METHOD FOR OPERATING A LIGHT ASSISTANCE SYSTEM

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method for operating a light assistance system for a vehicle according to the type defined in more detail in the preamble of claim 1.

[0002] Lighting assistance systems for vehicles are well known from the state of the art. They are occasionally referred to as Intelligent Headlight Control (IHC). Essentially, they always consist of a camera, typically directed forward in the direction of travel, which detects oncoming and preceding road users and excludes them from the light distribution of the vehicle's high beams. This can be achieved, for example, by simply dimming the high beams to dipped beams, or, in more complex lighting systems, by specifically de-glaring these road users by creating a "gap" in the high beam distribution in the area where, for example, the oncoming road user should not be dazzled.

[0003] Furthermore, such light assistance systems are typically operated in such a way that the high beam assistant is only used on country roads, highways, and the like, while it remains deactivated in urban environments, for example, in city traffic, when driving through villages, settlements, industrial areas, or the like. As an example, reference can be made in this context to DE 10 2009 028 342 A1, which describes a method and a device for activating a vehicle's city lights depending on the detected surroundings. In the context of the above-described purpose, this city light means foregoing activation of the high beam in the light assistant.To detect the urban environment, in the case of the cited document, street lighting units are detected, and based on the spatial distance between these street lighting units, it is determined whether the vehicle is in an urban environment or not. Other methods for determining an urban environment, for example, based on the lighting level in the surrounding area or based on the vehicle's satellite navigation coordinates and a comparison with a corresponding map, are also known from the further prior art.

[0004] In practice, it can happen that corresponding environmental sensors of a vehicle are functional but are blocked, for example, by dirt. They can then no longer be used for their intended purpose. In this context, reference can be made purely as an example to DE 10 2018 220 114 A1 or the largely corresponding DE 10 2018 220 113 A1. These documents describe, with regard to the further general state of the art, that such blockages can be recognized as such based on the vehicle's movement patterns. In this context, reference can also be made to US 2011 / 280026 A1 and US 2014 / 070698 A1 for further state of the art.

[0005] In practice, and with reference to a light assistance system, a sensor failure can, for example, result in a restricted view of the camera, particularly due to dirt, heavy precipitation, fogging of a window through which the camera is looking, or the like. In practice, this leads to the generation of an error message indicating to a person driving the vehicle that the light assistance system is temporarily not functioning, so that this person is accordingly informed of the temporary unavailability of their assistance system. WO 2004 / 076231 A2 describes a corresponding method in which an error message can also be temporarily suppressed. Other methods are known from DE 10 2009 038 919 A1.

[0006] The object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for operating a lighting assistance system according to the preamble of claim 1, which reduces the unnecessary display of error messages. According to the invention, this object is achieved by a method for operating a lighting assistance system having the features in claim 1, and in particular in the characterizing part of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the method according to the invention arise from the subclaims dependent on this main claim.

[0007] With this method, any error messages that may occur when driving in an urban environment regarding the camera's limited view are suppressed. As already explained above, such light assistance systems usually need to recognize urban environments in one way or another anyway. The light assistance system therefore knows that it is in an urban environment and that the high beam, for which the assistance system is responsible for raising and / or lowering the headlights and, if necessary, for glaring oncoming traffic or traffic ahead, is not required. Instead, the low beam is used continuously in urban environments.

[0008] However, it is particularly the case that many people who use their vehicles start out in urban areas. Particularly in the fall and winter months, when temperatures are low and the vehicle is stationary, it is more common for the inside of the windshield to fog up relatively quickly, as moisture from the vehicle settles on the typically colder windshield. Many cameras, which are used for the light assistance system and possibly for other applications, are installed in the upper front area of ​​the windshield and are directed forward in the direction of travel. If the windshield fogs up, the view of this camera is restricted.The same applies to a windshield that may still be covered in ice in the upper area, or to ice / snow residue that has not been carefully removed from the upper area of ​​the windshield, through which a person driving the vehicle typically does not look, before setting off. This is precisely what leads to the light assistance system being activated when starting a journey in an urban environment at night, and then detecting that the view of the camera it uses is blocked or restricted. In practice, however, this is of no importance in urban environments, since people drive with their low beams on anyway, and the assistance system is not used to the extent intended for raising and lowering the high beams.

[0009] In such a situation, the method suppresses the error message regarding the restricted camera view, which has no impact on the practical use of the vehicle. This relieves the driver of unnecessary messages and allows them to concentrate better on the traffic situation than if a corresponding message such as "High beam assistant deactivated due to blocked camera view" or something similar were displayed in the instrument cluster. Thus, the method according to the invention suppresses such an error message indicating that the camera has restricted view in the already detected situations in which high beam is not required.

[0010] According to the invention, the method provides that when leaving the urban environment and the error message regarding the restricted view of the camera is still present, this is displayed after a specified period of time from leaving the urban environment.

[0011] The method according to the invention thus ensures that when leaving the urban area, the error message is displayed if it is still current—for example, if the windshield is still fogged up—in order to inform the person driving the vehicle accordingly in this situation, in which the high beams provide useful support. A specified period of time is waited before the error message is displayed, firstly to prevent the person driving the vehicle from being "ambushed" with the error message immediately at the edge of the urban area and, secondly, to ensure that the error message is not unnecessarily displayed when driving on the outskirts of the urban area if the vehicle returns to the urban area within a very short period of time.

[0012] A very advantageous embodiment of this idea allows a person using the vehicle to actively change the specified time period. The suppression of the warning message after leaving the urban area can thus be influenced by the person using the vehicle, for example, by automatically configuring a preferred time period via a menu system or similar, in order to adapt the vehicle and the potential display or suppression of such error messages to their individual needs.

[0013] As already mentioned, the method can be particularly useful when a camera located behind the windshield, facing the direction of travel through the windshield, is used for the light assistance system. However, the method can also be used for other cameras, such as outdoor cameras whose visibility may be impaired by snow, ice, or a large amount of moisture.

[0014] The device for detecting the urban environment can, in particular, use street lighting detected by environmental sensors, brightness detected by a sensor, driving speed, and the vehicle's position determined by satellite navigation in relation to a map showing the urban environment to determine whether the vehicle is in an urban environment. In particular, these options can also be combined with one another to detect the urban environment as reliably as possible.

[0015] According to an extremely advantageous further development of this, it can be provided that the urban environment is determined on the basis of the street lighting, namely by counting the number of detected street lamps, and subsequently inferring an urban environment on the basis of a predetermined number of street lamps, in particular a predetermined number of street lamps per unit of distance.

[0016] In this method, streetlights are counted and evaluated as a total or as a number per unit of distance. Above a certain number, it is assumed that an urban environment is present. This can be combined with a brightness sensor, for example, to detect an urban environment or daylight at certain brightness levels and operate the lighting assistance system in urban mode or deactivate it accordingly during the day. As a further addition, the vehicle's position can also be determined, particularly to validate the results detected by the vehicle's sensors.

[0017] Further advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention also emerge from the exemplary embodiment which is described in more detail below with reference to the figures.

[0018] Showing: Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a vehicle with a camera in an urban environment detected by the camera; and Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of a possible embodiment of the method according to the invention.

[0019] In the presentation of the Figure 1 A vehicle labeled 1 can be seen, which is said to be equipped with an indicated multifunctional camera 2. This multifunctional camera serves, on the one hand, to detect the surroundings of the vehicle 1 and, on the other hand, can also be used for a so-called light assistance system.

[0020] In the Figure 1In the scenario shown, purely as an example, three streetlights, each designated 3, are schematically indicated at the edge of a road on which the vehicle is traveling. These are located in the camera field of view designated 4 and are detected accordingly by the multifunction camera in a processing unit within the multifunction camera or, if necessary, outside of this multifunction camera 2. From a certain number, it is then concluded that the vehicle is in an urban environment.

[0021] These or other options for detecting an urban environment can now be used for a lighting assistance system in a conventional manner. In an urban environment, the lighting assistance system is then limited to the so-called low beam. If there is no urban environment, the high beam is also activated accordingly and the lighting assistance system can dim and dim the headlights as needed, or it can actively glare ahead or oncoming road users, for example, if pixel headlights or headlights with other suitable methods for influencing light distribution are used, allowing targeted glare control for individual road users.

[0022] In the presentation of the Figure 2, which shows a basic process flow, this part of the known lighting assistance system is shown primarily in the lower right-hand section. This will be discussed in more detail below.

[0023] The multifunction camera 2 is different from what is shown in the schematic diagram of the Figure 1 is indicated, is typically arranged behind the windshield of the vehicle 1 and faces forward in the direction of travel F. If the windshield is fogged up or is not completely cleared of ice and snow in the upper area through which the multifunction camera 2 looks through it, then the view of the multifunction camera 2 may be impaired. If this is the case, then the systems according to the state of the art generate an error message, which under certain circumstances, however, only unnecessarily irritates a person driving the vehicle 1 and distracts them from the traffic situation.

[0024] The proposed method therefore provides that after the light assistance system is switched on in the first step designated S100, a query is made in step S101 as to whether the view of the multifunction camera 2 is impaired. If this is not the case, the conventional operation of the light assistance system is used. For this purpose, as already mentioned at the beginning, it is necessary to determine whether the vehicle 1 is in an urban environment. This is done here via the query in step S102. If the vehicle is in an urban environment, operation is implemented exclusively with the low beam in step S103, and the method returns to the beginning and runs through the corresponding steps again and again.If the urban area is now left or the light assistance system is started outside of the urban area, step S104 will occur instead of step S103, in which the high beam is activated, thus the light assistance system is actively operating as a high beam assistant. As already mentioned above, steps S102 - S104 are essentially the part that is implemented as in a conventional light assistance system, whereby query S102 is always necessary to distinguish whether operation should take place with low beam according to step S103 or with high beam according to step S104.

[0025] The method according to the invention is then used when visibility is correspondingly impaired. This would typically lead to an error message, regardless of the otherwise existing use of the light assistance system. According to the invention, in this branch, in which the query in step S101 is answered with yes, the query as to whether the vehicle 1 is in an urban environment is now also carried out. This step is designated S202 here and uses the data basis already available for step S102. If this is not the case, i.e. the vehicle is outside an urban environment, then the known error message is generated in step S204, for example that the high beam assistant is not available due to impaired visibility of the camera 2, and is output, for example, on a multifunction display of the vehicle 1 to a person driving the vehicle 1.However, vehicle 1 is often located in an urban environment because vehicles 1 most likely begin their journey in an urban environment, and the problem of fogged windows typically occurs at the beginning of the journey. In this case, after the query in step S202, the system jumps directly to step S203, i.e., the operation with the low beam, which is appropriate for the urban environment, is initiated. The error message is omitted or, in the method according to the invention, is actively suppressed. This means that the person driving vehicle 1 is not burdened with unnecessary error messages in this situation and is potentially distracted from the traffic.

[0026] Here, too, the method jumps back to the query in step S101 in a similar way to step S204, so that the changing situation can be responded to both with regard to the impaired view of the camera in step S101 and, for example, to leaving the urban environment in one of steps S102 or S202.

Claims

1. Method for operating a light assistance system for a vehicle (1), which is equipped with a camera (2) at least for detecting oncoming road users or road users traveling in front, and is equipped with a device for identifying an urban environment, the switching on of a high beam being suppressed when driving in the urban environment, and error messages relating to the restricted view of the camera (2) which occur when driving in the urban environment being suppressed, characterized in that, when the vehicle (1) leaves the urban environment and an error message relating to the restricted view of the camera (2) is still present, this error message is displayed after a specified period of time from leaving the urban environment.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a person using the vehicle (1) can actively change the specified period of time.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a camera (2) arranged behind the windscreen of the vehicle (1) and looking in the direction of travel (F) through the windscreen is used for the light assistance system4. Method according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the device for identifying the urban environment evaluates at least the street lighting, the brightness, the vehicle speed and / or the position of the vehicle (1) detected via a satellite navigation system in relation to a map of the urban environment, or a combination thereof.

5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the urban environment is determined on the basis of the street lighting by counting the number of identified street lamps (3), and, from a predetermined absolute number of street lamps (3) or a predetermined number of street lamps (3), the distance unit is concluded to be an urban environment.