JP2013189105A - In-vehicle lighting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an in-vehicle lighting device which does not limit a driver's field of view because of false detection of the presence of an oncoming vehicle.SOLUTION: As a headlamp illuminates in the traveling direction of a vehicle, the intensity of light emitted out of a headlamp is reduced to a given intensity or lower intensity (or the headlamp is turned off) for a given light-reducing period, during which an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle (light-reducing period image) is acquired. On the light-reducing period image, a reflected object on the road side looks dark and a headlamp of an oncoming vehicle looks brighter. This allows a driver to easily and accurately determine whether an oncoming vehicle is present or not. When determining that the light-reducing period image indicates the presence of the oncoming vehicle, the driver sets an illumination range of the headlamp to a second illumination range narrower than a first illumination range.

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle illumination device that illuminates a traveling direction of a vehicle.

  In order to ensure the driver's field of view when the vehicle is traveling at night, it is desirable to illuminate as wide a range as possible. On the other hand, it is desirable not to directly illuminate the oncoming vehicle in order not to disturb the driving of the driver traveling on the oncoming lane. Therefore, by acquiring an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle, if there is an oncoming vehicle in the image, avoid the range (the range in which the oncoming vehicle exists), or reduce the illuminance in that range for illumination Lighting devices have been proposed. If there is an oncoming vehicle in the image, the headlight of the oncoming vehicle appears bright, and by detecting this, the presence or absence of the oncoming vehicle can be determined (Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-21631 A

  However, if the reflectors (reflectors, road signs, etc.) provided on the side of the road or in the median strip are reflected brightly in the image, they are mistakenly recognized as headlights for oncoming vehicles, avoiding that range, There is a problem that the driver's field of view may be limited due to lowering the lighting.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an in-vehicle illumination device that does not erroneously recognize that an oncoming vehicle exists and restricts the driver's field of view.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the in-vehicle illumination device of the present invention reduces the intensity of the headlamp light to a predetermined intensity or less over a predetermined dimming time. The image of the traveling direction of the vehicle is acquired in the dimmed state where the light is dimmed. And the presence or absence of an oncoming vehicle is judged based on the image (image at the time of a light reduction) acquired in the dimming state, and when it is judged that an oncoming vehicle exists, the illumination range of a headlamp is changed.

  In such an in-vehicle lighting device of the present invention, the lighting range in the traveling direction of the vehicle can be changed to the first lighting range and the second lighting range narrower than the first lighting range, as follows. Set the lighting range. First, with the headlamp illuminating the traveling direction, the light intensity of the headlamp is dimmed below a predetermined intensity over a predetermined dimming time. The “dimming” is a concept including “light-off”. And the image of the advancing direction of a vehicle is acquired in the state which reduced the intensity | strength of light. In an image acquired during dimming of the headlamp (image during dimming), reflections such as the side of the road appear dark, and the headlamp of the oncoming vehicle appears bright. Therefore, if it is determined based on the dimming image, it is possible to easily and accurately determine whether there is an oncoming vehicle. If it is determined that an oncoming vehicle is present in the dimming image, the headlamp illumination range is set to the second illumination range.

  In this way, a reflector provided on the side of the road or the like is not erroneously detected as a headlight of an oncoming vehicle. For this reason, there is actually no oncoming vehicle, but the lighting range of the headlamp is set to the second lighting range narrower than the first lighting range, and the situation where the driver's field of view is limited is avoided. be able to.

  Moreover, in the vehicle-mounted illumination device of the present invention described above, an image in the traveling direction of the vehicle may be acquired even in a normal state where the intensity of the headlamp light is not dimmed. Then, it may be determined whether or not the headlamp is dimmed based on an image acquired in a normal state (normal image).

  In this way, the process of setting the headlamp to the dimmed state or acquiring the image at the time of dimming need only be performed when necessary, so that the process can be simplified in this respect.

  Or in the vehicle-mounted illumination device of this invention mentioned above, it is good also as a dimming state with a predetermined period, without judging whether a headlamp is made into a dimming state.

  By doing so, it is not necessary to determine whether or not the headlamp is in a dimmed state, and thus the processing can be simplified in this respect.

  In addition, in the in-vehicle lighting device according to the present embodiment that periodically dims the headlamp, information on the running state of the vehicle (running state information) is acquired, and the headlamp is cycled according to the running state information. May be in a dimmed state.

  If it carries out like this, driving | running | working state information can be transmitted outside a vehicle using the period which dims a headlamp. Therefore, by acquiring the traveling state information of the vehicle from the period in which the headlamps of the other vehicles are dimmed, the information can be used to ensure traveling safety.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted illuminating device of a present Example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the illumination range in a visual field priority mode, and the illumination range in a visual field restriction | limiting mode. It is a flowchart of the illumination control process which the vehicle-mounted illumination device of a present Example performs in order to switch a visual field priority mode and a visual field restriction | limiting mode. It is a time chart which shows a mode that a visual field priority mode and a visual field restriction | limiting mode are switched. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the front image in a lighting state, and the front image in a light extinction state. It is a time chart which shows a mode that the vehicle-mounted illuminating device of a 1st modification switches a visual field priority mode and a visual field restriction | limiting mode. It is a flowchart of the illumination control process which the vehicle-mounted illuminating device of a 2nd modification performs.

Hereinafter, examples will be described in order to clarify the contents of the present invention described above.
A. Configuration of this embodiment:
As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle illumination device 100 of the present embodiment includes a headlamp 110 that illuminates the traveling direction of the vehicle 1, a headlamp control unit 112 that controls the operation of the headlamp 110, A front camera 120 that acquires an image, a headlight control unit 112, a control device 130 that controls the front camera 120, and the like are provided.

  The headlamp 110 is configured by incorporating a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), and can quickly switch between a lighting state and a light-off state for each LED. The headlamp control unit 112 controls the switching of each LED to a lighted state or a lighted off state, and controls to change the illumination range of the headlight 110 by moving the optical axis of each LED. Note that the headlamp control unit 112 may change the illumination range by moving the optical axis of the entire headlamp 110.

  The front camera 120 includes an image sensor in which elements such as a CCD and a CMOS are arranged in a matrix, and can output two-dimensional image data. Note that the front camera 120 of this embodiment corresponds to the “image acquisition unit” in the present invention.

  The control device 130 is a so-called microcomputer in which a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like are connected by a bus so that data can be read and written. Various programs and data necessary for executing the programs are stored in the ROM in advance, and various processes are performed by the CPU reading the programs and data and executing the programs using the RAM.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the control device 130 of this embodiment includes an image processing module 132 and a control module 134. The “module” is an abstract concept obtained by dividing the control device 130 for the sake of convenience by focusing on the functions realized by the control device 130. The module entity is a part of a program or a group of a plurality of programs. Alternatively, hardware mounted on the control device 130 can be used.

  When the image processing module 132 receives the image data of the front image (image in the traveling direction of the vehicle 1) acquired by the front camera 120, the image processing module 132 detects the headlamp of the oncoming vehicle by performing predetermined image processing, and as a result Is output to the control module 134.

  When the headlamp 110 is turned on by the driver of the vehicle 1, the control module 134 outputs a trigger signal that instructs the front camera 120 to acquire a front image at a constant period (for example, 20 msec). Further, the headlamp 110 can change the illumination range, and the control module 134 outputs a signal (mode signal) for setting the illumination range to the headlamp control unit 112.

  Furthermore, as will be described later, the in-vehicle illumination device 100 according to the present embodiment can turn off the headlamp 110 for a predetermined turn-off time even when the headlamp 110 is turned on by the driver. Yes. Corresponding to this, the control module 134 outputs a turn-off signal for turning off the headlamp 110 for the turn-off time to the headlamp control unit 112. The turn-off time is set to a time (for example, 2 msec) that is about the same as or shorter than the period in which the front camera 120 acquires the front image. In the following description, it is assumed that the headlight 110 is “turned off” for the turn-off time in a state where it is turned on by the driver, but it is not always necessary to turn it off completely. It is sufficient if it is possible to clearly recognize that the light intensity is low. For example, the light intensity may be reduced to half or less. In this embodiment, since the headlamp 110 is turned off or dimmed when the control module 134 outputs a turn-off signal, the control module 134 corresponds to the “light-reducing means” in the present invention. Further, the turn-off time in this embodiment corresponds to the “dimming time” in the present invention.

  FIG. 2 illustrates the illumination range of the headlamp 110. In the figure, a case where the vehicle 1 is traveling on a road of one lane on one side (two lanes on both sides) is shown, and a thick broken line in the figure represents a center line. In addition, the hatched area in the figure represents a range where the light from the headlamp 110 does not reach. In the first illumination range shown in FIG. 2A, the light from the headlamp 110 reaches a wide left and right range in the traveling direction of the vehicle 1. For this reason, the driver | operator of the vehicle 1 can ensure sufficient visual field. However, since the light reaches a wide range of the oncoming lane, the driver of the oncoming vehicle may feel dazzled. On the other hand, in the second illumination range shown in FIG. 2B, the range in which light reaches the oncoming lane is narrow. For this reason, although there is no possibility that the driver of the oncoming vehicle feels dazzling, the field of view of the driver of the vehicle 1 is limited compared to the first illumination range.

  In the in-vehicle illumination device 100 of the present embodiment, two modes of “view priority mode” and “view limit mode” are set as the illumination modes of the headlamp 110. In the view priority mode, the first illumination range is set. Used, and in the view restriction mode, the second illumination range is used. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the control module 134 outputs to the headlamp control unit 112 which mode is set by outputting a mode signal. Then, the headlamp controller 112 controls the headlamp 110, thereby realizing an illumination range corresponding to the designated illumination mode. In the present embodiment, since the illumination range of the headlamp 110 is set when the control module 134 outputs a mode signal, the control module 134 corresponds to the “illumination range setting means” in the present invention.

Moreover, the illumination mode designated by the control module 134 for the headlamp control unit 112 is determined by whether or not the image processing module 132 detects an oncoming vehicle from the front image. That is, when no oncoming vehicle is detected in the front image, the visibility priority mode is determined in order to ensure the driver's visibility sufficiently, but when the oncoming vehicle is detected, The view restriction mode is determined so that the driver does not feel dazzling. In this embodiment, since the image processing module 132 detects the presence or absence of an oncoming vehicle in the forward image, the image processing module 132 corresponds to the “determination means” in the present invention.
B. Lighting control processing:
Reflectors such as reflectors and road signs are usually installed on the side of the road or on the center line. For this reason, when the front camera 120 acquires a front image, the light of the headlamp 110 may be reflected and these reflections may appear brightly. Then, the image processing module 132 may misrecognize the reflected object as the headlight of the oncoming vehicle, and may actually switch to the view restriction mode when there is no oncoming vehicle. Since the second illumination range is set in the view restriction mode, the driver's view is restricted as compared to the view priority mode. Therefore, in the in-vehicle lighting device 100 according to the present embodiment, the following processing is performed so as not to erroneously recognize that a reflecting object appears in the front image and an oncoming vehicle exists.

  FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the illumination control process executed by the in-vehicle illumination device 100 of this embodiment. This lighting control process is a process that is automatically executed by the control device 130 of the in-vehicle lighting device 100 when the driver of the vehicle 1 lights the headlamp 110. When the illumination control process is started, the control device 130 first sets the view priority mode (S100). Setting to the visibility priority mode is performed by outputting a mode signal designating the visibility priority mode from the control module 134 to the headlamp control unit 112.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the interval time has elapsed (S102). Here, the interval time is a time (for example, 20 msec) corresponding to a period in which the front camera 120 acquires a front image. In the present embodiment, when the illumination control process is started and the view priority mode is first set in S100, a timer (not shown) built in the control device 130 is set and time measurement of the interval time is started. Is done.

  As a result, when it is determined that the interval time has not elapsed (S102: no), the same determination is repeated and the apparatus enters a standby state. On the other hand, when it is determined that the interval time has elapsed (S102: yes), a front image is obtained by outputting a trigger signal from the control module 134 to the front camera 120 (S104). That is, when the front camera 120 receives the trigger signal, the image data remaining in the built-in image sensor is reset, and then the shutter is opened for a predetermined exposure time to generate new image data on the image sensor. The image data obtained in this way is data indicating a two-dimensional luminance distribution on the image sensor. The front camera 120 outputs the image data thus obtained to the image processing module 132.

  When the image processing module 132 receives the image data of the front image from the front camera 120, the image processing module 132 performs the following image processing to determine whether there is a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle in the front image. (S106). First, by comparing the luminance shown in the image data with a predetermined threshold, a region with high luminance (bright spot) is extracted. If the headlight of the oncoming vehicle is reflected in the front image, then two bright spots of similar size should be captured side by side. However, the interval and direction of the two bright spots vary depending on the distance from the oncoming vehicle, the slope of the road surface, and the like. Therefore, with respect to the interval and direction of the bright spots, an allowable range having a certain margin is set, and a bright spot pair that satisfies this allowable range is searched. If such a bright spot pair is not found, it is determined that there is no bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle (S106: no), and after returning to S100 and setting the view priority mode, the interval Time measurement is started (S102). On the other hand, when a bright spot pair that satisfies the allowable range is found, it is determined that there is a bright spot that is a candidate for the oncoming vehicle (S106: yes).

  When a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is found in this way, the control module 134 outputs a turn-off signal (S108). Here, the turn-off signal is a signal for instructing the headlamp control unit 112 to turn off the headlamp 110 that is turned on for the above-described turn-off time. Note that it is not necessary to turn off the light completely, but it is also possible to simply reduce the light. In this embodiment, when the image processing module 132 detects a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle from the front image when the headlamp 110 is lit, a turn-off signal is output. Therefore, in this embodiment, the image processing module 132 corresponds to the “dimming determination unit” in the present invention. Further, the front image while the headlamp 110 is lit corresponds to the “normal image” in the present invention.

  Subsequently, the control module 134 outputs a trigger signal to the front camera 120 while the headlamp 110 is turned off (or dimmed), thereby acquiring a front image that is turned off (or dimmed). (S110). In addition, since an afterimage phenomenon exists in human vision, even if the headlamp 110 is turned off (or dimmed) for a short time, the driver does not notice that. In this embodiment, the turn-off time of the headlamp 110 is set to a time that is approximately the same as or shorter than the period (for example, 20 msec) at which the front camera 120 acquires the front image. For this reason, the driver does not notice that the headlamp 110 is turned off (or dimmed). The front image acquired by the front camera 120 while the headlamp 110 is turned off (or dimmed) corresponds to the “dimmed image” in the present invention.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not a bright spot extracted as a candidate for an oncoming vehicle from the previously acquired front image that has been turned on exists in the front image that has been turned off (S112). If the previously extracted luminescent spot is a headlamp of an oncoming vehicle, the luminescent spot should also be reflected in the front image being extinguished. On the other hand, if the bright spot extracted as a candidate for the oncoming vehicle is reflected by a reflection object such as a roadside from the headlight 110 of the own vehicle, the bright spot in the extinguished front image Is supposed to disappear. Therefore, if a candidate bright spot remains in the front image that is turned off (S112: yes), it can be determined that there is an oncoming vehicle, so the view restriction mode is set so as not to bother the driver of the oncoming vehicle. (S114). The setting of the view restriction mode is performed by outputting a mode signal designating the view restriction mode from the control module 134 to the headlamp control unit 112.

  On the other hand, when the bright spot extracted as the oncoming vehicle candidate is not in the extinguished front image (S112: no), the bright spot is reflected by the headlight 110 of the own vehicle. It is reflected by a reflective object such as the side of the road and can be judged not to be a headlight of an oncoming vehicle. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the current illumination mode is the view restriction mode (S116), and if it is the view restriction mode (S116: yes), the view priority mode is set (S118). Thereafter, the process returns to S102, a timer built in the control device 130 is set, and the time measurement of the interval time is started again. On the other hand, if the current illumination mode is the visibility priority mode (S116: no), the process returns to S102 and the timer is set again to start measuring the interval time.

  FIG. 4 illustrates a state in which the illumination mode of the headlamp 110 is switched by the illumination control process described above. The illumination mode of the headlamp 110 is initially set to the view priority mode (see S100 in FIG. 3). Further, the front camera 120 acquires a front image every time a predetermined interval time elapses. If there is no bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle in the acquired front image, the headlamp 110 is kept lit in the illumination mode, and the front camera 120 again after the interval time has elapsed. To get.

  While repeating these operations, if a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is found in the front image (corresponding to S106 in FIG. 3: yes), the control module 134 turns off the headlamp control unit 112. As a result, the headlamp 110 is turned off for a predetermined turn-off time. In FIG. 4, the extinguishing signal is ON only during the extinguishing time, and the extinguishing state of the headlamp 110 is displayed when the extinguishing signal is turned off. However, when the turn-off signal is turned on only for a short time, the turn-off state of the headlamp 110 may be maintained during the turn-off time.

  Then, a front image is acquired by the front camera 120 while the headlamp 110 is turned off (corresponding to S110 in FIG. 3). If there is no bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle in the forward image that has been extinguished in this way, it can be determined that the bright spot is not due to the headlight of the oncoming vehicle, so the view priority mode is maintained as it is. . Thereafter, when the interval time elapses, the front camera 120 acquires the front image again.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, since a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is found in the forward image acquired at the timing of time a, the headlight 110 is turned off, and the front image being turned off is acquired. ing. However, there is no candidate bright spot in the extinguished front image, so that the view priority mode is maintained as it is. And if interval time passes, a front image will be acquired again.

  While repeating such operations, a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is found from the front image acquired while the headlamp 110 is lit, and then acquired with the headlamp 110 turned off. In some cases, the candidate bright spot remains in the forward image. In this case, it can be determined that the bright spot is the headlight of the oncoming vehicle (corresponding to S112: yes in FIG. 3). Therefore, the illumination mode of the headlamp 110 is set to the view restriction mode.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is found in the forward image acquired at the timing of time b, and the bright spot is also present in the forward image acquired while the headlamp 110 is turned off. Therefore, a state in which the illumination mode is changed to the view restriction mode is shown. Even in the view restriction mode, the front image is acquired every time the interval time elapses. In other words, in the example illustrated in FIG. 4, a front image is acquired even at time c when the interval time has elapsed from time b, and it is determined whether there is a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle. In the illustrated example, since a candidate bright spot is found, the headlamp 110 is turned off and the front image is acquired again. As a result, since a candidate bright spot is also present in the front image being turned off, it is shown that the view restriction mode is maintained as it is.

  While such an operation is repeated, a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is not found in the front image when the headlamp 110 is lit (corresponding to S106: no in FIG. 3) or is lit. When the candidate bright spot found in the front image is not found in the extinguished front image (corresponding to S112 in FIG. 3: no). In such a case, since it can be determined that there is no oncoming vehicle, the illumination mode of the headlamp 110 is set to the visibility priority mode.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle is found in the on-front image acquired at the time d, but the bright spot is displayed on the front image when the headlamp 110 is off. Is not found, so that the lighting mode is returned to the view priority mode. Thereafter, the forward image is acquired every time the interval time elapses.

  Thus, using not only the front image acquired while the headlamp 110 is turned on but also the front image acquired while the light is turned off, it is ensured that a reflector on the roadside or the center line is erroneously detected as an oncoming vehicle. Can be avoided. In the following, this point will be supplementarily described.

  FIG. 5A illustrates a front image obtained while the headlamp 110 is turned on, and FIG. 5B illustrates a front image obtained while the headlamp 110 is turned off. Has been. The thick broken line shown in FIG. 5 represents the center line, and the thick solid line represents the boundary between the road surface and the road shoulder. Reflectors such as reflectors and road signs are provided on the side of the road and on the center line to alert the driver. For this reason, when the headlamp 110 is turned on, as shown in FIG. 5A, the light reflected by these reflectors may appear as a bright spot in the front image. In addition, when there is an oncoming vehicle, the headlamp of the oncoming vehicle is reflected in the front image as a bright spot. In the example shown in FIG. 5A, the bright spots a to j are bright spots corresponding to the reflectors, and the two bright spots k1 and k2 are pairs of bright spots corresponding to the headlamps of the oncoming vehicle. It is.

  However, when a plurality of bright spots are reflected as shown in FIG. 5A, two of the plurality of bright spots happen to be pairs of bright spots corresponding to the headlights of the oncoming vehicle. It can happen to be visible. Therefore, in actuality, there is no oncoming vehicle, and the view priority mode is switched to the view restriction mode, so that the driver's view is restricted.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), in the front image acquired by turning off the headlamp 110, the bright spots (a to j) corresponding to the reflecting object do not appear. Some of the bright spots are not mistakenly recognized as bright spots corresponding to the headlights of the oncoming vehicle. For this reason, it is possible to avoid the situation where the driver's field of view is limited by switching from the field-of-view priority mode to the field-of-view restriction mode even when there is no oncoming vehicle.

  Of course, the on-vehicle illumination device 100 of this embodiment is also mounted on the oncoming vehicle, and the headlamp can be turned off only for a short time. In this case, when the headlamp 110 of the own vehicle is turned off and a front image is acquired, if the headlamp of the oncoming vehicle happens to be turned off, the headlamp of the oncoming vehicle is erroneously recognized as a reflector. However, since the turn-off time is short, during the turn-off time of the headlight of the oncoming vehicle, it is almost impossible that the headlight 110 of the own vehicle is turned off and the front camera 120 acquires the front image. It can't happen. Therefore, actually, even when the vehicle-mounted illumination device 100 of the present embodiment is mounted on the oncoming vehicle, the headlamp of the oncoming vehicle is not erroneously recognized as a reflector.

In addition, when extracting the bright spot in the front image, the brightness indicated in the image data is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and a region with a high brightness is extracted as the bright spot. For this reason, even if the headlamp 110 is not completely turned off, if the intensity of the light from the headlamp 110 is reduced to such an extent that the reflected object is not extracted as a bright spot by the image processing module 132, the above-described explanation will be given. The same applies. Accordingly, similar effects can be obtained even in this way.
C. Modified example:
There are several modifications to the in-vehicle lighting device 100 of the present embodiment described above. Hereinafter, these modified examples will be described focusing on differences from the present embodiment. Note that, in the modification described below, the same reference numerals are given to the same configurations as those in the above-described embodiment, and the detailed description is omitted.
C-1. First modification:
In the embodiment described above, when a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle exists in the front image acquired while the headlamp 110 is turned on, a turn-off signal is output to obtain the front image that is turned off. Explained as what to do. However, regardless of whether or not a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle exists in the front image that is lit, it is also possible to periodically output a turn-off signal and acquire the front image that is turned off.

  FIG. 6 shows a state in which the in-vehicle illumination device 100 according to the first modified example switches between the view priority mode and the view restriction mode. As shown in the figure, also in the first modification, a front image is acquired by the front camera 120 every time a certain interval time elapses. However, in the first modification, a turn-off signal is always output thereafter, and a front image that is turned off is acquired. The front image acquired in this way does not reflect a reflector provided on the side of the road or the like (see FIG. 5B). For this reason, an oncoming vehicle can be detected correctly without erroneously recognizing the reflecting object. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 6, in the first modified example, when an oncoming vehicle is detected in the front image being turned off, the visibility restriction mode is set, and no oncoming vehicle is detected in the front image being turned off. In this case, the view priority mode may be set.

In the first modification described above, it is not necessary to determine whether or not there is a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle in the front image that is lit. For this reason, the illumination control process can be simplified. On the other hand, in the above-described embodiment, only when there is a bright spot that is a candidate for an oncoming vehicle in the front image that is lit, the turn-off signal is output and the headlamp 110 is turned off. What is necessary is just to acquire the inside front image. Therefore, in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to reduce the control load on the headlamp control unit 112 and the front camera 120.
C-2. Second modification:
In the first modification described above, when a front image with the headlamp 110 on is acquired, the headlamp 110 is always turned off to acquire a front image. Since the front camera 120 acquires a front image at a constant cycle (20 msec interval in the above-described embodiment and the first modification), the headlamp 110 is also turned off at the same cycle. However, the cycle for turning off the headlamp 110 is not necessarily a constant cycle. Therefore, it is also possible to transmit some information by changing the cycle for turning off the headlamp 110.

  FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the illumination control process performed by the in-vehicle illumination device 100 according to the second modification. This illumination control process is a process that is automatically executed by the control device 130 of the in-vehicle illumination device 100 when the headlamp 110 is turned on by the driver of the vehicle 1, similarly to the illumination control process of the above-described embodiment. It is. Also in the illumination control process of the second modified example, first, the view priority mode is set (S200).

  Subsequently, in the illumination control process of the second modified example, information related to the traveling state of the vehicle 1 (traveling state information) is acquired (S202). The running state information can be whether the vehicle 1 is accelerating or decelerating (whether the accelerator pedal is stepped on), the steering direction, the vehicle speed, or the like. These pieces of information can be acquired from an in-vehicle computer that controls the running state of the vehicle 1. In the present embodiment, the control module 134 acquires travel state information. Therefore, the control module 134 corresponds to the “information acquisition unit” in the present invention. And the interval time corresponding to the acquired driving state is set to the timer built in the control apparatus 130 (S204). The interval time corresponding to the running state is stored in advance in a ROM (not shown) of the control device 130.

  Then, it is determined whether or not the set interval time has elapsed (S206). If the interval time has not elapsed (S206: no), the same determination is repeated and the apparatus enters a standby state. On the other hand, if it is determined that the interval time has elapsed (S206: yes), the front image is acquired with the headlamp 110 turned on (S208), and then a turn-off signal is output to the headlamp control unit 112. (S210). Then, with the headlamp 110 turned off, a trigger signal is output to the front camera 120 to acquire a front image that is turned off (S212).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not a bright spot (a bright spot pair) corresponding to the headlight of the oncoming vehicle exists in the acquired forward image (S214). As a result, if there is a bright spot of the oncoming vehicle (S214: yes), it can be determined that there is an oncoming vehicle, so the view restriction mode is set so as not to bother the driver of the oncoming vehicle (S216). On the other hand, if there is no bright spot of the oncoming vehicle in the unlit front image (S214: no), it can be determined that there is no oncoming vehicle. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the current illumination mode is the view restriction mode (S218). If it is the view restriction mode (S218: yes), the view priority mode is set (S220). And it returns to S202 and repeats a series of processes mentioned above. On the other hand, when the current illumination mode is the view priority mode (S218: no), the process returns to S202 as it is and the above-described series of processing is repeated.

  In the second modification described above, the headlamp 110 is periodically turned off while the headlight 110 is turned on by the driver of the vehicle 1, and the cycle in which the headlight is turned off corresponds to the traveling state of the vehicle 1. . For this reason, for example, by detecting the period when the headlight 110 of the oncoming vehicle is turned off, information such as whether the oncoming vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, whether it is going to turn right or left, etc. Can be obtained. As a result, it is possible to realize safe traveling by predicting the movement of the vehicle.

  In the second modification described above, the interval time is changed according to the traveling state of the vehicle 1. However, the interval time may be changed according to information such as the vehicle type and model in addition to the driving state or instead of the driving state.

  Further, in the above-described second modification, the headlamp 110 has been described as being extinguished for a short time at a constant cycle. However, in addition to the headlamp 110, the rear lamp may be turned off at a cycle according to the traveling state. In this way, it is possible to acquire information related to the traveling state of the preceding vehicle and realize safe traveling by detecting the period in which the rear light of the preceding vehicle is turned off. For example, if it can be detected that the accelerator pedal of the preceding vehicle is not depressed, it can be predicted that the brake pedal is likely to be depressed next. Therefore, even if the preceding vehicle suddenly stops, it is possible to predict that the brake pedal will be stepped on for an instant, so the possibility of a rear-end collision can be greatly reduced.

  As mentioned above, although the vehicle-mounted illumination device of the present invention has been described, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and various modifications, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle, 100 ... Car-mounted illuminating device, 110 ... Headlamp,
112: Headlamp control unit, 120 ... Front camera, 130 ... Control device,
132: Image processing module, 134: Control module

Claims (4)

An in-vehicle illumination device that is mounted on a vehicle and illuminates the traveling direction of the vehicle,
A headlamp capable of switching an illumination range in the traveling direction of the vehicle to a predetermined first illumination range and a second illumination range narrower than the first illumination range;
A dimming means for dimming the light intensity of the headlamp to a predetermined intensity or less over a predetermined dimming time;
Image acquisition means for acquiring an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle in a dimmed state in which the intensity of light of the headlamp is dimmed;
Determining means for determining the presence or absence of an oncoming vehicle based on a dimming image that is an image acquired in the dimming state;
An in-vehicle illumination device comprising: illumination range setting means for setting the illumination range of the headlamp to the second illumination range when it is determined that the oncoming vehicle exists. The in-vehicle lighting device according to claim 1,
The image acquisition means is means for acquiring an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle even in a normal state where the intensity of light of the headlamp is not dimmed,
A dimming determination means for determining whether to set the dimming state based on a normal-time image that is an image acquired in the normal state;
The in-vehicle illumination device, wherein the dimming means is a means for receiving the determination result of the dimming determination means to enter the dimming state. The in-vehicle lighting device according to claim 1,
The in-vehicle illuminating device, wherein the dimming means is means for bringing the headlamp into the dimmed state at a predetermined cycle. The in-vehicle lighting device according to claim 3,
Comprising information acquisition means for acquiring driving state information which is information relating to the driving state of the vehicle;
The in-vehicle illumination device, wherein the dimming unit is a unit that sets the headlamp to the dimming state at a cycle according to the traveling state information.

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