JP2005254906A - Vehicular illumination device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular illumination device capable of preventing wasteful lighting. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicular illumination device 10 performs illumination by bulbs 18a, 20a and 22a which are mounted on a vehicle and power-supplied from a battery 40 of the vehicle, and has a plurality of switches 24, 28 and 30 to receive the lighting instruction from a user of the bulbs 18a, 20a and 22a, an optical sensor 46 to detect the illuminance in a vicinity of the vehicular illumination device 10 and a keyless ECU 48 to output the occupant detection signal. A control device 50 determines acceptance/rejection of lighting of the bulbs 18a, 20a and 22a based on the illuminance and presence/absence of any occupant, and controls the lighting. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle lighting device that is used in a vehicle and receives power supply from a battery.

  As is well known, various lighting devices are provided in the vehicle. For example, there are a room lamp for illuminating the interior of the vehicle, a night illumination device for an operation panel of a vehicle-mounted device, a headlight, and the like. Many such vehicular lighting devices have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an in-vehicle room lamp with improved operability.

  In this case, a light sensor is provided in a room lamp for lighting a vehicle interior. When a reflector such as a hand is brought close to the optical sensor, the reflected light reflected by the reflector is detected by the optical sensor, and the lighting / extinguishing of the room lamp is controlled. According to this, it becomes possible to easily operate the lighting device.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-48280

  However, useless lighting of the lighting device cannot be prevented with the above-described in-vehicle room lamp and other conventional lighting devices. Originally, the lighting device is turned on and off in accordance with a user's instruction. However, the user may forget to turn off the lighting device or mistakenly operate the lighting device. As a result, although the lighting device is not required to be turned on, it is sometimes turned on unnecessarily. For example, there is a case where the lighting device is forgotten to be turned off when getting off the vehicle, and the lighting device is continuously turned on for a long time. In addition, when the lighting device is moved to a bright place after being turned on, or when the lighting device is turned on due to an operation error, the lighting device is hardly noticed and often forgotten to be turned off. As a result, the lighting device may be turned on unnecessarily.

  By the way, the vehicular illumination device is normally turned on by receiving power supply from the vehicle battery. As is well known, the vehicle battery converts the rotation of the engine into electric power and stores it. Accordingly, when the above-described lighting device is used for a long time without the engine rotating, there is a case in which the amount of power stored in the battery is lost, that is, the battery is discharged. In addition, lighting the lighting device wastefully reduces the life of the light emitter used in the lighting device.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular illumination device that can prevent unnecessary lighting.

  The vehicular illumination device of the present invention is a vehicular illumination device that is attached to a vehicle and illuminates with a light emitter that is supplied with power from a battery of the vehicle, and that receives an instruction from a user to receive an instruction to turn on the light emitter. Means for detecting a parameter indicating a situation around the lighting device for a vehicle, a result of detection by the detecting means and an instruction received by the instruction receiving means to determine whether or not the light emitter can be turned on. And a controller for controlling lighting.

  In a preferred aspect, the detection means includes an optical sensor that detects the illuminance around the vehicle lighting device, and the control unit determines whether or not the light emitter can be turned on based on the illuminance detected by the optical sensor. Preferably, the control unit determines whether or not the light emitter can be turned on based on the illuminance continued for a predetermined time.

  In another preferred aspect, the detection means includes occupant detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant in the vehicle, and the control unit lights the light emitter based on the presence or absence of the occupant detected by the occupant detection means. Determine whether or not.

  In another preferred embodiment, a manual mode in which the light emitter is turned on in accordance with the instruction content instructed by the instruction receiving means regardless of the detection result by the detection means, and an automatic in which the light emitter is turned on according to the determination by the control unit. Automatic / manual switching means for switching between modes.

  According to the present invention, the necessity of lighting is detected by the detection means, and lighting control is performed according to the detection result, so that unnecessary lighting can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a top view of a vehicular lighting device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration thereof.

  The vehicle lighting device 10 is attached to a ceiling of a vehicle, and includes an illumination unit 12 that illuminates a vehicle interior with a bulb that is a light emitter, an operation unit 14 that operates the illumination state, and a bulb lighting circuit. And a board (not shown) provided.

  The illuminating unit 12 includes a right map lamp 20 that illuminates the right side of the passenger compartment, a left map lamp 22 that illuminates the left side of the passenger compartment, and a dome lamp 18 that illuminates the entire passenger compartment. Each of the lamps 18, 20, and 22 includes bulbs 18a, 20a, and 22a that are light emitters, and the light is guided into the vehicle interior via a lens.

  The operation unit 14 is for operating the illumination state of the illumination unit 12, that is, the lighting / extinguishing state of the lamps 18, 20, and 22. Therefore, the operation unit 14 functions as an instruction receiving unit that receives lighting instructions for the lamps 18, 20, and 22 from the user. The operation unit 14 includes map lamp switches 28 and 30 for switching on / off of the right and left map lamps 20 and 22, a dome lamp switch 24 for switching on / off of the dome lamp 18, and an automatic lighting state described later. And an automatic / manual switch 26 for switching between execution and non-execution of control.

  The map lamp switches 28 and 30 are push button switches arranged on the left and right of the vehicle lighting device 10, respectively. By pressing the map lamp switches 28 and 30, the map lamps 20 and 22 can be switched ON / OFF.

  The dome lamp switch 24 is a slide switch provided substantially at the center of the vehicle lighting device 10. The lighting state of the dome lamp 18 can be selected by sliding the knob 24a provided on the slide switch left and right. There are three types of lighting states that can be selected: a lighting state, a light-off state, and a door-linked lighting state in which the light is turned on / off according to the opening / closing of the door of the vehicle. In the present embodiment, when the knob 24a is set to the left side of the dome lamp switch 24, the door interlocked lighting state is set. When the knob 24a is set to the center, the lighting state is set.

  The automatic / manual switch 26 is a slide switch provided in the vicinity of the dome lamp switch 24. The automatic / manual changeover switch 26 also has a knob 26a. By sliding the position to the left and right, the lighting state is automatically controlled ("automatic") or manually controlled ("manual"). Is switched.

  The vehicular lighting device 10 also has an optical sensor 46. The optical sensor 46 detects the illuminance around the vehicle lighting device 10. Here, after the detected illuminance is converted into an electrical signal, it is output to the control device 50 described later as an illuminance signal.

  Although not shown in FIG. 2, a keyless ECU (Electric Control Unit) is provided in a vehicle provided with the vehicle illumination device 10. The keyless ECU replaces the engine key and locks the vehicle door or starts the engine in accordance with an instruction from a keyless switch. The keyless ECU is provided inside the vehicle and executes various controls in response to signals from a keyless switch possessed by the user. The signal from the keyless switch includes an authentication signal. The authentication signal is basically output constantly, and the keyless ECU can receive the authentication signal if the keyless switch is inside the vehicle. In this embodiment, this authentication signal is used as an occupant detection signal. That is, when the authentication signal can be received by the keyless ECU, it is determined that the passenger having the keyless switch is in the vehicle. The keyless ECU outputs this occupant signal (authentication signal) to the control device 50 described later.

  Next, the circuit configuration of the vehicle lighting device 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The power supply 40 that is floated from the battery is connected to the valves 18a, 20a, and 22a of the lamps 18, 20, and 22 via the automatic / manual switch 26. When the automatic / manual changeover switch 26 is switched to “automatic” (A contact in FIG. 2), the power source 40 is connected to each valve 18 a, 20 a, 22 a via the transistor 56. Further, when switching to “manual” (the M contact in FIG. 2), the power source and the valves 18 a, 20 a, and 22 a are connected without passing through the transistor 56.

  The other ends of the bulbs 20 a and 22 a of the map lamps 20 and 22 are connected to the ground 44 via the map lamp switches 28 and 30. Accordingly, when the map lamp switches 28 and 30 are turned off, the connection with the ground 44 is cut off, and when the map lamp switches 28 and 30 are turned on, the connection is made with the ground 44.

  The other end of the bulb 18 a of the dome lamp 18 is connected to the dome lamp switch 24. The dome lamp switch 24 is connected to the ground 44 when it is “lit” (O contact connection state in FIG. 2), and is connected to the door switch 42 when it is “door” (D contact connection state in FIG. 2). The door switch 42 is a switch that opens and closes in response to opening and closing of the vehicle door.

  Therefore, when the automatic / manual switch 26 is set to “manual”, the map lamps 20 and 22 are turned on / off in accordance with the ON / OFF of the map lamp switches 28 and 30. Further, the dome lamp 18 is turned on according to the state of the dome lamp switch 24. That is, when the dome lamp switch 24 is “lighted” (the O-contact connection state in FIG. 2), the dome lamp 18 is turned on, and when it is “door” (the D-contact connection state in FIG. 2), the light is turned on when the door is opened and closed.・ The door interlocks with the lights off. When the dome lamp switch 24 is opened (OFF state), the dome lamp 18 is turned off.

  On the other hand, when the automatic / manual changeover switch 26 is set to “automatic” (A contact connection state in FIG. 2), each valve 18 a, 20 a, 22 a is connected to the power supply 40 via the transistor 56. The transistor 56 functions as a switch controlled by the control device 50. The control device 50 appropriately controls the transistor 56 to control power supply to the valves 18a, 20a, and 22a.

  The control device 50 includes a CPU 52 and a power supply circuit 54 that supplies power to the CPU 52. An illuminance signal from the optical sensor 46 and an occupant detection signal from the keyless ECU 48 are input to the CPU 52. Based on these two signals, the CPU 52 determines whether power can be supplied to each of the valves 18a, 20a, 22a, and controls the transistor 56.

  The determination of whether or not power can be supplied by the CPU 52 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the CPU 52 determines whether there is a passenger in the vehicle (S10). This determination is made based on whether an occupant signal (authentication signal) is input from the keyless ECU 48. When the occupant signal is input from the keyless ECU 48, it is determined that “the passenger is present”, and when it is not input, it is determined that “the passenger is not present”. If it is determined that there is no occupant, the transistor 56 is controlled to cut off the power supply to the valves 18a, 20a, 22a (S16).

  If it is determined that “there is an occupant”, it is next determined based on the illuminance signal input from the optical sensor 46 whether the illuminance in the passenger compartment is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (S12). When the illuminance of the passenger compartment is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold, power supply to each valve 18a, 20a, 22a is permitted (S14). On the other hand, if the illuminance is greater than the predetermined threshold, the power supply to each valve 18a, 20a, 22a is stopped (S16). After determining the illuminance, the occupant presence determination and the illuminance determination are repeated again after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  Note that this illuminance determination is not affected by an instantaneous change in illuminance, so the illuminance determination is performed based on both the illuminance signal before a predetermined time and the current illuminance signal. Then, the power supply is permitted or stopped only when both the past illuminance signal and the current illuminance signal are equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value or larger than the predetermined threshold value. In other words, it is determined whether or not power can be supplied based on the illuminance continued for a predetermined time. Thereby, even if there is an instantaneous illuminance change, a stable illumination state can be provided.

  As can be understood from the above description, when the automatic / manual changeover switch 26 is set to “automatic” (A contact connection state in FIG. 2), the power supply to the valves 18a, 20a, 22a Controlled by.

  Next, the flow of the illumination state adjustment in the vehicle lighting device 10 will be briefly described. The user first selects whether to perform automatic control or manual control by sliding the knob 26a of the automatic / manual switch 26.

  In the case of manual control, the lighting state is as selected by the user with the map lamp switches 28 and 30 and the dome lamp switch 24. That is, the map lamps 20 and 22 are turned on when the map lamp switches 28 and 30 are turned on, and are turned off when the map lamp switches 28 and 30 are turned off. Further, when the dome lamp switch 24 is turned on, the dome lamp 18 is turned on, and when it is turned off, the dome lamp 18 is turned off. Furthermore, if it is set to "door", it will be in the door interlocking | linkage state turned on / off according to opening / closing of a door.

  On the other hand, when the automatic / manual switch 26 is set to “automatic”, the operation is as follows. Even if the user turns on the map lamp switches 28 and 30, the map lamps 20 and 22 are lit only when the ambient illuminance is below a predetermined threshold and the occupant is in the vehicle. When the surrounding illuminance is greater than a predetermined threshold value or when no occupant is in the vehicle, the map lamps 20 and 22 are not lit even if the map lamp switches 28 and 30 are turned on. This is because the control device 50 controls power supply to the valves 20a and 22a according to the illuminance and the presence or absence of a passenger. Accordingly, the map lamps 20 and 22 are not lit even if the user turns on the map lamps 28 and 30 in spite of being bright by mistake.

  In addition, the control device 50 periodically determines the illuminance and the presence or absence of a passenger. Therefore, when the map lamp switches 28 and 30 are turned on, even if the map lamps 20 and 22 are lit when the ambient illuminance is below a predetermined threshold and the occupant is in the vehicle, the illuminance is predetermined. The map lamps 20 and 22 are automatically turned off when the threshold is exceeded or when the occupant is no longer in the vehicle. Therefore, even when the user forgets to turn off the map lamps 20 and 22 and leaves the vehicle, the map lamps 20 and 22 are automatically turned off. If the map lamps 20 and 22 are temporarily turned on in a dark place and then moved to a bright place, the map lamps 20 and 22 are automatically turned off. Conversely, if the map lamps 20 and 22 are turned on in a bright place and then moved to a dark place, the map lamps 20 and 22 are automatically turned on.

  Similarly, when the dome lamp switch 24 is set to “lighting” or “door”, the dome lamp 18 is turned on or the door is opened / closed only when the ambient illuminance is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold and the occupant is in the vehicle. Turns on and off according to Therefore, even if the dome lamp switch 24 is set to “door”, the dome lamp 18 does not light even when the door is opened when it is bright during the daytime. Even if the dome lamp 18 is forgotten to be turned off or erroneously operated, the dome lamp 18 is not turned on when the illuminance is larger than a predetermined threshold value or when the passenger is not in the vehicle.

  In this way, the control device 50 determines the surrounding situation and controls the power supply to the valves 18a, 20a, and 22a, so that the valve can be turned on in an unnecessary scene due to forgetting to turn off or an erroneous operation. Is prevented. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the life of the valve from decreasing or the battery from running out.

  Further, by providing the automatic / manual changeover switch 26, it is possible to select between automatic control by the control device 50 and manual control by the user's intention. Therefore, it is also possible to achieve an illumination state that reliably reflects the user's intention.

  Furthermore, the control device 50 makes an illuminance determination based on the illuminance continued for a predetermined time. Thereby, even if there is an instantaneous illuminance change around the optical sensor 46 (for example, when the optical sensor is covered with a hand or the like), there is no influence. As a result, the bulb is turned on / off at a more appropriate timing.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the necessity of lighting is detected by the detection unit, and lighting control is performed according to the detection result, so that unnecessary lighting can be prevented.

  In the present embodiment, the optical sensor is provided at the end of the vehicular lighting device, but may be provided at another location as long as the illuminance in the vehicle compartment can be detected. Further, although the authentication signal receiving function in the keyless ECU is used as the occupant detection means, other means may be used as long as the presence or absence of the occupant can be detected. For example, a seat switch that is turned on with a predetermined force or more may be provided on the seat of the vehicle, and the seat switch may be used as the occupant detection means.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the lighting / extinguishing of the bulb is controlled according to both the presence / absence of the passenger and the illuminance in the passenger compartment, but the control may be performed according to only one of the signals. Furthermore, lighting / extinguishing determination may be performed based on other parameters such as the remaining battery level and the continuous lighting time. Moreover, although the transistor is used for the on / off control of the valve, other means such as a relay switch may be used as long as the power supply to the valve can be controlled.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the vehicle interior lighting device that illuminates the vehicle interior has been described. However, as long as the lighting device is provided in the vehicle and is lit by receiving power supply from the battery, You may apply to night illumination, a center lamp, vehicle illumination, etc. Furthermore, the light emitter is not limited to a bulb, and may be an LED, an EL, or the like.

It is a top view of the illuminating device for vehicles which is embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure of the illuminating device for vehicles. It is a figure which shows the flow of the decision | availability of the electric power supply in a control part.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle lighting device, 12 Illumination part, 14 Operation part, 18a, 20a, 22a Bulb, 20, 22 Map lamp, 24 Dome lamp switch, 26 Automatic / manual changeover switch, 40 Power supply, 42 Door switch, 44 Ground, 46 Light sensor, 50 controller, 56 transistors.

Claims (5)

A lighting device for a vehicle that is attached to a vehicle and performs illumination with a light emitter that receives power supply from a battery of the vehicle,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to turn on the light emitter from the user;
Detecting means for detecting a parameter indicating a situation around the vehicle lighting device;
A controller that controls lighting of the light emitter by determining whether or not the light emitter can be turned on according to the detection result by the detecting means and the instruction received by the instruction receiving means;
A vehicular lighting device comprising: The vehicle lighting device according to claim 1,
The detection means has an optical sensor for detecting the illuminance around the vehicle lighting device,
The control unit determines whether or not the light emitter can be turned on based on the illuminance detected by the optical sensor. The vehicle lighting device according to claim 2,
The control unit determines whether or not the light emitter can be turned on based on the illuminance continued for a predetermined time. The vehicle lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The detection means has an occupant detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant in the vehicle,
The controller determines whether or not the light emitter can be turned on based on the presence or absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detection means. The vehicle lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Regardless of the detection result of the detection means, an automatic / switching between a manual mode in which the light emitter is turned on according to the instruction content instructed by the instruction accepting means and an automatic mode in which the light emitter is turned on according to the determination by the control unit. A vehicular illumination device comprising manual switching means.

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