Vehicle Headlight Pattern Emitter for Clear Pedestrian Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle headlight technologies struggle to effectively enhance driver visibility to objects, particularly pedestrians, by ensuring consistent illumination patterns that maintain clarity over varying distances.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle headlight device incorporating a low-beam lamp, high-beam lamp, and a patterned-light emitter that emits light into a second light distribution region with alternating bright and dark regions, where the intervals between bright regions are wider further ahead of the vehicle, and the illumination pattern moves or adjusts to match the vehicle's speed and distance, maintaining clarity and reducing overlap.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If light is emitted in a fixed illumination pattern with uniform intervals between bright regions, then the illumination pattern remains consistent and simple to control, but the pattern breaks up or overlaps at varying distances, reducing recognition clarity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adjustment of the illumination pattern by varying the intervals between bright regions based on distance. The control unit adjusts the emission pattern so that intervals are wider at positions further ahead of the vehicle and narrower at positions closer to the vehicle, allowing the pattern to maintain integrity across varying distances without breaking up or overlapping.
2Reliability
If the intervals between bright regions are made wider at positions further ahead, then the illumination pattern maintains clarity over distance, but the pattern becomes more complex to generate and control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the spatial parameters of the illumination pattern dynamically. The control unit varies the interval width between bright regions as a function of distance from the vehicle, creating a gradient pattern that adapts to different viewing distances. This parameter adjustment ensures pattern integrity while using standard LED arrays and control electronics.
3Reliability
If a patterned-light emitter is added to provide alternating bright and dark regions, then visibility of pedestrians is improved, but the device complexity increases with multiple light sources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the illumination function into two distinct patterns: a first illumination pattern for general road lighting and a second illumination pattern with alternating bright and dark regions for pedestrian detection. This segmentation allows each pattern to perform its specific function optimally while using separate LED arrays that can be independently controlled.
Solution Approach 2:
The headlight device integrates multiple illumination functions into a single system. The same headlight assembly performs both general road illumination and specialized pedestrian detection, eliminating the need for completely separate lighting systems while providing enhanced safety functionality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures clear recognition of objects by maintaining illumination pattern integrity and intensity over distance, reducing the likelihood of missed detections, especially of pedestrians.
Implementation Method 1
a patterned-light emitter that emits light into a second light distribution region in an illumination pattern in which bright regions and dark regions alternately repeat
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle headlight device comprising: a low-beam lamp and a high-beam lamp that illuminates a first light distribution region that is in front of the vehicle with light; and a patterned-light emitter that illuminates a second light distribution region with light in an illumination pattern in which bright regions and dark regions alternately repeat, the second light distribution region being further toward an outer side than the first light distribution region in the vehicle width direction, wherein the patterned-light emitter emits light such that intervals between the bright regions that are adjacent are wider at a position further ahead of the vehicle than at a position closer to the vehicle in a traveling direction of the vehicle.