Motor vehicle with driver's gaze controlled headlamp and method

• US 9,707,885 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2015
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Langkabel, Frank, Roeckl, Philipp, Schneider, Ingolf
• Primary Examiner(s): Negron, Ismael
• Application Number:
  US14/843,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20160068097A1
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• 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 1/1423 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 1/16 illuminating the way asymmetrically
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/23 Driver's line of sight
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/125 by using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A motor vehicle includes a headlamp configured to project an adjustable light beam; a plurality of cameras positioned at different locations in the motor vehicle and oriented to capture a head of a driver; a controller in data communication with the cameras to determine at least one region of attention of the driver from data captured by the cameras, and adaptively control the light beam of the headlamp based on the region of attention of the driver.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle comprising:

at least one headlamp directed in a forward travelling direction and configured to generate an adaptable light beam;

at least one camera oriented in the motor vehicle and operable to capture positional data relating to a head of a driver of the motor vehicle; and

a controller in data communication with the at least one camera and configured to determine a region of attention for the driver from the positional data transmitted by the camera, and to control the adaptable light beam of the at least one headlamp for emphasizing the region of attention to the driver,

wherein the at least one camera comprises first and second cameras in data communication with the controller, oriented in the motor vehicle at different locations and operable to capture the positional data, wherein the controller is configured to determine the region of attention of the driver based on the positional data from the first and second cameras.

2. The motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the at least one headlamp to adjust a brightness, a light color, a color temperature or a combination thereof of the adaptable light beam in a locally limited manner for emphasizing the region of attention while a remainder of the adaptable light beam is substantially unchanged.

3. The motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to divide a field of vision of the driver into a plurality of segments, to determine at least one of the plurality of segments that correspond with the region of attention and to control the at least one headlamp so that the at least one of the plurality of segments in which the region of attention is located is emphasized.

4. The motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the at least one headlamp comprises a laser headlamp.

5. The motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to compare the data of the first camera and the second camera to determine a deviation, and based the determination, the controller is configured to select which camera data is used.

6. The motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the at least one headlamp comprise a plurality of illumination elements, each illumination element having a preset beam focus.

7. The motor vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of illumination elements are arranged in a matrix.

8. The motor vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of illumination elements are configured to emit at least one of a different light color and a different light output.

9. The motor vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the adaptable light beam to change at least one of a light color and a brightness of the light beam in the region of attention while a remainder of the adaptable light beam is substantially unchanged.

10. The motor vehicle according to claim 9, wherein a field of vision of the driver is divided into a plurality of segments, the controller is configured to determine at least one of the plurality of segments that correspond with the region of attention and wherein the controller is configured to control the at least one headlamp so the at least one of the plurality of segments, in which the region of attention of the driver is located, are emphasized.

11. The motor vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the at least one headlamp comprises at least one of a laser headlamp and a pixel headlamp.

12. The motor vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to compare positional data from the first and second camera and weight the positional data based on the comparison.

13. A method for operating a motor vehicle having at least one headlamp generating an adaptable light beam in a forward travelling direction, the method comprising:

capturing positional data for a head of a driver of the vehicle with at least one camera, the at least one camera comprising first and second cameras in data communication with a controller, oriented in the motor vehicle at different locations and operable to capture the positional data;

determining, by the controller, at least one region of attention for the driver based on the positional data; and

adjusting the adaptable light beam as a function of the region of attention for the driver such that the region of attention is emphasized for the driver,

wherein the controller is configured to determine the region of attention of the driver based on the positional data from the first and second cameras.

14. A computer program product with a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, on which a set of commands are embedded which when executed by the controller carry out the method according to claim 13.