Vehicle Headlight Control for Gradual Brightness Transition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle headlight control systems can cause driver discomfort due to excessively clear brightness boundaries when adjusting light distribution to avoid dazzling other vehicles, leading to potential confusion and distraction, especially in manual driving modes. Additionally, these systems often require significant light reduction, which may not be suitable for autonomous driving scenarios where prompt object detection is necessary.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle headlight control apparatus that includes a sensor device and a control unit to adjust the irradiation state of the headlights, ensuring a gradual transition in light distribution to minimize brightness boundaries and maintain adequate illumination. The system distinguishes between manual and autonomous driving modes, adjusting the irradiation quantity and distribution accordingly to prevent driver discomfort and optimize object detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the headlight stops light emission to the irradiation stopped region to avoid dazzling other vehicles, then the dazzlement avoidance performance is improved, but the brightness boundary becomes excessively clear causing driver discomfort and potential confusion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by adjusting the irradiation quantity in the irradiation stopped region from complete cessation to a reduced level. The control unit sets the irradiation quantity to a value lower than the standard irradiation quantity but not zero, creating a gradual brightness transition that avoids both dazzling other drivers and causing discomfort to the own vehicle driver. This parameter adjustment resolves the contradiction by finding an intermediate value that satisfies both dazzlement avoidance and driver comfort requirements.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the headlight reduces light emission significantly to avoid dazzling other vehicles, then the dazzlement avoidance performance is improved, but the illumination for object detection is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by changing the irradiation quantity parameter to an optimized intermediate value. Instead of completely stopping light emission to the irradiation stopped region, the control unit maintains a reduced but sufficient irradiation quantity. This allows the system to avoid dazzling other drivers while preserving adequate illumination for the own vehicle driver to detect objects such as pedestrians and other vehicles, thus maintaining both dazzlement avoidance and object detection capabilities.
3Manufacturing precision
If the headlight creates a clear brightness boundary to effectively stop irradiation to avoid dazzling, then the irradiation control precision is improved, but the driver may confuse the brightness boundary with the outer periphery of the preceding vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent addresses this contradiction by adjusting the irradiation quantity parameter in the irradiation stopped region to create a gradual rather than abrupt brightness transition. By setting the irradiation quantity to a reduced but non-zero value, the system maintains sufficient control precision to avoid dazzling other drivers while preventing the formation of excessively clear brightness boundaries that could be confused with vehicle peripheries. This parameter optimization ensures both irradiation control and accurate visual perception.
Data Source
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AI summary
A vehicle head light control apparatus controls a lighting apparatus included in a headlight of a vehicle to avoid irradiating to an irradiation avoidance region which is a region overlaps with a detected object. The lighting apparatus can irradiate an irradiation region which is a set of irradiation sections. When the vehicle is in a manual driving state, irradiating to the irradiation sections included in an adjacent region which is a region adjacent to the irradiation avoidance region is reduced as a distance between the irradiation section and the irradiation avoidance region becomes shorter. When the vehicle is in an autonomous driving state, the adjacent region is not provided or the adjacent region becomes smaller as compared with a case where the vehicle is in the manual driving state.