Vehicle headlamp control device

Abstract

To provide a vehicle headlamp control device which can automatically control a lighting state of a headlamp even at a timing of parking to secure visual fields of drivers of vehicles and pedestrians around its own vehicle.SOLUTION: A vehicle headlamp control device 10 includes: a parking state determination unit 11 which determines whether or not a vehicle may be parked; and a lighting control unit 12 which controls a headlamp 30 to turn on / off it and switches a state of the headlamp 30 between a high beam state and a low beam state, and switches the high beam state to the low beam state when the parking state determination unit 11 determines that the vehicle may be parked.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle headlamp control device that controls the high-beam state and low-beam state of a headlamp in a vehicle, etc.

Background Art

[0002] As a conventional vehicle headlamp control device, there is an in-vehicle lamp control device shown in Patent Document 1. In this in-vehicle lamp control device, when in a control mode that automatically executes headlamp control during night driving of the vehicle, it recognizes a preceding vehicle or an oncoming vehicle and automatically switches the lighting state of the headlamp between the high-beam state and the low-beam state. Thereby, it achieves both ensuring the visibility of the host vehicle and ensuring the visibility of surrounding vehicles.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the above conventional device, the lighting state of the headlamp is automatically switched between the high-beam state and the low-beam state during night driving of the vehicle. However, in order to ensure the visibility of the drivers or pedestrians of the vehicles around the host vehicle at the timing when the host vehicle is about to park (hereinafter referred to as the parking timing), it is necessary to manually switch the lighting state of the headlamp.

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a vehicle headlamp control device that can automatically control the lighting state of the headlamp even at the parking timing and ensure the visibility of the drivers or pedestrians of the vehicles around the host vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] To achieve the above objective, the invention described in claim 1 is a vehicle headlamp control device for controlling the on and off of a headlamp (30) in a vehicle, comprising: a parking state determination unit (11) that determines that it is the parking timing when the vehicle is about to park; and a lighting control unit (12) that controls the on and off of the headlamp and switches between a high beam state and a low beam state of the headlamp, and when the parking state determination unit determines that it is the parking timing, switches the high beam state to a low beam state. The parking state determination unit determines that it is time to park if the vehicle speed is low, below the threshold speed, and a building is located within the threshold distance range from the vehicle. .

[0007] In this way, the system determines the timing of parking the vehicle and, if the headlights are on high beam at the time of parking, switches them to low beam. This allows for automatic control of the headlight status even when parking, ensuring visibility for drivers of surrounding vehicles and pedestrians.

[0008] The timing of parking can be determined based on the circumstances under which parking is likely to occur. in particular, The parking state determination unit can determine that it is time to park if the vehicle speed is low, below the threshold speed, and a building is located within the threshold distance range from the vehicle. 2 As described in the invention, the parking state determination unit can also determine that it is time to park when it detects that the vehicle's current location is near a parking lot. Furthermore, 3 As described in the invention, the parking state determination unit can also determine that it is the parking timing if the vehicle's shift position is in reverse gear. 4 As described in the invention above, the parking state determination unit can also determine that it is time to park if the vehicle's hazard warning switch (25) is turned on.

[0009] The reference numerals in parentheses attached to each component indicate an example of the correspondence between that component and the specific components described in the embodiments described later. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This figure shows the block configuration of a vehicle headlamp control system having a headlamp control device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart for controlling the switching between high beam and low beam states. [Figure 3] Figure 2 is a flowchart showing the details of the parking timing determination process. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, parts that are the same or equivalent to each other will be denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0012] (First Embodiment) A vehicle headlamp control system having a headlamp control device 10 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. Figure 1 shows the block configuration of the vehicle headlamp control system. As shown in this figure, the vehicle headlamp control system comprises a headlamp control device 10, various condition detection devices 20, and a headlamp 30.

[0013] The headlamp control device 10 determines that it is time to park based on information from various situation detection devices 20, and controls the illumination state of the headlamps 30 installed on the vehicle. The headlamp control device 10 is a control unit composed of a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, etc., and controls the illumination state of the headlamps according to a program stored in the ROM or the like.

[0014] Specifically, the headlamp control device 10 is configured to include a parking state determination unit 11 and a lighting control unit 12.

[0015] The parking state determination unit 11 receives various information necessary to determine whether it is time to park from various situation detection devices 20, and determines whether it is time to park based on the input information. The parking state determination unit 11 then outputs a signal corresponding to the determination result to the lighting control unit 12.

[0016] In this embodiment, the parking state determination unit 11 receives imaging information from the on-board camera 21, vehicle speed information from the vehicle speed sensor 22, and current location information and map information from the navigation system 23 as inputs to the situation detection device 20. The parking state determination unit 11 also receives gear position information from the gear position sensor 24 and hazard status information indicating the on / off state of the hazard warning switch 25 as inputs to the situation detection device 20.

[0017] Camera 21 is equivalent to an imaging device, and it captures images of the area around the vehicle and outputs the captured information to the parking state determination unit 11.Here, a front camera that captures images of the area in front of the vehicle is used as camera 21, but it may be a camera other than a front camera that captures images of the rear or left and right sides of the vehicle, or multiple cameras may be used.Based on the captured information from camera 21, the parking state determination unit 11 can detect the conditions around the vehicle, and if there is a building around the vehicle, for example, within a 10m radius centered on the vehicle, it determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle will be parked.

[0018] The vehicle speed sensor 22 outputs a signal corresponding to the vehicle's speed as vehicle speed information to the parking state determination unit 11. Based on this vehicle speed information from the vehicle speed sensor 22, the parking state determination unit 11 determines that if the vehicle is traveling at a low speed, for example, at a speed of 10 km / h or less, there is a possibility that the vehicle will park.

[0019] The navigation system 23 is a device that detects the current position of the vehicle based on GPS (Global Positioning System) and provides route guidance based on map information stored in a storage medium such as a ROM. The navigation system 23 transmits the current position information of the vehicle and the map information around the current position of the vehicle to the parking state determination unit 11. Based on the map information around the vehicle from this navigation system 23, the parking state determination unit 11 determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle is parked when the current position of the vehicle is near a parking lot.

[0020] The gear position sensor 24 outputs a signal corresponding to the number of gear positions of the transmission as gear position information. Based on the gear position information from this gear position sensor 24, the parking state determination unit 11 detects which position the shift position of the vehicle is, for example, in the D (Drive) range or other forward gear positions or in the R (Reverse) range or other reverse gear positions. And the parking state determination unit 11 determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle is parked if the current shift position of the vehicle is in the R range.

[0021] The hazard warning switch 25 is a switch operated to turn on and off the hazard lamp, and outputs hazard state information indicating whether the hazard lamp is on or off to the parking state determination unit 11. Based on the hazard state information from this hazard warning switch 25, the parking state determination unit 11 determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle is parked when the hazard lamp is on.

[0022] The parking state determination unit 11 inputs the above-mentioned various information, determines whether there is a possibility that the vehicle is parked, and determines the parking timing based on the determination result. Details of the method for determining that it is this parking timing will be described later. In this embodiment, the parking state determination unit 11 determines that it is the parking timing by comprehensively using a plurality of information from various situation detection devices 20, but it can also determine that it is the parking timing based on at least one piece of information.

[0023] Furthermore, the parking state determination unit 11 transmits a signal to the lighting control unit 12 indicating an instruction corresponding to the determination result of whether or not it is time to park.

[0024] The lighting control unit 12 controls the lighting state of the headlamp 30, turning the headlamp 30 on or off according to the operation state of a headlamp switch (not shown) located inside or outside the headlamp control device 10. The lighting control unit 12 also sets the headlamp 30 to low beam or high beam according to the operation state of the low beam / high beam switch. Furthermore, when the lighting control unit 12 receives a request signal from an auto high beam system (not shown) to set the headlamp to low beam or high beam based on user operation or the like, it sets the headlamp 30 to low beam or high beam according to that request signal.

[0025] Specifically, the lighting control unit 12 turns on the headlights when the driver turns on the headlight switch and turns off the headlights when the driver turns off the switch. Also, when the headlights are on, the lighting control unit 12 sets the headlights to low beam mode if the driver has set the selector switch to low beam mode, and to high beam mode if the driver has set it to high beam mode. Furthermore, when the headlights are on, the lighting control unit 12 performs auto high beam control, and when a request signal is input from the auto high beam system, it sets the headlights to either low beam mode or high beam mode according to that request signal.

[0026] Regarding the automatic high beam control by the automatic high beam system, for example, it is performed based on the image information from camera 21. That is, the automatic high beam system recognizes preceding vehicles and oncoming vehicles based on the image information from camera 21 during nighttime driving, and if no preceding or oncoming vehicles are recognized, it automatically switches to high beam mode, and if vehicles are recognized, it switches to low beam mode. This automatic high beam control is the same as in the conventional system, so an explanation will be omitted. In addition, in this disclosure, when automatic high beam control is being performed, if the parking state determination unit 11 determines that it is time to park, as described above, the system switches to low beam mode even if the system is in high beam mode. Also, there are cases where the driver operates the low beam / high beam switch to set the system to high beam mode when automatic high beam control is not being performed. In this case as well, in this disclosure, if the parking state determination unit 11 determines that it is time to park, the system switches to low beam mode even if the system is in high beam mode.

[0027] The headlamp 30 illuminates the area in front of the vehicle, and its on / off state is controlled by the lighting control unit 12. The lighting control unit 12 also controls the switching between a high beam state, which illuminates a relatively high and distant area in front of the vehicle, and a low beam state, which illuminates a relatively lower area than the high beam state and mainly the area immediately in front of the vehicle.

[0028] The headlamp 30 can be configured in any way that allows switching between high beam and low beam states. For example, the headlamp 30 can be configured such that one lamp on each side of the vehicle is driven by an actuator to switch between high beam and low beam states. Alternatively, the headlamp 30 may be configured with two lamps on each side of the vehicle, where illuminating one of the two lamps activates the high beam state, and illuminating the other activates the low beam state.

[0029] For convenience, the diagram here shows a configuration in which the headlamp 30 is provided with separate high-beam headlamp 31 and low-beam headlamp 32, but as mentioned above, these may also be composed of a single lamp.

[0030] Next, the headlamp control by the headlamp control device 10 of this embodiment will be described.

[0031] As described above, the headlamp control device 10 performs headlamp control in the lighting control unit 12, which controls the lighting state of the headlamps 30. Basically, as described above, the lighting control unit 12 turns the headlamps on and off according to the operation state of the headlamp switch, and switches between the low beam state and the high beam state according to the operation state of the low beam and high beam switch. In addition, when automatic high beam control is performed, the lighting control unit 12 switches between the low beam state and the high beam state based on a request signal from the automatic high beam system. In addition to these, in this embodiment, the high beam state and low beam state switching control is performed based on the parking timing determination by the parking state determination unit 11.

[0032] Figures 2 and 3 show flowcharts for the control of switching between high beam and low beam states, and the details of this control will be explained with reference to these figures. This control is performed by the parking state determination unit 11 at predetermined control cycles, for example, while the headlamp 30 is illuminated.

[0033] First, in step S100 of Figure 2, it is determined whether the high-beam headlights are on, that is, whether the headlights 30 are illuminated in high-beam mode. If the request signal for auto high-beam control instructs the system to switch to high-beam mode, or if the driver has set the low-beam / high-beam switch to the high-beam position, this step is determined to be positive.

[0034] If the result in this step is positive, the process proceeds to step S110; if the result is negative, this step is repeated.

[0035] Next, in step S110, a parking timing determination process is executed to determine whether or not it is time to park. If it is determined to be time to park, the system stores the fact that it is time to park by setting a flag or similar method.

[0036] Here, the details of the parking timing determination process will be explained with reference to the flowchart of the parking timing determination process shown in Figure 3.

[0037] When the parking timing determination process is executed, step S200 determines whether the vehicle speed is low or not. The parking state determination unit 11 determines whether the vehicle speed is low or not based on the vehicle speed information from the vehicle speed sensor 22. Here, "low speed" refers to the speed at which parking is expected to occur, and can be set arbitrarily, but for example, a speed of 10 km / h is set as the threshold speed, and speeds below that threshold speed are considered low speed. If the determination in this step is positive, the process proceeds to step S210, and if the determination is negative, it is not the parking timing, so the process ends without setting the flag indicating that it is the parking timing.

[0038] In step S210, it is determined whether or not buildings are detected around the vehicle. The distance from the vehicle to the building used for this determination can be set arbitrarily, for example, based on the size of the vehicle, the turning radius, or based on the driver's selection, and is set to 10m from the center of the vehicle. The detection of buildings around the vehicle is performed based on the image information from camera 21. The parking state determination unit 11 analyzes the image information and calculates the distance to each building that appears in the image of the vehicle's surroundings. If this distance is below the threshold distance that determines whether a building is present around the vehicle, it is determined that a building has been detected around the vehicle. If the determination in this step is positive, the process proceeds to step S220 and beyond. If the determination is negative, it is not a parking time, so the process ends without setting a flag indicating that it is a parking time.

[0039] In this context, "buildings" typically refer to houses, garages, shops, buildings, exterior walls, fences, etc., but can also include various other three-dimensional structures such as guardrails and monuments. Since detecting any three-dimensional structure around a vehicle at low speeds may cause it to park, various structures can be considered buildings. Of course, houses, garages, shops, and buildings are more likely to cause the vehicle to park, so it is acceptable to recognize only one or more of these as buildings.

[0040] The situations that are affirmed in steps S200 and S210 described above are situations in which it is assumed that the vehicle may park. While it is possible to determine that it is time to park when these situations occur, the process in steps S220 to S240 is performed in addition to determining the timing of parking more accurately. Specifically, steps S220 to S240 are processes that determine situations in which it is assumed that there is a high probability that the vehicle will park. If any of the situations shown in each of these processes are met, it is determined that it is time to park.

[0041] In step S220, it is determined whether or not the current location of the vehicle is detected to be near a parking lot. The parking state determination unit 11 detects that the current location of the vehicle is near a parking lot if the distance from the vehicle to the parking lot is less than or equal to a distance at which it is assumed that the vehicle may be parked, for example, 10m or less. For this determination, the parking state determination unit 11 makes this determination based on the current location information from the navigation system 23 and map information of the area around the vehicle's current location. Alternatively, the navigation system 23 may detect whether the vehicle's current location is near a parking lot based on the current location information and map information of the area around the vehicle's current location, and the detection result may be input to the parking state determination unit 11. If the determination in this step is negative, the process proceeds to step S230; if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S250.

[0042] In step S230, it is determined whether the reverse gear is engaged, that is, whether the vehicle's shift position is in the reverse gear position. The parking state determination unit 11 makes this determination based on the gear position information from the gear position sensor 24. If the determination in this step is negative, the process proceeds to step S240; if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S250.

[0043] In step S240, it is determined whether the hazard warning switch 25 is in the ON state. The parking state determination unit 11 makes this determination based on the hazard state information transmitted from the hazard warning switch 25. If the determination in this step is positive, the process proceeds to step S250. If the determination is negative, it is not a parking time, so the process ends without setting the flag indicating that it is a parking time.

[0044] If a positive result is obtained in any of steps S220 to S240, it is assumed that there is a high probability that the vehicle will park. In these cases, it is determined that it is time to park, and the process proceeds to step S250 to record that it is time to park by setting a flag or similar. In this way, the parking timing determination process in step S110 of Figure 2 is completed.

[0045] Then, the process proceeds to step S120, where it is determined whether or not the parking timing is remembered in step S110. If it is remembered, the process proceeds to step S130, where an instruction is sent to the lighting control unit 12 to switch to low beam headlight illumination, that is, to switch from high beam state to low beam state. As a result, the lighting control unit 12 switches the illumination of the headlight 30 from high beam headlight 31 to low beam headlight 32, setting it to low beam state. If the determination in step S120 is negative, the process ends there. In this case, the high beam state is continued.

[0046] Furthermore, even if the system determines that it is time to park and switches from high beam to low beam, it is possible that the driver may continue driving without parking. For this reason, it is preferable to deactivate the low beam and return to the high beam when the vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined speed higher than the low speed, or when the navigation system 23 detects that there are no longer any parking spaces around the vehicle.

[0047] As described above, the headlamp control device 10 of this embodiment determines the timing of parking the vehicle and switches the headlamp 30 to the low beam state if it is in the high beam state at the time of parking. In this way, the illumination state of the headlamp 30 is automatically controlled even at the time of parking, making it possible to ensure visibility for drivers of vehicles and pedestrians around the vehicle.

[0048] (Other embodiments) This disclosure is written in accordance with the embodiments described above, but is not limited to those embodiments and includes various modifications and variations within the scope of equivalents. In addition, various combinations and forms, as well as other combinations and forms that include only one, more, or fewer of those elements, fall within the scope and concept of this disclosure.

[0049] For example, in the first embodiment, in steps S220 to S240, an example of a situation in which it is assumed that the vehicle is likely to park was given, but it is not limited to the situation shown here. In addition to the situations shown here, it is also possible to determine whether it is time to park based on information from various situation detection devices 20, and if necessary, based on information other than the information from the situation detection devices 20 described above. For example, in a vehicle with a parking assist function, a signal indicating whether or not an assist request is made is input to the parking state determination unit 11 from the parking assist switch, and if the parking assist switch is pressed, it can be determined that it is time to park.

[0050] Furthermore, it is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle is near a parking lot based on the imaging information from camera 21. In addition, although buildings were detected based on the imaging information from camera 21 in the above embodiment, if the vehicle is equipped with a rangefinder such as a millimeter-wave radar, buildings can also be detected based on the rangefinder's measurement results.

[0051] Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, it was determined that parking was appropriate if any one of steps S220 to S240 was positively determined. However, it is also possible to determine that parking is appropriate if any or more of the steps are positively determined.

[0052] The control unit and its method described herein may be implemented by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions embodied by a computer program. Alternatively, the control unit and its method described herein may be implemented by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor by one or more dedicated hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, the control unit and its method described herein may be implemented by one or more dedicated computers configured by a combination of a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions and a processor configured by one or more hardware logic circuits. Furthermore, the computer program may be stored as instructions executed by the computer on a computer-readable non-transitional tangible recording medium.

[0053] (Perspective of this disclosure) As will be apparent from the descriptions of the first embodiment and other embodiments described above, the disclosure herein includes at least the following aspects:

[0054] [Perspective 1] A vehicle headlamp control device for controlling the turning on and off of a headlamp (30) in a vehicle, A parking state determination unit (11) determines that it is the parking timing when the vehicle is about to park, A vehicle headlamp control device comprising: a lighting control unit (12) that controls the turning on and off of the headlamp, switches the headlamp between a high beam state and a low beam state, and switches the high beam state to the low beam state when the parking state determination unit determines that it is the parking timing.

[0055] [Perspective 2] The vehicle headlamp control device according to viewpoint 1, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that it is the parking timing when the vehicle speed is low, which is the speed of the vehicle, and a building is located within a threshold distance range from the vehicle.

[0056] [Perspective 3] The vehicle headlamp control device according to viewpoint 1 or 2, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that it is time to park when it detects that the vehicle's current position is near a parking lot.

[0057] [Perspective 4] The vehicle headlamp control device according to any one of viewpoints 1 to 3, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that the vehicle is in the reverse gear position, indicating that it is the parking timing.

[0058] [Perspective 5] The vehicle headlamp control device according to any one of viewpoints 1 to 4, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that it is the parking timing when the vehicle's hazard warning switch (25) is turned on. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0059] 10...Headlamp control device, 11...Parking status determination unit, 12...Lighting control unit, 20...Status detection device, 21...Camera, 22...Vehicle speed sensor, 23...Navigation system, 24...Gear position sensor, 25...Hazard warning switch, 30...Headlamp, 31...High beam headlamp, 32...Low beam headlamp

Claims

1. A vehicle headlamp control device for controlling the turning on and off of a headlamp (30) in a vehicle, A parking state determination unit (11) that determines whether it is the parking timing when the vehicle is about to park, The lighting control unit (12) controls the on / off switching of the headlights, switches between the high beam state and the low beam state of the headlights, and when the parking state determination unit determines that it is the parking timing, switches the high beam state to the low beam state. The parking state determination unit determines that it is time to park when the vehicle speed is low, below a threshold speed, and a building is located within a threshold distance range from the vehicle. This is a vehicle headlamp control device.

2. The vehicle headlamp control device according to claim 1, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that it is time to park when it detects that the current location of the vehicle is near a parking lot.

3. The vehicle headlamp control device according to claim 1, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that the vehicle is in the reverse gear position when it is the parking timing.

4. The vehicle headlamp control device according to claim 1, wherein the parking state determination unit determines that the vehicle is in the parking state when the vehicle's hazard warning switch (25) is turned on.

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