JP3493909B2 - Automatic turn-on / off system and threshold setting method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic turn-on / off system for automatically turning on / off lights such as headlights and tail lights of a vehicle, and more particularly, to an automatic turn-on / off reference whose threshold is easily adjusted. Regarding the lighting system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an automatic lighting system for automatically turning on and off lights such as headlights and tail lights of automobiles,
There is a system in which the illuminance of external light is detected by an optical sensor and the illumination is automatically turned on and off based on the magnitude relationship between the detected value and a threshold value corresponding to the reference illuminance. In this system, when it is determined that the detected value is lower than the threshold for lighting and the illuminance of external light is lower than the reference illuminance for lighting, the illumination is turned on, and conversely When it is determined that the illuminance of outside light exceeds the reference illuminance at the time of turning off, the lighting is turned off, and the threshold for normal turning off is set slightly higher to perform stable lighting. is doing.

In this system, it is necessary to adjust and set each product so that each threshold value corresponds to a predetermined reference illuminance corresponding to the variation in characteristics of the optical sensor and its detection circuit. The adjustment is performed by changing the amplification factor of the detection circuit by adjusting the resistance in the circuit, or by adjusting the resistance in the comparison and determination circuit that makes the comparison and determination of the detected value and the threshold value. Note that the resistance is adjusted, for example, by replacing the resistance element with one having a different resistance value. Alternatively, a variable resistor is provided and its resistance value is adjusted.

[0004]

Therefore, in the conventional automatic lighting / extinguishing system, it is necessary to perform threshold adjustment for each product, which requires complicated work such as replacement of the resistance element or adjustment of the resistance value. I didn't like it. Further, for the same reason, it is not easy to change the threshold value after assembling to a vehicle or the like, and in that respect, maintainability is poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic lighting / extinguishing system capable of facilitating threshold setting and adjustment work.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic lighting / extinguishing system according to claim 1 detects the illuminance of input light by an optical sensor and sets a threshold value corresponding to the detected value and the reference illuminance. In an automatic turn-on / off system for automatically turning on / off the illumination according to the magnitude relationship of, a storage unit that stores an actual detection value by the optical sensor for input light of two or more different illuminances as a unique value, and a reference illuminance.
In response to the designation of, the calculation means for relatively calculating and setting the threshold value corresponding to the designated reference illuminance based on the eigenvalue stored in the storage means is provided.

A threshold setting method according to claim 2 is
A method of setting the threshold in an automatic lighting / extinguishing system that detects the illuminance of input light by an optical sensor and automatically turns on / off the lighting based on the magnitude relationship between the detected value and the threshold corresponding to the reference illuminance. Then, an actual detection value by the optical sensor with respect to input light of two or more different illuminances is measured as an eigenvalue, and the reference illuminance is specified based on the eigenvalue with respect to the designation of the reference illuminance. It is characterized in that corresponding threshold values are relatively calculated and set.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the automatic lighting / extinguishing system of this example, and FIG.
It is a figure which shows the relationship between the illuminance and the detection voltage in the same system. The automatic turn-on / off system of the present example is a detection circuit 1 including a photoconductive type photosensor made of, for example, a cadmium sulfide cell.
(Optical sensor circuit), a comparison determination circuit 2 (arithmetic means) that compares the detection value corresponding to the input light output from the optical sensor circuit 1 with a threshold value to determine the magnitude relationship, and the comparison determination circuit 2 The output circuit 3 controls the lighting of the light source based on the determination result.

Here, the comparison / determination circuit 2 has a function of performing a comparison / determination process of a detection value and a threshold value by operating in accordance with a set program including a microcomputer, for example, and also having a calculation process described later. In this case, a nonvolatile memory circuit 2a (storage means) is provided separately from the RAM configuring the microcomputer. The memory circuit 2a is for storing an actual detection value of the optical sensor with respect to input light having two or more different illuminances as a unique value. It should be noted that the registration of the eigenvalue is performed in advance for each product before it is mounted on a vehicle or the like.
For example, an environment in which the illuminance of the input light to the optical sensor is 0 (lx) and an environment in which the illuminance is 100 (lx) are artificially created, and the comparison / determination circuit input from the optical sensor circuit 1 under the respective conditions. The actual value (specifically, for example, voltage value) of the detection signal in 2 is registered in a predetermined address of the memory circuit 2a by the processing function of the comparison / determination circuit 2 based on the operation input of the operator, for example.

In the comparison / determination circuit 2, for example, when the reference illuminance is set by an operator's operation input before the product is shipped (before being mounted on the vehicle), or after being mounted on the vehicle, the driver or maintenance of the vehicle is performed. Every time the setting of the reference illuminance is changed based on the operation of the worker, the following calculation is performed to calculate an accurate threshold value (for example, voltage value) corresponding to each reference illuminance. For example, the memory circuit 2a Alternatively, it is registered in a predetermined address of the RAM described above. That is, for example, in the case of an optical sensor utilizing the photoconductive effect, there is a characteristic that the detection output is directly proportional to the illuminance of the input light at least in the range of low illuminance handled by this type of system, and the optical sensor circuit 1 and The input / output characteristic of the comparison / determination circuit 2 also has a characteristic that it is directly proportional to each other, although its absolute size varies. That is, the relationship between the illuminance of the input light and the detected voltage in the system can be displayed as a linear graph as shown in FIG. Since the eigenvalues registered in the memory circuit 2a are two or more points on this straight line, no matter what value the reference illuminance is set to, the actual voltage value (threshold value) corresponding to it is accurately calculated by proportional calculation. Can be calculated.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the illuminance is 0 (l
x) and 100 (lx), the actual detection voltages (eigenvalues V ₀ , V ₁₀₀ ) under the conditions of being registered in the memory circuit 2a are 20 (lx) as the lighting reference illuminance that is the lighting reference. When set, the comparison and judgment circuit 2
The calculation of V _TH = ((V ₁₀₀ −V ₀ ) / 100 × 20) + V ₀ is performed to calculate the threshold value V _TH corresponding to the lighting reference illuminance 20 (lx), and is registered in the memory circuit 2a or the like. In addition,
Similarly, a threshold value is obtained for the turn-off reference illuminance that is the reference for turning off, and, for example, when different lighting reference illuminance and turn-off reference illuminance are set for each type of illumination, the same applies for each reference illuminance. To find the threshold. Then, when the system is in operation, the comparison / determination circuit 2 makes a comparison / determination on the input voltage from the optical sensor circuit 1 based on the threshold value calculated in this way, and turns on / off the illumination via the output circuit 3. Take control.

As described above, according to the automatic lighting / extinguishing system of this example, two or more actual detection values (for each product) are obtained regardless of variations in the characteristics (absolute characteristic values) of the optical sensor and the internal circuit. It is possible to perform highly accurate lighting / extinguishing control based on an accurate threshold value that is relatively calculated from (eigenvalue).
It eliminates the need for complicated threshold adjustment by adjusting the resistance, and it is extremely easy to change the threshold (reference illuminance) settings, which significantly improves the productivity and maintenance workability of the system itself and the vehicle in which it is installed. Improve to.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned form example, and may have various forms. For example, the optical sensor is not limited to the photoconductive type, but may be a semiconductor element that utilizes the photovoltaic effect, a photoelectric tube that utilizes the photoelectron emission phenomenon, or the like. In any case, the threshold value may be relatively calculated from two or more actual detection values (eigenvalues) according to the characteristics of the optical sensor used. Further, the characteristic of the system including the optical sensor is not necessarily limited to the linear characteristic as in the above-described embodiment, and may be any one that can be specified as a constant function so that the threshold value can be calculated. Further, in the threshold value setting method of the present invention, the threshold value may be calculated, for example, by an operator by hand and the calculated value may be registered in the memory of the system as the threshold value. Also,
The calculation calculation of the threshold value by the calculation means such as the comparison / determination circuit 2 in the above-described embodiment is not limited to the input operation of the reference illuminance (or the setting change), and for example, when the comparison determination is performed on the detection value from the optical sensor. Alternatively, the threshold value may be calculated each time. In this case, it is necessary to register the latest set reference illuminance in the storage unit together with the eigenvalue described above. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to lighting / extinguishing control of lighting in a vehicle, and can be applied to, for example, lighting / extinguishing control of indoor lighting or outside lighting.

[0014]

In the automatic turn-on / off system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores the actual detection value by the optical sensor with respect to the input light of two or more different illuminances as the eigenvalue, and the arithmetic means stores the reference value. With respect to the designation of the illuminance, a threshold value corresponding to the designated reference illuminance is relatively calculated and set based on the eigenvalue stored in the storage means. Therefore, regardless of variations in the characteristics (absolute characteristic values) of the optical sensor and the internal circuit, it is possible to perform highly accurate lighting / extinguishing control based on an accurate threshold value relatively calculated from two or more actual detection values. Moreover, it is unnecessary to adjust the threshold value by adjusting the resistance as in the conventional case, and the productivity and maintenance workability of the system itself and the vehicle in which the system is assembled are significantly improved. Particularly in this case, since the calculation means calculates the threshold value, it is a very simple operation or operation of inputting the reference illuminance for initial setting or changing the setting of the threshold value (reference illuminance).

In the threshold value setting method according to the second aspect, the actual detection value by the optical sensor with respect to the input light of two or more different illuminances is respectively measured as the eigenvalue, and the finger of the reference illuminance is measured.
On the basis of the eigenvalue, the threshold value corresponding to the designated reference illuminance is relatively calculated and set. Therefore, regardless of variations in the characteristics (absolute characteristic values) of the optical sensor and the internal circuit, it is possible to perform highly accurate lighting / extinguishing control based on an accurate threshold value relatively calculated from two or more actual detection values. Moreover, it is unnecessary to adjust the threshold value by adjusting the resistance as in the conventional case, and the productivity and maintenance workability of the system itself and the vehicle in which the system is assembled are significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic lighting / extinguishing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the illuminance and the detected voltage in the automatic lighting / extinguishing system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Optical sensor circuit 2 Comparison judgment circuit (calculation means) 2a Memory circuit (storage means)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-1-197801 (JP, A) JP-A-1-110213 (JP, A) JP-A-3-130636 (JP, A) JP-A-5- 278518 (JP, A) JP 59-48243 (JP, A) JP 51-90083 (JP, A) Actual opening 59-29324 (JP, U) Actual opening 1-150147 (JP, U) J. Kaihei 2-63484 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60Q 1/02 B60Q 1/30

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automatic lighting / extinguishing system in which an illuminance of input light is detected by an optical sensor and lighting is automatically turned on / off according to a magnitude relationship between a detected value and a threshold value corresponding to a reference illuminance. Storage means for respectively storing actual detection values by the optical sensor for input light of different illuminance as eigenvalues, and for reference illuminance specification , based on the eigenvalues stored in the storage means , the specified reference illuminance And an arithmetic means for relatively calculating and setting a threshold corresponding to the above. 2. An automatic lighting / extinguishing system in which an illuminance of input light is detected by an optical sensor and lighting is automatically turned on / off based on a magnitude relationship between the detected value and a threshold corresponding to a reference illuminance. A method of setting, wherein the actual detection value by the optical sensor with respect to input light of two or more different illuminances is measured as an eigenvalue, and a reference value is set.
A threshold setting method for an automatic lighting / extinguishing system , wherein a threshold corresponding to a designated reference illuminance is relatively calculated and set with respect to the designation of the illuminance based on the eigenvalue.