JPH01237232A - Light quantity correspondence type controller for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit the speedy control in correspondence with the change of the brightness outside a vehicle by carrying out the control related to the traveling of a vehicle in correspondence with the change of the environmental condition related to the light quantity, on the basis of a throttle signal for controlling the throttle quantity of an image pick-up means for a traveling road, etc. CONSTITUTION:The first control means 4 outputs a throttle signal for keeping the incident ray quantity constant into an image pick-up means 2 according to the light quantity transmitted to the image pick-up means 2 for picking up the image of a traveling road, etc., and controls the throttle quantity. The throttle signal is inputted also into the second control means 6, and the control related to the traveling of a vehicle, e.g., the control for the lighting-ON/OFF of a head lamp or a tail lamp, etc., is carried out according to the change of the environmental condition related to the light quantity. Therefore, the change of brightness, i.e., variation of the light quantity can be surely grasped, and the reliability in the control related to the light quantity can be improved furthermore.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to controlling devices related to vehicle running, such as headlamps, tail lamps, auto-reflex room mirrors, etc., according to changes in light intensity. The present invention relates to a light amount responsive 1IIItE'IA!Q for a vehicle.

(Conventional Technique #i) In recent years, the so-called A-dry drive system, which detects the brightness outside the vehicle and automatically turns on or off headlamps and tail lamps, has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 61-89135. Various proposals have been made in publications and the like.

As such a conventional autolight system, the one shown in FIG. 9 is known.

In the example shown in FIG. 9, a light receiving section 110 is provided to detect the brightness outside the vehicle. This light receiving section 110 is constituted by, for example, a photodiode or the like, and converts the incident light into an electric signal according to m. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, light ff1L1 enters a photodiode, which is a light sensor.
4, a signal of voltage E1 corresponding to this light 11L1 is output. In addition, if the amount of light incident on the photodiode is light IL2 with a value greater than 1, this light f
A signal of voltage E2 corresponding to f1L2 is output. Such a signal from the light receiving section 110 is given to the controller 111. The controller 111 inputs the signal from the light receiving section 110, and when it determines that the voltage of the input signal is the voltage E2, it drives the lamp drive circuit 113 to light the tail lamp 115a. Also controller 11
1 determines that the signal voltage from the light receiving section 110 is the voltage E1, and drives the lamp drive circuit 113 to light the headlamp 115b.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, the photodiode provided in the light receiving unit 110 monitors only a specific narrow area outside the vehicle, and even though it is bright outside the vehicle, the photodiode provided in the light receiving unit 110 monitors only a specific narrow area outside the vehicle. When a specific area to be monitored becomes locally dark, the amount of light incident on the photodiode decreases, potentially causing malfunction.

In addition, when a vehicle passes through a dark place such as a tunnel during the day, the headlamp turn-on command is executed after the vehicle enters the tunnel and the amount of light incident on the photodiode decreases. It took some time for the simulated headlights to turn on when the vehicle entered the vehicle, leaving room for improvement.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a vehicle light 1 responsive control 1Kffi that can reliably prevent malfunctions and quickly control in response to changes in environmental conditions regarding brightness outside the vehicle. The purpose is to

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an imaging means 2 for imaging a running route, etc., and an amount of light incident on the imaging means 2, as shown in FIG. The m image means 2 transmits an aperture signal corresponding to
a first control means 4 for controlling the aperture speed of the vehicle; and a second control means 4 that receives the aperture signal and controls the running of the vehicle in response to changes in environmental conditions regarding the amount of light based on the aperture signal. means 6.

(Function) The present invention provides a first
The aperture amount of the imaging means 2 is controlled based on the aperture signal from the first control means 4. Further, when the second control means 6 receives the aperture signal, it executes control regarding the running of the vehicle in response to changes in environmental conditions regarding the amount of light based on this aperture signal. For example, when it is determined that the aperture value is 81 based on the aperture signal, it is determined that the light amount at this time is L2, and control corresponding to the advance transmission being 12 is executed. Further, when it is determined based on the aperture signal that the aperture amount is aperture ff1s2 with a value larger than 81, it is determined that the light amount is Ll, which is a value smaller than the above-mentioned L2, and control corresponding to this light ff1L1 is executed. .

<Examples> Hereinafter, examples according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall structure of an embodiment according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

A vehicle light amount responsive control device to which the present invention is applied is composed of an il image device 1 and an automatic light on/off device 3. l1i
The l-image device 1 is an image-pickup means for taking m-images of a driving route and the like. The automatic light on/off bag W13 is a device for automatically turning on or off a plurality of lamps such as headlamps or tail lamps depending on the brightness outside the vehicle.

Terminal P1 to which a predetermined driving power is supplied is connected to switch S.
It is connected to the anode of the diode D1 and the CRT display device 9 via W1.

The cathode side of the diode D1 is connected to the imaging section 5 and the control section 7. The image carrier section 5 is connected to the control section 7 and sends image information such as the running route to the control section 7. This control section 7 is connected to the CRT display device 1ff9, and the control section 7! The image information from the Il image section 5 is processed and displayed on the CRT display device 9.

Next, the automatic light on/off bag 0!3 will be explained. A terminal P2 to which a predetermined driving power is supplied is connected to a switch SW2. This switch SW2 is connected to the anode side of the diode D2 and the autolight control device 11. Therefore, when switch SW2 is closed, the power for the specified drive is switched on to Auto Light Control H! 21
1, and also to the imaging section 5 and the control section 7 via the diode D2.

The A-dry drive control device 11 has a built-in control processing means such as a microcomputer, and executes control processing regarding turning on or off the lights. In other words, the auto light control '1211 is connected to the control section 7, and determines the brightness outside the vehicle, that is, the amount of light, based on the aperture signal 33a input from the control section 7, and adjusts the headlamp or the light amount based on the determined amount of light. Executes control such as turning on or off tail lamps and the like.

To explain specifically, auto light control device 1
1 is connected to a lamp drive circuit 12, and this lamp drive circuit 12 is composed of relays 13 and 14. The relay 13 is composed of a coil 13a and a contact 13b, and one end of the coil 13a is connected to the auto light control device 1.
1 and the other end of the coil 13a is connected to the contact 13.
b and terminal P3. The other end of the contact 13b is connected to the tail lamp 15. A predetermined DC voltage is applied to the terminal P3. Therefore, based on the command from the auto light control device 11, the coil 13a
When a current flows to, the contact 13b closes and the one-R lamp 15 lights up. The relay 14 is composed of a coil 14a and a contact 14b, and one end of the coil 14a is connected to a J
- connected to the dry drive control device 11;
The other end of the coil 14a is connected to one end of the contact 14b and the terminal P3.
connected to. The other end of the contact 14b is connected to the headlamp 16. Therefore, based on the command signal from the auto light control device 11, the coil 14a
When current flows through the contact 14b, the contact 14b closes and the headlamp 16 is turned on.

Next, the m-image device 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The IllIll section 5 includes a plurality of conversion elements for converting optical information from a CCD sensor or the like into electrical signals. The plurality of conversion elements are arranged in a lattice pattern, and monitor a mountain of light incident over a wide range such as a driving route. That is, each conversion element arranged in a lattice pattern converts incident light into an electrical signal, sequentially accumulates it in the form of electric charge, and outputs the accumulated electric charge in synchronization with a read pulse every predetermined period. Further, the imaging section 5 has an aperture mechanism section 1QGJ for adjusting the amount of incident light, and the aperture suspension is adjusted based on an aperture signal, which will be explained later.

Next, the control section 7 for controlling the imaging section 5 will be explained. A synchronization signal generation circuit 21 is incorporated in the control section 7. The synchronization signal generation circuit 21 includes a generator 22 that generates signals at a predetermined period.
is connected, generates synchronization pulses at predetermined cycles set based on the generation cycle of this generator 22, and sends out this synchronization signal. The timing pulse generation circuit 23 includes the synchronization signal generation circuit 21 and drivers 25a and 25b.
.
5a, 25b, and 25c. Driver 25a
, 25b, 25C are connected to the l1iH9 unit 5, and each driver 25a, 25b, 25
c drives a CCD sensor built into the imaging section 5. That is, each driver 25a.

25b and 25c set the read timing of information from the CCD sensor by sending out timing pulses which are read pulses.

The sample hold circuit 31 is connected to the timing pulse generation circuit 23 and the imaging section 5, holds the signal input from the imaging section 5, and sequentially outputs the held signal in synchronization with the pulse period of the timing pulse. The auto iris circuit 33 includes the timing pulse generation circuit 23,
It is connected to each of the sample hold circuit 31 and the low pass filter 35, and the sample hold circuit 31
When a signal from the diaphragm is inputted, an aperture signal 33a for adjusting the aperture (6) of the aperture mechanism described above is sent out in accordance with the average signal level of the signals of the unit screen 13 from the plurality of input conversion elements. Also, this auto iris circuit 3
The aperture signal 33a outputted from 3 is given to the auto light control Hiff11 shown in FIG. Further, the auto iris circuit 33 sends the signal from the sample hold circuit 31 as it is to the signal processing circuit 37 via the low pass filter 35. The signal processing circuit 37 is connected to each of the synchronization signal generation circuit 21, the timing pulse generation circuit 23, and the low-pass filter 35. When input, the input image signal is sequentially processed for each screen based on the synchronization signal and the timing pulse. The CRT display device 9 is connected to a signal processing circuit 37, and sequentially displays image signals processed by the signal processing circuit 37.

Next, the aperture signal 33a sent from the auto iris circuit 33 will be explained with reference to FIG.

When the auto iris circuit 33 determines based on the signal input from the sample hold circuit 31 that the signal level of this signal corresponds to the level L1 shown in No. 10, it sends out a signal corresponding to the aperture mS2. . Further, when the auto iris circuit 33 determines that the signal level of the input signal is a signal level corresponding to the level L2 shown in FIG. do.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be explained with reference to FIG.

In step 51, when the autolight control device N11 receives the aperture signal 33a, it determines whether the aperture value is 81 based on this aperture signal 33a. If the aperture amount is not 81, the monitoring operation of the aperture signal 33a that is sequentially input is continued.

Further, when it is determined in step 51 that the aperture amount is 81, the process proceeds to step 53, where the relay 13 is driven and the tail lamp 15 is turned on.

In step 55, the aperture is 8 based on the aperture signal 33a.
2, and if the aperture m has not reached the level 82, the monitoring operation of the aperture signal 33a is continued. Also, in step 55, the aperture amount is 82.
When it is determined that the level has been reached, the process proceeds to step 57, in which the relay 14 is driven and the headlamp 16 is turned on.

As described above, since the aperture signal is output according to the brightness on the outside of the vehicle, for example on the road, that is, the amount of light incident on the image carrier 5, the tail lamp 15 and the head The lamp 16 is automatically turned on.

In addition, when the equipment is used sequentially, such as early in the morning, the operation described above is reversed. That is, when the auto light control device 11 determines that the light is equal to or higher than a predetermined light 111 corresponding to a predetermined aperture setting based on the aperture signal @33a, the auto light control device 11 turns off the relay 14 to turn off the headlamp 16. Also, auto control 1m1i has aperture signal 33a.
A predetermined amount of light LH (L
HALL) or higher, the relay 13 is turned off and the tail lamp 15 is turned off.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The example shown in FIG. 8 is characterized in that the aperture signal 33a output from the W&image system [1] is sent to a so-called auto-reflex room mirror device 61.

Terminal P5 to which a predetermined driving power is supplied is connected to switch S.
It is connected to each of the diode D2 and the reflex mirror control circuit 63 via W5, and when the switch SW5 is closed, a predetermined power is supplied to each of the imaging section 5, the control section 7, and the reflex mirror control circuit 63. . The liquid crystal mirror 65 has a liquid crystal layer disposed in front of an aluminum reflective film, and a pair of transparent electrodes sandwiching the liquid crystal layer. When a current is passed through this pair of transparent electrodes, the arrangement of the liquid crystal changes, and the path of the reflected light reflected off the aluminum reflective film changes.

Reflex mirror control circuit 63 is aperture signal 3
3a! , : When it is determined that the amount of light is below a predetermined level, power is supplied to the liquid crystal mirror 65 and the above-mentioned so-called high reflection state is set.

Conversely, when the reflex mirror control circuit 63 determines that the amount of light is above a predetermined level based on the aperture signal 33a, it stops supplying power to the liquid crystal mirror 65 and sets the liquid crystal mirror 65 to a so-called anti-glare state. . In other words, when the power supply from the flex mirror control circuit 63 is cut off at the liquid crystal mirror 65, the liquid crystal structure of the liquid crystal layer changes, and the optical path of the reflected light reflected off the aluminum reflective film becomes smaller, causing the light to be blocked by the headlights of the following vehicle. An anti-glare effect can be obtained.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, since the liquid crystal mirror 65 is controlled based on the aperture signal 33a, the auto-reflex room mirror device can be operated with precision, and the anti-glare effect caused by the headlights of the following vehicle can be avoided. can be obtained with certainty.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the driving of the vehicle can be controlled in response to changes in the environmental conditions regarding the amount of light based on the aperture signal for controlling the aperture M of the imaging means. Therefore, it is possible to reliably detect changes in brightness, that is, the amount of light, and further improve reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram corresponding to the claims, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram of the device configuration of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a diagram corresponding to claims.
The figure is a block diagram showing the dynamic image device of FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the device shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is for explaining the aperture signal output from the A-door iris circuit 33 of FIG. Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the system, Fig. 9 is a device configuration diagram showing a conventional example, and Fig. 10 is
The figure is a characteristic diagram showing the characteristics of the light receiving section shown in FIG. 9. 5...Ill image section 11...Auto light control Bfi33...
auto iris circuit

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An imaging means mounted on a vehicle to take an image of the traveling route of the vehicle, and a first device that controls the aperture amount of the imaging means by sending an aperture signal according to the amount of light incident on the imaging means. and a second control means that receives the aperture signal and controls the running of the vehicle in response to changes in environmental conditions regarding the amount of light based on the aperture signal. Light amount responsive control device for vehicles.