Apparatus and method for controlling head lamp of vehicle

• US 8,892,301 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2012
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SL Corporation
• Original Assignee: SL Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Jong Ryoul, Son, Young Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): NELSON, SARA J
• Application Number:
  US13/676,823
• Publication Number:
  US 20130128599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 701/49, 701/36, 701/408, 701/523, 701/519, 362/459, 362/464, 362/465, 362/466
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/08 automatically
• 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 1/143 combined with another condition, e.g. using vehicle recognition from camera images or activation of wipers
• 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 2300/312 Adverse weather
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/32 Road surface or travel path
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/332 on city roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/334 on motorways
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/41 preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/42 oncoming vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2102/15 wherein the light is emitted under L-shaped cut-off lines, i.e. vertical and horizontal cutoff lines

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for controlling a head lamp of a vehicle are disclosed. The apparatus includes one or more processors configured to: determine whether at least one of a low beam and a high beam is turned on; select at least one of a plurality of pieces of control information for controlling an illumination pattern according to the determination result; and control the illumination pattern according to the selected control information.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a head lamp of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

determine whether at least one of a low beam and a high beam is turned on;

select at least one of a plurality of pieces of control information for controlling an illumination pattern in response to the determination result;

control the illumination pattern in response to the selected control information;

select position information of the vehicle as the control information in response to determining that the low beam is turned on; and

select an ambient state of the vehicle as the control information in response to determining that the high beam is turned on.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control information is selected from a group consisting of at least one of:

a state of a vehicle;

an ambient state of the vehicle and position information of the vehicle.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, the one or more processors are further configured to:

detect the state of the vehicle using one or more sensors;

determine position information of the vehicle; and

detect the ambient state of the vehicle,

wherein detecting the ambient state of the vehicle includes acquiring a front image of the vehicle; and

detecting a position of a front vehicle based on the acquired front image.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the position information of the vehicle is obtained from a navigation system installed in the vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the position information of the vehicle includes at least one of geographic information of the vehicle and road information.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to control the illumination pattern in response to the position information of the vehicle selected as the control information and optionally in response to the state of the vehicle.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the ambient state of the vehicle includes a position of a front vehicle positioned in a forward direction with respect to a traveling direction of the vehicle.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are configured to control the illumination pattern in response to the ambient state of the vehicle selected as the control information and optionally in response to the state of the vehicle.

9. A method for controlling a head lamp of a vehicle, the method comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, whether at least one of a low beam and a high beam is turned on;

selecting, by the one or more processors, at least one of a plurality of pieces of control information for controlling an illumination pattern according to the determination result;

controlling, by the one or more processors, the illumination pattern in response to the selected control information;

selecting, by the one or more processors, position information of the vehicle as the control information in response to determining that the low beam is turn on; and

selecting, by the one or more processors, an ambient state of the vehicle as the control information in response to determining that the high beam is turned on.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control information is selected from a group consisting of at least one of:

a state of a vehicle, an ambient state of the vehicle and position information of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sensing, by a state sensor, the state of the vehicle using one or more sensors;

determining, by the one or more processors, position information of the vehicle; and

detecting, by an ambient state sensor, the ambient state of the vehicle,

wherein the detecting of the ambient state includes acquiring, by a camera, a front image of the vehicle and detecting, by a front vehicle sensor, a position of the front vehicle based on the acquired front image.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the ambient state of the vehicle includes a position of a front vehicle positioned in a forward direction with respect to a traveling direction of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the controlling of the illumination pattern comprises controlling, by the one or more processors, the illumination pattern in response to the ambient state of the vehicle selected as the control information and optionally in response to the state of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the position information of the vehicle is obtained from a navigation system installed in the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the position information of the vehicle includes at least one of geographic information of the vehicle and road information.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the controlling of the illumination pattern comprises controlling, the by one or more processors, the illumination pattern in response to the position information of the vehicle selected as the control information and optionally in response to the state of the vehicle.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions executed by a processor, the computer readable medium comprising:

program instructions that instruct a controller to determine whether at least one of a low beam and a high beam is turned on;

program instructions that instruct a controller to select at least one of a plurality of pieces of control information for controlling an illumination pattern according to the determination result;

program instructions that instruct a controller to control the illumination pattern according to the selected control information;

program instructions that select position information of the vehicle as the control information in response to determining that the low beam is turn on; and

program instructions that select an ambient state of the vehicle as the control information in response to determining that the high beam is turned on.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17,

wherein the position information includes at least one of geographic information of the vehicle and road information.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17,

wherein the ambient state of the vehicle includes a position of a front vehicle positioned in a forward direction with respect to a traveling direction of the vehicle.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions that instruct a state sensor to detect the state of the vehicle using one or more sensors;

program instructions that instruct a controller to determine position information of the vehicle; and

program instructions that instruct an ambient state sensor to detect the ambient state of the vehicle,

wherein to detect the ambient state includes to acquire, by a camera, a front image of the vehicle and detect a position of the front vehicle based on the acquired front image.