JP7383360B2 - vehicle - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle equipped with a headlamp that forms a high beam light distribution pattern and a low beam light distribution pattern.

The vehicle headlamp device of Patent Document 1 includes a lamp unit, a vehicle position detection section, a curved road determination section, and a curved road pattern restriction section. The lamp unit forms a low beam light distribution pattern and a high beam light distribution pattern. The vehicle position detection unit receives image data captured by a camera, and searches the image data for feature points indicating a vehicle, thereby detecting the presence or absence and position of an oncoming vehicle. The pattern determining section determines an optimal light distribution pattern taking into consideration the oncoming vehicle detected by the vehicle position detecting section. The pattern control section controls the lamp unit to form the light distribution pattern determined by the pattern determination section. The curved road determination unit determines whether the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling has a sharp curve. As an example of the curve pattern restriction section, when it is determined that the curve is a sharp curve, it is determined whether the inner diameter side of the curve hits the oncoming lane. As an example of the curve pattern restriction section, when it is determined that the inner diameter side of the curve hits the oncoming lane, the low beam is set on the lamp unit on the oncoming lane regardless of the light distribution pattern determined by the pattern determination section. It is supported by a pattern control unit so as to form a light distribution pattern.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-16505

When a vehicle is traveling straight and an oncoming vehicle turns right, the oncoming vehicle may suddenly enter the imaging area from the left edge of the camera's imaging area. In this case, if the above-mentioned vehicle position detection unit detects the presence or absence and position of an oncoming vehicle by searching the image data for feature points indicating a vehicle, it takes too much time to detect it. As a result, a delay in detecting an oncoming vehicle may occur. If there is a delay in detecting an oncoming vehicle, the oncoming vehicle will be illuminated with high beam light. In order to suppress the delay in detecting oncoming vehicles, for example, if a camera with high detection accuracy or a control unit with high processing speed is provided, the cost will increase. In addition, in order to suppress the delay in detecting oncoming vehicles, when driving on a curved road and the inner diameter side of the curved road is on the oncoming lane, control is applied to form a low beam light distribution pattern, as in the vehicle headlamp system described above. If you do this, the area in front of your vehicle will be dark and difficult to see even though there are no oncoming vehicles.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive vehicle that can quickly change the light distribution pattern of the headlights to a low beam light distribution pattern.

A vehicle according to one aspect of the present invention includes:
A vehicle comprising headlights forming a high beam light distribution pattern and a low beam light distribution pattern,
an imaging unit that captures an image of the front of the vehicle;
a determination unit that determines whether a white light emitting body has entered the imaging area from at least one of the left and right side edges of the imaging area of the imaging unit;
A headlight control unit that sets the low beam light distribution pattern when the determination unit determines that the white light emitting body has entered the vehicle.

In the vehicle, when the determination unit determines that a white light emitting body has entered, the headlight control unit changes the vehicle to a low beam light distribution pattern. That is, the vehicle uses a low beam light distribution pattern without determining what the white light emitter is or what the object that includes the white light emitter is. Therefore, the vehicle can omit the time required to determine whether the incoming white light emitter is a vehicle or not, and can quickly change to a low beam light distribution pattern. Therefore, even if the vehicle is on a road surface where the white light emitter suddenly enters the imaging area from either the left or right side edge of the imaging area, the vehicle will not be able to detect an object equipped with the white light emitter, such as an oncoming vehicle. In contrast, it is possible to suppress the irradiation of high beam light.

In this way, the above-mentioned vehicle does not need to determine what the white light emitter is, especially whether it is a vehicle or not, in order to set the low beam light distribution pattern. It can be done. Therefore, the cost of the above-mentioned vehicle does not easily increase, so it tends to be inexpensive.

The vehicle can maintain the high beam light distribution pattern unless the determination unit determines that a white light emitting body has entered the vehicle. Therefore, the periphery of the road surface that satisfies the predetermined curvature is bright and easy to see.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a vehicle according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically showing an imaging area of an imaging unit included in the vehicle according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the overlapping rate of white light emitters. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a headlamp control unit provided in a vehicle according to an embodiment.

An embodiment of a vehicle according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

《Embodiment》
〔vehicle〕
A vehicle 1 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a headlamp 2 and an imaging section 4. The headlights 2 form a high beam light distribution pattern and a low beam light distribution pattern. The imaging unit 4 images the front of the vehicle 1. One of the features of the vehicle 1 of this embodiment is that it includes a headlight control section 6 that performs specific control on the headlights 2 based on the determination result of a specific first determination section 51. This will be explained in detail below. The vehicle 1 of this embodiment is a right-hand drive vehicle. The vehicle 1 of this embodiment drives on the left side. Unlike this embodiment, the vehicle 1 may be a left-hand drive vehicle. The vehicle 1 may drive on the right side.

[Headlight]
The headlights 2 form a high beam light distribution pattern and a low beam light distribution pattern. The headlight 2 is an adaptive driving beam system (ADB). That is, the headlight 2 is a headlight that can configure a low beam light distribution pattern by controlling the light distribution based on the high beam light distribution pattern. A known configuration can be adopted as the configuration of the variable light distribution headlamp. For example, the headlight 2 may include a plurality of light sources that can configure high beam and low beam light distribution patterns, or a variable shade that can partially block the high beam.

[Imaging unit]
The imaging unit 4 images the front of the vehicle 1. A camera can be used as the imaging unit 4. Information captured by the imaging unit 4 is output to an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 5.

The imaging area 40 shown in FIG. 2 includes a range from the first left line L1 to the first right line R1 shown in FIG. The first left line L1 is, for example, a line that passes through the left headlight 2 and is inclined 20° outward in the vehicle width direction with respect to the left reference axis L0. The first right side line R1 is, for example, a line that passes through the right side headlight 2 and is inclined 20° outward in the vehicle width direction with respect to the right side reference axis R0. The left reference axis L0 is a line that is parallel to the left and right center line of the vehicle 1 and passes through the left headlight 2. The right reference axis R0 is a line that is parallel to the center line and passes through the right headlamp 2.

The imaging area 40 shown in FIG. 2 has a left side area 40L, a right side area 40R, and a center area 40C. The left side area 40L is, for example, an area between the first left side line L1 and the second left side line L2. The right side region 40R is, for example, a region between the first right side line R1 and the second right side line R2. The second left side line L2 is, for example, a line inclined outward in the vehicle width direction by 15 degrees with respect to the left side reference axis L0. The second right side line R2 is, for example, a line inclined outward in the vehicle width direction by 15 degrees with respect to the right side reference axis R0. The central region 40C is a region between the left region 40L and the right region 40R.

[Curvature acquisition part]
The vehicle 1 of this embodiment may further include a curvature acquisition section 3. The curvature acquisition unit 3 acquires the curvature of the road surface. The road surface includes a road surface on which the vehicle 1 is traveling, or a road surface in front of the road surface on which the vehicle 1 is traveling. The curvature of a road surface is the curvature of a bend in a road when the road surface is viewed from above. In the case of a road surface on which the vehicle is running, the curvature acquisition unit 3 can use, for example, a yaw rate sensor or a steering angle sensor. In the case of the road surface in front, the curvature acquisition unit 3 can be, for example, a car navigation system. The information acquired by the curvature acquisition section 3 is output to the ECU 5.

[First judgment section]
The first determination unit 51 shown in FIG. 1 determines the presence or absence of a white light emitter within the imaging area 40. The first determination unit 51 also determines whether a white light emitting body has entered the imaging area 40 from either the left or right side edge of the imaging area 40 . For example, the determination that the object has entered may be made based on image processing when a region of a predetermined size and having a predetermined color temperature appears in the left region 40L or the right region 40R. The determination that the white light emitting body has entered is made as soon as the white light emitting body enters the inside of the left side area 40L from the left edge of the left side area 40L or the inside of the right side area 40R from the right edge of the right side area 40R. The term "immediately" refers to the period until the white light emitting material enters the inside of either the left side area 40L or the right side area 40R and exits from the inside of the other side to the center area 40C. That is, the first determination unit 51 also determines whether a white light emitting body has come out from the right edge of the left side area 40L to the center area 40C. The first determination unit 51 also determines whether a white light emitting body has come out from the left edge of the right side area 40R to the center area 40C. The first determination unit 51 is included in the ECU 5.

A white light emitter is an object that emits white light. In other words, a white light emitter emits light of almost all wavelengths of visible light. Normally, if the color temperature is about 4200K or more and 6500K or less, it is recognized as white. This white light emitter is assumed to be a headlight of an oncoming vehicle 100. Whether it is a white light emitter or not can be determined from the color temperature of the image captured by the imaging unit 4.

A case where the vehicle 1 is traveling straight and the oncoming vehicle 100 is turning right or left will be described below. When the vehicle 1 is traveling straight and the oncoming vehicle 100 is turning right, a white light emitter may enter the left side area 40L from the left edge of the left side area 40L of the imaging area 40. On the other hand, when the vehicle 1 is traveling straight and an oncoming vehicle turns left, the white light emitter may enter the right side area 40R from the right edge of the right side area 40R of the imaging area 40. That is, if a white light emitting body enters the inside of the left side area 40L from the left edge of the left side area 40L or the inside of the right side area 40R from the right edge of the right side area 40R, it is often a white light emitting body of an oncoming vehicle. Therefore, it is not necessary to determine what the white light emitter is or what the object including the white light emitter is. That is, there is no need to determine whether the object provided with the white light emitter is a vehicle.

[Second judgment section]
It is preferable that the vehicle 1 of this embodiment further includes a second determination section 52 when the first determination section 51 determines a white light emitting body. The second determination unit 52 determines whether the number of white light emitters determined by the first determination unit 51 is two or more. That is, the second determination unit 52 determines whether the number of white light emitters that have entered the imaging area 40 from either the left or right side edge of the imaging area 40 of the imaging unit 4 is two or more. . For example, if the number of white light emitters is two, the object provided with the two white light emitters is often the oncoming vehicle 100. Therefore, it is not necessary to determine what the two white light emitters are or what the object including the two white light emitters is. The second determination unit 52 is included in the ECU 5.

[Third Judgment Department]
When the vehicle 1 of this embodiment includes the second determination section 52, it may further include a third determination section 53. The third determination unit 53 determines whether the overlap rate of the two white light emitters determined by the second determination unit 52 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. That is, the third determination unit 53 determines whether the overlap rate of the two white light emitters that have entered the imaging area 40 from either the left or right side edges of the imaging area 40 of the imaging unit 4 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Determine whether or not. The predetermined value may be set as appropriate. The higher the predetermined value is, the more preferable it is. The higher the predetermined value, the more likely the object including two white light emitters is the oncoming vehicle 100. Therefore, it is not necessary to determine what the two white light emitters are or what the object including the two white light emitters is. The predetermined value is, for example, preferably 80%, more preferably 85%, and particularly preferably 90%. The third determination unit 53 is included in the ECU 5.

The overlapping rate of the two white light emitters 7 will be explained with reference to FIG. For convenience of explanation, the white light emitters 7 on the left and right sides of the paper in FIG. 3 are referred to as the left white light emitter 7 and the right white light emitter 7, respectively. The horizontal direction is the horizontal direction of the paper, and the vertical direction is the vertical direction of the paper. The overlap rate is determined by (second length H2/first length H1)×100. The first length H1 is the length along the vertical direction between the first line h1 and the second line h2. The second length H2 is the length along the vertical direction between the third line h3 and the fourth line h4. The first line h1 is a line extending in the horizontal direction that does not pass through the white light emitter 7 on the right side but touches the white light emitter 7 on the left side. The second line h2 is a line extending in the horizontal direction that does not pass through the white light emitter 7 on the left side but touches the white light emitter 7 on the right side. The third line h3 is a line extending in the horizontal direction that passes through the white light emitter 7 on the right side and touches the white light emitter 7 on the left side. The fourth line h4 is a line extending in the horizontal direction that passes through the white light emitter 7 on the left side and touches the white light emitter 7 on the right side. The overlap rate is determined by processing the image captured by the imaging unit 4.

[Fourth judgment section]
When the vehicle 1 of this embodiment includes the curvature acquisition section 3, it may further include a fourth determination section 54. The fourth determination unit 54 determines whether the curvature satisfies a predetermined curvature. Through this determination, it is possible to determine whether the above-mentioned road surface is straight or not. The predetermined curvature may be set as appropriate. For example, when the curvature acquisition unit 3 is a yaw rate sensor, the predetermined curvature refers to a yaw rate of −1 deg/sec to 1 deg/sec. The yaw rate when the vehicle 1 turns to the left is a positive value, and the yaw rate when the vehicle 1 turns to the right is a negative value. The fourth determination unit 54 is included in the ECU 5.

[Headlight control section]
The headlight control unit 6 performs normal ADB control except in the following specific cases. On the other hand, in the following specific cases, the headlight control unit 6 changes the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 from the high beam light distribution pattern to the low beam light distribution pattern without performing normal ADB control. The specific case is a case where the first determination unit 51 determines that a white light emitting body has entered.

Normal ADB control is to determine the type of subject existing within the imaging area 40 of the imaging unit 4, and when it is determined that a preceding vehicle or an oncoming vehicle exists within the imaging area 40, a high beam beam is applied to the subject. This refers to controlling the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 so that no light is emitted. For example, the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 is changed to a low beam light distribution pattern. Alternatively, only the light source that illuminates the area corresponding to the subject may be turned off or blocked. In normal ADB control, if the above determination is not made, the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 remains the light distribution pattern of the high beam. Not performing normal ADB control means determining what type of white light emitter is that enters the imaging area 40 from either the left or right side edge of the imaging area 40, or what type of object is equipped with the white light emitter. This means only determining whether or not the object has entered the imaging area 40 from either the left or right side edge of the imaging area 40 without determining.

After the first determination unit 51 determines that the white light emitting body has entered the left side area 40L from the left edge of the left side area 40L of the imaging area 40, the headlamp control unit 6 moves the white light emitting body from the right edge of the left side area 40L. Before it is determined that a white light emitter has appeared in the central region 40C, a low beam light distribution pattern is set. After the first determination unit 51 determines that the white light emitting body has entered the right side area 40R from the right edge of the right side area 40R of the imaging area 40, the headlamp control unit 6 moves the white light emitting body from the left edge of the right side area 40R. Before it is determined that a white light emitter has appeared in the central region 40C, a low beam light distribution pattern is set.

[Control procedure]
An example of a procedure for controlling the headlights 2 by the headlight control section 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. In this example, a case is assumed in which the vehicle 1 is traveling straight and the oncoming vehicle 100 is making a right turn. The vehicle 1 is traveling with the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 set to the high beam light distribution pattern.

As step S01, the fourth determination unit 54 determines whether the curvature of the road surface acquired by the curvature acquisition unit 3 satisfies a predetermined curvature. When the curvature acquisition unit 3 is a yaw rate sensor, the fourth determination unit 54 determines, for example, whether the yaw rate YR satisfies −1 deg/sec or more and 1 deg/sec or less.

If the condition in step S01 is satisfied, in step S02, the first determination unit 51 determines whether or not the oncoming vehicle 100 is not captured within the imaging area 40 of the imaging unit 4.

When the condition of step S02 is satisfied, in step S03, the first determination unit 51 determines whether a white light emitting body has entered the left side area 40L of the imaging area 40 from the left edge of the left side area 40L.

If the condition in step S03 is satisfied, in step S06, the headlight control unit 6 changes the light distribution pattern of the headlight 2 from the high beam light distribution pattern to the low beam light distribution pattern.

When the condition of step S03 is satisfied, it is preferable to go through step S04 before executing step S06. As step S04, the second determination unit 52 determines whether the number of white light emitters determined by the first determination unit 51 is two or more.

If the condition of step S04 is satisfied, step S06 may be executed, but it is preferable to go through step S05 before step S06. For example, when the number of white light emitters determined by the second determination unit 52 is two, in step S05, the third determination unit 53 determines that the overlap rate OR of the two white light emitters satisfies a predetermined value or more. Determine whether or not.

If the condition of step S05 is satisfied, step S06 described above is executed.

If any one of the conditions from step S01 to step S05 is not satisfied, in step S07, the headlamp control unit 6 performs the above-mentioned normal ADB control. The case where the condition of step S01 is not satisfied is the case where the yaw rate YR satisfies less than -1 deg/sec or more than 1 deg/sec. The case where the condition of step S02 is not satisfied is the case where it is determined that the oncoming vehicle 100 has already been captured in the imaging area 40. The case where the condition of step S03 is not satisfied is a case where the white light emitter does not enter the left side area 40L from the left edge of the left side area 40L of the imaging area 40. Note that it may be determined that the white light emitting body is captured in the central region 40C without passing through the left region 40L and right region 40R of the imaging area 40. Even in this case, since the white light emitter in the central region 40C is not the white light emitter provided in the oncoming vehicle 100, the headlamp control unit 6 performs normal ADB control. The case where the condition of step S04 is not satisfied is the case where the number of white light emitters is one. The case where the condition of step S05 is not satisfied is the case where the overlapping ratio of the two white light emitters is less than a predetermined value.

After executing step S06 or step S07, the process returns to step S01 again.

[Effect]
In the vehicle 1 of this embodiment, when the first determination unit 51 determines that a white light emitting body has entered, the headlight control unit 6 changes the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 from a high beam light distribution pattern to a low beam light distribution pattern. Make it into a pattern. That is, the vehicle 1 uses a low beam light distribution pattern without determining what the white light emitter is or whether the object including the white light emitter is an oncoming vehicle. Therefore, the vehicle 1 can omit the time required to identify the incoming white light emitter, and can quickly change to the low beam light distribution pattern. Therefore, even if the vehicle 1 is on a road surface where the white light emitter suddenly enters the imaging area 40 from either the left or right side edge of the imaging area 40, the vehicle 1 can detect an object equipped with the white light emitter, that is, an object that is facing the opposite direction. It is possible to suppress the irradiation of high beam light onto cars.

In this manner, the vehicle 1 does not need to discriminate between white light emitters in order to obtain a low beam light distribution pattern, and thus the headlight control unit 6 can have a simple configuration. Therefore, the cost of the vehicle 1 is less likely to increase, so it is likely to be less expensive.

The vehicle 1 can maintain the light distribution pattern of the headlights 2 as the high beam light distribution pattern unless the determination unit determines that a white light emitting body has entered. Therefore, the periphery of the road surface that satisfies the predetermined curvature is bright and easy to see.

The present invention is not limited to these examples, but is indicated by the scope of the claims, and is intended to include all changes within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims. For example, the second determining section and the third determining section may not be provided.

1 vehicle 2 headlight, 3 curvature acquisition unit, 4 imaging unit 40 imaging area, 40L left area, 40R right area, 40C central area 5 ECU
51 first determination section, 52 second determination section, 53 third determination section, 54 fourth determination section 6 headlight control section, 7 white light emitter 100 oncoming vehicle L0 left reference axis line, L1 first left line, L2 third Second left line R0 Right side reference axis, R1 First right line, R2 Second right line H1 First length, H2 Second length h1 First line, h2 Second line, h3 Third line, h4 fourth line

Claims (1)

A vehicle comprising headlights forming a high beam light distribution pattern and a low beam light distribution pattern,
an imaging unit that captures an image of the front of the vehicle;
a first determination unit that determines whether a white light emitting body has entered the imaging area from at least one of the left and right side edges of the imaging area of the imaging unit;
a second determination unit that determines whether the number of the white light emitters determined by the first determination unit is two or more;
a third determination unit that determines whether the overlap rate of the two white light emitters determined by the second determination unit is greater than or equal to a predetermined value;
The first determining unit determines that the white light emitters have entered, the second determining unit determines that the number of white light emitters is two or more, and the third determining unit determines that the overlap rate is set to a predetermined value. a headlight control unit that sets the light distribution pattern of the low beam when it is determined that the value is greater than or equal to the value of
The imaging area is composed of a left side area at the left end, a right side area at the right end, and a central area between the left side area and the right side area,
The left side area and the right side area are areas spanning the entire length of the imaging area in the vertical direction,
vehicle.

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