METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSESSING A QUALITY OF A HEADLIGHT

• US 20140049639A1
• Filed: 08/16/2013
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Brosinger, Manuel
• Granted Patent: US 9,366,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/4257 applied to monitoring the characteristics of a beam, e.g. laser beam, headlamp beam monitoring arrangements for lasers in general H01S3/0014
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 11/062 using an indicator mounted on the head-light
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 11/064 by using camera or other imaging system for the light analysis

Abstract

In a method of assessing a quality of a headlight of a motor vehicle during travel or operation on a shake bench facility, operation of the headlight is monitored by a camera. A camera image or a chronological sequence of camera images is evaluated as a function of at least one predefined criterion, such as, e.g., a brightness distribution.

Claims

1. A method of assessing a quality of a headlight of a motor vehicle during travel or operation on a shake bench facility, comprising:

monitoring the headlight using a camera; and

evaluating a camera image or a chronological sequence of camera images as a function of at least one predefined criterion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predefined criterion is a brightness distribution.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predefined criterion is a change in time of a brightness or brightness distribution.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising subdividing each camera image into a predefined number of subimages, and determining a brightness of the subimages, for ascertaining the brightness distribution.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining for a chronological sequence of the subimages for each subimage a minimum, mean value, and maximum of the brightness for a predefined time period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predefined criterion is a location of a light-dark boundary of the headlight.

7. Apparatus for assessing a quality of a headlight of a motor vehicle during travel or operation on a shake bench facility, comprising:

a light box secured to the motor vehicle at a location to ensure a radiation of the headlight into the light box;

a camera accommodated in the light box; and

a computer for evaluating image data captured by the camera.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the camera and the computer are connected by wireless communication for transmission of image data captured by the camera to the computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the computer is constructed for evaluating the image data as a function of at least one predefined criterion and for display of an evaluation result that characterizes the quality of the headlight.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the camera is constructed for an image capture rate of at least 200 images per second.