Light distribution control apparatus

• US 6,609,817 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2001
• Issued: 08/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Koito Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Koito Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Suzuki, Kazuhiro, Kobayashi, Shoji, Shimado, Toshihiro, Niwa, Toshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Shea, Sandra
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amarantides, John
• Application Number:
  US10/026,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20020080617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 607 Days
• Field of Search: 362/465, 362/466, 362/467, 701/36, 701/49, 701/208, 701/210, 701/211, 340/575, 340/576, 340/905, 340/995, 307/9.1, 307/10.1
• US Class Current: 362/466
• 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 1/18 being additional front lights bracket mounted headlights B60Q1/0483
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/112 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/114 Vehicle acceleration or deceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/122 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/134 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/142 Turn signal actuation
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/322 Road curvature
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/324 Road inclination, e.g. uphill or downhill
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/332 on city roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/333 on suburban or country roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/334 on motorways
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/336 Crossings

Abstract

A light distribution control apparatus which is less affected by an error in a navigation function, and conducts a proper light distribution. An illuminated area and a glare quantity are controlled according to a determination on a traveling region of a vehicle (an expressway, a general road, or an urban region), and an illuminating direction is controlled according to a determination on a road shape. On the other hand, a navigation processor determines reliabilities of current position detection, and a vehicle position based on road data, and determines a reliability of the road shape and a reliability of the traveling region. A base illuminated area and a medium glare are selected when the reliability of the traveling region is low, an illuminated area according to the traveling region is selected and the glare quantity is decreased when the reliability is medium, and an illuminated area and a glare quantity according to the traveling region are selected when the reliability is high. A light distribution angle θ hs according to a steering angle is selected when the reliability of the road shape is low, and a light distribution angle θ hn for illuminating a vehicle position after T seconds is selected when the reliability is high.

Claims

1. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing at least road data for representing road shapes;

a road shape acquiring means for acquiring a road shape forward of the current position detected by the current position detecting means from the road data;

a road shape reliability determining means for determining a reliability of the road shape acquired by the road shape acquiring means; and

a lighting control means for controlling a lighting state of the lighting apparatus based on the road shape acquired by the road shape acquiring means, and a determined result by the road shape reliability determining means.

3. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:

a steering angle detecting means for detecting a steering angle of the vehicle, wherein the lighting control means adopts a steering associative mode where an illuminating angle by the lighting apparatus changes according to the detected steering angle when the reliability determined by the road shape reliability determining means is low, a navigation system associative mode where the illuminating angle by the lighting apparatus changes according to the acquired road shape when the determined reliability is high, and a selectively associative mode where the steering associative mode is mainly adopted, and the navigation system associative mode is selectively adopted when the determined reliability is medium.

2. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing at least road data for representing road shapes;

a map matching means for calculating a road on which the vehicle is traveling with a high probability based on the road data, and for calculating a position on the road based on the detected current position;

a reliability determining means for determining at least either one of a reliability of a detection element of the current position detecting means and a reliability of map matching of the map matching means;

a road shape acquiring means for acquiring a road shape forward of the current position detected by the current position detecting means from the road data;

a road shape reliability determining means for determining a reliability of the road shape acquired by the road shape acquiring means based on the reliability of the detection element, and the reliability of map matching determined by the reliability determining means; and

a lighting control means for controlling a lighting state of the lighting apparatus based on the road shape acquired by the road shape acquiring means and a determined result by the road shape reliability determining means.

4. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 2 further comprising:

a steering angle detecting means for detecting a steering angle of the vehicle, wherein the lighting control means adopts a steering associative mode where an illuminating angle by the lighting apparatus changes according to the detected steering angle when the reliability determined by the road shape reliability determining means is low, a navigation system associative mode where the illuminating angle by the lighting apparatus changes according to the acquired road shape when the determined reliability is high, and a selectively associative mode where the steering associative mode is mainly adopted, and the navigation system associative mode is selectively adopted when the determined reliability is medium.

15. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the reliability determining means determines the reliability while considering whether there is a road above, below, left of, or right of, and parallel to the road on which the vehicle is traveling with a high probability.

5. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing map information including at least road data for representing road shapes;

a traveling region discriminating means for using the map information to discriminate a traveling region where the vehicle is currently traveling;

a traveling region reliability determining means for determining a reliability of the traveling region acquired by the traveling region discriminating means; and

a lighting control means for controlling an illuminated area and a glare quantity by the lighting apparatus based on the traveling region acquired by the traveling region discriminating means, and a determined result by the traveling region reliability determining means.

7. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the lighting control means determines an illuminated area with a high glare quantity corresponding to highways, a base illuminated area with a medium glare quantity corresponding to non-highway suburban traveling regions, or an illuminated area with a low glare quantity corresponding to urban regions according to the discriminated traveling region, adopts the base illuminated area when the determined reliability of the determined traveling region is low regardless of the determined traveling region, decreases the glare quantity in an illuminated area corresponding to the determined traveling region when the determined reliability of the determined traveling region is medium, and selects an illuminated area corresponding to the determined traveling region when the determined reliability of the determined traveling region is high.

6. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing at least road data for representing road shapes;

a map matching means for calculating a road on which the vehicle is traveling with a high probability based on the road data, and for calculating a position on the road based on the detected current position;

a reliability determining means for determining at least either one of a reliability of a detection element of the current position detecting means, and a reliability of map matching of the map matching means;

a traveling legion discriminating mean for using the map information to discriminate a traveling region where the vehicle is currently traveling;

a traveling region reliability determining means for determining a reliability of the determined traveling region based on the reliability of the detection element and the reliability of map matching determined by the reliability the determining means; and

a lighting control means for controlling a lighting state of the lighting apparatus based on the traveling region discriminated by the traveling region discriminating means and a determined result by the traveling region reliability determining means.

8. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the lighting control means determines an illuminated area with a high glare quantity corresponding to highways, a base illuminated area with a medium glare quantity corresponding to non-highway suburban traveling regions, or an illuminated area with a low glare quantity corresponding to urban regions according to the discriminated traveling region, adopts the base illuminated area when the determined reliability of the determined traveling region is low regardless of the determined traveling region, decreases the glare quantity in an illuminated area corresponding to the determined traveling region when the determined reliability of the determined traveling region is medium, and selects an illuminated area corresponding to the determined traveling region when the determined reliability of the determined traveling region is high.

16. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the reliability determining means determines the reliability while considering whether there is a road above, below, left of, or right of, and parallel to the road on which the vehicle is traveling with a high probability.

9. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing at least road data for representing road shapes;

a matching means for calculating a road on which the vehicle is traveling with a high probability based on the road data, and for calculating a position on the road based on the detected current position;

a reliability determining means for determining at least either one of a reliability of a detection element of the current position detecting means and a reliability of the matching means; and

a lighting control means for controlling a lighting state of the lighting apparatus based on a determined result by the reliability determining means.

10. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing at least road data for representing road shapes;

a road data reliability determining means for determining a reliability of the road data corresponding to the detected current position; and

a lighting control means for controlling a lighting state of the lighting apparatus based on a determined result by the road data reliability determining means.

11. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 10 further comprising:

a road property judging means for judging a road property of a road on which the vehicle is traveling based on the road data; and

a region property judging means for judging a region property of a region in which the vehicle is traveling based on the road data;

wherein the road data reliability determining means determines the reliability of the road data based on either one of the road property and the region property.

12. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the road data is classified by at least either one of road width and road type as the road property in advance.

13. The light distribution control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the road data is classified into at least either one of an urban region, a non-urban region, an underpopulated region, a metropolitan region, a flatland region and a mountain region as the region property in advance.

14. A light distribution control apparatus comprising:

a lighting apparatus for illuminating forward of a vehicle;

a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

a map information storing means for storing at least road data for representing road shapes;

a path searching means for searching for a traveling path to a destination;

an on-guiding path reliability determining means for determining a reliability that the detected current position of the vehicle is on the searched traveling path; and

a lighting control means for controlling a lighting state of the lighting apparatus based on a determined result by the on-guiding path reliability determining means.

17. A method for controlling light distribution in a traveling direction of a vehicle, comprising:

determining a current position of a vehicle;

determining a traveling region;

determining a reliability factor of a traveling path in the traveling region;

illuminating the traveling path in the traveling direction forward of the vehicle according to a changing shape, contour or direction of the traveling path and the reliability factor of the traveling path relative to the vehicle by changing the angle, intensity or direction of light from a headlamp of the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the traveling region is one of a highway, a suburban road or an urban road.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein an illuminated area and a glare quantity from the headlamps of the vehicle are further controlled according to the traveling region.