JP2013184614A - Multilight-type headlight - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multilight-type headlight that enables a driver to visually check a pedestrian well while preventing the pedestrian from being dazzled.SOLUTION: A multilight-type headlight 16 capable of controlling a light distribution includes a pedestrian light-beam specifying means 31 for specifying light beams (M(X, Y) and LED 24) illuminating a pedestrian on the basis of pedestrian position information obtained from a pedestrian detection sensor 13; and illumination amount control means 32 and 33 for reducing an illumination amount of the light beams specified by the pedestrian light-beam specifying means to the substantial upper half of the body of the pedestrian as a distance to the pedestrian becomes smaller which is obtained from the pedestrian detection sensor.

Description

  The present invention relates to a multi-light headlight capable of controlling light distribution.

  At night, the vehicle runs with the headlights on. Although the driver's field of view is more easily secured as the headlight illuminates far away, the driver of the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle may be dazzled. Conventionally, when a preceding vehicle and an oncoming vehicle are detected from an image in front of the vehicle taken by a camera, a passing light distribution (hereinafter referred to as a “Hi-Beam”) and a passing light distribution (hereinafter referred to as a “Low-Beam”). )) Is known.

  On the other hand, in the illumination range of the passing light distribution, there is a case where a distant obstacle cannot be sufficiently illuminated, and therefore a technique for actively illuminating the obstacle is considered (for example, see Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses a means for determining the presence or absence of an obstacle in image data, a means for calculating the distance and direction to the obstacle when the means determines that there is an obstacle, and the calculated distance and direction. Accordingly, a headlight irradiation direction changing system that changes the optical axis direction of the headlight to a direction in which the obstacle can be irradiated is disclosed.

  However, when the pedestrian is irradiated in this way, the visibility of the pedestrian by the driver is improved, but the pedestrian may be dazzled. In this regard, a vehicle obstacle irradiation device is disclosed that adjusts the optical axis angle of the lamp in the vertical direction so as not to irradiate a region above a predetermined altitude near the obstacle (see, for example, Patent Document 2). .

JP 2006-341713 A JP 2008-195344 A

  However, as described in Patent Document 2, if the irradiation range is controlled so as not to illuminate the upper body of the pedestrian at all, there is a problem that the driver of the own vehicle may not notice the presence of the pedestrian. is there. For example, even if only the lower body of a pedestrian in dark clothes is illuminated, it may be indistinguishable from a stationary object depending on the distance and the state of the pedestrian.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a multi-light headlight that allows a driver to visually recognize a pedestrian while suppressing dazzling of the pedestrian.

  The present invention is a multi-light type headlight capable of controlling light distribution, and based on pedestrian position information acquired from a pedestrian detection sensor, a pedestrian light beam specifying means for specifying a light beam that illuminates the pedestrian, Illumination amount control means for reducing the amount of illumination to the substantially upper body of the pedestrian by the light beam specified by the pedestrian light beam specifying means as the distance from the pedestrian detection sensor to the pedestrian acquired is small. Features.

  It is possible to provide a multi-light type headlight that allows a driver to visually recognize a pedestrian while suppressing dazzling of the pedestrian.

It is an example of the figure which illustrates the light distribution pattern of the vehicle lighting device typically. It is an example of the system block diagram of the vehicle lighting device. It is an example of the schematic block diagram of DMD. It is an example of the figure explaining the detection of a pedestrian, a preceding vehicle, and an oncoming vehicle. It is an example of the functional block diagram of lamp control ECU. It is an example of the figure explaining the response | compatibility of image data and a micromirror. It is an example of the flowchart figure which shows the procedure in which lamp control ECU controls the light distribution of a multi-lamp headlight. It is an example of the figure which illustrates the light distribution of a multi-lamp headlight typically. It is a schematic block diagram of the multilamp headlight using an LED array.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an example of a diagram schematically illustrating light distribution by the vehicular lighting device of the present embodiment. The light distribution pattern is composed of a low beam region and a high beam region. The low beam region is a fixed region and the amount of illumination, but the high beam region can control the presence or absence of illumination for each rectangular region in the figure. The vehicle lighting device of this embodiment controls the light distribution in the high beam region as follows.
(1) The area including the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle is not illuminated.
(2) The area including the upper body of the pedestrian adjusts the amount of illumination according to the distance (the greater the distance, the stronger the illumination).
(3) The area where the preceding vehicle, the oncoming vehicle, and the upper body of the pedestrian are not included is illuminated with a standard (100%) illumination amount.

  As described above, the vehicle lighting device according to the present embodiment changes the illumination amount of the upper body of the pedestrian according to the distance, so that the driver can easily find the pedestrian from a distance and dazzles the pedestrian. This can also be reduced.

[Configuration example]
FIG. 2 shows an example of a system configuration diagram of the vehicle lighting device 100 of the present embodiment. The vehicle lighting device 100 is controlled by a lamp control ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 11. The lamp control ECU 11 is an ECU that controls the light distribution of the multi-lamp headlight 16. A vehicle detection sensor 12, a pedestrian detection sensor 13, a light source driver 14, and a DMD driver 15 are connected to the lamp control ECU 11. In addition, the lamp control ECU 11 is connected to the body ECU via a CAN (Controller Area Network), for example.

  In FIG. 2, the light source that illuminates the low beam region is omitted. As for the low beam, the low beam light source may be arranged in the multi-lamp headlight as in the conventional case. In this case, since the lower half of the low beam light source is covered with the light shielding hood, the light in the lower half of the light source is not reflected by the reflector, and thus the light that illuminates the upper side of the horizontal direction is cut. Alternatively, a part of the micro mirror 21 of the DMD 19 may be distributed to a low beam.

  The multi-lamp headlight 16 reflects light from one or more light sources 17 by a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device), collects it with a lens 18 and irradiates the front of the vehicle. The light source is, for example, an HID lamp, a halogen lamp, or an LED lamp. When the light source is an HID lamp, the light source driver 14 boosts the battery voltage to a voltage required for the HID lamp (functions as an inverter), and controls so that a constant current flows. When the light source 17 is an LED lamp, the light source driver 14 controls the battery voltage with a PWM signal so that a constant current flows through the light source 17.

  The DMD driver 15 controls the angle of the DMD 19 for each micromirror that constitutes the DMD 19.

  FIG. 3A shows an example of a schematic configuration diagram of the DMD 19. A plurality of rectangular micromirrors 21 are laid in the DMD 19 vertically and horizontally. For the sake of explanation, a number is assigned to the micromirror 21. For example, the upper left is the origin, the horizontal direction is X, the vertical direction is Y, and each micromirror 21 is represented by M (X, Y).

  Each micromirror 21 is swingably attached to the substrate side. Oscillation can be performed in each of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, and the optical axis can be directed to a predetermined solid angle range by swinging in the vertical and horizontal directions.

  Four electrodes are arranged on the substrate side, and an electrostatic force acts between the micromirror 21. The DMD driver 15 controls the angle of each micromirror 21 by controlling the voltage of the four electrodes for each micromirror. Note that such an angle control method is merely an example, and the angle of the micromirror 21 may be controlled in any manner.

  The irradiation range of one micromirror 21 corresponds to one rectangular region in FIG. 1 (the light reflected by one micromirror 21 corresponds to the light beam in the claims). Since light diverges, the size of the rectangular area varies depending on the distance, but the irradiation range of one micromirror 21 corresponds to one rectangular area.

  For example, if the angle of a certain micro mirror 21 is directed to the low beam region, the rectangular region that the micro mirror 21 should originally irradiate is not illuminated. Accordingly, by turning on the light source 17 by the light source driver 14 and controlling the angle of each micromirror 21 of the DMD 19 by the DMD driver 15, it is possible to control whether or not to illuminate each rectangular area.

  For example, assuming that the illumination amount of a region when a plurality of micromirrors 21 illuminate a certain region is 100%, the angle of one or more of the micromirrors 21 is directed to a region other than that region. The amount of illumination is less than 100% (it is dimmed). As described above, in this embodiment, the illumination amount is expressed based on the illumination amount of 100%.

  Further, in addition to changing the angle of the micromirror 21, if the DMD 19 can control the reflectance of the micromirror 21 with voltage or the like, only whether or not to illuminate each rectangular area while keeping the angle of the micromirror 21 constant. Instead, the amount of illumination can be controlled for each micromirror 21.

  In addition, the angle of each micromirror 21 when the vehicle is traveling straight is adjusted in advance in a predetermined direction. In addition to changing the angle when dimming the pedestrian as in the present embodiment, the angle of the micro mirror 21 is changed so that more light is distributed in the traveling direction of the vehicle according to the driver's steering operation. be able to.

[Pedestrian detection]
FIG. 4A is an example for explaining detection of a pedestrian. The pedestrian detection sensor 13 has, for example, an in-vehicle camera that captures the front of the vehicle. The in-vehicle camera is disposed, for example, on the vehicle front side of the rearview mirror with the optical axis facing slightly downward in front of the vehicle. The camera is preferably sensitive to near infrared light reflected by a pedestrian. The pedestrian detection sensor 13 detects a pedestrian from image data captured by the in-vehicle camera at a predetermined cycle. For example, the pedestrian detection sensor 13 detects a pedestrian from the image data in the following procedure.

  (I) An edge of image data is detected. For edge detection, a filter operation may be performed. By adjusting the edge strength to be detected, unnecessary edges are eliminated to some extent. A series of consecutive edges are extracted from the detected edges. At this point, edges that are clearly not pedestrians can be excluded from the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of the edges.

  (Ii) Perform template matching with the shape composed of edges. The pedestrian detection sensor 13 has some standard templates representing pedestrians in advance. Also, standard templates of different sizes are prepared assuming the distance to the pedestrian.

  The pedestrian detection sensor 13 searches, for example, by correlating the standard template with the image data from the lower side of the image data. That is, whether or not there is an edge at the same position as the standard template is counted for each arrangement position of the standard template. For example, with respect to the number of pixels of the standard template, the number of positions that overlap the edge is counted (this is referred to as a correlation value).

  (Iii) When the correlation value is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the pedestrian detection sensor 13 determines that there is a pedestrian at the place where the standard template is placed.

  (Iv) After searching the entire image while shifting the position of one standard template, the same processing is repeated using the next smaller standard template (for a far distance).

  In addition, the pedestrian detection sensor 13 speeds up a pedestrian detection process by excluding the area | region (for example, area | region of an oncoming vehicle or a preceding vehicle) where a pedestrian does not exist from a search area | region. It is also possible to detect pedestrians in an area where a face is recognized by using face recognition technology. Moreover, a label is given to the pedestrian once detected, and it is determined that the pedestrian is the same by the label in the next frame. By tracking the pedestrian between different frames, the movement direction and movement speed of the pedestrian can be estimated.

  The pedestrian detection sensor 13 determines the distance to the detected pedestrian based on the size of the standard template or from the length and width of the circumscribed rectangle of the pedestrian.

  Moreover, the pedestrian detection sensor 13 specifies the position on the image of a pedestrian. For example, information that can specify the area occupied by the pedestrian, such as the position of the diagonal vertex of the circumscribed rectangle of the pedestrian's edge and the center of gravity and width / height of the pedestrian's edge, may be used. The pedestrian detection sensor 13 outputs the distance to the pedestrian and position information on the image to the lamp control ECU 11. In the figure, the coordinates of the diagonal vertices at the upper left and lower right are detected. This coordinate is specified at each pixel position in the X direction and the Y direction.

  In addition, when the pedestrian detection sensor 13 has a stereo camera, the detection accuracy of the distance to a pedestrian can be improved. The stereo camera outputs image data of two cameras whose camera parameters are adjusted so that there is no difference other than parallax.

  The pedestrian detection sensor 13 performs a correlation operation on the two image data and calculates a parallax for each pixel. When areas where pixels having similar parallax are grouped are grouped, the grouped candidate areas include pedestrians and other obstacles. At this stage, distance information with the pedestrian (candidate area) is obtained.

  The pedestrian detection sensor 13 performs pattern matching on the candidate area using a standard template for recognizing the pedestrian, so that it can be determined whether or not there is a pedestrian in the candidate area. Therefore, in the case of a stereo camera, the pedestrian detection sensor 13 can output accurate distance to the pedestrian and position information on the image to the lamp control ECU 11.

[Detection of preceding and oncoming vehicles]
The vehicle detection sensor 12 detects a preceding vehicle and an oncoming vehicle. For example, the vehicle detection sensor 12 detects a preceding vehicle and an oncoming vehicle from an image captured by a camera. In the present embodiment, it is sufficient that the vehicle at night can be detected. Therefore, it is considered that the preceding vehicle lights the tail lamp and the oncoming vehicle lights the headlight. Therefore, the vehicle detection sensor 12 may detect the tail lamp and the headlamp from the image data.
(I) The vehicle detection sensor 12 binarizes the image data with a predetermined threshold value. When the luminance value is 0 to 255, for example, 200 or more bright pixels are extracted. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4B, the pixel in which the tail lamp and the headlamp are photographed has a pixel value of “1” (hereinafter referred to as a light spot).
(Ii) Since the tail lamp and the headlamp are arranged in pairs on the left and right, the pair of light spots in which two light spots having the same size are arranged at the same height on the left and right are specified.
(Iii) Evaluate whether the distance between the pairs of light spots is appropriate. In the case of tail lamps and headlamps, the closer the distance, the greater the spacing. On the other hand, the size of the light spot increases as the distance decreases. Therefore, an appropriate standard interval is derived from the size of the light spot using a predetermined rule, and a pair of light spots in which the distance between the light points of the image data is within a threshold with respect to the standard interval is determined as a tail lamp or Use a headlight.

  The vehicle detection sensor 12 outputs tail lamp or headlamp position information to the lamp control ECU 11. In the figure, the coordinates of the diagonal vertices at the upper left and lower right are detected.

  The preceding vehicle and the oncoming vehicle can also be detected by a millimeter wave radar device. The millimeter wave radar device is arranged in the center of the front of the vehicle such as the front grille of the vehicle, emits a millimeter wave at a predetermined angle centered on the front of the vehicle, and receives the millimeter wave reflected by an object existing in this range. To do. The frequency of the beat signal in which the transmission signal and the reception signal are mixed is shifted by the relative speed, and the phase difference between the transmission signal and the reception signal is proportional to the distance from the object. The distance and relative speed with respect to the object can be obtained by, for example, FFT analysis of the beat signal. The direction of the object can also be obtained by analyzing the beat signal.

  An object whose vehicle speed relative to the road surface is equal to or higher than a predetermined value can be determined as a preceding vehicle, and an object whose difference between the absolute value of the relative speed and the vehicle speed relative to the road surface of the own vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined value can be determined as an oncoming vehicle. .

  When the millimeter wave radar device is used, the vehicle detection sensor 12 outputs the direction and distance information to the lamp control ECU 11. The lamp control ECU 11 determines an illumination area including the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle from the direction and distance information.

[Function of the lamp control ECU]
FIG. 5 shows an example of a functional block diagram of the lamp control ECU 11. The lamp control ECU 11 is an information processing apparatus in which a microcomputer, a power supply unit, an input / output connector, and the like are arranged on a substrate. In the microcomputer, a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a flash ROM, an input / output I / O, an A / D conversion circuit, a CAN controller, and the like are connected to a bus. The CPU executes the program stored in the flash ROM, and implements the functions shown in the figure by appropriately controlling the hardware.

-Identification of micromirror First, the pixel mirror correspondence table 34 will be described. Although the shooting range of the camera and the irradiation range of the multi-lamp headlight 16 do not completely coincide, the irradiation range of the multi-lamp headlight 16 may cover almost the entire shooting range of the camera. The irradiation range of one micromirror 21 increases as the distance increases, but a certain direction is irradiated unless the angle is changed. Therefore, each rectangular area of the image data can be made to correspond to the irradiation range of each micromirror 21. For example, if the number of pixels of the image data is the same as the number of micromirrors 21, one pixel corresponds to one micromirror 21. In the present embodiment, it is described that “the number of pixels of image data> the number of micromirrors 21”.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a diagram for explaining the correspondence between the image data and the micromirror 21. When the image data is divided into the same number of regions (X and Y directions) as the micromirrors 21, one region corresponds to one micromirror 21. As with the micromirror 21, a number is assigned to each region. The upper left is the origin, the horizontal direction is X, the vertical direction is Y, and each area of the image data is represented by G (X, Y).

The M (1,1) micromirror 21 irradiates the G (1,1) region,
The M (1,2) micromirror 21 irradiates the G (1,2) region,
The M (1, 3) micro mirror 21 irradiates the G (1, 3) region, and so on (...).
The M (17, 9) micromirror 21 irradiates the G (17, 9) region.

  The pixel mirror correspondence table 34 associates position information on a pedestrian image represented by a pixel position (for example, 640 × 480) with the M (X, Y) micromirror 21.

  If a region G (X, Y) where a pedestrian is photographed is defined as a pedestrian photographing region, M (X, Y) corresponding to all G (X, Y) including the pedestrian photographing region may be obtained. . The pedestrian irradiation mirror specifying unit 31 specifies the micromirror 21 that irradiates the pedestrian with reference to the pixel mirror correspondence table 34 based on the position information on the pedestrian image.

  In the illustrated example, the micromirror 21 that irradiates a pedestrian is M (3,2), M (4,2), M (5,2), M (3,3), M (4,3), M (5,3), M (3,4), M (4,4), M (5,4), M (3,5), M (4,5), M (5,5). . Hereinafter, these micromirrors 21 are referred to as pedestrian irradiation mirrors.

-Determination of illumination amount Next, the illumination amount determination part 32 determines the illumination amount of a pedestrian imaging area according to the distance to a pedestrian. The distance and the illumination amount are related as follows, for example.
Distance is 80 m or more: Distance for irradiating the pedestrian shooting area with 100% illumination amount is 80 m to 50 m or more: The upper half of the pedestrian shooting area is irradiated with 100 to 30% illumination amount according to the distance.
The distance is 50 m or less: The upper half of the pedestrian shooting area is shielded from light (irradiates with an illumination amount of 0%).

It is also possible to perform flushing.
When the distance may approach within the threshold: flushing the pedestrian shooting area.
If flushing is performed before the upper half of the pedestrian shooting area is shaded, it is understood that the driver should recognize that there is a pedestrian even if the upper body is not illuminated.

-Determination of the angle of a micromirror The mirror direction determination part 33 determines the angle of a micromirror based on the amount of illumination.
When irradiating at 100%, the mirror direction determination part 33 does not need to determine the angle of a pedestrian irradiation mirror.

When irradiating with an illumination amount of 100 to 30%, the mirror direction determination unit 33 determines the angle of the pedestrian irradiation mirror so that a desired illumination amount is obtained.
Illumination amount 90%: 90% of the upper half of the pedestrian irradiation mirror is left facing the front, and the angle is changed so that the remaining 10% of the pedestrian irradiation mirror does not illuminate at least the pedestrian shooting area. In the example shown in the figure, the number of pedestrian irradiation mirrors is 12, so the upper half is 6. The 10% of the six are rounded up to one, and the angle is changed so that one of the six micromirrors 21 in the upper half does not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. As a selection rule of the micro mirror 21, it becomes easy to suppress the dazzling of a pedestrian by selecting from the upper and middle micro mirror 21. For example, the angle of the micro mirror 21 of M (4, 2) is changed outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Illumination amount 80%: Six of 20% are rounded up to two, and the angle is changed so that two of the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angles of the micro mirrors 21 of M (4, 2) and M (5, 2) are changed outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Illumination amount 70%: Similarly, six 30% are rounded up to two, and the angle is changed so that two of the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angles of the micro mirrors 21 of M (4, 2) and M (5, 2) are changed outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Illumination amount 60%: Six of 40% are rounded up to three, and the angle is changed so that three of the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angle of the micro mirror 21 of M (4, 2), M (5, 2), M (3, 2) is changed outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Illumination amount 50%: Since 50% of the six is three, the angle is changed so that three of the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angle of the micro mirror 21 of M (4, 2), M (5, 2), M (3, 2) is changed outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Illumination amount 40%: 60% of the six are rounded up to four, and the angle is changed so that four of the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angle of the micro mirror 21 of M (4,2), M (5,2), M (3,2), M (4,3) is changed outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Illumination amount 30%: 70% of the six are rounded up to five, and the angle is changed so that five of the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angle of the micro mirror 21 of M (4,2), M (5,2), M (3,2), M (4,3), M (5,3) is changed outside the pedestrian shooting area. To do.

  Illumination amount 0% (the upper half of the pedestrian shooting area is shielded): The angle is changed so that all the six mirrors in the upper half do not illuminate the pedestrian shooting area. For example, the angle of the micro mirror 21 of M (4,2), M (5,2), M (3,2), M (4,3), M (5,3), M (3,3) Change outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  In the case of flushing: In order for the micro mirror 21 to blink the pedestrian shooting area, the angle of the pedestrian irradiation mirror is changed from the pedestrian shooting area to the pedestrian shooting area, and from the pedestrian shooting area to the pedestrian shooting area. Switch periodically. By doing so, it appears to the driver that the pedestrian shooting area is blinking (flushing).

-Preceding vehicle and oncoming vehicle The illumination amount determining unit 32 shields the shooting area of the preceding vehicle and the oncoming vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a vehicle shooting area). For this reason, the pedestrian irradiation mirror specifying unit 31 refers to the pixel mirror correspondence table 34 based on the position information in the image of the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle acquired from the vehicle detection sensor 12 and irradiates the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle. 21 (hereinafter referred to as a vehicle illumination mirror) is identified. For example, when the position information of the circumscribed rectangle is obtained, M (X, Y) is obtained from all G (X, Y) including the circumscribed rectangle. In the illustrated example, the micro mirror 21 that irradiates the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle has M (8,6), M (9,6), M (10,6), M (8,7), M (9, 7) and M (10,7).

  Further, when light is shielded from the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle, it is preferable to shield the vicinity of the driver's field of view of the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle. To enlarge. The number of micromirrors 21 to be expanded upward depends on the definition of the DMD 19.

  Further, the irradiation range of one micromirror 21 varies depending not only on the definition of the DMD 19 but also on the distance to the preceding vehicle or oncoming vehicle. However, the influence of distance is included in the length and width of the circumscribed rectangle of the tail lamp or headlamp. Therefore, for example, if the number of micromirrors 21 in the Y direction from which position information of the circumscribed rectangle is obtained is multiplied by a constant, the influence of distance can be considered. For example, the cabin can be covered by increasing the number of micromirrors 21 in the Y direction by about 1 to 2 times. That is, when the number of micromirrors 21 in the Y direction that irradiate the tail lamp is two, the target micromirrors 21 are enlarged by 2 × 1 (or two) in the upward direction. Therefore, a total of four micromirrors 21 may be specified in the Y direction.

  Therefore, M (8,5), M (9,5), M (10,5), M (8,4), M (9,4), and M (10,4) are set to the preceding vehicle or opposite. It adds to the micromirror 21 which irradiates a vehicle. The twelve micromirrors 21 described above serve as vehicle irradiation mirrors.

  The mirror direction determination unit 33 determines the angle so that the vehicle irradiation mirror does not illuminate the vehicle imaging region. Since the vehicle photographing area only needs to be shielded, the angle is changed so that all the vehicle illumination mirrors illuminate the outside of the vehicle photographing area.

[Operation procedure]
FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which the lamp control ECU 11 controls the light distribution of the multi-lamp headlight 16, and FIG. 8 is an example of a diagram schematically illustrating the light distribution of the multi-lamp headlight 16. It is.

  When the vehicle is traveling, since the pedestrian approaches relatively from a distance, the distance from the pedestrian gradually decreases from a large state. When the pedestrian detection sensor 13 detects a pedestrian, position information and distance on the image are transmitted to the lamp control ECU 11.

  For example, the lamp control ECU 11 illuminates the pedestrian shooting area with 100% illumination amount without controlling the light distribution until it approaches 80 m (No in S10) (S20).

  When approaching 80 m or less (Yes in S10), for example, until it approaches 50 m (No in S30), the lamp control ECU 11 controls the amount of illumination on the upper body of the pedestrian according to the distance (S40). That is, the pedestrian irradiation mirror specifying unit 31 specifies the pedestrian irradiation mirror, the illumination amount determining unit 32 determines the illumination amount according to the distance, and the mirror direction determining unit 33 irradiates the upper body angle. To decide.

  In addition, immediately after approaching 80 m or less, lamp control ECU11 irradiates 100% of the whole body of a pedestrian for about 1 second. This makes it easier for the driver to notice the presence of a pedestrian and also makes it easier for the pedestrian to notice the approach of the vehicle.

  When the distance to the pedestrian is 50 m or less (Yes in S30), the lamp control ECU 11 or the pedestrian detection sensor 13 estimates the risk (S50). For example, when the position of the pedestrian is approaching the road direction, or when the position of the pedestrian is on the road, the lamp control ECU 11 should alert the driver to the presence of the pedestrian and walk It is determined that the person should be alerted to the approach of the vehicle.

  For this reason, if it is determined that the degree of risk is high (Yes in S60), the lamp control ECU 11 flushes the pedestrian shooting area (S70). That is, the mirror direction determination unit 33 determines that the angle of the pedestrian irradiation mirror illuminates alternately the inside and outside of the pedestrian shooting area.

  After the flushing, the lamp control ECU 11 shields the upper body of the pedestrian so as not to dazzle the pedestrian (S80). Even when it is not determined that the degree of risk is high (No in S60), the lamp control ECU 11 shields the upper body of the pedestrian so as not to dazzle the pedestrian (S80). That is, the pedestrian irradiation mirror specifying unit 31 specifies the pedestrian irradiation mirror, and the mirror direction determination unit 33 determines the angle of the pedestrian irradiation mirror that irradiates the upper body outside the pedestrian shooting area.

  Fig.8 (a) has shown the illumination amount with respect to a pedestrian in case the distance with a pedestrian is 80 m or more. As described in step S20, the whole body of the pedestrian is illuminated with 100% illumination.

  FIG.8 (b) has shown the illumination amount with respect to a pedestrian in case the distance with a pedestrian is 80-50 m or more. As described in step S40, the upper body of the pedestrian is illuminated with an illumination amount of 100 to 30% depending on the distance.

  FIG.8 (c) has shown the flushing with respect to a pedestrian when it determines with the movement direction or position of a pedestrian being dangerous when the distance with a pedestrian becomes 50 m or less, for example. As described in step S70, the whole body of the pedestrian is flushed.

  FIG. 8D shows the amount of illumination for the pedestrian when the distance from the pedestrian is, for example, 50 m or less. As described in step S80, the upper body of the pedestrian is shielded from light.

  The vehicle lighting device 100 of the present embodiment increases the amount of illumination of the upper body when the distance to the pedestrian is large, and decreases the amount of illumination to eventually become zero as the distance to the pedestrian decreases. Thus, the dazzling of the pedestrian can be suppressed and the driver's visibility can be ensured. Moreover, the alertness to a driver and a pedestrian can be improved by flushing a pedestrian depending on the situation.

[Another configuration example of a multi-lamp headlight]
An LED array may be mounted on the multi-lamp headlight 16 without using the DMD 19 as the multi-lamp headlight 16.

  FIG. 9A shows an example of a schematic configuration diagram of the multi-lamp headlight 16 using the LED array 23, and FIG. 9B shows an example of a front view of the LED array 23. In the LED array 23, a plurality of LEDs 24 are arranged vertically and horizontally. The irradiation range of each LED 24 is determined.

  The LEDs 24 can individually control lighting / extinction and luminance. On the other hand, even if the direction of the LED array 23 can be changed, it is difficult to change the illumination direction of each LED 24. Therefore, the light source driver 14 in FIG. 9 controls the illumination amount of the upper half of the pedestrian shooting area by controlling the luminance of the LED 24 that illuminates the pedestrian shooting area.

  Moreover, the upper half of the pedestrian shooting area can be shielded by turning off the LED 24 that illuminates the pedestrian shooting area. Moreover, if LED24 which illuminates a pedestrian photography area blinks, it can also be made to flush.

  In this way, the vehicle lighting device 100 of the present embodiment can be realized even if the LED array 23 is used.

11 Lamp control ECU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Vehicle detection sensor 13 Pedestrian detection sensor 14 Light source driver 15 DMD driver 16 Multi-lamp headlight 17 Light source 18 Lens 19 DMD
100 vehicle lighting system

Claims (7)

A multi-light headlight that can control light distribution,
Based on the pedestrian position information acquired from the pedestrian detection sensor, a pedestrian light beam specifying means for specifying a light beam that illuminates the pedestrian,
Illumination amount control means for reducing the amount of illumination to the upper body periphery of the pedestrian by the light ray specified by the pedestrian light ray specifying means, as the distance from the pedestrian detection sensor to the pedestrian is small,
A multi-light type headlight characterized by comprising: If the distance to the pedestrian acquired from the pedestrian detection sensor is greater than a first threshold, the illumination amount control means does not reduce the illumination amount to the pedestrian by the light beam specified by the pedestrian light beam specifying unit, When the distance to the pedestrian is less than or equal to the second threshold, the lighting amount to zero around the upper body of the pedestrian by the light beam specified by the pedestrian light beam specifying means,
The multi-light type headlight according to claim 1. The illumination amount control means, when the distance to the pedestrian acquired from the pedestrian detection sensor is equal to or less than a third threshold, and the pedestrian detection sensor predicts abnormal approach with the pedestrian,
Periodically increasing or decreasing the amount of illumination to the pedestrian by the light beam specified by the pedestrian light beam specifying means,
The multi-light type headlight according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. The illumination amount control means predetermines the illumination amount to the pedestrian by the light beam specified by the pedestrian light beam specifying device when the distance to the pedestrian acquired from the pedestrian detection sensor is not more than the first threshold value. To keep up to time,
The multi-light type headlight according to claim 2, wherein: One light beam that illuminates the pedestrian is the light from the light source reflected by one micromirror of a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device).
The illumination amount control means controls the illumination amount to the pedestrian by changing the angle of the micromirror that illuminates the pedestrian specified by the pedestrian ray specifying means.
The multi-light type headlight according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein One light that illuminates the pedestrian is emitted by one LED in the LED array,
The illumination amount control means controls the illumination amount to the pedestrian by turning off the LED that illuminates the pedestrian specified by the pedestrian ray specifying means.
The multi-light type headlight according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein The pedestrian light beam specifying means specifies a light beam that illuminates the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle based on the position information of the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle acquired from the vehicle detection sensor,
The illumination amount control means sets the illumination amount to the preceding vehicle or the oncoming vehicle by the light beam specified by the pedestrian light beam specifying means to zero,
The multi-light type headlight according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein

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