Vehicle Optical Notification Direction Control for Emergency Stops
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle notification systems struggle to effectively notify surrounding vehicles of emergencies while minimizing electric power consumption, especially during failures or emergency stops, due to environmental and directional challenges.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle notification device that includes a notification direction specifying unit to determine the optimal direction for notification using optical units, and an optical notification control unit to suppress light emission in non-essential directions, thereby reducing power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lamps are unconditionally used at the rear portion of the vehicle for emergency notification, then notification visibility is improved, but electric power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the lamp notification directional rather than omnidirectional. The control unit selectively activates lamps facing specific directions based on the vehicle's surrounding environment, so that notification is concentrated in areas where other vehicles are likely to be present. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining effective notification visibility in critical directions while reducing overall power consumption by not illuminating all lamps unconditionally.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the lamp notification system adaptive and changeable based on real-time conditions. The control unit dynamically adjusts which lamps are activated according to the detected situation (e.g., presence of intersections, other vehicles, road geometry). This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain high notification effectiveness when needed while consuming less power in situations where full notification is not required.
2Reliability
If optical notification unit emits light in all directions, then notification coverage is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the lamp notification directional rather than omnidirectional. The control unit selectively activates lamps facing specific directions based on the vehicle's surrounding environment, so that notification is concentrated in areas where other vehicles are likely to be present. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining effective notification visibility in critical directions while reducing overall power consumption by not illuminating all lamps unconditionally.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by activating only the necessary subset of lamps required for effective notification rather than all lamps simultaneously. The control unit determines the minimum set of lamps needed based on the situation, activating only those facing directions where notification is actually required. This partial activation achieves sufficient notification coverage while significantly reducing power consumption compared to full omnidirectional illumination.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 3
AI summary
A notification device (1), provided on a vehicle (2) performing an evacuation or an emergency stop when a failure occurs, includes an optical notification unit (14, 14a-14j) provided on the vehicle (2) and configured to emit light toward an outside of the vehicle (2), a notification direction specifying unit (12) configured to specify a notification direction (nd1-nd4) based on a current vehicle location or a scheduled stop location (SP1) of the vehicle and map information or an external environment of the vehicle, wherein the notification direction (nd1-nd4) is a direction in which notification is performed using the optical notification unit (14, 14a-14j) when the failure occurs, and an optical notification control unit (13) configured to perform a failure notification control of the optical notification unit (14, 14a-14j) when the failure occurs. The optical notification control unit (13) controls the optical notification unit (14, 14a-14j) such that the notification toward directions other than the notification direction is suppressed as compared with the notification toward the notification direction (nd1-nd4).