Vehicle Interior Lighting Control Using Driver Gesture Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drivers in vehicles face inconvenience when searching for baggage in dark environments, as existing illumination control systems lack effective gesture recognition for automatic lighting control.
Innovation Solution
An illumination control device that uses image recognition to detect a driver's body motions and visual cues to control lighting inside a vehicle, including front reading lights, front foot lights, and passenger seat-side back lights, based on predefined regions and motion patterns, ensuring lights are turned on only when necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual control of illumination devices is used, then the driver can control lighting when needed, but it requires time and effort and is inconvenient
Solution Approach 1:
The illumination control device automatically detects driver actions through image recognition and controls lighting without manual intervention. The system serves itself by using the driver's own body movements as control signals, eliminating the need for separate manual control operations and reducing both time and effort required.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical control (switches, buttons) with an automated vision-based detection system. The image recognition unit captures driver actions and the control unit processes these visual signals to automatically control illumination, substituting the mechanical manual control system with an automated optical detection and control system.
2Illumination intensity
If interior lights are turned on during vehicle movement, then visibility inside the vehicle is improved, but external visibility may be obstructed
Solution Approach 1:
The illumination control device dynamically adjusts interior lighting based on real-time detection of driver actions and vehicle conditions. The system activates or deactivates lights according to the driver's current needs (such as searching for baggage) rather than maintaining a fixed state, allowing optimal balance between interior visibility and external visibility requirements at different moments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system detects driver actions in advance and activates illumination before the driver would manually request it. By recognizing body movements indicating a need for lighting (such as reaching for baggage), the system proactively provides illumination, ensuring visibility is improved exactly when needed without requiring manual activation that might delay lighting.
3Adaptability or versatility
If gesture recognition is implemented without specific definitions, then voice or gesture control can be provided, but it is unclear what gestures are recognized and how they are detected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent defines specific parameters for gesture recognition by establishing predetermined regions within the vehicle interior and detecting whether body parts enter these regions. The system transforms continuous body movement data into discrete control signals by monitoring position parameters relative to defined zones, making the recognition criteria explicit and measurable rather than ambiguous.
Solution Approach 2:
The illumination control device applies different recognition criteria to different body parts and different spatial regions. Specific regions are assigned to control specific illumination devices (e.g., front reading light, foot light, back reading light), and the system detects which body part enters which region to determine the appropriate control action, creating localized and specific gesture recognition rules.
Data Source
AI summary
An illumination control device that controls an illumination device illuminating inside of a vehicle includes: an action detecting unit that detects an action pattern that is a body motion of a driver and/or a fellow passenger of the vehicle; and a determination unit that determines whether or not a current situation needs illumination control of the illumination device on the basis of the action pattern, and the illumination device is controlled on the basis of the determination of the determination unit.