JP3620096B2 - Vehicle lighting control system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for automatically turning on / off control by determining the necessity of turning on / off a vehicular illumination lamp such as an automobile.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a method of automatically controlling the lighting and extinguishing of vehicle lighting, the vehicle is equipped with an automatic light control device that uses a photodiode, etc., and it automatically detects when the surroundings are dark and automatically turns on the lighting (especially the headlight). Has been proposed and put to practical use.
[0003]
However, in this method, for example, when the headlamp is turned on during traveling in the tunnel, the headlamp is turned on after the photodiode detects that the vehicle has entered the tunnel and the surrounding area has become dark. Immediately after entering the tunnel, the headlights must remain unlit. As described above, in the conventional automatic light control device described above, it is inevitable that a certain time lag occurs between the time when the surroundings suddenly darken and the time when the headlamp is actually turned on.
[0004]
Therefore, a surrounding information detection device (a so-called beacon transmitter) equipped with a transmission function is installed on the road side of the entrance of the tunnel, and the location information of the tunnel, local traffic information, ambient brightness information, etc. are transmitted to the vehicle. It has been proposed that an illuminating lamp control device installed in a vehicle receives this and automatically controls lighting and extinguishing of the illuminating lamp (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-577736).
[0005]
According to this prior art, since the headlamp can be automatically turned on before entering the tunnel, safety of vehicle traveling is ensured.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, according to the above prior art, not only the lighting control device is mounted on each individual vehicle, but also at all entrances and exits such as tunnels in various places, underpasses where underground lighting is required even during daytime, underground parking lots, etc. Ambient information detector must be installed.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to provide an automatic control device for a vehicular illumination lamp without spending a great deal of cost and time.
[0008]
That is, the present invention according to claim 1 includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of tunnels as one road area and stores the first point data and the last point data of the road area, and a current position for detecting the current position of the vehicle. Based on the detection result of the position detection unit and the current position detection unit, it is determined whether or not the current position of the vehicle has reached a point corresponding to the first point data stored in the storage unit, and the current position of the vehicle A determination means for determining whether or not the position has passed a point corresponding to the last point data stored in the storage unit, and the determination means causes the current position of the vehicle to reach a point corresponding to the first point data. The illumination lamp control for turning on the illumination lamp of the vehicle when it is determined to have been performed and for turning off the illumination lamp when it is determined that the current position of the vehicle has passed the last point data When a vehicle lighting control device characterized by having a.
[0013]
[Action]
A road region where a plurality of tunnels intermittently appear frequently is defined as one region, and the first point data and the last point data are stored in the storage unit. Based on the detection result of the current position detection unit, the determination means determines whether the current position of the vehicle has reached a point corresponding to the first point data, and whether the vehicle has passed a point corresponding to the last point data. Judging. The illuminating light control unit turns on the illuminating light of the vehicle when the determining means determines that the current position of the vehicle has reached the first point, and determines that the current position of the vehicle has passed the last point. The illumination lamp is automatically controlled to be turned on / off so that the illumination lamp is turned off when the lamp is turned on.
[0014]
【Example】
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a vehicular illuminating lamp control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This control device is configured to be incorporated in a navigation device.
[0015]
The data storage unit 10 of the navigation device includes a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or an IC card, and stores various data such as voice data 11, map data 12, road data 13, and place name data 14.
[0016]
The current position detection unit 20 includes a GPS satellite receiver 21 and receives radio waves from GPS satellites to determine the current position coordinates of the vehicle. In addition, the current position detection unit 20 further includes various types of sensors such as a geomagnetic sensor 22, a distance sensor 23, and a steering sensor 24. By using data relating to the azimuth and actual travel distance detected by the sensor as correction data, the position can be detected with high accuracy.
[0017]
Position information such as the starting point and the destination is input by a user's operation at an input unit 29 including a keyboard or the like.
[0018]
Various data from the input unit 29, the data storage unit 10, and the current position detection unit 20 are input to the arithmetic processing unit 25. Based on these data, the CPU 26 calculates a route from the current location to the destination according to a program stored in the ROM 27. The RAM 28 is a working memory that stores data such as paths determined by the CPU 26. The ROM 27 and RAM 28 are connected to the CPU 26 via data bus lines.
[0019]
The CPU 26 generates a voice instruction signal by synthesizing the voice data 11 according to the determination result, and outputs the voice instruction signal from the voice output unit 30, thereby guiding the driver of the course. Further, a road map drawn based on the map data 12 and road data 13 is displayed on the display unit 31 including a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, and the like, and the current position detection unit 20 displays the road map on the road map. The detected current position is displayed, and a recommended route as a determination result by the CPU 26 is displayed.
[0020]
The configuration described above is generally a known configuration as a conventional navigation device.
[0021]
In the present embodiment, the data storage unit 10 is provided with an illumination lamp control data storage unit 15 for storing data necessary for automatic control of the illumination lamp, and area data 16 and illumination ON / OFF point data 17 are stored. Has been.
[0022]
Here, the area data 16 refers to data relating to a certain area where it is necessary to turn on the illumination lamp even during the daytime , and is created based on the map data 12 and the road data 13. Specifically, the area data 16 is created as a single area by combining road areas where a plurality of tunnels intermittently occur frequently in mountainous areas . Further, both end positions of each area registered as area data 16 are stored as illumination ON / OFF point data 17.
[0023]
In this embodiment, an illumination lamp control unit 32 including a CPU is further provided. The illumination lamp control unit 32 receives the area data 16 and the illumination ON / OFF point data 17 stored in the illumination lamp control data storage unit 15, and the current position data detected by the current position detection unit 20. It is input via the arithmetic processing unit 25. Further, current time data from the clock means 33 is input.
[0024]
The illumination light control unit 32 is activated when the activation switch 35 is turned on in response to the detection signal from the traveling detection unit 34 that detects that the vehicle is currently traveling, and the area data 16 and the illumination ON / OFF point data 17. Necessity of lighting / extinguishing of illumination lamp is determined based on various data of current position data and time zone data, and lighting of headlight 36 and small light 37 mounted on the vehicle is determined based on the determination result. / Automatic control of lighting off.
[0025]
For example, if the point immediately before entering the tunnel stored as the area data 16 (for example, about 200 m before the tunnel entrance, about 400 m before the highway) is stored as the lighting ON point data, The lamp control unit 32 determines that the vehicle has arrived at the immediately preceding point based on the current position data from the current position detection unit 20, and automatically turns on the headlight 36. Similarly, when it is determined from the current position data that the vehicle has passed a point stored as illumination OFF point data (for example, a point immediately after the tunnel exit), the headlight 36 is automatically turned off.
[0026]
As described above, in a mountainous area where tunnels are continuous, instead of creating area data 16 for each individual tunnel, from the first tunnel entrance to the last tunnel exit of a plurality of successive tunnels. All road areas are treated as one area . Once the area data 16 has been created in this way, the lighting will continue to light until it exits the last tunnel after it is automatically lit at the point just before the first tunnel entrance. On the other hand, notice that the tunnel is a continuous section can be alerted .
[0027]
In addition, you may control to light only the small light 37, without lighting the headlight 36. FIG. Further, the degree of darkness in the area may be detected by a photodiode or the like, and either headlight 36 or small light 37 may be selectively turned on.
[0028]
Further, since the current time data from the clock means 33 is input to the illuminating lamp control unit 32 separately from the area data 16 and the lighting ON / OFF point data 17, the illuminating lamp control unit 32 is driven by the vehicle. Regardless of the area, it is automatically controlled so that it lights up in the evening and turns off in the early morning. In this case, the headlight and the small light are turned on or off so that the small light 37 is turned on first in the evening and then the headlight 36 is turned on. Time difference control is also possible. Since the time to be turned on or off varies depending on the season, the clock means 33 is also used with a calendar.
[0029]
When the vehicle stops, the travel detector 34 detects this and turns the start switch 35 off. When the headlight 36 and the small light 37 are turned on in response to the OFF signal, the illuminating lamp control unit 32 controls the lights to be turned off and then ends the operation. This prevents battery waste due to forgetting to turn off the lights.
[0030]
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the operation of the wiper 38 in the rain is controlled in conjunction with the lighting on / off control of the illumination lamp. That is, at the time of rainy weather and actuates the wiper by turning ON the wiper operation switch at the discretion of the driver, since the wiper operation even during rainy becomes unnecessary in a tunnel, conventionally, the driver tunnel The wiper operation switch must be repeatedly turned on and off every time the vehicle enters and passes through the vehicle . However, according to the present embodiment , the illumination light control unit 32 determines whether the vehicle is entering or passing through the tunnel . Therefore, the ON / OFF automatic control of the wiper operation can be performed simultaneously with the ON / OFF automatic control of the illumination lamp using the determination result.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to carry out the automatic control of the vehicle lighting with a simple structure, the driver is not necessary to perform the ON / OFF operation by determining the brightness of the surroundings.
[0032]
In addition, by controlling to turn on an illuminating lamp before entering an area where lighting is required, the driver can be alerted and information for road prediction can be given .
[0033]
In particular, the present invention is configured by being incorporated in a navigation device, so that road information data stored in the navigation device and current position data detected by GPS or the like can be used, and an efficient system construction can be achieved. Is possible.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example in which a vehicular illuminating lamp control device according to the present invention is incorporated in a navigation device.
[Explanation of symbols]
15 illuminating lamp control data storage section 16 area data 17 illuminating ON / OFF point data 20 current position detecting section 32 illuminating lamp control section 33 clock means 34 travel detecting section 35 start switch 36 headlight 37 small light 38 wiper

Claims (1)

A storage unit that stores a plurality of tunnels as one road area and stores the first point data and the last point data of the road area;
A current location detection unit for detecting the current position of the vehicle,
Based on the detection result of the current position detection unit, it is determined whether the current position of the vehicle has reached a point corresponding to the first point data stored in the storage unit, and the current position of the vehicle is determined by the storage unit. Determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle has passed a point corresponding to the last point data stored in
When it is determined by the determination means that the current position of the vehicle has reached a point corresponding to the first point data, the vehicle illumination lamp is turned on, and it is determined that the current position of the vehicle has passed the last point data. An illumination light control unit for controlling the illumination light to be turned off when the illumination light is turned on .

Images