Vehicle headlight lighting system

Abstract

The invention is a vehicle headlight system capable of compensating for the drop in light intensity towards more distant areas of the road, thereby achieving nearly uniform illumination of the road, regardless of the distance between the road area and the vehicle. This is achieved by increasing the light intensity of the light beams traveling towards the distance and decreasing the light intensity of the light beams traveling towards the road area directly in front of the vehicle. Doubling the beam range results in four times the light output being delivered to the road.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a lighting system for vehicles which is able to distribute the light beams more homogeneously on the roadway, regardless of the beam range, and to mask out oncoming vehicles or vehicles ahead in such a way that other road users are not dazzled.

[0002] Although the total number of fatalities and injuries has been declining for years, statistics show that the risk of accidents at night is still significantly higher than during the day. While nighttime driving accounts for only about 20 percent of total traffic, they show that approximately 46 percent of road users are involved in accidents during the dark.

[0003] Further development of modern lighting systems can help further reduce the number of accidents. Thanks to technological advances in recent years, today's lighting assistants are extremely powerful. It's not just brightness that matters, but intelligent, assisted lighting systems that provide the driver with the best possible illumination of the road and traffic situation, even in confusing situations. These systems can detect hazards earlier and thus mitigate accidents or, in the best case, even prevent them completely.

[0004] The current state of the art gives us an insight into the headlight lighting system that has been installed in vehicles to date. The high beam in conventional vehicles is set in such a way that it emits a wide cone of light beams that illuminates an area in front of the vehicle almost evenly. If you place a screen 3m in front of the vehicle and switch on the high beam, you will notice that the light projection is illuminated with almost equal intensity both above and below, regardless of whether xenon, LED or other lighting systems are used. That is actually the problem with today's lighting. The luminance on the section of road closer to the vehicle will therefore be significantly higher than the luminance on the section of road further away, which is, for example, twice as far away. To be more precise, the luminance decreases quadratically with the distance.This is why the driver sees a brightly lit road closer to the vehicle, while it is very dimly lit further away. The driver is essentially blinded by the light from his own vehicle's headlights when looking at the road 20m away. If he quickly changes his gaze to look further away at the road, his pupil is still so small that he can no longer see the situation clearly. Of course, the pupil compensates for the light incidence in the eye pretty quickly, but this makes a big difference for older drivers. The pupil becomes larger the further he looks at the road. Sudden changes in viewing angle require a quick pupil reaction and adjustment. This is why older people are reluctant to drive at night.

[0005] The application DE102017101678A1 describes a laser spotlight with a sensor. This presents a laser spotlight with a laser light source and a wavelength converter, and with a reflector that specularly reflects a first portion of the light incident from the wavelength converter and diffusely scatters a second portion of the light incident from the wavelength converter. The reflector also includes a sensor that is arranged outside the portion specularly reflected by the reflector and that has at least one detector. The sensor is arranged such that, when the laser spotlight is functioning, it is illuminated by a portion of the diffusely scattered light. The sensor includes a translucent substrate that has a diffusely scattering structure facing the reflector. A light entry surface of the substrate is implemented as a detector light entry surface of the detector.

[0006] The application EP3194838B1 describes a headlight with multiple laser sources.The headlight according to the invention is further characterized in that it has a plurality of laser light sources which are arranged one above the other and each of which generates a horizontal line of light in a light distribution which is established in front of the headlight, in that the light deflecting element has a transparent solid body which is rotatably mounted in the headlight and a rotary drive which is set up to rotate the transparent solid body, wherein the transparent solid body has at least two partial volumes with different refractive indices which are separated from one another by at least one light-refracting interface, wherein the transparent solid body is arranged in such a way that the light-refracting interface is located in the light path when the transparent solid body rotates and that its rotational angular position relative to the incident laser light changes when the solid body rotates.

[0007] A similar headlight is known from AT 513909 A1.

[0008] Such a headlight has a light-deflecting element, also referred to below as a scanner. With such a scanner, headlights can be built that can produce almost any desired light distribution. This enables the dynamic adaptation of the light distribution produced by the headlight to changing traffic conditions. For example, a camera installed in the vehicle records the traffic situation in front of the vehicle. Software analyzes the images and controls the light-deflecting element and thus the light distribution so that the roadway is always optimally illuminated and dazzling of oncoming traffic is avoided. This increases safety, especially when driving at night.

[0009] A headlight equipped with such a scanner is known, for example, from DE 10 2007 055 480 B3. In this known device, a focused laser beam emitting blue light is moved with the aid of a scanner over a light source (e.g., a phosphor), which converts the blue laser light into mixed white light by mixing it with yellow or yellow-red fluorescent light. The white light is directed onto the roadway via an optical system. By moving the light spot of the focused laser beam across the light source and simultaneously modulating the laser power, any desired light distribution can be generated.

[0010] EP 0 291 475 A2 discloses a headlight having an angularly adjustable reflector that very quickly deflects a narrow beam in different spatial directions. As a result, small areas are sequentially illuminated in time with the changes in direction of the beam and are thus scanned with light. The total area resulting from the union of the sequentially scanned illuminated small areas appears to the human eye as a coherent, bright area and thus as a coherent light distribution, provided the scanning is sufficiently fast and the scanning sequence is periodically repeated at a sufficiently rapid rate. Sufficiently fast scanning is achieved, for example, when the scanning sequence is repeated at a frequency greater than 100 Hz.

[0011] Conventional headlights operate with light deflection elements arranged between the laser and the lamp, periodically directing the laser light to different areas of the lamp. The light deflection occurs through reflection. This requires a high degree of precision in the adjustment of the reflectors and the roughness of the reflectors' optical surfaces.

[0012] EP3194838B1 describes a headlight with a light-deflecting element. Such a headlight has a light-deflecting element, also referred to below as a scanner. Such a scanner can be used, for example, to build headlights that can generate virtually any desired light distribution. This enables dynamic adaptation of the light distribution generated by the headlight to changing traffic conditions.

[0013] For example, a camera installed in the vehicle records the traffic situation in front of the vehicle. Software analyzes the images and controls the light deflection element and thus the light distribution so that the roadway is always optimally illuminated and dazzling oncoming traffic is avoided. This increases safety, especially when driving at night.

[0014] Despite many studies, unfortunately everyone has overlooked one important factor as to why older, and often younger, drivers are reluctant to drive at night. Many of these people are actually excellent drivers in daylight. It is certainly due, among other things, as stated in the studies, to reduced light perception due to the aging process of the eyes, but one very important factor is not mentioned anywhere: the LUMINANCE on the road. The light distribution from car headlights has so far been rigid and not optimally adjusted. If it were possible to keep the luminance on the road and the area in front of the vehicle constant regardless of the distance, the lighting conditions would be considerably better. During the day, this problem does not exist because the sun's rays or diffuse light from the clouds illuminate the entire area evenly, i.e. with the same radiance on every square meter.With artificial lighting from headlights, things are different. As the distance doubles, the luminance decreases quadratically. If this could be compensated for, a driver would be able to perceive the illuminated roadway much better. This invention solves this problem.

[0015] Until now, headlights have illuminated nearby objects much more intensely than distant objects on the road. This is because the light cone becomes wider the further it hits a surface. As the distance doubles, the density of the light beam decreases quadratically. The driver therefore perceives distant objects much less well than objects that are closer to the vehicle while driving. In addition, the intense light close to the vehicle and the weak light in the distance means that the driver's eyes are constantly struggling to adjust to the light, which can lead to premature fatigue. If the driver lowers their gaze slightly and looks at the road closer to the vehicle, their pupil becomes smaller because the light reflection is more intense. However, as soon as they look into the distance, the light there is much weaker and their pupils have to dilate again to see better.This doesn't make much difference to young people, but for older people it can have a negative effect and significantly increase driving unsafety.

[0016] The invention specified in claims 1 to 14 is based on the problem of creating a lighting system for vehicles which is capable of providing a constant luminance per unit area on the illuminated roadway areas, regardless of the distance to the vehicle, and an increase in the luminous contrast.

[0017] This problem is solved by the weapon system having the features of patent claims 1 to 14.

[0018] Embodiments of the invention are described with reference to Fig. 1 to 10. They show: Fig. 1 an embodiment with a headlight with LEDs and a special lens installed, which is completely transparent at one edge, but which becomes gradually more opaque up to the other opposite edge, Fig. 2 a variant with an LCD screen, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 the illumination of the road, Fig. 4 the rectangular projection of the light beam onto the road, Fig. 5 the SW-LCD panel in front of the light exit point of the headlight, Fig. 6 another embodiment with light deflecting elements that illuminate the roadway in the form of light line projection, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 the lighting system with glare protection function, Fig. 9 a variant with constant light output and variable movement speed of the point light / rectangular projection when writing the light lines, Fig. 10 the contrast enhancement by a color LCD screen in front of the headlight, which receives a snapshot from a camera, which then delivers the light of the headlight in the form of an image projection onto the road.

[0019] Advantages of the invention are: - Glare protection function for the vehicle driver by adjusting the luminance per unit area to the entire illuminated roadway, - the color contrast increase by highlighting the light intensity at the appropriate light color to the color of the object, person's clothes or vehicle color on the road, - Anti-glare function for drivers in oncoming and preceding vehicles.

[0020] The invention here aims at active luminance compensation / adjustment, whereby the light intensity is distributed more evenly across the roadway. A constant luminance is desired regardless of the distance between the illuminated roadway sections. This is achieved by controlling the light source or by a light distribution device, whereby the far area of ​​the road is illuminated more intensely than the near area. The invention ensures that the light from the vehicle headlight has a virtually constant luminance, regardless of whether the light hits the roadway 50m, 100m, or 400m away from the vehicle. This means that both near and far areas of the road are illuminated with almost the same intensity, or have almost the same light density per unit area. The aim is therefore to achieve lighting that comes one step closer to natural daylight.Ultimately, during the day the entire area is illuminated more or less evenly and not quadratically with the distance from the vehicle. Because this invention and technical solution distributes the light onto the road in such a way that the luminance remains more or less the same across all sections of the road, the driver's eye does not have to constantly contend with changes in lighting conditions and adjustments. The glare effect for the driver that occurs with conventional headlights is prevented here. The invention reliably prevents the driver's own headlight light from dazzling the eyes when they look down to look at something closer to the vehicle, because the near area is illuminated more weakly than the far area of ​​the road. The lighting system here creates a light on the road that is perceived as relatively pleasant and homogeneous. This results in relaxed driving and reduces the risk of accidents when driving at night.

[0021] While conventional light sources can be used for roadway lighting, light sources with LED technology in headlights are more suitable for such purposes. Targeted light intensity control measures or even switching numerous LEDs on and off are used to achieve a constant luminance across different parts of the roadway at different distances.

[0022] However, the system described here in the invention also aims to achieve a constant light density per unit area over the entire or a substantial part of the illuminated roadway.

[0023] A fourfold increase in light intensity for areas that are twice as far away is sensible in order to achieve lighting conditions similar to those in daylight. Because the distant road area reflects the light, and the reflected light is subject to further light intensity losses, an increase by a factor of 16 would be necessary for luminance compensation, i.e., with a doubling of the distance, a 16-fold increase in light intensity would be necessary for luminance compensation. However, this would then no longer be the same as when driving in daylight and could irritate the driver. Therefore, a fourfold increase in light intensity with a doubling of the distance is more suitable. This is achieved by controlling the individual LEDs or LED groups. In the latter case, the LEDs are distributed in several groups that illuminate different road areas. The LED groups, for example,LED groups illuminating the roadway at a distance of 400m are installed in such a way that, depending on their number or luminous intensity, or controlled by a control system, they emit four times the light intensity at a constant beam angle than the LED groups illuminating the roadway at a distance of 200m. This aims to achieve a similar light density per unit area on the roadway and counteracts a quadratic decrease in light intensity when the distance is doubled.

[0024] You could also install a screen in front of the headlight. It's mounted vertically, completely transparent at the top, and becomes more opaque the further down you go. This would allow the light rays to flow unhindered at the top, while partially absorbing the light rays hitting it at the bottom. However, this method wastes a lot of light energy through absorption.

[0025] A new feature of the invention is the control system that distributes the light beam density fairly evenly across the road, so that almost every square meter of illuminated area receives almost the same light density, regardless of how far it is from the vehicle. This means that the road closer to the vehicle is illuminated with less light intensity than the road further away. This means that the light reflected from the road (and objects / vehicles there) hits the driver's eyes with almost the same intensity, regardless of the distance! This means that there is no blinding effect for the driver when changing their field of vision from far to close up. This luminance compensation and imitation of daylight conditions is very important for road safety when driving at night, especially for older drivers. It gives the driver the feeling that they are not missing anything important, even when driving at night.Of course, oncoming traffic must not be dazzled. In addition to the luminance control, the state-of-the-art anti-glare function is also ensured for the drivers of oncoming and preceding vehicles.

[0026] By balancing the luminance per unit area, it is easier for the driver to see objects, obstacles, people, or, for example, broken-down vehicles in the distance. Everything, both close to the vehicle and far away, is illuminated with the same intensity per unit area. This means that the headlight shines significantly more intensely in the upper area than in the lower area. The driver notices the difference immediately when they switch on this headlight. Suddenly, everything in the distance is clearly visible, similar to daylight, where there is no difference in the illumination between areas near and far.

[0027] In addition to this effect, the invention offers another feature that can also play a positive role when driving at night. It can significantly increase contrast. This would require the installation of three light sources that emit in three basic light colors, or a large number of individually controllable RGB LEDs. It is known that if an object is illuminated with a light beam that matches its color, it reflects these light rays much more intensely. For example, if a red jacket is illuminated with red LED light, it shines much more intensely than if it is illuminated with white light or with white LEDs (RGB LEDs) of the same light intensity. With green LED light, it even looks gray and is barely noticeable in the dark. This effect, which visually highlights an object, can be used to create higher-contrast lighting at night.

[0028] On the Fig. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment. Here, the headlight 1 of the vehicle 2 can be equipped with light-emitting diodes 3 or other light sources, such as xenon or laser diodes. Light-emitting diodes are preferred here. They are inexpensive, small, and have a long service life. As with technology already used in many vehicles, a light deflection system 4 is installed here too, which focuses the light into a light beam 5 or shapes the light beam geometry to suit roadway lighting, which emerges from the headlight and illuminates the roadway 6. The light beam geometry is determined by conventional elements (e.g., mirrors, lenses, apertures, etc.). However, a special disc 8 is installed in the light beam outlet 7, which is completely transparent at one edge 9, but becomes continuously more opaque up to the other opposite edge 10. The disc can be rectangular or round.It is important that it is installed in such a way that it allows the headlight light rays that strike the road surface farthest to pass through completely unobstructed, while significantly weakening the light rays that strike the near areas on the road surface. For example, the disk can be installed vertically in front of the light exit in the headlight, arranged in such a way that its upper edge, which is completely transparent, is at the top and its lower edge, which is tinted or darkened, is at the bottom. The disk is continuously from just below the upper edge to the tinted lower edge, but not uniformly, rather the degree of tinting becomes stronger from the upper edge downwards. The disk should be constructed in such a way that its degree of tinting, or the attenuation of the light rays, should decrease by a factor of four with the doubling of the beam range.In this way, the light rays from the headlight that shine far away become more intense, while the light that hits the near area of ​​the road becomes significantly weaker. Because the light cone becomes larger with distance, the density of the light rays there decreases quadratically with the distance, resulting in a light intensity balance for the driver and a homogeneous light perception. In this case, both the near area of ​​the road 11 and the central area 12 or the far area 13 are evenly illuminated with the same light intensity for the driver. The lens lets all the light through at the top, while it blocks more and more light at the bottom (. Fig. 2).

[0029] On the Fig. 5, a similar pane is installed, but its tint is electrically controllable. It can be an LCD pane 33 (a black and white LCD would suffice), which appears completely transparent in the upper area, while partially blocking the light rays from passing through in the lower area, creating a more or less shading effect on the light projection. While it doesn't completely block the light output in the lower area, it does attenuate it somewhat. The attenuation is to be continuously adjusted by the control 32, so that the intensity of the light projection is four times higher at twice the distance. Here, the vehicle's headlight is equipped with at least three light-emitting diodes: a red LED 14, a green LED 15, and a blue LED 16. These three LEDs emit light onto a light cumulator (light combining device) 17, which combines all three light beams into a mixed beam 18.This creates an almost white light, which then hits a light deflecting element (e.g. mirror system) 4. The light is emitted from the light deflecting element in a concentrated beam, in the form of a small, intensely luminous circle of light 19 or rectangular projection (approximately 5-10m in diameter / edge length at 100m). However, this circle or rectangular projection is quickly panned back and forth horizontally and across the road and lowered line by line. A camera 20 on vehicle 2 takes snapshots of the road users several times per second. The only things important to the camera are the position of the headlights 21 / taillights 22 and the colors of other vehicles or objects or people on the road.Based on the position of the headlights / tail lights, the approximate position of the vehicle windows 23 (rear window / front window) of the road users is determined and the areas are excluded during scanning by the light circle 19 so that no light hits them. It does not have to be completely switched off, but the light circle can shine in that area with a significantly lower intensity. Since the camera also detects the colors on the vehicle surfaces, persons or objects, by controlling when approaching the light circle, exactly on these color areas, a light can be generated that shines more intensively in the same color. For example, if the light circle reaches a truck that is painted / colored yellow, the red and green light-emitting diodes will shine more intensively on the area of the headlights, so that an almost yellow light comes out, only as long as the light circle sweeps over the yellow surface.This makes the yellow area stand out more and significantly increases the contrast. The LED control reacts so quickly that within microseconds, a different light color can become more intense, for example, if a blue area is next to the yellow area. Any other light color combination can also be generated, depending on the color visible in the area in front of the vehicle. For example, with purple, the red and blue LEDs will shine together, while the green LED will shine more dimmer.

[0030] It is important with this system to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic. Intelligent light assistants already use headlight control to selectively mask out the light projection. This is used, for example, to prevent dazzling other drivers in oncoming vehicles. Matrix apertures can be used to create a shadow there. Our system eliminates the need for matrix devices because it simply generates a circle of rays of light that moves back and forth line by line, scanning the surroundings or the entire roadway 50 to 500 times per second. Two methods can be used to increase the contrast of illuminated objects.In the first, a flash generator and micro-flashes capture the area in color using cameras, while simultaneously generating an LED projection from RGB LED systems. The light beam illuminating the area actually adapts its LED color to the color of the object. If an object is green in one spot, that spot is illuminated with green LEDs (or at least with a higher proportion of green light mixed with white light), while a red spot next to it is illuminated with red light (or with an increased proportion of red light, also mixed with the other RGB components). With three light sources, each emitting green, red, and blue, the control system is not very complicated.Because individual LEDs (or groups of LEDs with the same light color) are controllable, and the corresponding light color is projected onto the roadway, vehicles, people 24, and objects 25 in front of the car, it is possible to change the light color of the combined light beam at any time. Fast micromirror actuators 26 and a controller for the individual LED sources, which together form an RGB LED light beam, can also be used, with the light color of the LEDs being adjustable within milliseconds. Adjusting the light color in a flash increases the contrast enormously. In conjunction with the camera / image sensor information, it is sufficient to control the LED light color so that the LED light output of three LED light sources emitting different colors (RGB) is controlled accordingly.B: when blue areas (blue vehicle or a person's blue jacket) come into contact with the road, the red and green LEDs are throttled accordingly or, if they briefly hit the blue area, switched off completely, although the intensity of the blue LED continues to shine. The LED light output of the blue LED can be increased slightly for this time. This would work well for any color and can, for example, be set by the driver in a program when adjusting the lighting conditions in the vehicle before driving. This creates an almost glowing blue object on the road. The optimal light intensity settings can be found and set empirically in a test environment.The light intensity can be adjusted so that black and white surfaces are illuminated with white light (RGB LED), while all other colors are illuminated with a correspondingly increased light color component, depending on the color of the object. For example, if a green vehicle is approaching us, it will be illuminated in the area of ​​the headlights and below by our vehicle's green LED. Because our headlights consist of three LED light beam colors (red, green, and blue), it can produce a beam that appears white. To create the camera snapshots (several times per second), white light is used (either from an additional flash generator or from the vehicle's white headlights). In the version with the flash generator, a very short flash of light is sent immediately before the shot is taken, and the image sensor records the image.In this way, the position of the green vehicle, including its color, is determined, and this information is sent to the headlight control system. Upon reaching the position of the oncoming vehicle, the LED illumination area will emit additional green LEDs with increased intensity, striking the vehicle with green light rays, although its windshield is excluded from the light. Green light rays are reflected more intensely, which contributes to increased perception. If a red vehicle is driving behind the oncoming vehicle, it will also be selectively illuminated with increased red light rays, making it easier to perceive. The scanning of image information is very fast and can, for example, occur in millisecond intervals. This marking and selective illumination method can be implemented in various programs within the system, for example.can be called up or activated at any time via touch control on a display or via voice command, and can also be switched off at any time. The contrast strength, which is achieved by controlling the light intensity of the affected LEDs, can also be adjusted. It is important to use only white light during the snapshot to avoid electronic positive feedback, which inevitably leads to an infinite amplification of the effect. This can be initiated by the control system, which at the time of the snapshot illuminates the road with white light from all three LEDs, or by activating the flash light generator. The images or video recordings can also be buffered, and the whole thing functions like a kind of dashcam.

[0031] While white LEDs can be used to generate white light, the light color could be more selectively achieved by using three LEDs or three groups of LEDs, each emitting one of the primary colors, connected together and in conjunction with a light deflection element. Red, green, and blue light rays are mixed together in a single beam. The resulting beam appears white to the observer. This white beam can be directed by mirror / micromirror chips. The feedback system of image sensors / cameras 20 also controls a real-time correction for the eye protection position of the driver of the oncoming vehicle based on the position of the headlights (or taillights of the vehicles ahead). The glare protection function can protect multiple road users simultaneously from glare effects.

[0032] On the Fig. 6 shows a further exemplary embodiment. With the help of light deflecting elements (e.g. mirror actuators) or micro-mirror actuators 26, LEDs generate bundled light beams which are then reflected onto the roadway in the form of moving light point or light line projections. An intense light beam is emitted in bundled form onto the roadway. The light beam 18 only shines on a very small area and creates only a small light circle projection 19 or rectangular / square projection 27. The light beam point or circle / rectangle should be approximately 100 - 200 cm in size (diameter or edge length) at a distance of approximately 50 m. This is the area that is illuminated very intensively. Naturally, on sloping surfaces the projection appears significantly larger. This point projection moves very quickly onto the roadway and illuminates the entire roadway line by line.The principle is similar to that of earlier cathode monitors, whereby an electron beam scans the screen line by line, stimulating a coating there to glow. Here, however, the light beam completely illuminates the surroundings or the roadway by scanning the roadway at high speed. Each time the light beam spot has described a light line 28, e.g. as soon as it has completed a 25° angle in its pivoting, the light beam projection is lowered slightly (more precisely, by one line) and then moved back to describe another line. At the end of the line, the point projection is lowered again by one line width and pivoted in the other direction, so that another line is scanned on the roadway. The whole process happens very quickly, and the light beam spot (rectangular projection) is intended to scan the entire roadway in front of the vehicle approximately 50 - 300 times per second (50 - 300 Hz).Depending on the size of the light point projection or the size of the light beam's radiation angle, approximately 30 - 200 lines can be generated per single road scan. With a scanning frequency of 100 Hz, approximately 3,000 to 20,000 lines per second would have to be generated, which, however, would not be a problem with today's fast micromirror chips (DLP chips, e.g. DMD from Texas Instruments). Such micromirror actuators are manufactured in various sizes and designs and are often used in projectors (micromirror array - Digital Micromirror Device, or DMD for short from Texas Instruments). This technology is also used in projectors. However, what is new here is the light intensity adjustment to the light distance, whereby the near area is illuminated with a weaker light intensity than the far area and this increases quadratically with doubling the distance in order to maintain a constant light density across the entire illuminated road.The light intensity is controlled automatically by the position of the line. The further down the line projection is, the weaker the light intensity is controlled.

[0033] The higher lines of the projection are projected onto the roadway much further away than the lower lines. While the first line 29 shines approximately 800-1000m, the lowest line 30 is actually projected several meters (approximately 8-25m) in front of the vehicle. The lighting system can be divided into two stages and designed as a low beam and a high beam headlight. It can also be supported by the conventional low beam for close-range lighting. In this case, the lowest line of the projection does not have to shine so close to the vehicle onto the roadway, but can be set up at the furthest edge, where the low beam 31 ends (i.e., at 50-75m), and there seamlessly expand or continue the low beam into the high beam. For this reason, not very many lines are required to achieve illumination of the entire roadway.Conventional low beam headlights should be equipped with a light deflector or a light distributor, or with a continuously tinted lens 8, which would illuminate the near area more weakly than the far area. This would distribute the luminance almost evenly across the road. This also prevents the driver from being blinded. The weaker illumination in the near area prevents them from being blinded by the reflection of their own headlights from the road. Because the higher lines of projection have a significantly greater range, and the light cone of the light beam is therefore wider, the intensity drops rapidly. Conversely, the closer the lines are projected onto the road to the vehicle, the more intensely the light beams shine onto the road. For this reason, a control 32 is installed here that dynamically regulates the light beam intensity.The light intensity can be automatically adjusted depending on the line height of the projection.

[0034] Several interesting solutions are suitable for adjusting the light density on the illuminated surface unit. The first, as already described, would be to continuously reduce the light output the further down the projection lines move, with the light output being set lower for the lower lines than for the higher lines. The second solution would be to always keep the light output constant, but to adjust the speed of movement of the light circle 19 / rectangular projection 27 when writing the light lines. The movement of the light beam when writing the upper light lines would then have to be slower, with the panning movement occurring faster with each downward light line. For the driver, due to eye inertia, the area in which the light beam point stays longer appears brighter than the area in which the light beam point stays shorter or moves faster.However, because the road receives a lower light beam density in the distance but is illuminated for a longer time, and vice versa for the near road, the road appears relatively evenly lit to the driver. This way, the road is illuminated with the same intensity, regardless of how far it is from the driver. This is an innovation in lighting technology that can significantly increase road safety when driving at night.

[0035] To increase the contrast, a color LCD screen 34 can be installed in front of the headlight, which receives a snapshot from a camera and then delivers the light from the headlight in the form of an image projection onto the road ( Fig.10). This projection illuminates all objects on the road with the same light color as the object itself. The colors from the surfaces illuminated by it reflect back much more strongly because they are illuminated with the same light color as they are. This increases the contrast enormously. However, the snapshots, which are taken at a rate of approximately 50-200 per second, should be taken with white light, as otherwise a destructive image amplification occurs if the snapshots are also taken under contrasting light. The light intensity can also be controlled via the color LCD screen 34, depending on the illumination range. A continuously dimmable curtain can be generated on the LCD screen, which, despite the color display, controls the light intensity so that the more distant areas of the road are illuminated more intensely than the near areas.

[0036] The light control discs installed in front of the headlight don't have to absorb the light in their lower areas; they can also be equipped with mirror particles that partially reflect the light back to a mirror deflection element in the headlight, which then projects the light onto the road with even greater intensity in the far range. This significantly reduces light output losses. LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS 1 headlight 2 vehicles 3 LEDs 4 Light deflection system, light deflection element, mirror system 5 light beam 6 Roadway 7 Light beam output 8 slices 9 Completely transparent edge 10 Opposite tinted edge 11 Near roadway 12 Central lane area 13 Long-distance range 14 LED 15 green LEDs 16 blue LEDs 17 Light Accumulator 18 Mix jet 19 Light Circle 20 Camera 21 headlights 22 taillights 23 Vehicle window / rear window / windscreen 24 people 25 items 26 micromirror actuators 27 Rectangular / Square Projection 28 light lines 29 First line 30 Bottom line 31 Low beam 32 Control 33 black and white LCD screen 34 color LCD screen QUOTES CONTAINED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents submitted by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the convenience of the reader. This list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> DE 102017101678A1

[0005] <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> EP 3194838B1 [0006, 0012]<h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> AT 513909 A1

[0007] <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> DE 10 2007 055 480 B3

[0009] <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> EP 0 291 475 A2

[0010]

Claims

[1] Vehicle headlight system, characterized by that the headlight is equipped with a light distribution device which distributes the light onto the road in such a way that the light rays which have a greater range of the road are emitted with a higher intensity than the light rays which illuminate areas of the road closer to the vehicle. [2] Vehicle headlight system, characterized by , characterized by , that it is equipped with a light source control that increases the light intensity by a factor of between 2 and 16, doubling the range of the light beams within the entire beam range on the road. [3] Vehicle headlight system, characterized bythat the headlight is equipped with a light distribution device which distributes the light onto the road surface in such a way that the luminous intensity remains as constant as possible per unit area over the entire illuminated road surface, regardless of the distance from the vehicle. [4] Vehicle headlight system, characterized by that the headlight is provided with a light distribution device which distributes the light onto the road surface in such a way that a similar luminance is distributed over the entire illuminated road surface per unit area, with the near road surface being less illuminated with a continuous increase in light intensity the further the light beams are projected onto the road surface. [5] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by , that the light distribution device consists of a disc designed continuously and continuously from completely transparent at one edge to less transparent or tinted at the opposite edge, which in the completely transparent area allows the light rays from the headlight to pass through which shine furthest onto the roadway, and with the opposite, less transparent, tinted area allows the light rays from the headlight to pass through which strike nearby areas of the roadway, consists. [6] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the light distribution device is a continuously tinted, rectangular or round LCD panel which is electrically controlled so that it is completely transparent starting at one edge and is tinted more or less darker at the other, opposite edge. [7] Vehicle headlight system according to claim 6, characterized bythat the LCD screen generates a color image in front of the light output of the headlight, which was recorded with the help of a camera located near the headlight or on the vehicle. [8] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that it has an RGB light source whose basic light color emission intensities can be controlled separately. [9] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that it has several light sources that emit light separately in basic light colors and are individually controllable, whose light is combined into a common light beam by light deflection elements or light distributors. [10] Vehicle headlight system according to claim 9, characterized by , that it is with - a camera or image sensor system that records the roadway and the vehicles or people on it several times per second, - a light deflection system that separately controls the individual light beams emitted from the three light sources in basic light colours, - a contrast control that controls the light sources in basic light colors, which together produce a white light, and the light on the roadway in such a way that the people, objects or vehicles located there are selectively irradiated with the light color, to the color that they themselves have, - a control function that switches off the contrast control several times per second and initiates an image snapshot by the camera or image sensor system every time the road is illuminated with white light, is equipped. [11] Vehicle headlight system according to claim 9, characterized bythat it is with - a camera or image sensor system and a flash device that emits ultra-short flashes and records the roadway and the vehicles there several times per second without disturbing or dazzling other road users, - a light deflection system that separately controls the individual light beams emitted from the three light sources in basic light colours, - a contrast control that controls the light sources in basic light colors, which together produce a white light, and the light on the roadway in such a way that the people, objects or vehicles located there are selectively illuminated with the light color, more intensively than the color they themselves have. [12] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by , that it is at least - a light deflection system that projects a focused light beam onto the roadway, describing horizontal lines of light on the roadway and thus illuminating the roadway completely in quickly repeatable sequences, - a light intensity control that controls the higher light lines, which illuminate the furthest along the road, with greater light intensity than the lowest light lines, which illuminate the near road area, is equipped. [13] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the Patent claims 1 to 11, characterized by , that it is at least - a light deflection system that projects a focused light beam onto the roadway, describing horizontal lines of light on the roadway and thus illuminating the roadway completely in quickly repeatable sequences, - a control system for the light deflection system, which controls the light beam projection with slower movement for the higher light lines that illuminate the road furthest, and the further down the light lines are described, the higher the movement speed of the light beam projection onto the road, is equipped. [14] Vehicle headlight system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized bythat it is equipped with a disc that is installed in the light beam area of the headlight, which in one edge area lets the light through completely for the greater distances on the road, and the further along the other edge, with more and more or increasingly closer together mirror elements or mirror particles, which partially reflect the light back to a mirror element on the headlight at an angle in such a way that the light reflected back increasingly hits the completely light-permeable edge area.

Images