SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING EXTERIOR VEHICLE LIGHTS ON MOTORWAYS

• US 20150091439A1
• Filed: 10/01/2014
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HL Klemove Corporation
• Original Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Inventors: Wright, David J., Falb, David M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,187,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/82
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/143 combined with another condition, e.g. using vehicle recognition from camera images or activation of wipers
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/052 Switching delay, i.e. the beam is not switched or changed instantaneously upon occurrence of a condition change
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/334 on motorways
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/42 oncoming vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights

Abstract

An exterior light control system is provided for controlling exterior lights of a vehicle. The system includes an imaging system configured to image a forward external scene and to generate image data corresponding to the acquired images; and a controller configured to receive and analyze the image data and for generating an exterior light control signal that is used to control the exterior lights in response to analysis of the image data and in response to a selected mode of operation. When in the motorway mode, if the controller detects headlamps of one or more oncoming vehicle, the controller generates an exterior light control signal for reducing the brightness of the exterior lights, determines a relative location within the acquired images of a headlamp closest to a central feature of the acquired images, and selects a delay that varies dynamically in response to the relative location of the headlamp.

Claims

1. An exterior light control system for controlling exterior lights of a controlled vehicle, comprising:

an imaging system configured to image a scene external and forward of the controlled vehicle and to generate image data corresponding to the acquired images; and

a controller configured to receive and analyze the image data and for generating an exterior light control signal that is used to control the exterior lights in response to analysis of the image data and in response to a selected mode of operation,

if said controller detects headlamps of one or more oncoming vehicle, said controller is configured to generate an exterior light control signal for reducing the brightness of the exterior lights, to determine a relative location within the acquired images of a headlamp closest to a central feature of the acquired images, and to select a delay that varies dynamically in response to the relative location of the headlamp, and wherein, upon determining that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images that require the exterior lights to remain in a reduced brightness state, said controller is configured to nevertheless continue to analyze acquired images for the selected delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

2. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein said controller detects whether light sources are AC light sources by utilizing upper and lower thresholds and wherein said controller adjusts the sensitivity between the first and second sensitivities by changing the upper and lower thresholds by an offset value.

3. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein if headlamps are detected during the delay, said controller will continue to analyze acquired images until such time that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images a time period corresponding to the selected delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

4. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein the closer the headlamp is to a central feature of the acquired images, the longer the selected delay.

6. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein the central feature of the acquired images is a center of optical flow of the acquired images.

7. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein the central feature of the acquired images is an actual center of the acquired images.

8. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein:

one selected mode of operation is a motorway mode that is selected when the controlled vehicle is traveling on a motorway,

wherein, when in the motorway mode, said controller is configured to select a delay that varies dynamically in response to the relative location of the headlamp, and

wherein, when not in the motorway mode, if said controller detects headlamps of one or more oncoming vehicle, said controller is configured to generate an exterior light control signal for reducing the brightness of the exterior lights, and to select a static delay, and wherein, upon determining that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images that require the exterior lights to remain in a reduced brightness state, said controller is configured to nevertheless continue to analyze acquired images for the static delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

9. The exterior light control system of claim 1, wherein to determine a relative location within the acquired images of a headlamp closest to a central feature of the acquired images, said controller is configured to determine which headlamp is the rightmost headlamp in the images and to determine the relative location of the rightmost headlamp to central feature.

10. The exterior light control system of any of claim 1, wherein to determine a relative location within the acquired images of a headlamp closest to a central feature of the acquired images, said controller is configured to determine which headlamp is the leftmost headlamp in the images and to determine the relative location of the leftmost headlamp to central feature.

11. An exterior light control system for controlling exterior lights of a controlled vehicle, comprising:

an imaging system configured to image a scene external and forward of the controlled vehicle and to generate image data corresponding to the acquired images; and

a controller configured to receive and analyze the image data and for generating an exterior light control signal that is used to control the exterior lights in response to analysis of the image data and in response to a selected mode of operation, wherein one selected mode of operation is a motorway mode that is selected when said controller determines that the controlled vehicle is traveling on a motorway,

when not in the motorway mode, said controller is configured to detect whether light sources are AC light sources using a first sensitivity,

when in the motorway mode, said controller is configured to detect whether light sources appearing on a left side of the acquired images and below a specified height are AC light sources using a second sensitivity that is lower than the first sensitivity while detecting whether light sources appearing in the remaining portions of the acquired images are AC light sources using the first sensitivity, and

when in the motorway mode, if said controller detects headlamps of one or more oncoming vehicle, said controller is configured to generate an exterior light control signal for reducing the brightness of the exterior lights.

12. The exterior light control system of claim 11, wherein said controller determines a relative location within the acquired images of a headlamp closest to a central feature of the acquired images, and selects a delay that varies dynamically in response to the relative location of the headlamp, and wherein, upon determining that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images that require the exterior lights to remain in a reduced brightness state, said controller nevertheless continues to analyze acquired images for the selected delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon software instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to generate control signals for controlling exterior lights of a controlled vehicle, by executing the steps comprising:

imaging a scene external and forward of the controlled vehicle and generating image data corresponding to the acquired images;

receiving and analyzing the image data in the processor;

generating a control signal from the processor that is used to control the exterior lights in response to analysis of the image data and in response to a selected mode of operation; and

if the processor detects headlamps of one or more oncoming vehicle, the processor is configured to generate an exterior light control signal for reducing the brightness of the exterior lights, to determine a relative location within the acquired images of a headlamp closest to a central feature of the acquired images, and to select a delay that varies dynamically in response to the relative location of the headlamp, and wherein, upon determining that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images that require the exterior lights to remain in a reduced brightness state, the processor is configured to nevertheless continue to analyze acquired images for the selected delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to detect whether light sources are AC light sources by utilizing upper and lower thresholds and wherein the processor adjusts the sensitivity between the first and second sensitivities by changing the upper and lower thresholds by an offset value.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein if headlamps are detected during the delay, the processor will continue to analyze acquired images until such time that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images a time period corresponding to the selected delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the closer the headlamp is to a central feature of the acquired images, the longer the selected delay.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the central feature of the acquired images is a center of optical flow of the acquired images.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the central feature of the acquired images is an actual center of the acquired images.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein:

one selected mode of operation is a motorway mode that is selected when the controlled vehicle is traveling on a motorway,

wherein, when in the motorway mode, the processor is configured to select a delay that varies dynamically in response to the relative location of the headlamp, and

wherein, when not in the motorway mode, if the processor detects headlamps of one or more oncoming vehicle, the processor is configured to generate an exterior light control signal for reducing the brightness of the exterior lights and to select a static delay, and wherein, upon determining that oncoming headlamps are no longer present in the acquired images that require the exterior lights to remain in a reduced brightness state, the processor is configured to nevertheless continue to analyze acquired images for the static delay before generating an exterior light control signal for increasing the brightness of the exterior lights.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the processor determines that the controlled vehicle is traveling on a motorway and selects a motorway mode when the controlled vehicle is traveling at a speed above a motorway speed threshold.