Method and headlight system for producing luminous structures, and vehicle having the headlight system

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing luminous structures by means of a matrix headlight system of a vehicle. The method (100) comprises generating (110) a first luminous structure in a headlight light field by means of the matrix headlight system, detecting (120) a current vehicle position by means of a sensor system, and determining (130) a required adaptation of the first luminous structure for generating a second luminous structure adapted to the current vehicle position. The method (100) also comprises determining (140), on the basis of the required adaptation, at least one scanning point of the first luminous structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second luminous structure, determining (150) a brightness of the at least one scanning point, and adjusting (160) the brightness of the at least one pixel in accordance with the brightness of the at least one scanning point. The invention also relates to a system (40) and to a vehicle.

Description

[0001] Method and headlight system for generating luminous structures and vehicle having the headlight system

[0002] The invention relates to a method for producing luminous structures according to the preamble of patent claim 1. Furthermore, the invention relates to a headlight system for a vehicle according to the preamble of patent claim 1 and to such a vehicle.

[0003] DE 102019217978 A1 discloses a method for projecting light distributions for a vehicle using a light distribution system. Methods for generating luminous structures are also known. Illuminated structures can be generated, for example, using a vehicle's headlight system by projecting a light beam onto a surface in the vehicle's surroundings. Matrix headlights are also known, which allow different luminous structures, patterns, or symbols to be projected by specifically controlling headlight pixels. The gradual introduction of high-resolution lighting systems in vehicles, based, for example, on LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), DMD (Digital Micromirror Device), or pLED (Micro-Light-Emitting Diodes) technology, enables increasingly complex light distributions to be projected. This is used to display complex light distributions, symbols, and animations in the vehicle's surroundings.However, due to the finite resolution of matrix headlights, undesirable effects or artifacts, such as edge flickering and / or stair-step effects, can occur when shifting or distorting the light structures, which can impair the display of the light structures. One object of the present invention is to provide a method, a headlight system, and a vehicle that enable the display of light structures generated by a matrix headlight system to be particularly well-executed.

[0004] This object is achieved according to the invention by a method having the features of patent claim 1, by a headlight system having the features of patent claim 5, and by a vehicle having the features of patent claim 8. Advantageous embodiments with expedient further developments of the invention are specified in the remaining claims.

[0005] A first aspect of the invention relates to a method for generating luminous structures using a matrix headlight system of a vehicle. The term "vehicle" refers, in particular, to a motor vehicle, which is designed, for example, as a motor vehicle, in particular as a passenger car or a commercial vehicle.

[0006] The method comprises generating a first luminous structure in a headlight light field or headlight projection field using the matrix headlight system. The matrix headlight system can, in particular, comprise at least one LCD, DMD, and / or pLED matrix headlight with a number of LEDs arranged in a matrix. The matrix headlight can, in particular, be designed to generate pixels or light pixels or headlight pixels of different brightness in the headlight light field. By varying the brightness of light pixels, different light structures can be generated in the headlight light field.

[0007] The method further comprises detecting a current vehicle position by means of a sensor system and determining a required adaptation of the first lighting structure to generate a second lighting structure adapted to the current vehicle position. The current vehicle position can in particular comprise a current traffic situation, a current vehicle status, a current position or orientation of the vehicle, and a current road condition. The adaptation can in particular comprise a transformation or displacement and / or distortion of the first lighting structure. By adapting, in particular displacement or placement and / or distortion, the lighting structure can in particular take into account the fact that the actually displayed or visually perceptible lighting structure can change depending on the current vehicle position.In particular, the second lighting structure can be determined based on the current vehicle position or the required adjustment of the first lighting structure using an evaluation unit. The evaluation unit can, in particular, be designed as part of an electronic computing device of the vehicle or be implemented in the electronic computing device of the motor vehicle. The electronic computing device is, for example, a control unit of the motor vehicle.

[0008] In order to be able to display the luminous structures particularly well, in particular to be able to particularly reduce negative effects that occur due to a finite resolution of the matrix headlight when the luminous structures are shifted and / or distorted, the method comprises determining, in particular by means of the evaluation unit or the electronic computing device, at least one sampling point of the first luminous structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second luminous structure, based on the required adaptation. In other words, the at least one sampling point of the first luminous structure corresponding to the at least one pixel of the second luminous structure is determined depending on the required adaptation. In particular, a back adaptation or back transformation of the second luminous structure to the first luminous structure can be determined on the basis of the determined adaptation or transformation of the first luminous structure.The at least one sampling point or evaluation point can be determined in particular by applying the inverse transformation to the at least one pixel of the second luminous structure.

[0009] The method further comprises determining a brightness of the at least one sampling point and adjusting the brightness of the at least one pixel according to the brightness of the at least one sampling point.

[0010] The at least one sampling point can in particular comprise a plurality of sampling points, which can optionally be offset from pixel centers of the first luminous structure. The sampling points can in particular be used instead of the headlight pixels to adjust the pixel brightnesses of the second luminous structure in the event of a mismatch between the pixels of the first and second luminous structures. The brightnesses of the sampling points can be transferred to the pixels of the second luminous structure in order to compensate for or reduce the effects of a mismatch between the pixels of the first luminous structure and the second luminous structure. If, for example, the first luminous structure is represented by a set of headlight pixels, the displacement or distortion of the luminous structure can result in the adjusted luminous structure having to be represented by a different set of headlight pixels.However, due to the finite resolution of the matrix headlight system, shifting can only occur gradually, corresponding to the pixel grid spacing. Further undesirable effects can also occur due to the gridding, as the light distributions or the intensity distributions to be displayed may be distorted.

[0011] Light structures, symbols, or animations are only available as textures or image sequences with a finite resolution or fixed pixel grid, as the vehicle's memory is also limited. An accurate representation of the image pixels would only be possible if the image pixels were positioned over a light pixel of the headlight. Therefore, a basic state can be defined in which these correspond. If you now want to perform a shift or calculate a distortion on the image, the image pixels will not necessarily coincide with the headlight pixels, and this can lead to display errors.

[0012] Using the sampling points as an intermediate step helps adjust the brightness of the headlight pixels when displaying the second light structure in such a way that the visual perception of this rasterization effect, or the discrepancy between the actual and desired projection, is minimized. This can reduce the negative effects of the headlights' limited resolution on the display of the second or corrected light structure.

[0013] Determining the brightness of the at least one sampling point or sampling point brightness of the first luminous structure can comprise averaging the brightnesses of pixels of the first luminous structure in the vicinity of the at least one sampling point. By averaging the brightnesses of pixels in the vicinity of the at least one sampling point, the negative effects of a mismatch between the pixels of the first luminous structure and the second luminous structure can be significantly reduced.

[0014] The averaging may include weighting pixel brightnesses based on distances between the at least one sample point and pixel centers of the nearest pixels. Distance-based weighting of the brightnesses of the nearest pixels has proven to be a good approximation for determining the brightnesses of headlight pixels.

[0015] The at least one sampling point can also comprise a plurality of sampling points, which can be distributed at least partially in an orderly manner within the headlight light field. In particular, the sampling points can be arranged at corner points of an ordered grid. In some embodiments, the sampling points are arranged at least partially as a quincunx. The ordered arrangement of the sampling points can significantly reduce the computing power required for calculating the corresponding brightness levels.

[0016] The method may further comprise mapping the at least one sampling point to the at least one headlight pixel. Through the mapping, headlight pixel positions can be assigned to the sampling points, so that the brightness values ​​determined for the sampling points can be assigned to the pixels of the second lighting structure. In particular, brightness values ​​of multiple headlight pixels can thereby be determined substantially simultaneously.

[0017] A further aspect of the invention relates to a headlight system. In particular, the headlight system is designed to carry out the method according to the first aspect of the invention. The headlight system comprises a matrix headlight system for generating luminous structures in a headlight light field, a sensor system for detecting a current vehicle position, and a control unit for controlling the matrix headlight system. The control unit is configured to control the matrix headlight system to generate a first luminous structure, to detect a current vehicle position using the sensor system, and to determine a required adjustment of the first luminous structure to generate a second luminous structure adapted to the current vehicle position.

[0018] The control unit is further configured to determine, based on the required adaptation, at least one sampling point of the first lighting structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second lighting structure, to determine a brightness of the at least one sampling point, and to control the matrix headlight system to adjust the brightness of the at least one pixel according to the brightness of the at least one sampling point. Advantages and effects, as well as further developments of the headlight system, arise from the advantages and effects, as well as further developments of the method described above. To avoid repetition, reference is therefore made to the preceding description in this regard.

[0019] The sensor system can be configured to detect the vehicle's surroundings, and the control unit can be configured to determine the at least one sampling point based at least partially on a scan of the vehicle's surroundings by the sensor system. In particular, the sensor system can comprise one or more cameras or environmental sensors for detecting the vehicle's surroundings. The sensor system can be configured, in particular, to detect the brightness of the pixels surrounding the respective sampling point in order to calculate the sampling point brightness based on the pixel brightness.

[0020] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to perform a 3D detection of the vehicle's surroundings using active triangulation with the structured light. Active triangulation can be used to determine, in particular, the relief of the surroundings with high accuracy, which can be taken into account when generating the second lighting structure.

[0021] A third aspect of the invention relates to a vehicle. At least one headlight system according to the second aspect is implemented on the vehicle. In other words, the vehicle has the at least one headlight system. Advantages and effects, as well as further developments of the vehicle, arise from the advantages and effects, as well as further developments of the headlight system described above. To avoid repetition, reference is therefore made to the preceding description in this regard.

[0022] In the following description, details are provided to describe the embodiments of the present specification. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without such details.

[0023] Fig. 1 shows schematically a headlight pixel arrangement with a scanning point to explain the method according to an embodiment, Fig. 2 shows schematically a headlight pixel arrangement according to Fig. 1 with an arrangement of scanning points according to an embodiment,

[0024] Fig. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of a headlight system according to an embodiment, and

[0025] Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment.

[0026] Fig. 1 schematically shows a headlight pixel arrangement with a sampling point to explain the method according to one embodiment. In particular, Fig. 1 shows a section of a headlight light field with four pixels or headlight pixels 1, 2, 3 and 4, comprising a headlight pixel 1 at the top left, a headlight pixel 2 at the top right, a headlight pixel 3 at the bottom left and a headlight pixel 4 at the bottom right, wherein the four headlight pixels 1, 2, 3 and 4 are arranged adjacent to one another. Fig. 1 further shows pixel centers 1', 2', 3' and 4' in the form of bold dots as well as a sampling point 5 or evaluation point shown as a bold cross. To clarify the arrangement of the pixel centers 1', 2', 3' and 4', a right-angled quadrilateral connecting the pixel centers 1', 2', 3' and 4' is drawn in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 also shows straight lines connecting the pixel centers 1 ', 2', 3' and 4' with the sampling point 5.In the example shown, the straight lines have different lengths dtl, dtr, dbl, and dbr. Here, dtl denotes the distance between the sampling point 5 and the pixel center 1' of the headlight pixel 1 at the top left, dtr denotes the distance between the sampling point 5 and the pixel center 2' of the headlight pixel 2 at the top right, dbl denotes the distance between the sampling point 5 and the pixel center 3' of the headlight pixel 3 at the bottom left, and dbr denotes the distance between the sampling point 5 and the pixel center 4' of the headlight pixel 4 at the bottom right. In Fig. 1, brightness values ​​in the headlight pixels 1, 2, 3, and 4 are given as grayscale values ​​in relative units as numbers by way of example.

[0027] In the illustrated embodiment, the brightness Ires of sampling point 5 is determined by averaging the brightnesses of headlight pixels 1, 2, 3, and 4, taking into account the distances dtl, dtr, dbl, and dbr. The brightnesses Itl, Itr, Ibl, and Ibr of headlight pixels 1, 2, 3, and 4 are weighted according to the distances dtl, dtr, dbl, and dbr. For example, the brightness Ires of sampling point 5 can be calculated using the following formula:

[0028] With the weighting factor:

[0029] In particular, brightness can be calculated in standardized units or grayscale.

[0030] Fig. 2 schematically shows a headlight pixel arrangement according to Fig. 1 with an arrangement of sampling points according to one exemplary embodiment. In particular, Fig. 2 shows a plurality of sampling points 5 which are arranged at corner points of an ordered grid. In particular, the sampling points 5 are arranged in a quincunx manner. The ordered arrangement of the sampling points makes it possible, in particular, to reduce the computing power required for calculating the corresponding brightnesses. The brightness values ​​of the individual sampling points can be determined, in particular, by weighting the brightnesses of the nearest headlight pixels, similar to that shown in Fig. 1. The brightness values ​​calculated for the sampling points can then be assigned to the corresponding headlight pixels by mapping. The mapping can be carried out, in particular, based on the adaptation of the first luminous structure to generate the second luminous structure.In particular, the mapping can be carried out according to the transformation of the image data required to adapt the luminous structure.

[0031] Fig. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of a headlight system according to an exemplary embodiment. The headlight system 40 can in particular be designed to be implemented on a vehicle for carrying out the method according to the first aspect. The headlight system 40 comprises a matrix headlight system 41 for generating or projecting luminous structures, a sensor system 42 for detecting a current vehicle position, and a control unit 43 for controlling the matrix headlight system 41. The control unit 43 can in particular comprise an interface 44, a processor 45, and a memory unit 46 for storing data and machine-readable instructions for the processor 45. The interface 44 can be functionally connected to the sensor system 42 and to the matrix headlight system 41 such that sensor data and / or signals generated by the sensor system 42 can be passed to the processor 45.The control unit 43 can be configured, in particular, by storing data and machine-readable instructions in the memory unit 46. The control unit 43 can be configured as a separate control unit or as part of a control unit of the vehicle or implemented in the control unit of the vehicle.

[0032] The control unit 43 is configured to control the matrix headlight system 41 to generate a first lighting structure and, based on the first lighting structure and the current vehicle position, to determine a required adaptation of the first lighting structure to generate a second lighting structure adapted to the current vehicle position.

[0033] The control unit 43 is further configured to determine, based on the required adjustment, at least one sampling point of the first lighting structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second lighting structure and to determine a brightness of the at least one sampling point. The control unit 43 is also configured to control the matrix headlight system 41 to adjust the brightness of the at least one pixel according to the brightness of the at least one sampling point.

[0034] Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of a method according to an exemplary embodiment. The method 100 can be carried out in particular by means of a headlight system 40 according to Fig. 3. In a method step 110, a first lighting structure is generated by means of the matrix headlight system 41. In a method step 120, a current vehicle position is detected by means of a sensor system, and in a method step 130, a required adaptation of the first lighting structure for generating a second lighting structure adapted to the current vehicle position is determined. The method step 120 can in particular comprise determining a transformation, in particular displacement and / or distortion, of the first lighting structure required for adapting the first lighting structure. In the method step 130, the second lighting structure can be determined in particular in the form of image data or image pixel data.The image data can be stored in particular in a memory unit 46 of a control unit 43. In a method step 140, based on the required adaptation, at least one sampling point of the first luminous structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second luminous structure is determined. In particular, based on the determined adaptation or transformation of the first luminous structure, a back adaptation or back transformation of the second luminous structure to the first luminous structure can be determined. The at least one sampling point or evaluation point can be determined in particular by applying the back transformation to the at least one pixel of the second luminous structure. The evaluation point can end up at a position between several pixel centers of the texture, as shown, for example, in the top of Fig. 1.

[0035] In a method step 150, the brightness of the at least one sampling point is determined. The brightness of the at least one sampling point can be calculated, in particular, by weighting brightness values ​​of the nearest pixels of the first luminous structure. The brightness of the at least one pixel can be determined, in particular, by mapping the at least one sampling point of the first luminous structure to the at least one pixel of the second luminous structure.

[0036] In some embodiments, the brightness is calculated for several sampling points simultaneously. For example, the brightness of the sampling points can be calculated by a filtering process or pre-filtering of the headlight light field. During pre-filtering, in particular, a formula for determining the brightness of the sampling points can be applied across the headlight light field. A weighting formula, for example, a similar formula to the weighting formula described above, can be used as a filter function. By pre-filtering or by applying the filter across the headlight light field, essentially all sampling points can be calculated essentially simultaneously.

[0037] In a method step 160, the brightness of the at least one pixel of the second lighting structure is adjusted according to the brightness of the at least one sampling point. In a method step 160, the brightness of the at least one pixel or headlight pixel is adjusted according to the brightness of the at least one sampling point. In particular, in method step 150, brightnesses of several headlight pixels can be determined after the brightnesses of several sampling points have been determined. The brightnesses of the headlight pixels can be determined by assigning the sampling points to the headlight pixels. This assignment can be carried out in particular by mapping the sampling points to headlight pixels. The mapping of the sampling points to the headlight pixels can be carried out in particular taking into account the required adaptation or the transformation to be carried out of the first lighting structure.The mapping can be performed by applying an additional filter function to the headlight light field or by post-filtering the headlight light field, so that brightness values ​​can be assigned to a plurality of headlight pixels essentially simultaneously.

[0038] These sampling points or evaluation points can also be determined by scanning the environment, in particular by means of the sensors, and the resulting brightness of the sampling points can be determined by weighting the pixel brightnesses.

[0039] This provides a two-stage sampling or filtering method for application to the original luminous structure or light image to be displayed and to the headlight array or headlight light field. In pre-filtering, evaluation points are created for shifts and distortions in the light image display based on the existing texture of the luminous structure, which are later mapped to headlight pixels by post-filtering. In the post-filtering step, in particular, the brightness values ​​of the individual sampling points are used to calculate a resulting brightness for the pixel of the headlight matrix to be displayed. A variety of different sampling methods can be used for this purpose. Ordered methods, as shown in the example of Quincunx in Fig. 2, are preferable due to the lower computational load per sampling point.

[0040] The two-stage process described above can thus efficiently minimize the negative effects caused by the finite resolution of the matrix headlight system and improve the representation of luminous structures.

Claims

Patent claims 1. Method for producing luminous structures by means of a Matrix headlight system of a vehicle, comprising: generating (110) a first luminous structure in a headlight light field by means of the matrix headlight system, Detecting (120) a current vehicle position by means of a sensor system, Determining (130) a required adaptation of the first luminous structure for Generating a second lighting structure adapted to the current vehicle position, characterized in that the method further comprises: Determining (140) based on the required adaptation at least one sampling point of the first luminous structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second luminous structure, Determining (150) a brightness of the at least one sampling point, and adjusting (160) the brightness of the at least one pixel according to the brightness of the at least one sampling point.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that determining the brightness of the at least one sampling point (5) of the first luminous structure comprises averaging brightnesses of pixels of the first luminous structure in the vicinity of the at least one sampling point.

3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the averaging is a weighting of brightnesses of pixels based on distances between the at least one sampling point (5) and pixel centers (1 ', 2', 3', 4') of nearest pixels (1, 2, 3, 4).

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the method further comprises mapping the at least one sampling point (5) to the at least one headlight pixel.

5. A headlight system for a vehicle, comprising a matrix headlight system (41) for generating luminous structures in a headlight light field, a sensor system (42) for detecting a current vehicle position, and a control unit (43) for controlling the matrix headlight system (41), wherein the control unit (43) is configured to: control the matrix headlight system (41) to generate a first luminous structure, detect a current vehicle position by means of the sensor system (42), and determine a required adaptation of the first luminous structure to generate a second luminous structure adapted to the current vehicle position, characterized in that the control unit is further configured to: determine, based on the required adaptation, at least one sampling point (5) of the first luminous structure corresponding to at least one pixel of the second luminous structure, determine a brightness of the at least one sampling point (5),and to control the matrix headlight system (41) to adjust the brightness of the at least one pixel according to the brightness of the at least one scanning point (5).

6. Headlight system according to claim 5, characterized in that the sensor system (42) is designed to detect a vehicle environment, and wherein the control unit (43) is configured to determine the at least one scanning point (5) at least partially based on a scanning of the vehicle environment by the sensor system (42).

7. Headlight system according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the control unit (43) is configured to perform a 3D detection of the environment using active triangulation with structured light.

8. Vehicle with at least one headlight system according to one of claims 5 to 7.

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