Selective light attenuation system

• US 20060175859A1
• Filed: 02/10/2005
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Temic Automotive of North America, Incorporated (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Isaac, Emad S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,134,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 296/97.400
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 3/04 adjustable in transparency

Abstract

A system for selectively attenuating light from a source of light, such as the sun, to a person'"'"'s eyes in a vehicle. The system includes an electro-optical element (10) interposed between the source of light (16) and the person'"'"'s eyes (14). The element (10) has pixels (18) that are operable to individually attenuate (38) light passing therethrough. A navigation system (28) determines a location and direction of travel of the vehicle. A memory (24) contains a general location for the person'"'"'s eyes within the vehicle. Information (32) is made available for determining a position of the source of light. A controller (24) operates to determine those pixels of the elements that are calculated (38) to be between the person'"'"'s eyes and the source of light, and to reduce the light transmittivity of those pixels (38) to attenuate the light from the source (16) to the person'"'"'s eyes (14).

Claims

1. A system for selectively attenuating light from a source of light to a person'"'"'s eyes in a vehicle, comprising:

an electro-optical element interposed between the source of light and the person'"'"'s eyes, the element having pixels that are operable to individually attenuate light passing therethrough;

a navigation system operable to determine navigational information of the vehicle including a location and direction of travel of the vehicle;

a memory that contains pre-stored general location for the person'"'"'s eyes within the vehicle;

information for determining a position of the source of light; and

a controller coupled to the element, navigation system, and memory, the controller operable to determine those pixels of the element that are calculated to be between the person'"'"'s eyes and the source of light, and to reduce the light transmittivity of those pixels to attenuate the light from the source to the person'"'"'s eyes.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the element is disposed on glass surfaces of the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the element is disposed on one or more of the group of a windshield of the vehicle, the windows of the vehicle, and the mirrors of the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising an occupant detection system coupled to the controller, wherein the controller controls multiple regions of pixels to attenuate the light from the source to any passenger'"'"'s eyes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the source of light is the sun, and wherein the controller uses the location of the vehicle, the direction of the vehicle, the time of day and the information in the database to determine a position of the sun in the sky relative to a location of the person'"'"'s eyes.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the source of light is the sun, and further comprising means for determining the weather, wherein the system is only operable when it is estimated that the sun is not obscured.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface coupled to the controller, wherein the user interface can be used by the person to manually select pixels of the element to attenuate light.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a user interface coupled to the controller, wherein the controller selects the pixels for attenuation and the person selects the amount of attenuation.

8. A system for selectively attenuating light from the sun to a person'"'"'s eyes in a vehicle, comprising:

an electro-optical element disposed on at least a windshield of the vehicle, the element having pixels that are operable to individually attenuate light passing therethrough;

a navigation system operable to determine navigational information of the vehicle including a location and direction of travel of the vehicle;

a memory that contains a pre-stored general location for the person'"'"'s eyes within the vehicle;

ephemeris information for the sun; and

a controller coupled to the element, navigation system, and database, the controller operable to determine those pixels of the elements that are calculated to be between the person'"'"'s eyes and the sun for the given time of day, ephemeris of the sun, and navigational information of the vehicle, those pixels are then selected for reducing their light transmittivity to attenuate the light from the sun to the person'"'"'s eyes.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the element is also disposed on the windows of the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the element is also disposed on the mirrors of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is operable to activate those pixels in a region that are on and near a direct line of sight between the person'"'"'s eyes and the sun to attenuate light through the region using graduated shading, wherein the attenuation of individual pixels depends upon the nearness of the pixel to the direct line of sight.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising a user interface coupled to the controller, wherein the user interface can be used by the person to manually select pixels to attenuate and to adjust the light transmittivity of the manually selected pixels.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising means for determining the weather, wherein the system is only operable when it is estimated that the sun is not obscured.

15. The system of claim 8, further comprising a temperature monitoring system coupled to the controller, wherein the light transmittivity of the pixels in the element are adjusted to assist in maintaining an interior temperature of the vehicle below a predetermined threshold.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the pixels of the element are also operable, under control of the controller, to communicate information to the person.

17. A method for selectively attenuating light from the sun to a person'"'"'s eyes in a vehicle, comprising:

disposing an electro-optical element on at least a windshield of the vehicle, the element having pixels that are operable to individually attenuate light passing therethrough;

acquiring a general location for the person'"'"'s eyes within the vehicle and ephemeris information for the sun;

determining navigational information of the vehicle including a location and direction of travel of the vehicle;

calculating those pixels of the elements that are between the person'"'"'s eyes and the sun for a given time of day, ephemeris of the sun, and navigational information of the vehicle; and

attenuating the light transmittivity of those pixels from the calculating step to reduce the light from the sun to the person'"'"'s eyes.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

providing a user interface, and

manually selecting pixels for attenuation and the amount of attenuation of the selected pixels using the user interface.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising a step of estimating weather conditions, wherein the attenuating step is operable when the estimated weather indicates that the sun is not obscured.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of communicating information to the person using the pixels of the element.