JP2836449B2 - Light distribution control device for headlamp - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a headlamp light distribution control device, and more particularly to a headlamp light distribution control for controlling the light distribution of a headlamp for illuminating the front of a vehicle during traveling according to a traveling state. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle is provided with a headlamp in order to improve a driver's forward visibility at night or the like. In general, a pair of headlamps is provided at the tip of the vehicle and on the left and right sides to irradiate a relatively wide area. However, since the headlamps are fixed, when the vehicle is running, for example, when the vehicle turns, In some cases, it was not possible to brightly illuminate a part necessary for visual observation (hereinafter, a gaze position). For this reason, the irradiation optical axis of the headlamp is changed according to the steering angle (Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-22299), and the area of the light emitted from the headlamp is widened or narrowed (see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. HEI 2 (1995) -214). -27938), and a headlamp that irradiates a part according to a traveling direction of a vehicle has been proposed.

However, the gaze position of the driver during traveling is not uniquely determined by the traveling direction of the vehicle or the steering angle of the vehicle. That is, on a normal road, there are crossroads such as intersections and Y-shaped roads, and the driver
The route to reach the destination must be intentionally selected from a plurality of traveling routes. Therefore, as described above, even if an attempt is made to control the light distribution of the headlamp by detecting the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the steering angle such as the steering angle,
It was not possible to determine which one of the crossroads and the Y-shaped road was the corresponding one, and it was not possible to irradiate the gaze position.

[0004] In order to solve this problem, there is a device for improving the visibility of a driver by adjusting the irradiation range in a direction corresponding to a curve before entering a curve when driving at night using a so-called navigation system. (JP-A-2-296550).

[0005]

However, even if the above navigation system is used, it is not possible to control the light distribution of the headlamp for illuminating the actual gaze position. In other words, by using the above navigation system, it is possible to specify in a wide range where the vehicle is located on the map, but the vehicle state in a narrow range on the traveling path where the vehicle is currently traveling Cannot be determined, so that the gaze position cannot be irradiated according to the vehicle state such as the traveling direction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a light distribution control device for a headlamp capable of reliably irradiating a position visually observed by a driver when a vehicle is running.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a light distribution control device for a headlamp according to the present invention is provided for guiding a vehicle having a headlamp in which at least one of an irradiation direction and an irradiation range can be changed. Route detection means for detecting a route, travel path shape detection means for detecting the shape of the travel path from an image including the travel path of the vehicle, and the traveling state of the vehicle
Traveling state detection means for detecting the traveling state of the vehicle,
A gaze position to be watched by a driver is obtained based on the shape of the route and the traveling path of the vehicle, and at least one of an irradiation direction and an irradiation range of the headlamp is controlled so that light is applied to the obtained gaze position. Control means for performing the operation.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a vehicle has a headlamp in which at least one of an irradiation direction and an irradiation range can be changed. The route for guiding the vehicle is detected by route detection means. The route detecting means includes a route guidance device such as a navigation system and an input device using voice of a driver. The traveling path shape detecting means detects a traveling path shape from an image including a traveling path of a vehicle such as a road. This image can be detected by a photographing device such as a camera. The shape of the traveling path can be detected by performing image processing such as extracting only the traveling path such as a road from the image.
Further, the position of the vehicle at the time of detection in the shape of the traveling path can be specified by this detection. If the shape and position of the traveling path can be detected, the direction and position of the vehicle traveling along the path can be specified, so that the gaze position to be watched by the driver can be specified. Gaze that drivers should watch
The position is a position corresponding to a traveling state such as a vehicle speed. There
Then, the traveling state of the vehicle is determined by traveling state detecting means.
To detect. The control means obtains a gaze position to be watched by the driver based on the detected traveling state of the vehicle, the shape of the route of the vehicle and the shape of the traveling path, and irradiates the headlight so that the determined gaze position is irradiated with light. And at least one of the irradiation range. As described above, since the light from the headlamp is controlled so as to irradiate the position to be watched by the driver, even when the shape of the traveling path such as an intersection or a Y-shaped road is complicated, the driver can visually check the position. It is possible to make the light distribution with good visibility for confirmation.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the first embodiment, the present invention is applied to a headlamp light distribution control device that controls light distribution of a headlamp disposed in front of a vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 1, an engine hood 12 is disposed on an upper surface of a front body 10A of a vehicle 10. A pair of left and right headlamps 18 and 20 are disposed above a front bumper 16 fixed to both ends in the vehicle width direction at the front end of the front body 10A. A windshield glass 14 is provided near the rear end of the engine hood 12. A rearview mirror 15 is provided above the windshield glass 14 and inside the vehicle 10, and a camera 22 for photographing the front of the vehicle at night is arranged near a driver's visual position (a so-called eye point) near the rearview mirror 15. Have been. This camera 22 is connected to an image processing device 48 (FIG. 5).

As shown in FIG. 2, a steering wheel 26 is provided in the vehicle 10, and a steering angle for outputting a signal corresponding to a rotation angle and a rotation direction of the steering wheel 26 to a rotating shaft (not shown) of the steering wheel 26. A sensor 68 is provided. A turn signal lever 28 is also provided near the rotating shaft (not shown). A speedometer 24 is provided on the instrument panel 23, and a vehicle speed sensor 66 (FIG. 5) for outputting a signal corresponding to the vehicle speed V is attached to a cable (not shown) of the speedometer 24. A navigation unit 72 having a display 70 is provided above the console and below the instrument panel 23. The navigation unit 72 displays a map stored in a storage device such as a CD-ROM (not shown) on the display 70 based on signals transmitted from a plurality of satellites and vehicle information such as vehicle speed, and displays the current location. It is a device for performing route guidance from a destination to a destination.

[0012] As shown in FIG.
Is a projector-type headlamp having a lamp house 34. A bulb is connected via a socket 36 such that a convex lens 30 is fixed to one side and a light emitting point is located on the optical axis L (center axis) of the convex lens 30 to the other side. 32 is fixed. The bulb side of the lamp house 34 (the right side in FIG. 3)
Is a reflector 38 having an elliptical reflection surface for effectively emitting light.

Inside the headlamp 18, there is provided a shade 40 that moves on a plane orthogonal to the optical axis L in accordance with a control signal output from a control device 50. The shade 40 includes light shielding plates 40A, 40B, and 40C. The light shielding plate 40A is movable in the vertical direction, and the light shielding plates 40B and 40C are movable in the vehicle width direction.

FIG. 4 shows a light shielding plate 40A of the shade 40,
The state of the light distribution formed when 40B and 40C are moved to the reference position is shown as an image diagram of an image in front of the vehicle that is visually observed by the driver. The upper direction of the cut line (the boundary between light irradiation and non-irradiation, the cut line 140 formed by the light shielding plate 40A, the cut lines 142 and 143 formed by the light shielding plate 40B, and the cut lines 144 and 145 formed by the light shielding plate 40C) formed by the shade 40 (FIG. 4). The region Ad (in the direction of arrow B) is shielded from light. In the figure, circles C1, C2, C3,
C4 indicates a range in which the emitted light has substantially the same brightness. For example, the circle C1 has a road surface illuminance of about 30 Lx, and the circle C4 has a road surface illuminance of about 5 Lx. In addition,
Since the light shielding plates 40A to 40C of the shade 40 do not converge at one point on the road, a portion corresponding to an actual cut line is blurred, and a predetermined road surface illuminance can be obtained even in the vicinity thereof.

The vertical direction of the cut line 140 (FIG. 4)
The movement in the direction of the arrow B and in the opposite direction) corresponds to the reaching distance of the end light of the bright region Ab irradiated with light by the headlamp 18. Further, the movement of the cut lines 143 and 145 in the vehicle width direction is limited to the irradiation range according to the direction of the vehicle,
That is, it corresponds to the spread. Therefore, the light reaching distance can be changed by moving the light shielding plate 40A, and the spread of the left and right light distribution can be changed by moving the light shielding plates 40B and 40C. Therefore, the light irradiation area can be freely set by moving the shade 40.

The headlamp 20 has a shade 41. Since the headlamp 20 and the shade 41 have the same configuration as the headlamp 18 and the shade 40, the description is omitted.

If a plurality of light distribution patterns corresponding to the predetermined positions of the light shielding plate are set and the optimum light distribution pattern is selected, stepwise control is performed without continuous control. , Structure and light distribution control can be simplified.

As shown in FIG. 5, the control device 50 includes a read only memory (ROM) 52, a random access memory (RAM) 54, a central processing unit (CPU) 56, an input port 58, an output port 60, and It is configured to include a bus 62 such as a data bus and a control bus to be connected. The ROM 52 stores a control program for controlling the shade 40 and the like described later.

A vehicle speed sensor 66, a steering angle sensor 68, and a navigation unit 72 are connected to the input port 58. The output port 60 is connected to operate the shades 40 and 41 via a driver 64. The input port 58 and the output port 60 are also connected to the image processing device 48.

The above road shape includes the shape of the traveling path,
For example, it includes a road shape corresponding to one lane formed by a center line, a curb, and the like.

The image processing device 48 is a device for performing image processing on an image (image) captured by the camera 22 based on signals input from the camera 22 and the control device 50. The deviation angle φ between the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 and the line of sight of the driver is determined according to the road shape. A method for obtaining the deviation angle φ will be briefly described.

The inventor of the present invention conducted an experiment for detecting the position where the driver gazes when the vehicle 10 travels at a plurality of traveling speeds (vehicle speeds V). Is observing the position where the robot reaches. In this experiment, the distance from the vehicle 10 to the viewpoint position where the driver gazes is obtained from the gaze direction (the angle between the gaze and the traveling direction of the vehicle 10) and the vehicle speed V. Therefore, if the road shape and the vehicle speed V can be specified, the gaze position of the driver can be obtained.

FIG. 10 shows an image 120 photographed by the camera 22 while traveling on a road 122 having two lanes. In this road 122, the lane is bounded by a line 124, and the curb 126 is a boundary between the road 122 and the rest. Image 122 includes road 122
A reference point D is hit at a position corresponding to the height and direction of the driver's line of sight L which is parallel to and coincides with the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and a horizontal line Hor passing through the reference point D, which coincides with the running horizon. And a straight line that is orthogonal to the horizontal line Hor and passes through the point D is a vertical line Ver. The image processing device 48 generates an image 130 for specifying the road shape when the road 122 is viewed from above, based on a plurality of image data representing the pixel positions of the line 124 and the curb 126 on the image 120. reference).

As shown in FIG. 11, the gaze distance of the driver at the current vehicle speed V of the vehicle 10 is, as shown in the following equation (1), a distance approximately 1.5 seconds after the vehicle 10 at the current vehicle speed V. X (on the circumference of the radius X). Road 122
The road shape determined by the image processing device 48,
The driver looks at the direction according to the road shape. In this embodiment, the shape of the line 124 provided along the road shape of the road 122 is simply specified as the road shape. Therefore, the intersection P between the line 124 and the radius X can be specified as the gaze position of the driver.

In the above description, the road shape is specified by the line 124. However, the position (trajectory) at which the vehicle travels in the lane may be assumed and the road shape may be specified at that position.
Alternatively, the road may be converted into an abstract line segment by image processing such as expansion and contraction processing, and the road shape may be specified by the line segment.

X = 1.5 · (10/36) · V (1) where V: vehicle speed (unit, km / h) X: gaze distance (unit, m)

A straight line passing through the intersection P is directed in the direction in which the driver looks in accordance with the road shape (the driver's line of sight L
This is a direction substantially coinciding with 1). Therefore, the angle formed by the driver's line of sight L that matches the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 and the line of sight L1 according to the road shape changes the driver's line of sight according to the traveling state of the vehicle 10 (vehicle speed V) and the road shape. The deviation angle φ indicates the angle.

Therefore, the light distribution control amounts of the head lamps 18 and 20 for moving the shade are calculated according to the obtained deviation angle φ, and each light shielding plate is moved according to the calculated light distribution control amount. For example, the light distribution of the headlamps 18 and 20 includes the gaze position of the driver. This light distribution control amount can be obtained by converting the corresponding light shielding plate movement amount when the irradiation range is increased or decreased according to the vehicle speed V and the deviation angle φ. The gaze position of the driver is taken into consideration including the running state (vehicle speed V) of the vehicle 10 as shown in the above equation (1).

Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. For the sake of simplicity, the command signal from the navigation unit includes four types of commands corresponding to turning right at an intersection, turning left at an intersection, entering a Y-junction to the right, and entering a Y-junction to the left. Hereinafter, a case where a signal corresponding to the entry into the Y-junction to the right using a signal will be described first.

First, when the driver turns on a light switch (not shown) of the vehicle and turns on the headlamps 18 and 20, the process proceeds to step 160 of the control main routine shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not a command signal has been input. If the determination is negative, the direction flag is set at step 178.
The FLAG-YR, FLAG-YL, FLAG-R, and FLAG-L are reset (the value is set to "0"), and in step 180, the normal light distribution control described above is performed. This direction flag FLAG-YR
Indicates the state of whether or not a route instruction to enter the Y-junction to the right from the navigation unit has been given,
When set (value is “1”), it indicates that an instruction has been made, and when reset (value is “0”), it has not been instructed. Similarly, the direction flag FLAG-YL indicates whether or not a route has been instructed when entering the Y-junction to the left. The direction flag FLAG-R indicates whether or not the route has been instructed to enter the intersection to the right, and indicates that it has been instructed when set and has not been instructed when reset. Is represented. Similarly, the direction flag FLAG-L indicates whether or not a route instruction to enter the intersection to the left has been given.

When a command signal is input (step 1)
In step 162, the input command signal is decoded. In the next step 164, any one of the direction indication signals (Y
R, YL, R, and L) are determined to determine whether or not the command signal includes a signal indicating the traveling path of the vehicle. This direction instruction signal YR is Y
The direction instruction signal YL indicates that the vehicle enters the intersection at the right, and the direction instruction signal R indicates that the vehicle enters the intersection at the right. If the direction instruction signal is absent and a negative determination is made in step 164, it is not necessary to perform light distribution control based on a route instruction from the navigation unit, so the process proceeds to step 178 and normal light distribution control is performed in the same manner as described above.

In the case of an affirmative determination that any one of the direction flags is included, the command signal includes a signal relating to the direction of travel of the vehicle. Therefore, at step 166, any one of the direction flags is set. It is determined whether or not. If any of the direction flags has been set, the following processing (steps 168 to 172) has already been executed, so the process proceeds to step 174, and
If the omnidirectional flag is reset, the process proceeds to step 168, where a road shape grasping process is executed.

The road shape grasping process is an image process such as pattern recognition in the image processing device 48, and is a process of reading the shape grasping data as a result of the image processing performed by the image processing device 48. The processing in the image processing device 48 will be briefly described below. In this case, in the image processing device 48, similarly to the process of obtaining the deviation angle,
The converted image obtained by converting the image of the Y-shaped road taken by the camera 22 into a plan view seen from above is processed. FIG.
5 shows an example of a converted image 132 near a Y-shaped road on a road having a center line 124. By performing image processing such as expansion and contraction on the area of the road 122 surrounded by the curb 126, the core of the road 122 is represented by a line segment. In the case of FIG. 6, the road 122 can be represented by two road lines 90A and 90B by the center line 124. Therefore, 2
Since the vehicle has two road lines and intersects with each other, it is possible to estimate a road shape in which the road 122 in FIG. 6 is branched in front of the vehicle and is a Y-shaped road having two approach roads. It should be noted that a T-shaped road, a crossroad, or the like can be determined based on a state of a contact point of a road line (for example, an orthogonal point or a junction point of a curve). The image processing device 48 outputs the estimated road shape as shape grasp data (in this case, as a Y signal).

In this process of grasping the road shape, similar processing can be performed in the branch point extraction process in the later-described interrupt routine (FIG. 9), so that data processed in the later-described interrupt routine is used as shape grasp data. You may make it memorize | store and read.

In the next step 170, the image processing device 4
It is determined whether or not the shape grasping data read from 8 corresponds to the road corresponding to the direction indication signal. In this case, it is determined whether or not the road corresponds to a Y-shaped road for entering the right. At this time, if a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 162. Therefore, when there is a difference between command signals or misdecoding processing, the processing does not shift to the next processing. On the other hand, in the case of an affirmative determination, the process proceeds to step 172, where the direction flag corresponding to the direction instruction signal, in this case, the direction flag FL
Set AG-YR (to “1”).

In the next step 174, a flag FLAG- flag set in an interrupt routine (FIG. 9) described later
It is determined whether D is set. This flag FL
The set of AG-D indicates that the present time is the time when the light distribution control is performed according to the grasped road shape, and that the reset is not this time. If the flag FLAG-D is reset and a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 162 because it is not yet time to perform light distribution control when entering the relevant road (right on the Y-shaped road). On the other hand, the flag FLAG
-If D is set and the determination is affirmative, in step 176, light distribution control when entering the relevant road is performed.

In the light distribution control at the time of entering the relevant road in step 176, the light distribution is determined according to the deviation angle φ, and the shade of the headlamp is controlled. In this case, the road is a route that enters the right at a Y-shaped road. At this time, the image processing device 4
In step 8, the deviation angle φ corresponding to the road is obtained as follows. First, an image 132 converted into a plan view
In FIG. 6, the corresponding road (right-hand Y-shaped road, road line 9)
0A) is selected. That is, the corresponding road line 90A is selected from the two road lines 90A and 90B obtained as the line segments representing the road 122 at the time of grasping the road shape in step 168. After determining the driver's line of sight L1 on the image 132 from the gazing distance X determined above using the selected road line 90A, the vehicle 10
Line of sight L corresponding to the traveling direction of the vehicle and line of sight L corresponding to the road shape
A deviation angle φ, which is an angle formed with 1, is obtained. Reading the deviation angle φ calculated by the image processing device 48;
The light distribution control amounts of the head lamps 18 and 20 for moving the shade according to the deviation angle φ are calculated. The light distribution control amount is
As described above, it is converted into the movement amount of the light shielding plate according to the vehicle speed V and the deviation angle φ. Each light shielding plate is moved according to the calculated light distribution control amount, and the headlights 18 and 2 are moved.
0 light distribution is controlled.

As another light distribution control, in the light distribution control when the vehicle enters the Y-shaped road to the left, a corresponding road line 90B is selected in the same manner as described above, and the deviation angle φ is determined using this road line 90B.
Is calculated, and based on this, the light distribution of the headlamps 18 and 20 is controlled. Light distribution control when entering an intersection to the right and entering an intersection to the left is also performed in the same manner as described above, based on the distribution of the headlamps 18 and 20 based on the deviation angle φ calculated using the corresponding road line. Control the light.

When approaching this intersection, a pair of left and right cornering lamps are arranged in the width direction of the vehicle.
The cornering lamp at the corresponding position can be turned on at the same time.

As described above, since the control amount is obtained based on the deviation angle φ obtained for the selected road, the light distribution control is performed according to the shape of the road and the route of the vehicle according to a command from the navigation unit. be able to.

Next, during execution of the control main routine,
An interrupt routine that is executed at predetermined time intervals will be described. When an interruption occurs after a predetermined time, FIG.
Proceed to step 240. In this step 240, it is determined whether or not a command signal has been input from the navigation unit 72, and in the case of a negative determination, the flag FLAG-D is reset because the light distribution control by the instruction of the navigation unit 72 is not necessary (step 240). 256), this routine ends.

On the other hand, when the command signal is input and the judgment is affirmative, the command signal is decoded (step 24).
2) Go to step 244. In step 244, it is determined whether or not the flag FLAG-D has already been set.
In the case of an affirmative determination, this routine is terminated. If it is not set yet and a negative determination is made, step 24
6, the vehicle speed V is read, and in step 248, the gaze distance X is calculated based on the vehicle speed V using the above equation (1).
Is calculated.

In the next step 250, the distance S to the branch point is read from the image processing device 48. The distance S to the branch point is calculated as follows. In the image processing device 48, the distance calculation routine shown in FIG.
A converted image 132 is obtained by converting the image taken by the camera 22 into a plan view seen from above (see FIG. 6,
Steps 260 and 262 in FIG. 9). This image 132
Is used to perform a branch point extraction process (step 264). In this branch point extraction processing, first, image processing such as expansion and contraction is performed on the area of the road 122 surrounded by the curb 126, and the road 122 is represented by a line segment (corresponding to the center line 124 in this case). Road lines 90
A, 90B are obtained. Next, the position of the contact point BP of the road lines 90A and 90B is determined. This contact point BP corresponds to a branch point. The other contact points BP include orthogonal points such as T-shaped intersections and crossroads and junctions of curves. Next, at least one contact point BP
It is determined whether or not there is one (step 266). If the determination is affirmative, the distance S is calculated from the determined contact point BP and a point corresponding to the position of the vehicle 10 (step 270). For example,
In FIG. 6, when the vehicle 10 is at the position A, the contact point BP and the point B
And a Po, the distance S is determined from the contact BP and the point BP ₁ Metropolitan in the case of the vehicle 10 is located B. On the other hand, in the case of a negative determination because there is no contact point BP, the road is a normal road having no branch point ahead, so that the distance S is set to a value sufficiently larger than the gaze distance X (step 268).

In the next step 252, it is determined whether or not S <pX based on the read distance S and the gaze distance X, thereby determining whether or not the gaze position of the driver approaches the branch point. For example, in FIG. 6, when the vehicle 10 is at the position A, a negative determination is made, and when the vehicle 10 is at the position B, an affirmative determination is made. Note that a constant larger than 1 is predetermined for the coefficient p. If a negative determination is made in S ≧ pX, this routine is terminated. On the other hand, in the case of a positive determination in S <pX, in step 254, the flag FLAG
-Set D and end this routine.

As described above, in this embodiment, the road shape is grasped based on the image taken by the camera, and it is determined whether or not there is a road corresponding to the command signal from the navigation unit. Therefore, even when a command signal is input, when there is no corresponding road, the light distribution control according to the road shape can be performed, so that the control can be performed at an appropriate time according to the road shape. In addition, when the corresponding road exists, the light distribution is controlled according to the command signal, so that the light distribution according to the route information to the destination by the navigation unit can be controlled.

In the above embodiment, the case where the light distribution control is performed according to the command signal from the navigation unit 72 has been described. Hereinafter, the second embodiment in which the light distribution control is performed according to the sound generated by the driver will be described. In this embodiment, since the configuration is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and the detailed description is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 12, in this embodiment, a microphone 76 is used instead of the navigation unit 72.
The voice input means including the voice processing device 78 is connected to the control device 40. The driver's voice input from the microphone 76 is encoded (for example, into a symbol representing left and right) by the voice processing device 78 and input to the control device 40.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When the driver gives an instruction to turn on the head lamps 18 and 20, the control main routine shown in FIG. 13 is executed at predetermined time intervals, and the routine proceeds to step 300, where a command signal decoded in an interrupt routine (FIG. 14) described later is executed. It is determined whether or not a command signal for light distribution control is included in the command to determine the presence or absence of the command signal. If an affirmative determination is made and there is a voice input from the driver, the process proceeds to step 302, where it is determined whether or not any of the sound flags is set (in an interrupt routine described later). It is determined whether the user has been instructed to do so. In this case, a sound flag FLAG-V indicating that the vehicle is input when the vehicle enters the Y-junction to the right.
It is determined whether YR is set or not, and an affirmative determination is made.

The sound flag FLAG-VYR indicates whether or not the microphone has been instructed to enter the Y-junction to the right from the microphone. When the flag is set (the value is "1"), the sound flag FLAG-VYR is instructed. And reset (value is "0")
Indicates that no instruction has been given. Similarly,
The sound flag FLAG-VYL indicates whether or not a direction has been indicated when the vehicle enters the Y-junction to the left. The sound flag FLAG-VR indicates whether or not a direction to enter the intersection to the right has been instructed. When set, it indicates that it has been instructed, and when reset, it has not been instructed. Is represented. Similarly, the sound flag FLAG-VL
Indicates a state as to whether or not a direction to enter the intersection to the left has been instructed.

If the determination in step 302 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 166. The execution from step 166 is performed at step 172 in the flowchart of FIG.
To step 304 and step 176 to step 305
Execute in place of That is, the direction instruction signal is executed instead of the sound flag. On the other hand, if all the sound flags are reset and a negative determination is made in step 302, the process proceeds to step 316, where all sound flags (FLAG-VYR, FLAG
-Reset VYL, FLAG-VR, FLAG-VL) and perform normal light distribution control.

If there is no voice input from the driver (No in step 300), the process proceeds to step 306. In step 306, the direction flags (FLAG-YR, FL
AG-YL, FLAG-R, FLAG-L) is determined to determine whether or not the light distribution control is continued. In the case of a negative decision,
Since the light distribution control based on the voice input instruction has been completed, all the sound flags are reset in step 316, and normal light distribution control is performed (step 180).

On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in step 306, the flow advances to step 308 to read the steering angle θ. The steering angular velocity θ ′ is calculated together with the reading of the steering angle θ. In the next step 310, it is determined whether or not the steering is rotated in the reverse direction by determining whether or not θ ′ <0, and in the case of a negative determination, it is determined that the change of the vehicle direction by the steering is continuing, Return to step 306. In the case of an affirmative determination, it is determined that the change of the vehicle direction is approaching the end, and the above processing is continued until the steering reaches the neutral position by determining in step 312 whether or not θ <θk. The angle θk is set to a predetermined angle in advance. When the steering reaches the neutral position, it is determined that the light distribution control based on the voice input instruction has been completed, and the direction flag (FLAG-Y) is determined in step 314.
R, FLAG-YL, FLAG-R, FLAG-L) are reset.

Next, the above control main routine (FIG. 1)
3) An interrupt routine that is interrupted at predetermined time intervals during execution will be described. When an interruption occurs after a lapse of a predetermined time, the process proceeds to step 320 in FIG. In this step 320, it is determined whether or not a signal has been input from the voice processing device 78, thereby determining whether or not a command signal which is a voice instruction of the driver by the microphone 76 has been input. 326
Sound flags (FLAG-VYR, FLAG-VYL, FLAG-V
R, FLAG-VL) is determined. If any one flag is set, the process proceeds to step 244. If neither is set, the flag FLAG-D is reset (step 2).
56), this routine ends.

If an affirmative determination is made in step 320, the flow advances to step 322 to decode the signal input from the audio processing device 78. This decryption is performed by the audio processor 78.
This is a process of converting a signal coded (for example, into a symbol representing left and right) and input into road route information.
In the next step 324, sound flags (FLAG-VYR, FLAG-VYL, FLAG-VR, FL) corresponding to the decoded route information
AG-VL) is set. The following steps 244 to 254 are the same as those described above, and thus description thereof is omitted.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the command signal of the voice generated by the driver is temporarily stored, and the route of the vehicle is determined based on the command signal. This makes it possible to grasp the road shape based on the image captured by the camera and determine whether or not there is a road corresponding to the command signal by voice. As described above, since it is determined whether there is a road corresponding to the route instruction after grasping the road shape from the image, it is possible to perform light distribution control according to the road shape at an appropriate time, The light distribution can be controlled according to the corresponding road according to the voice emitted by the driver.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which a shade having a plurality of light shielding plates was provided in the headlamp, and the light distribution was changed by changing the position of the light shielding plates. The invention is not limited to this, and the optical axis (center axis) of the headlamp may be changed.

In the above embodiment, the image in front of the vehicle 10 photographed by the camera 22 is processed to obtain the road shape, and the gaze position of the driver is obtained from the traveling direction of the vehicle. Instead of using the present invention, the present invention may be applied to road-vehicle communication using road information obtained from a transmitting device arranged along a road. The data used in the road-vehicle communication includes, for example, numerical data of curvature of a curved road and linearity of the road. If this road-vehicle communication is used, the gaze position can be obtained from the road shape without performing image processing, so that the processing time can be reduced and the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified.

Further, fuzzy inference may be used to calculate a control amount for controlling the light distribution of the head lamps 18 and 20. Further, in the light distribution by the headlamp, the light distribution for changing the spread of light and the light distribution for changing the reach of the light may be independently controlled to be different depending on the vehicle speed and the road shape. Also, when the vehicle speed is low, the travel distance of light is shortened and the spread of light is increased, so that the driving view has a margin.At high speed, the spread of light is reduced and the reach of light is increased. It is preferable to give priority to the driving view at high speed (distant view).

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, a vehicle
Because the vehicle is controlled so that the gaze position to be watched by the driver is illuminated by the headlamp based on both driving conditions and the shape of the vehicle route and traveling path, the driving condition includes the vehicle route and road shape. Accordingly, there is an effect that light distribution control of a headlamp with good visibility for a driver to visually confirm can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a front portion of a vehicle according to the present embodiment, as viewed obliquely from the front of the vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a front part of the vehicle, as viewed obliquely from behind the driver's seat of the vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a headlamp to which a light distribution control device for a headlamp according to the present invention can be applied;

FIG. 4 is an image diagram showing a light distribution state when a headlamp is turned on.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a control device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a road (an image after processing by an image processing apparatus).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a main routine of light distribution control according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an interrupt routine according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of image processing for obtaining a distance to a branch point.

FIG. 10 is an image diagram of an image signal output by a camera.

FIG. 11 is an image diagram after the image of FIG. 10 is processed by the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a control device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a main routine of light distribution control according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an interrupt routine according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 18 headlamp 22 camera 40 shade 48 image processing device (travel path shape detecting means) 50 control device (control means) 72 navigation unit (path detecting means)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A route detecting means for detecting a route for guiding a vehicle having a headlamp having at least one of an irradiation direction and an irradiation range which can be changed, and a shape of the traveling route from an image including the traveling route of the vehicle. Traveling path shape detecting means for detecting, traveling state detecting means for detecting the traveling state of the vehicle, a gaze position to be watched by the driver based on the traveling state of the vehicle, the route of the vehicle, and the shape of the traveling path Seeking
A control means for controlling at least one of an irradiation direction and an irradiation range of the headlamp so that light is irradiated to the determined gaze position.