JP4534871B2 - Vehicle lighting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an illuminating device mounted on a vehicle, and more particularly, to an illuminating device for a vehicle for improving the visibility of a sign such as a road sign or a guide sign installed on a road shoulder during night driving.

  Conventionally, an AFS (adaptive front lighting system) has been proposed in order to irradiate the direction that the driver wants to see by changing the irradiation direction (that is, the optical axis) of the headlamp with an actuator. The AFS includes two functions, a leveling function (vertical direction change) and a swivel function (horizontal direction change) based on the difference in the optical axis change direction of the headlamp. This system calculates the optimal optical axis based on the driving conditions of the vehicle, and controls to keep the driver's point of interest bright.

On the other hand, other types of front lighting lamps such as headlamps, fog lamps, road guide sign lighting lamps, curved road lighting lamps, cornering lamps, near-infrared light irradiation lamps, etc. are mounted on the vehicle, and these are linked with the navigation device. A system that controls the lighting and light distribution of the lamp has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-193030 A

  However, in the conventional AFS, as described above, the driving state of the actuator that changes the direction of the headlamp is controlled using the traveling state of the vehicle as an input signal. There was a problem that could not. For example, even if the driver wants to see a signboard or road sign with road information written on it, it is not possible to estimate their position from the driving situation of the vehicle, so irradiating those road signs etc. could not.

  On the other hand, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1, the visibility of road signs and the like is improved to some extent by being equipped with a road guide sign illumination lamp. Only the lighting and light distribution of the lamp are controlled based on this, and it is difficult to prevent a specific road sign or guide sign from being overlooked, and the sign may not be sufficiently irradiated depending on the driving situation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object to be solved is to provide a vehicular illumination device that can reliably improve the visibility of a sign such as a road sign.

  Hereinafter, each means suitable for solving the above-described problems will be described with additional effects and the like as necessary.

1. A lighting device installed in a vehicle,
A light source provided at the front of the vehicle;
A sign recognition means for recognizing the presence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on a road shoulder,
Control means for controlling lighting of the light source based on information on the presence or absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and its position ;
A label selection means for a user to preselect a label to be irradiated by the light source ,
The vehicle lighting device , wherein the control means turns on the light source only when a sign previously selected by the sign selection means is recognized by the sign recognition means .

According to the means 1, the sign recognition means recognizes the presence / absence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on the road shoulder, etc., and the control means information on the presence / absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and the position thereof. Because the lighting of the light source provided at the front of the vehicle is controlled based on the sign, the sign is reliably irradiated by the light source when the vehicle approaches or passes a sign such as a road sign or a guide sign, Visibility is greatly improved. Then, when the user preselects a sign to be irradiated by the light source via the sign selection means, the control means turns on the light source only when the sign selected by the sign selection means is recognized by the sign recognition means. Doing so ensures irradiation of the selected label. On the other hand, since the light source is not turned on for the unselected sign, it is possible to prevent the driver from being bothered by turning on the light source even when unnecessary. In addition, in this specification, the sign includes a road sign such as a regulation sign, an instruction sign, an auxiliary sign, a warning sign, a guide sign in which road information is written, a signboard for guidance or warning similar to these signs, etc. Is also included.

2. A lighting device installed in a vehicle,
A light source provided at the front of the vehicle;
A sign recognition means for recognizing the presence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on a shoulder, etc .;
Control means for controlling lighting of the light source based on information on the presence or absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and its position;
A sign imaging device for photographing a sign irradiated by the light source;
A display device for displaying a photographed image of the sign by the sign imaging device for a certain period of time;
Car dual illumination device comprising the.

According to the means 2, the sign recognition means recognizes the presence / absence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on the road shoulder, etc., and the control means information on the presence / absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and the position thereof. Because the lighting of the light source provided at the front of the vehicle is controlled based on the sign, the sign is reliably irradiated by the light source when the vehicle approaches or passes a sign such as a road sign or a guide sign, Visibility is greatly improved. Further, when the sign imaging device captures the sign illuminated by the light source, the display device displays a photographed image of the sign by the sign imaging device for a certain period of time, so that the driver can directly view the sign illuminated by the light source. In addition, the sign that has passed can be visually recognized on the display device, and the miss of the sign can be more reliably avoided.

3. An actuator for changing the irradiation direction of the light source in at least one of a vertical direction and a horizontal direction;
A driving condition detecting means for detecting a driving condition of the vehicle including a vehicle speed and a steering angle;
Further comprising
The control means controls lighting of the light source and driving of the actuator based on the running situation detected by the running situation detecting means and the presence / absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and the information on the position thereof. The vehicle lighting device according to means 1 or 2, characterized in that.

According to the means 3, the traveling condition detecting means detects the traveling condition of the vehicle including the vehicle speed and the steering angle, and the sign recognition means recognizes the presence / absence of a sign such as a road sign installed on the road shoulder and the position thereof. The control means controls the lighting of the light source and the driving of the actuator based on the running situation detected by the running situation detection means and the information on the presence / absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and the position thereof. Since the irradiation direction is changed to at least one of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, a sign such as a road sign is reliably irradiated by the light source, and the visibility of the sign when traveling at night is greatly improved.

4). The sign recognition means is a navigation device that stores road information including sign placement information such as a road sign and can output information on the presence / absence of a sign and information on the position corresponding to the predicted position of the vehicle. The vehicle lighting device according to any one of means 1 to 3.

According to the means 4, the navigation device stores the road information including the installation information of the sign such as the road sign and outputs the information on the presence / absence of the sign and the position corresponding to the predicted position of the vehicle. Can control the lighting of the light source on the basis of the information on the presence / absence of the sign and the position output by the navigation device, and reliably irradiate the sign such as a road sign with the light source at an appropriate timing .

5). The sign recognizing means includes a front image pickup device for photographing the front of the vehicle and an image recognition device capable of recognizing the presence / absence of the sign and its position based on a photographed image in front of the vehicle by the front image pickup device. The vehicle lighting device according to any one of means 1 to 3 .

According to the means 5, when the front imaging device captures the scenery in front of the vehicle, the image recognition device uses the image of the front of the vehicle captured by the front imaging device to detect the presence or absence of the sign and the position of the image such as pattern matching. Since it is recognized by the processing, the control means controls the lighting of the light source based on the information on the presence / absence of the sign recognized by the image recognition device and the position thereof, and reliably irradiates the sign such as a road sign with the light source at an appropriate timing. can do.

6). The vehicle illumination device according to any one of means 1 to 5 , wherein the light source is provided separately from a headlamp for irradiating the vehicle traveling direction .

According to the means 6, a light source for irradiating a sign such as a road sign is provided separately from the headlamp for irradiating the vehicle traveling direction. It is possible to greatly improve the visibility of signs such as road signs while securing the property .

  According to the present invention, the sign recognition means recognizes the presence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on the road shoulder, etc., and the control means provides information on the presence and position of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means. Because the lighting of the light source provided at the front of the vehicle is controlled based on the sign, the sign is reliably irradiated by the light source when the vehicle approaches or passes a sign such as a road sign or a guide sign, Visibility is greatly improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a lighting device for a vehicle embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the vehicular illumination apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, left and right headlamps 10L and 10R are disposed as headlamps on the front of the vehicle, and marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R are disposed adjacent to the headlamps 10L and 10R, respectively. . FIG. 2 is a front view showing the arrangement of the headlamp 10R and the marker illumination lamp 11R provided at the front of the vehicle. The headlamps 10L and 10R constitute the headlamp of the present invention, and the marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R constitute the light source.

  The ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 20 includes a CPU 21 as a central processing unit that executes various known arithmetic processes, a ROM 22 that stores control programs, a RAM 23 that stores various data, an input / output circuit 25, and the like. It is configured as a control circuit for performing drive control of the actuators 12L and 12R of the headlamps 10L and 10R, lighting control of the marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R, and drive control of the actuators 13L and 13R. In addition, ECU20 comprises the control means of this invention.

  The navigation device 30 includes a storage device (not shown) for storing road information, a touch panel display 30a disposed at a position that is easy to see from the driver's seat in the vehicle compartment, and the like, and uses GPS (Global Positioning System). This is an apparatus configured to predict the travel position of the vehicle and display the map and the predicted position of the vehicle on the touch panel display 30a. Further, the road information stored in the navigation device 30 includes installation information of various signs such as road signs and guide signs, and outputs information on the presence / absence of the signs and the position corresponding to the predicted position of the vehicle. It is possible.

  In addition, the user can select in advance the type of sign desired to be irradiated by the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R via the touch panel display 30a. FIG. 3 shows a display example of a sign selection screen on the touch panel display 30 a of the navigation device 30. The user can select the type of sign to be irradiated by the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R by touching the surface of the touch panel display 30a with a finger on the sign selection screen. It is stored in the storage means in the navigation device 30. For example, in the display example of FIG. 3, a plurality of selectable signs (for road signs, “vehicle closed”, “vehicle entry prohibited”, etc .; for information signs, “highway entrance”, “service area”, etc.) The image is displayed, and the user can select any of these signs by touching the screen of the touch panel display 30a with a finger, and the selected sign is displayed surrounded by a dotted line ( (Upper right, “Vehicle entry prohibition” sign). The navigation device 30 constitutes the sign recognition means of the present invention, and the touch panel display 30a constitutes the sign selection means.

  The ECU 20 includes an output signal from the vehicle speed sensor 14 that detects the vehicle speed, an output signal from the steering angle sensor 16 that detects the steering angle of the steering wheel 15, and an output from the headlamp lighting switch 17 that lights the headlamps 10L and 10R. Signals, information on the presence / absence of a sign such as a road sign output from the navigation device 30 and its position, and other various sensor signals are input. Then, the ECU 20 calculates the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the output signal from the vehicle speed sensor 14 and the output signal from the steering angle sensor 16, and the output signal is the actuator 12L of each of the left and right headlamps 10L, 10R of the vehicle. , 12R, and the optical axis directions of the left and right headlamps 10L, 10R are adjusted. Note that the vehicle speed sensor 14 and the steering angle sensor 16 constitute the traveling state detection means of the present invention.

  The ECU 20 is further installed on the road shoulder or the like based on the output signal from the vehicle speed sensor 14 for detecting the vehicle speed, the output signal from the steering angle sensor 16 and the information on the presence / absence of the sign output from the navigation device 30 and the position thereof. The position of the sign is calculated, and the output signal is input to the left and right sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R and the actuators 13L and 13R of the vehicle, the left and right sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are turned on, and the actuator 13L , 13R are driven, the optical axis directions of the marker illumination lamps 11L, 11R are adjusted to the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. Since the lighting of the left and right marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R and the driving by the actuators 13L and 13R are performed independently of each other, both the marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R are lit and both the left and right marker illuminations. The lamps 11L and 11R may be turned on (the same applies to the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 4 described later).

  Next, the contents of the marker illumination lamp lighting control process executed by the CPU 21 in the ECU 20 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The sign lighting lamp lighting control processing program describing the contents of the flowchart is stored in the ROM 22, and the CPU 21 reads this control program from the ROM 22 and executes it.

  First, information on the presence / absence of a sign and its position output from the navigation device 30 is input to the ECU 20 (step 1. Hereinafter, abbreviated as S1. The same applies to other steps). Next, based on the output signal from the headlamp lighting switch 17, it is determined whether or not the headlamps 10L and 10R are being lit (S2). When the headlamps 10L and 10R are turned off (S2: No), the marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R are turned off (S3).

  If the headlamp is lit in S2 (S2: Yes), it is determined whether there is a sign ahead of the vehicle based on the information input from the navigation device 30 in S1 (S4). When there is no sign (S4: No), the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are turned off (S3).

  If there is a sign in front of the vehicle in S4 (S4: Yes), it is determined whether or not the sign is a sign previously selected by the user (S5). If the sign is not selected by the user (S5: No), the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are turned off (S3).

  In S5, when the sign existing in front of the vehicle is a sign selected by the user (S5: Yes), it is determined whether or not a certain time has passed since the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R were turned on. (S6). When the predetermined time or more has elapsed (S6: Yes), the marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R are turned off (S3).

  If it has not been a certain time since the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are lit in S6 (S6: No), the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are lit (S7). In S7, the actuators 13L and 13R are driven in the horizontal and vertical directions based on the vehicle speed output from the vehicle speed sensor 14, the steering angle output from the steering angle sensor 16, and the position information of the sign input from the navigation device 30. To do. Accordingly, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 5, in addition to the headlamps 10L and 10R irradiating the traveling direction of the vehicle, the left sign illumination lamp 11L irradiates the road sign for a certain period of time. The visibility of road signs in is greatly improved.

  As is clear from the above detailed description, according to the present embodiment, the vehicle speed sensor 14, the steering angle sensor 16, and the like detect the traveling state of the vehicle including the vehicle speed and the steering angle, and the navigation device 30 is installed on the road shoulder or the like. The presence / absence of a sign such as a road sign and its position are recognized, and the ECU 20 recognizes the sign based on the traveling situation detected by the vehicle speed sensor 14 and the information on the presence / absence and the position of the sign recognized by the navigation device 30. The lighting lamps 11L and 11R are turned on and the actuators 13L and 13R are controlled to change the irradiation direction of the marker illumination lamps 11L and 11R in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. Irradiated reliably, the visibility of the sign when traveling at night is greatly improved.

  In addition, the user can select in advance the sign to be irradiated by the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R via the touch panel display 30a of the navigation device 30, and the ECU 20 recognizes the preselected sign. Only the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are turned on and the actuators 13L and 13R are driven, so that the selected sign can be reliably irradiated. On the other hand, since the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are not turned on for the unselected sign, the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are lighted excessively, which causes trouble for the driver. Can be prevented.

  Next, the vehicle lighting device 101 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same member as 1st embodiment, and detailed description about them is abbreviate | omitted.

  In the first embodiment described above, an example in which the navigation device 30 is used as a sign recognition means for recognizing the presence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on a road shoulder is shown. The illumination device 101 is configured to recognize the presence / absence of a sign and its position by image recognition.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the vehicular illumination device 101 is provided with CCD (Charge Coupled Device) cameras 31 </ b> L and 31 </ b> R and an image recognition device 32 instead of the navigation device 30 in the first embodiment. It has been. The CCD cameras 31L and 31R constitute the front imaging apparatus of the present invention.

  The CCD cameras 31L and 31R are devices that are respectively disposed adjacent to the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R provided at the front of the vehicle, and shoot the front of the vehicle and output the captured image data. Note that the CCD cameras 31L and 31R are desirably high-sensitivity cameras capable of photographing even in a dark place at night.

  The image recognition device 32 is electrically connected to the CCD cameras 31L and 31R, and is configured as a logical operation circuit including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an input / output circuit, and the like (not shown). When photographed image data in front of the vehicle is input from the CCD cameras 31L and 31R to the image recognition device 32, the photographed image data is developed in the RAM, and the sign recognition program stored in the ROM is executed, thereby allowing From the image processing, the presence / absence of a sign such as a road sign or a guide sign and its position are recognized. For example, the image recognition device 32 stores in advance the contour shape of various signs such as circles, inverted triangles, and squares, and the pattern data of the display contents of each sign, and performs sign matching by pattern matching processing between the captured image and these pattern data. You may comprise so that the presence or absence and its position may be recognized.

  Then, the recognition result of the sign by the image recognition device 32 is input to the ECU 20 (the process of S1 in the flowchart of the figure), and the lamp lighting control process of the sign illumination is executed (see the flowchart of FIG. 4). Therefore, also in this embodiment, the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R reliably irradiate the sign, so that the visibility of the sign when traveling at night is greatly improved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to each embodiment mentioned above, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the main point of this invention.

  For example, in the second embodiment, a display device such as a liquid crystal display is disposed in the vehicle compartment so that it can be seen from the driver, and a sign such as a road sign emitted by the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R is displayed on the CCD camera 31L, The image may be captured by 31R, and the captured image of the sign may be displayed on the display device for a certain period of time. According to this modified example, the driver can visually recognize a sign such as a road sign emitted by the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R directly, and can also visually recognize a sign that has passed by the display device. It is possible to more reliably avoid overlooking the sign. The CCD cameras 31L and 31R constitute the sign image pickup device of the present invention.

  Further, in each of the embodiments, the example in which the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R are provided as the dedicated light source for irradiating the sign is shown. However, one or more of the plurality of headlamps 10L and 10R are provided. It is good also as a structure which switches a piece temporarily and uses it as a light source for label | marker irradiation. In this case, the sign illumination lamps 11L and 11R can be omitted.

  The present invention can be applied to a lighting device mounted on a vehicle, in particular, a device for improving the visibility of a sign such as a road sign or a guide sign installed on a road shoulder during night driving.

It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the vehicle illuminating device of 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a front view which shows arrangement | positioning of the headlamp provided in the vehicle front surface, and the lamp | ramp for sign illumination. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the label | marker selection screen in the touchscreen type display of a navigation apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a lamp | ramp lighting control process for a marker illumination. It is a schematic diagram which shows the irradiation state by the headlamp and the lamp | ramp for sign illumination. It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the illuminating device for vehicles of 2nd embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1,101 Vehicle lighting system 10L Headlamp (headlamp)
10R Headlamp (headlight)
11L Lamp for sign illumination (light source)
11R Lamp for sign illumination (light source)
13L Actuator 13R Actuator 20 ECU (Control Unit)
30 Navigation device (sign recognition means)
31L CCD camera (sign recognition means, forward imaging device, sign imaging device)
31R CCD camera (sign recognition means, forward imaging device, sign imaging device)
32 Image recognition device (sign recognition means)

Claims (6)

A lighting device installed in a vehicle,
A light source provided at the front of the vehicle;
A sign recognition means for recognizing the presence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on a road shoulder,
Control means for controlling lighting of the light source based on information on the presence or absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and its position ;
A label selection means for a user to preselect a label to be irradiated by the light source ,
The vehicle lighting device , wherein the control means turns on the light source only when a sign previously selected by the sign selection means is recognized by the sign recognition means . A lighting device installed in a vehicle,
A light source provided at the front of the vehicle;
A sign recognition means for recognizing the presence and position of a sign such as a road sign installed on a shoulder, etc .;
Control means for controlling lighting of the light source based on information on the presence or absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and its position;
A sign imaging device for photographing a sign irradiated by the light source;
A display device for displaying a photographed image of the sign by the sign imaging device for a certain period of time;
Car dual illumination device comprising the. An actuator for changing the irradiation direction of the light source in at least one of a vertical direction and a horizontal direction;
A driving condition detecting means for detecting a driving condition of the vehicle including a vehicle speed and a steering angle;
Further comprising
The control means controls lighting of the light source and driving of the actuator based on the running situation detected by the running situation detecting means and the presence / absence of the sign recognized by the sign recognition means and the information on the position thereof. The vehicular illumination device according to claim 1 or 2. The sign recognition means is a navigation device that stores road information including sign placement information such as a road sign and can output information on the presence / absence of a sign and information on the position corresponding to the predicted position of the vehicle. The vehicle lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The sign recognizing means includes a front image pickup device for photographing the front of the vehicle and an image recognition device capable of recognizing the presence / absence of the sign and its position based on a photographed image in front of the vehicle by the front image pickup device. the vehicle lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The light source, the vehicle lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that provided separately from the headlight for irradiating a vehicle traveling direction.

Images