JP2013244893A - Light control device, and light control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To further surely inhibit dazzling, in a light control device for controlling a range irradiated with a headlight.SOLUTION: In a light control system, information related to an exclusion region indicative of a region that is set based on a position of a light source of another vehicle and should not be included in an irradiated region is acquired in one's own vehicle (S120), and the light source of the other vehicle is detected from among shot images obtained by shooting an advancing direction of the own vehicle (S140). A range irradiated with a headlight is set so that the exclusion region is not included in the range irradiated with the headlight based on the position of the light source of the other vehicle in the shot images (S150, S160). According to such a light control system, since the exclusion region can be controlled so as not to be included in the range irradiated with the headlight, dazzling can be further surely inhibited by making an object that may dazzle included in the exclusion region.

Description

  The present invention relates to a light control device that controls an irradiation range of a headlight mounted on a vehicle, and a light control program.

  As the light control device, there is known a device that detects the position of a light source from a captured image obtained by capturing the front of the host vehicle and moves the irradiation range of the headlight to a lower side than the light source (for example, a patent) Reference 1).

JP 2008-094127 A

  However, in the above light control device, even if the irradiation range is set below the light source, when the light source is arranged at a high position of the vehicle, the side mirror of the vehicle traveling in front of the host vehicle, etc. Is in the irradiation range, and this causes a problem that the vehicle occupant is dazzled.

  Accordingly, in view of such problems, it is an object of the present invention to more reliably suppress dazzling in a light control device that controls the irradiation range of a headlight.

  2. The light control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the excluded area acquisition means is an area that is set based on a position of a light source of another vehicle and should not be within an irradiation range. The other vehicle light source detection means detects the light source of the other vehicle from the captured image obtained by capturing the traveling direction of the host vehicle.

Then, the irradiation range setting means sets the irradiation range of the headlight so that the excluded area is not included in the irradiation range of the headlight based on the position of the light source of the other vehicle in the captured image.
In the present invention, in order to prevent the excluded area from being included in the irradiation range of the headlight, a map in which the position in the captured image is associated with the irradiation range (such as the direction of the optical axis) is prepared. The headlight irradiation range may be controlled according to this map. Alternatively, the bright area may be controlled so as not to overlap the excluded area by feedback control while detecting a bright area illuminated by the headlight in the captured image.

Alternatively, these controls may be combined. In addition, the irradiation range of a headlight shows the range dazzling to such an extent that others are dazzled.
According to such a light control device, it is possible to specify an area that should not be within the irradiation range based on the position of the light source as an excluded area, and control the excluded area not to be within the headlight irradiation range. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably suppress the dazzling by making the object that may be dazzled fit within this exclusion region.

  In addition, said subject can be solved also by the system and program which have said structure.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a light control system 1 to which the present invention is applied. It is a flowchart which shows the irradiation control process which the calculating part 10 (CPU11) performs. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a captured image.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[Configuration of this embodiment]
The light control system 1 to which the present invention is applied is configured to be distributed and mounted on a plurality of vehicles such as passenger cars, and a device mounted on the host vehicle 100 and a device mounted on the other vehicle 200 communicate with each other. It is configured to be able to communicate with. And in the own vehicle 100, it has a function which controls the irradiation range by a headlight.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the light control system 1 includes a calculation unit 10, a camera 21, an inter-vehicle communication device 23, a rudder angle sensor 24, a vehicle speed sensor 25, And a control unit 30.

  In the host vehicle 100, the camera 21 is arranged as a color camera that is arranged so that at least the irradiation range of the headlight in the traveling direction (particularly in front) of the vehicle is included in the imaging range, and images the imaging range in color. The captured image is sent to the calculation unit 10.

  The inter-vehicle communication device 23 is configured as a well-known inter-vehicle communication module that performs communication with the other vehicle 200. The inter-vehicle communication device 23 receives vehicle shape information from the other vehicle 200.

  Here, the other vehicle 200 includes an inter-vehicle communication device 51 and a vehicle shape database (DB) 52, and vehicle shape information is stored in the vehicle shape DB 52. The inter-vehicle communication device 51 reads out vehicle shape information from the vehicle shape DB 52 at regular time intervals and transmits the information to the outside of the host vehicle 100 or the like.

  The vehicle shape information includes the positional relationship between the position of the tail lamp and the overall shape (outer peripheral shape) when the other vehicle 200 is viewed from the rear. In addition, when the headlight is received from the rear, such as the position of the side mirror (door mirror, fender mirror), rear view mirror, rear window (rear window) with respect to the position of the tail lamp, the driver may be dazzled ( The positional relationship of (dazzling object) is also included.

  Further, the number of other vehicles 200 that are communication partners of the inter-vehicle communication device 23 of the host vehicle 100 is not limited to one, and may be a plurality. In this case, the vehicle shape DB 52 of the other vehicle 200 stores vehicle shape information specific to the vehicle type of the other vehicle 200.

  Here, the vehicle shape information is used to set a region (exclusion region) that should not be within the irradiation range when setting the irradiation range of the headlight. That is, based on the vehicle shape information, control is performed in a process described later so that the dazzling object does not fall within the irradiation range.

  Next, the steering angle sensor 24 is configured as a known steering angle sensor that detects the steering angle of the host vehicle, and the vehicle speed sensor 25 is configured as a known speed sensor that detects the traveling speed of the host vehicle. .

  The calculation unit 10 is configured as a well-known microcomputer including a CPU 11 and a memory 12 such as a ROM and a RAM, and an irradiation to be described later based on a program (including a light control program) stored in the memory 12. Various processing such as control processing is performed. In addition, the memory 12 includes parameters indicating the characteristics of the lights of the vehicle (including values corresponding to parameters such as position, size, color, height, distance between paired lights, behavior, etc.), vehicle The parameter which shows the characteristic of light sources other than is stored. The parameters stored in the memory 12 are used when a light source indicating a vehicle light is identified from a captured image and distinguished from a light source other than the vehicle light.

  The light control unit 30 controls the direction of the optical axis of the headlight in response to the detection result of the vehicle light (information such as a dazzling prohibition area described later) by the calculation unit 10. Specifically, the light control unit 30 moves the direction of the optical axis in a direction where there is no other vehicle (dazzling prohibition region) (for example, downward direction or left direction) in response to a command from the calculation unit 10.

[Process of this embodiment]
The calculation unit 10 (CPU 11) detects other vehicles around the host vehicle, and executes an irradiation control process for narrowing (moving downward) the irradiation range of the headlight when there is a possibility that the other vehicle is dazzled. . In the irradiation control process, as shown in FIG. 2, first, an image captured by the camera 21 is acquired (S110).

  Subsequently, information on the vehicle shape of the other vehicle is acquired via the inter-vehicle communication device 23 (S120), and further the own vehicle information is acquired (S130). Here, as the own vehicle information, the rudder angle detected by the rudder angle sensor 24, the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 25, and the like correspond.

  And the light source of the other vehicle which exists ahead of the own vehicle is detected from a captured image (S140). In this process, a captured image obtained from the camera 21 is subjected to image processing to extract all light sources, and a captured image is extracted using a known image processing technique that identifies and extracts vehicle lights from these light sources. It is determined whether or not there is another vehicle inside. At this time, the determination is performed using the parameter indicating the feature of the vehicle light and the parameter indicating the feature of the light source other than the vehicle recorded in the memory 12.

  Subsequently, a dazzling prohibition area is set (S150). Here, the dazzling prohibition area is set in the captured image based on the vehicle shape information of the other vehicle and the position of the light source of the other vehicle in the captured image.

  For example, as shown in the area surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 3B, the position of the taillight (light source) included in the vehicle shape information and the vehicle shape (the positional relationship between the shape viewed from the rear of the vehicle and the position of the taillight) ) And the position of the taillight in the captured image are associated with each other in the captured image, thereby setting the dazzling prohibition region. Moreover, when the information of the position of the dazzling target part such as the position of the side mirror is included, all of these are set as the dazzling prohibited area.

  Then, the irradiation range is controlled so that the dazzling prohibition region and the irradiation range of the headlight do not overlap (S160). In this process, a map in which the position in the captured image is associated with the irradiation range (such as the direction of the optical axis) is prepared, and control is performed according to this map so that the irradiation range of the headlight does not overlap with the dazzling prohibition region. .

  At this time, for example, a configuration in which the position of the optical axis of the headlight is moved or a configuration in which a part of light emitted from the headlight is masked is used. In addition, in order to ensure the visibility of the driver of the own vehicle 100, it is preferable to set the irradiation range of the headlight as wide as possible.

For this reason, in this embodiment, the irradiation range is set so that the dazzling prohibition region (exclusion region) and the irradiation range are adjacent to each other (adjacent or close to each other so as not to have a large gap).
Subsequently, the captured image is reacquired (S170), and the irradiation range of the headlight of the host vehicle in the captured image is confirmed (S180). Specifically, a portion (region having a luminance equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold) that is brightened by the headlight of the host vehicle in the captured image is extracted.

  Then, it is determined whether or not this brightened portion is only outside the dazzling prohibition region (S190). For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, this processing is performed when a part of the other vehicle is within the irradiation range even though the entire other vehicle in front is set in the dazzling prohibition region. Then, a negative determination is made. As shown in FIG. 3B, when all other vehicles are outside the irradiation range, an affirmative determination is made in this process.

  If this brightened portion is not only outside the dazzling prohibition region (S190: NO), the above-mentioned map is corrected so that the irradiation range moves downward from the current setting of the irradiation range (S200). Return to processing. In these processes, the relationship between the position in the captured image and the irradiation range (that is, the map) can be corrected to an appropriate relationship by feedback control.

If this brightened part is only outside the dazzling prohibited area (S190: YES), the irradiation control process is terminated.
[Effects of this embodiment]
In the light control system 1 described in detail above, the calculation unit of the host vehicle 100 is an area that is set on the basis of the position of the light source of the other vehicle, and information on an excluded area that represents an area that should not be within the irradiation range. And the light source of the other vehicle is detected from the captured image obtained by capturing the traveling direction of the host vehicle. Then, based on the position of the light source of the other vehicle in the captured image, the headlight irradiation range is set so that the excluded region is not included in the headlight irradiation range.

  In the light control system 1, in order to prevent the excluded area from being included in the irradiation range of the headlight, a map in which the position in the captured image is associated with the irradiation range (such as the direction of the optical axis) is provided. The headlight irradiation range is controlled according to this map. In addition, a control for preventing the bright area from overlapping the excluded area by feedback control while detecting a bright area illuminated by the headlight in the captured image is also used.

  According to such a light control system 1, it is possible to specify an area that should not be within the irradiation range based on the position of the light source as an exclusion area, and control the exclusion area not to be within the irradiation range of the headlight. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably suppress the dazzling by allowing the object that may be dazzled to fall within this excluded area.

  Further, in the light control system 1, the calculation unit 10 is used as an exclusion region for a dazzling target object in which the headlight of the own vehicle among the parts constituting the other vehicle in the captured image may dazzle the driver of the other vehicle. Information including the positional relationship between the dazzling position representing the position and the light source of the other vehicle is acquired.

According to such a light control system 1, since the position of the dazzling object can be specified, the exclusion area can be set more precisely.
Specific examples of the dazzling object include mirrors such as a side mirror and a room mirror, and windows such as a rear window (a vehicle rear window) and a windshield. Moreover, the position of these several dazzling target objects may be contained in the information of one exclusion area | region. In this case, the irradiation range may be set so that all the dazzling objects are not included in the irradiation range.

  Further, in the light control system 1, the calculation unit 10 of the own vehicle acquires information on the exclusion area unique to the other vehicle from the other vehicle using inter-vehicle communication. That is, since the shape of the vehicle, the position of the taillight, or the position of the dazzling object is different for each other vehicle, information on the exclusion region unique to these other vehicles is acquired from these other vehicles.

According to such a light control system 1, since an exclusion area is acquired for every other vehicle, a different irradiation range can be set for every other vehicle.
Further, in the light control system 1, the calculation unit 10 may acquire information related to the excluded area using inter-vehicle communication with other vehicles.

According to such a light control system 1, since vehicle-to-vehicle communication is used, it is possible to acquire more accurate information regarding the excluded area.
[Other Embodiments]
Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, when acquiring information related to the exclusion region from a plurality of other vehicles, a means for detecting the reception direction of radio waves such as a directional antenna is provided, and the position of the other vehicle in the captured image is provided. Corresponding information may be associated with each other vehicle in the captured image. Further, when the other vehicle transmits position information, the position information is associated with the position of the other vehicle in the captured image based on the position information and the position information of the own vehicle (information obtainable from a known navigation device or the like). What should I do?

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the dazzling prohibition area is set by associating the position of the taillight and the vehicle shape included in the vehicle shape information with the position of the taillight in the captured image in the captured image. The configuration is not limited. For example, a map in which the position of the taillight in the captured image is associated with the angle difference from the position of the taillight included in the vehicle shape information to the dazzling object is prepared, and imaging is performed based on this map. A dazzling prohibition area may be set outside the image.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the vehicle shape information is received from the other vehicle 200, but the vehicle shape DB 52 is also provided in the own vehicle 100, and the vehicle shape information of the own vehicle 100 is transmitted in the same manner as the other vehicle 200. May be. In the case of this configuration, the other vehicle 200 may have the same configuration as the host vehicle 100 (configuration that controls the light irradiation range).

If it is such a structure, control which suppresses dazzle in the own vehicle 100 and the other vehicle 200 can be implemented.
[Relationship Between Configuration of Embodiment and Means of Present Invention]
Among the irradiation control processes executed by the calculation unit 10 in the above embodiment, the process of S120 corresponds to the excluded area acquisition unit referred to in the present invention, and the process of S140 corresponds to the other vehicle light source detection unit referred to in the present invention. The processing of S150 and S160 corresponds to the irradiation range setting means in the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Light control system, 10 ... Operation part, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... Memory, 21 ... Camera, 23 ... Inter-vehicle communication apparatus, 24 ... Steering angle sensor, 25 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 30 ... Light control part, 51 ... Car Inter-vehicle communication device, 52 ... vehicle shape DB, 100 ... own vehicle, 200 ... other vehicle.

Claims (5)

A light control device (1) that is mounted on a vehicle and controls an irradiation range of a headlight of the host vehicle,
Exclusion region acquisition means (S120) for acquiring information on an exclusion region that is a region that is set based on the position of the light source of another vehicle and that should not be within the irradiation range;
Other vehicle light source detection means (S140) for detecting the light source of the other vehicle from the captured image obtained by capturing the traveling direction of the host vehicle;
Irradiation range setting means (S150, S160) for setting the irradiation range of the headlight so that the exclusion area is not included in the irradiation range of the headlight based on the position of the light source of another vehicle in the captured image;
A light control device comprising: The light control device according to claim 1,
The exclusion area acquisition means, as the exclusion area, a dazzling position representing a position of a dazzling object in which a headlight of the own vehicle may dazzle a driver of the other vehicle among parts constituting the other vehicle in the captured image And information including a positional relationship with the light source of the other vehicle. The light control device according to claim 1 or 2,
The said exclusion area | region acquisition means acquires the information regarding the exclusion area | region peculiar to this other vehicle from another vehicle. The light control apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The light control device according to claim 3,
The said exclusion area | region acquisition means acquires the information regarding the said exclusion area | region using the inter-vehicle communication with the said other vehicle.   A light control program for causing a computer to function as each means constituting the light control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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