal.

19. A lighting system for a vehicle, the lighting system comprising:

a sensor module including first and second sensor units, wherein the first sensor unit senses a first light to generate a first sensing signal, and the second sensor unit senses a second light to generate a second sensing signal;

a control module configured to receive the first and second sensing signals, to determine one sensing signal having a higher illumination intensity than another sensing signal between the first and second sensing signals, and to generate a shutter operation signal and a lighting operation signal based on the one sensing signal having the higher illumination intensity than another sensing signal between the first and second sensing signals;

a shutter glass configured to be opened and closed according to the shutter operation signal; and

a headlamp module having a light source unit, wherein the light source unit is configured to alternately emit a third light having a first luminance and a fourth light having a second luminance according to the lighting operation signal.

20. The lighting system of claim 19, wherein the first light is a light incident from a front side of the vehicle, and the second light is a light incident from a rear side of the vehicle.