JP2018103756A - Automatic lighting control system of vehicle and automatic lighting control method of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable automatic lighting of a vehicle according to light-dark conditions of a surrounding area at low costs.SOLUTION: An automatic lighting control system 10 of a vehicle according to the invention includes: a camera 11 mounted on a vehicle 1; and a lighting control part 13 which obtains luminous intensity from an image data of a part 12 of the vehicle 1 captured by the camera 11 and controls a lighting state of the vehicle 1 based on the obtained luminous intensity.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle automatic lighting control system and a vehicle automatic lighting control method.

  For example, when performing control to turn on or off a car light according to the surrounding light and dark conditions, the ambient illuminance is measured by an illuminance sensor arranged in the front part of the car, and the light is turned on and off based on the measured illuminance. Many means of switching are employed.

  Specifically, as shown in Patent Literature 1, the first illuminance sensor that detects the illuminance above the vehicle and whether the illuminance detected by the first illuminance sensor is greater than a preset reference illuminance. A vehicle light control device including a control unit that performs control to turn on / off a light of a vehicle based on the determination result has been proposed and adopted.

JP-A-2005-199974

  By the way, recently, due to the increasing demand for safe driving, there is a movement to make nighttime automatic lighting mandatory. In order to respond to such a movement, it is necessary to introduce an automatic lighting on / off control system, which has conventionally been mounted only on some vehicles, to all vehicles. On the other hand, the automatic lighting on / off control system of the conventional configuration has an illuminance sensor as an indispensable component as described in Patent Document 1, so that there is a problem in cost when it is introduced into all vehicles. .

  In view of the above circumstances, in the present specification, it is a technical problem to be solved to enable automatic lighting of a vehicle at a low cost according to surrounding light and dark conditions.

  The solution to the above problem is achieved by the automatic lighting control system for a vehicle according to the present invention. That is, this control system obtains illuminance from a camera mounted on a vehicle and a part of the image data of the vehicle obtained by imaging with the camera, and controls a lighting state of the vehicle based on the obtained illuminance. It is characterized by a point with

  In recent years, in-vehicle cameras have begun to be applied to various uses including driving support. The present invention has been made paying attention to this point, and obtains illuminance from image data of a part of the vehicle obtained by imaging with a camera so that at least a part of the vehicle is included, and the vehicle based on the obtained illuminance. And a lighting control unit for controlling the lighting state. According to this configuration, the surface property of a part of the vehicle included in the image data, in particular, the light reflection characteristic is adjusted to a desired state in advance, so that the image data of the part of the vehicle can be relatively easily obtained. The illuminance of external light can be acquired. Therefore, the illumination intensity of external light can be acquired without providing an illumination sensor, and the lighting state of the vehicle can be accurately controlled. Specifically, it is possible to automatically turn on the vehicle by accurately reflecting surrounding light and dark conditions. In addition, for the reasons described above, it is highly likely that all the vehicles that will be produced and used in the future will be equipped with some kind of camera. Therefore, by utilizing these existing cameras, additional investment in new hardware will be made. It is possible to control the lighting state at a low cost without substantially performing it.

  Moreover, the solution of the above problem is also achieved by the vehicle automatic lighting control method according to the present invention. That is, in this control method, the illuminance is obtained from the image data obtained by capturing a part of the vehicle in the image obtained by imaging with the camera mounted on the vehicle and the obtained illuminance. And a step of controlling the lighting state of the vehicle.

  As described above, in the control method according to the present invention, as in the control system according to the present invention, a part of the vehicle is arranged within the angle of view of the camera so that the part of the vehicle is reflected in the image of the camera. did. According to this configuration, the surface property of the part reflected as a part of the vehicle, in particular, the light reflection characteristic can be adjusted in advance to a desired state. Therefore, from the image data of the reflected part The illuminance of external light can be acquired relatively easily. Therefore, the illumination intensity of external light can be acquired without providing an illumination sensor, and the lighting state of the vehicle can be accurately controlled. In addition, there is a high possibility that some kind of camera will be installed in all vehicles that will be produced and used in the future. By utilizing these existing cameras, additional investment in new hardware will be made substantially. Therefore, it is possible to control the lighting state at low cost.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically turn on a vehicle at a low cost in accordance with surrounding light and dark conditions.

It is principal part sectional drawing of the vehicle carrying the automatic lighting control system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the control form of the automatic lighting control system shown in FIG. It is an example of the image obtained by imaging with the camera shown in FIG. It is a principal part side view of the vehicle carrying the automatic lighting control system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, the contents of an automatic lighting control system and an automatic lighting control method for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the content of the vehicle headlight will be described below by taking as an example a case where the headlight of the automobile is automatically switched from the off state to the on state.

  FIG. 1 shows a front sectional view of a vehicle 1 provided with an automatic lighting control system 10 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic lighting control system 10 is a system for controlling the lighting state of the headlamp 2 of the vehicle 1, and includes a camera 11 that images the outside of the vehicle 1 and one vehicle 1. And a lighting control unit 13 that controls the lighting state of the headlamp 2. Details of each element will be described below.

  The camera 11 is disposed inside the vehicle 1 and is oriented in a direction in which the front of the vehicle 1 can be imaged. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the camera 11 includes an imaging unit 14 and a control unit 15, and the control unit 15 executes predetermined processing on an image obtained by the imaging unit 14. The execution result (details of the execution result will be described later) can be transmitted to the body ECU 16.

  The camera 11 is accommodated in a cover member 17, and the cover member 17 is attached to the roof portion 3 of the vehicle 1, for example. Thereby, the camera 11 is supported by the vehicle 1 via the cover member 17 and can image the front of the vehicle 1 via the windshield 4.

  The camera 11 is installed for a driving support system (detailed description including illustration is omitted) that performs driving support according to the detection of an obstacle when, for example, an obstacle around the vehicle 1 is detected. The driving support system and the automatic lighting control system can be used together.

  In the present embodiment, the reflection surface 12 is disposed within the angle of view AOV (see FIG. 1) of the camera 11, and is reflected below the image 20 (see FIG. 3) obtained by imaging with the camera 11. Are arranged as follows. Here, the reflection surface 12 is optional as long as it forms a part of the vehicle 1. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the reflection surface 12 is provided on the upper surface of the extension portion 18 that extends from the lower portion of the cover member 17 to the front of the vehicle 1.

  Further, the reflection surface 12 may be set to a predetermined surface roughness for the purpose of improving the illuminance derivation accuracy described later. Specifically, an appropriate surface roughening process (a process of providing minute irregularities) may be performed on the upper surface of the extended portion 18 of the cover member 17 that becomes the reflection surface 12. For example, when the cover member 17 is made of metal, the upper surface of the extended portion 18 may be roughened by polishing. Or when the cover member 17 is resin, you may roughen the upper surface of the extension part 18 by grinding | polishing or embossing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lighting control unit 13 includes a control unit 15 of the camera 11, a body ECU 16, and a relay 19 that electrically connects the body ECU 16 and the headlamp 2. In this case, for example, a predetermined image recognition process is performed by the control unit 15 on the image 20 (see FIG. 3) obtained by the imaging unit 14 of the camera 11 to calculate the luminance of the reflection surface 12 and the calculation. The illuminance is derived based on the luminance. Then, the necessity of lighting is determined by comparing the derived illuminance value with a preset threshold value. When a determination result to be turned on is obtained, a lighting signal is transmitted from the body ECU 16 to the headlamp 2 via the relay 19. Note that the processing from the calculation of the luminance to the determination of whether or not lighting is necessary may be performed by the control unit 15 of the camera 11 or may be performed by the body ECU 16. Alternatively, a part of the above processing (for example, only luminance calculation) may be performed by the control unit 15, and the rest (for example, illuminance derivation and lighting necessity determination) may be performed by the body ECU 16.

Here, the illuminance can be derived based on the following idea. An example is described below. For example, when the reflection surface 12 has a Lambertian reflection characteristic (completely diffused state), the relationship between the illuminance E and the luminance L can be expressed as Equation 1 below. Note that ρ is the reflectance.

  Hereinafter, an example of the automatic lighting control method using the automatic lighting control system 10 according to the present invention will be described.

  First, while the vehicle 1 is traveling, the front of the vehicle 1 is imaged by the camera 11. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the reflection surface 12 is reflected in the image 20 obtained by imaging (reflection step S1).

  Next, an image 20 obtained by imaging is transmitted from the imaging unit 14 to the control unit 15, and predetermined image recognition by the control unit 15 is performed on at least a portion of the reflection surface 12 (see FIG. 3) of the image 20. Apply processing. Here, the luminance of the portion of the reflection surface 12 in the image 20 is calculated. The calculated luminance value is transmitted to the body ECU 16, and illuminance is derived based on the calculated luminance. Then, the necessity of lighting the headlamp 2 is determined by comparing the derived illuminance value with a preset threshold value. For example, when the derived illuminance value is greater than or equal to the threshold value, it is determined that the light should be turned on, and a lighting signal is transmitted from the body ECU 16 to the headlamp 2 via the relay 19. As a result, the headlamp 2 in the off state is automatically switched to the on state (lighting control step S2).

  As described above, the elements constituting the vehicle 1 are arranged so as to deviate from the angle of view (imaging range) of the camera 11 in the related art, whereas the control system 10 according to the present invention dares to A part (the reflection surface 12) is arranged within the angle of view of the camera 11, and a part of the vehicle 1 is reflected in the image 20 of the camera 11. According to this configuration, it is possible to adjust the surface properties of the reflection surface 12, particularly the light reflection characteristics, in advance to a desired state (for example, the above-described complete diffusion state or a state corresponding thereto). The illuminance of outside light can be acquired from the image data of the reflection surface 12 relatively easily. Therefore, the illuminance of outside light can be acquired without providing an illuminance sensor, and the vehicle 1 can be automatically turned on with high accuracy.

  Further, by arranging the reflection surface 12 so that the reflection surface 12 is directed upward of the vehicle 1 as in the present embodiment (see FIG. 1), in particular, the brightness above the vehicle 1 is further increased. The illuminance value accurately reflected (so-called vehicle sky illuminance) can be acquired. Therefore, automatic lighting control that more accurately reflects the visibility from surrounding pedestrians, light vehicles, and oncoming vehicles can be performed.

  Further, by providing the reflection surface 12 on the cover member 17, the surface properties (light reflection characteristics) can be set relatively freely without being restricted as compared with, for example, an instrument panel or a body outer plate. Thereby, regardless of the type of the vehicle 1 to be applied, it is possible to make a uniform setting common to all vehicle types, and thus versatility can be improved. Moreover, it is suitable also in terms of cost.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a roughening process is performed on the reflection surface 12 to generate minute irregularities, so that a so-called complete diffusion state or a state conforming thereto is obtained. Illuminance can be acquired from the luminance well and stably. Thereby, the necessity of lighting based on the illuminance can be determined with high accuracy, so that the reliability of lighting control can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the camera 11 installed for the driving support system is used to acquire the image 20 including the reflection surface 12. Therefore, additional investment in new hardware is substantially reduced. Therefore, it is possible to control the lighting state at a low cost without performing the operation.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the automatic lighting control system and the control method thereof according to the present invention can adopt configurations other than those described above without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the camera 11 and the reflection surface 12 are disposed inside the vehicle 1 (so-called interior goods) is illustrated, but of course, the camera 11 and the reflection surface 12 may be disposed outside the vehicle 1. FIG. 4 is a rear side view of the vehicle 1 equipped with the automatic lighting control system 30 according to one example (another embodiment of the present invention). This automatic lighting control system 30 is different from the automatic lighting control system 30 shown in FIG. 1 in that the camera 11 is disposed outside the vehicle 1 (so-called exterior product). In this case, the camera 11 is attached to the back door 5 of the vehicle 1 via the cover member 31, and the rear side of the vehicle 1 can be imaged through the transmission part 32 that forms a part of the cover member 31.

  Also in this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the reflection surface 12 is provided on the cover member 31, and the reflection surface 12 is disposed within the angle of view AOV of the camera 11. Therefore, the illuminance of external light can be acquired relatively easily. Therefore, it is possible to acquire the illuminance of outside light without providing an illuminance sensor and to automatically turn on the headlamp 2 with high accuracy.

  Of course, the imaging area by the camera 11 is not limited to the front and rear of the vehicle 1. For example, although illustration is omitted, in the case where a camera that is directed to the side of the vehicle 1 is mounted for versatile purposes, the image captured by the camera is included in the reflection surface 12 so that the vehicle It is possible to acquire the luminance around 1 and the illuminance.

  Moreover, although the case where the image data of the reflection surface 12 is acquired using the camera 11 for driving support (see FIG. 1) is illustrated in the above embodiment, of course, the reflection surface is obtained with a camera for other purposes. 12 image data may be acquired. Specifically, as an on-vehicle camera, such as a camera for an around view monitor (so-called visual field auxiliary camera) such as the back view monitor camera shown in FIG. 4, an image recognition camera other than the above examples, a camera for a drive recorder, or the like. The present invention can be applied to any camera mounted on the vehicle 1 without questioning its type. Of course, it does not matter whether the camera is monocular or compound (stereotype) when applied to the present invention.

  Moreover, although the case where the reflection surface 12 was arrange | positioned so that the reflection surface 12 may face the upper direction of the vehicle 1 was illustrated in the said embodiment, of course, it is not limited to this. As long as the illuminance can be calculated from the image data of the reflection surface 12 obtained by imaging with the camera 11, the orientation of the reflection surface 12 is arbitrary. Similarly, as long as the ratio (area ratio) of the reflection surface 12 in the image 20 satisfies a predetermined ratio, the position of the reflection surface 12 in the image 20 is also arbitrary.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the camera 11 of the type that images the outside of the vehicle 1 is exemplified. However, it is needless to say that a camera of a type that images the inside of the vehicle 1 can be used in the present invention. For example, although not shown in the drawings, the vehicle is imaged so as to include a part of the vehicle 1 (for example, a predetermined interior surface) with a vehicle compartment camera mounted on a steering wheel or a rearview mirror, and the above-mentioned vehicle among the images obtained thereby The illuminance may be calculated from a part of the image data of 1.

  The reflection surface 12 does not necessarily have to be provided on the cover member 17 (31). Depending on the required shape of the cover member 17 (31), the reflection surface 12 is formed on a member separate from the cover member 17 (31). You may make it provide.

  In the above embodiment, the derived illuminance value is compared with a preset threshold value, and the case where control is performed to switch from the off state to the lit state when the illuminance value is equal to or greater than the threshold value is illustrated. However, in addition to this, the automatic lighting control system 10 (30) according to the present invention may perform control to switch from the lighting state to the extinguishing state. Specifically, the lighting control unit 13 performs control to switch from the off state to the lighting state when the derived illuminance value is less than the threshold value or more than the threshold value, Control may be performed to switch from the lit state to the unlit state when the value changes from a state above the threshold to a state below the threshold. Of course, the threshold value applied when switching from the unlit state to the lit state and when switching from the lit state to the unlit state (more specifically, the illuminance switching condition) may be changed. Further, not only the illuminance value but also the traveling state of the vehicle 1 (whether it is traveling, whether the engine is driven, whether it is a predetermined traveling speed or more, etc.) may be added to the switching control conditions. .

  Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the luminance is acquired from the image data of the reflection surface 12 obtained by imaging with the camera 11 and the illuminance is calculated based on the luminance is illustrated, but of course the required accuracy is guaranteed. As long as it is obtained, the illuminance may be calculated from the image data of the reflection surface 12 by means other than the above.

  Moreover, although the case where the automatic lighting of the headlamp 2 was controlled was illustrated in the above embodiment, it is of course possible to apply the present invention when controlling the automatic lighting of lights other than the headlamp 2. In that case, an ECU corresponding to the light to be controlled may be used as a part of the lighting control unit 13.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Headlamp 3 Roof part 4 Windshield 5 Back door 10, 30 Automatic lighting control system 11 Camera 12 Reflecting surface 13 Lighting control part 14 Imaging part 15 Control part 16 Body ECU
17, 31 Cover member 18 Extension part 19 Relay 20 Image 32 Transmission part AOV Angle of view

Claims (1)

A camera mounted on the vehicle,
An automatic lighting control system for a vehicle, comprising: a lighting control unit that acquires illuminance from partial image data of the vehicle obtained by imaging with the camera and controls a lighting state of the vehicle based on the acquired illuminance. .

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