Apparatus for controlling auxiliary equipment of vehicle

• US 7,415,338 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd., Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd., Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Monji, Tatsuhiko, Furusawa, Isao, Fukuhara, Masaaki, Higashino, Jun, Ouchi, Katsuo, Iida, Fujio, Kasuya, Hiroyuki, Otsubo, Katsumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Keith; Jack W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIPALA, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US11/003,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20050134483A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/49, 701/1, 340/933, 340/937, 340/425.5, 340/942, 340/815.4, 340/935, 340/469, 307/10.8, 315/79, 315/80, 315/82, 315/159, 362/460, 362/464, 362/465, 362/466, 250/208.1, 250/208.4, 250/214, 250/214.AL, 250/214.D
• US Class Current: 701/49
• 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 1/18 being additional front lights bracket mounted headlights B60Q1/0483
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/054 Variable non-standard intensity, i.e. emission of various beam intensities different from standard intensities, e.g. continuous or stepped transitions of intensity
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/056 Special anti-blinding beams, e.g. a standard beam is chopped or moved in order not to blind
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/112 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/114 Vehicle acceleration or deceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/312 Adverse weather
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/32 Road surface or travel path
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/338 Overtaking
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/41 preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/42 oncoming vehicle

Abstract

An apparatus for controlling operation of auxiliary equipment of a vehicle by receiving an output of a surroundings detection sensor for detecting the surrounding of the vehicle and an output of the vehicle information sensor, for detecting operation of the vehicle, wherein the distance to and the direction of an overtaking vehicle, an oncoming vehicle, or a preceding vehicle and the light intensities of the right and the left headlamps are controlled independently. A plurality of processes required for controlling the vehicle auxiliary equipment are performed by the time division processing.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling operation of auxiliary equipment of a vehicle by receiving an output of a surroundings detection sensor including an imaging device for detecting the surrounding of the vehicle and an output of a vehicle information sensor for detecting operation of the vehicle, wherein

said surrounding detection sensor including the imaging device detects an oncoming vehicle and a preceding vehicle such that said surrounding detection sensor detects the oncoming vehicle at higher shutter speed with said imaging device and detects the preceding vehicle at lower shutter speed with said imaging device,

a distance and direction to the oncoming vehicle are calculated according to the output of the surroundings detection sensor obtained by detecting the oncoming vehicle at the higher shutter speed with said imaging device, and a distance and direction the preceding vehicle are calculated according to the output of the surroundings detection sensor obtained by detecting the preceding vehicle at the lower shutter speed with said imaging device, so as to independently control light intensities and/or beam distances of right and left headlamps.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein when an overtaking vehicle is detected by the surroundings detection sensor, the light intensities of the right and the left headlamps are controlled with a time difference.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light intensity of the headlamps is controlled according to the speed of the vehicle obtained from the vehicle information sensor.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light intensity of the headlamps is controlled according to the acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle obtained from the vehicle information sensor.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein when the acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle obtained from the vehicle information sensor exceeds a predetermined value, it is judged that the vehicle is inclined in the pitch direction and the light intensity of the headlamps is increased or decreased.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of processes required for controlling the vehicle auxiliary equipment are performed by a time division processing.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein a plurality of processes performed by different signal processing devices are assigned to one unit time of the time division in the time division processing.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the time unit of the time division in the time division processing is one field of an image signal obtained by an imaging device included in the surroundings detection sensor.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the plurality of processes executed by the time division processing are modified according to the surrounding condition detected by the surroundings detection sensor.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein among the plurality of processes executed by the time division processing, a group of processes executed by each output of the surroundings detection sensor is cyclically executed.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the surroundings detection sensor includes an imaging device mounted on the inside of the windshield of the vehicle and the image obtained by the imaging device is subjected to image recognition processing, thereby detecting at least one of the distance to another vehicle, a direction of another vehicle, brightness of the front or surrounding, rain amount, and the mist amount on the windshield.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the light intensities and/or beam distance of the right and left headlamps are independently controlled according to at least one of the distance to the another vehicle, the direction of the another vehicle, and the brightness of ahead of or the surrounding of the vehicle.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the operation speed and intermittence time of wipers are controlled according to the rain amount detected in the image recognition processing and the defroster of the air conditioner is controlled according to the mist amount of the windshield.

14. An apparatus for controlling headlamps as auxiliary equipment of a vehicle by receiving an output of a surroundings detection sensor including an imaging device for detecting the surrounding of the vehicle and an output of the vehicle information sensor for detecting operation of the vehicle, according to claim 1,

wherein a shutter speed of the imaging device is set so as to eliminate dark-saturation or bright-saturation of the output of the surroundings detecting sensor, the headlamps are set to a dimming state when the headlamps are turned on and/or during normal running and light intensities of the headlamps are increased according to the shutter speed of the imaging device of the surroundings detection sensor and the output of the vehicle information sensor.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the surroundings detection sensor detects the brightness around the vehicle in accordance with the set shutter speed of the imaging device of the surroundings detection sensor.

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the surroundings detection sensor detects the distance to and/or the direction of an overtaking vehicle, an oncoming vehicle, or a preceding vehicle.

17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the light intensity increase control changes the light intensity and/or beam distance of the headlamps.

18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the light intensity increase control changes the light intensity and/or beam distance of the headlamps stepwise or continuously.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the light intensity of the headlamps is reduced faster than the light intensity increase speed according to the output of the surroundings detection sensor and the vehicle information sensor.

20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein an input signal from the surroundings detection sensor composed of a single optical system is output to the plurality of auxiliary equipment.

21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the shutter speed of the imaging device of the surrounding detection sensor is higher than a predetermined value, the headlamps and side lamps are turned off.

22. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the shutter speed of the imaging device of the surrounding detection sensor is slower than a predetermined value, the headlamps are turned on.

23. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the shutter speed of the imaging device of the surrounding detection sensor corresponds to a time for accumulating electric charge in the imaging device.