JPH02296550A - Lamp device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the visibility in front by detecting the distance up to the turning point of a road in front of a vehicle on a map and the turning direction at the point through a front road judging means, and changing the irradiation range of a lamp device in the turning direction of the front road. CONSTITUTION:Output signals of a bearings detecting sensor 2 to detect direction of this vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor 3, and a lamp switch 4 are input to a micro computer 1, at first a running distance is calculated based on vehicle speed data, and the coordinates of the present position of the vehicle on a map is computed out of the running distance data, direction data, map data of a map information input circuit 5, and the present position data of the vehicle position information input circuit 6. Nextly, the shortest route is instituted out of the map data, the present position data, and the target position data. Further, the condition of the front road of a prescribed distance is detected, and according to the detected result the lamp device 9 is rotationally displaced so as to point to the turning direction of the front road.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial applications The present invention relates to a lamp device for a vehicle such as an automobile.

Among conventional vehicle lamp devices, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-772
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 49, a so-called cornering lamp system is known in which a lamp optical axis is controlled according to a steering angle of a steering wheel.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional cornering lamp system, the operation of the lamp optical axis is controlled in the left and right directions depending on the steering angle of the steering wheel. For example, when driving on a road as shown in FIG. Or, when the vehicle is in position B and is traveling straight, the driver takes action to look inside the curve ahead,
Since the vehicle begins to turn the steering wheel when the vehicle is near the C position, the irradiation timing will be delayed even if the lamp optical axis is moved to the inside of the curve as the steering wheel is operated near the C position. Therefore, by using the present invention in combination with a navigation system, the irradiation range can be adjusted toward the inside of the curve a little before the vehicle enters the curve, and the lamp light can be radiated in advance to the place the driver wants to see, improving visibility. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle lamp device that can further improve the performance.

Means for solving the problem: Based on a lamp device whose irradiation range is variable in at least the left and right directions, and input of map information and vehicle position information on the map,
forward road determining means for determining the distance to a turning point on the road ahead of the vehicle on the map and the bending direction of the turning point; and lamp operation control means for operating the lamp device in accordance with the output of the forward road determining means. It is equipped with

Function When driving at night, when the distance to a turning point on the road in front of the vehicle on the map and the bending direction of the bending point are detected by the road ahead judgment means, a signal is output from the road ahead judgment means to the lamp operation control means. , change the illumination range of the lamp device in the direction of the bend in the road ahead.

Example Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, l indicates a microcomputer as means for determining the road ahead, and this microcomputer l includes a direction detection sensor 2 for detecting the direction of the own vehicle. Vehicle speed sensor 3. A lamp switch 4 is connected, as well as a map information input circuit 5 prepared in advance and a vehicle position information input circuit 6 for initializing the current location and destination of the vehicle. This microcomputer ■ is a CRT.
An image signal is output to CRT 7, and a map and the current location of the vehicle are displayed on CRT 7, while an operation signal is output to lamp operation control means 8 which operates left and right lamp devices 9, which will be described later.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of the logic of the microcomputer I. 14 is a mileage calculation circuit, and a vehicle speed sensor 3
The travel distance is calculated based on the detected value. Reference numeral 15 denotes a coordinate processing circuit which receives mileage data from the mileage calculation circuit 14, direction data from the direction detection sensor 2, and map data from the map information input circuit 5.

The current location coordinates of the vehicle on the map are then calculated from the current location data of the vehicle location information input circuit 6. 16 is a course setting circuit that receives map data from the map information input circuit 5 and current location data from the own vehicle position information input circuit 6.

The shortest route is set from the destination data. Reference numeral 17 denotes a forward judgment circuit, which uses the current location data from the coordinate processing circuit 15, course data from the course setting circuit 16, and vehicle speed data from the vehicle speed sensor 3 to determine the required distance in front of the own vehicle, for example, 10 seconds ahead at the current vehicle speed. Detect what the road to gold is like. Reference numeral 18 denotes a lamp control signal output circuit, which receives the output of the forward judgment circuit I7 and the output of the lighting judgment circuit I9 which is output when the lamp switch 4 is turned on, and controls lamp operation according to the distance to the nearest curve. A control signal is output to means 8.

The lamp operation control means 8 includes the lamp control signal output circuit I.
A control circuit 12 receives the output from 8 and outputs an actuation signal.
and a drive mechanism 1 operated by the output of this control circuit 12.
It consists of 3.

The lamp device 9 may be an auxiliary lamp, or instead of two lamp devices, only one lamp device may be provided in the center of the vehicle.

Alternatively, a plurality of lamps directed in each direction may be provided in advance, and any lamp may be turned on by a signal from the microcomputer 1. Furthermore, the lamp device 9 may be constituted by a normal headlight, and the left and right may be linked, or
A configuration may be adopted in which only the left lamp is controlled when making a left curve, and only the right lamp is controlled when making a right curve, with the other remaining fixed.

In this embodiment, an auxiliary lamp is used. A specific example of the lamp device 9 is shown in FIG. 4.5. It has the shape of a so-called rectangular lamp with flat upper and lower surfaces formed by an IO beam deflector, and only the horizontal reflecting surface can be effectively used as a reflector.

By making the upper and lower surfaces flat in this way, it is possible to eliminate vertical diffusion of light and avoid dazzling oncoming vehicles. Reference numeral 11 indicates a bulb, and this bulb 11 is slidably mounted on a holder portion IQa at the base of the reflector IO. The drive mechanism 13 described above is composed of a pinion rack mechanism 13a that moves the bulb II forward and backward in the optical axis direction, and a step motor 13b that rotates the lamp device 9 in the horizontal direction and swings the optical axis left and right. ing.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment apparatus will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG. Steps 101 to 110 are the system logic for route guidance.To briefly explain this, map data is inputted in the map information input circuit 5, and the current location and destination of the own vehicle are inputted in the own vehicle position information input circuit 6. Once set, the shortest route is determined and the course is set (steps 101 to 104).
.

When the direction signal of the vehicle is inputted from the direction sensor 2 and the travel distance is calculated based on the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 3, the coordinates of the current location of the vehicle on the map are calculated (step 105 to step 10B). .

Then, in step 109, the map and the vehicle's current location are CR.
T, and a route guidance display is performed in step 110. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the coordinates of the vehicle's current location and the route the vehicle is scheduled to travel are displayed.
Coordinate points of roads such as intersections called nodes, road bends (
Coordinates of turning points (complementary points) when creating a map are displayed.

The above logic is almost the same as the logic in a normal navigation system. 200 to 212 indicate each step of controlling the irradiation range of the lamp device 9.

In step 200, when the own vehicle continues to travel on the route-guided road for a predetermined period of time from the current location at the current vehicle speed, the coordinate points of the nodes and complementary points existing on the road data are extracted. Here, it is assumed that a coordinate point of a node and a complementary point on the road data 10 seconds ahead of the current location of the vehicle is searched.

In steps 201 to 203, the intersection angle θi between the road connecting the current location of the vehicle and the i-th coordinate point on the road data shown in FIG. 7 and the road connecting the i-th and i+1-th coordinate points is determined. , it is determined whether this i-th coordinate point is on a straight road or not, and the location of the closest inflection point (curve) in the road section from the current location of the vehicle to lθ seconds ahead is searched. If it is determined in step 202 that the i-th coordinate point is a curve, the distance Q between the current location of the vehicle and the first coordinate point is calculated in step 204. And step 2
In step 05, the crossing angle θi is determined as 0°〈θi 180'' to determine whether it is a left curve or a right curve.When the crossing angle θi is θ'''
If larger and smaller than 180°, step 2
In step 06, it is determined that the curve is a left curve, and in step 207, the angle φ at which the lamp optical axis is swung is calculated. Also, the intersection angle θi is 18
If it is larger than 0°, it is determined in step 208 that the curve is to the right, and in step 209, the angle φ at which the lamp optical axis is swung is calculated. Here, the lamp optical axis swing angle φ is, for example, the eighth
On the road data shown in the figure, one side - lane.

Assuming that the lane width is 4M and the own vehicle is traveling in the center of the lane, and it is determined that there is a left curve ahead, it is given by the following equation.

φ= -jan-' ((Own lane width/2)/distance to curve)=-jan-' 2/Q Similarly, in the right curve, considering the width of the oncoming lane 4, φ=+jan-' ( 2+4)/Q. Of course, these include navigation information, sign posts that will be installed on the road in the future, road width, multiple lanes, etc.
If you can obtain information about the lane in which your vehicle is driving,
Although detailed calculations are possible for the lamp optical axis deflection angle φ, the above equation can be used as a guide for convenience. FIG. 9 shows the relationship between the aforementioned distance e and the lamp optical axis deflection angle φ. When the lamp optical axis deflection angle φ is calculated in this way, the diffusion angle α is calculated in step 200. The diffusion angle α is determined so that diffused irradiation can be obtained as the radiation is increased. This diffusion angle α is, for example, αI
It is given by φ1, but α=klφ1(k=0.1-1.
0) may be set arbitrarily. In addition, according to the intersection angle θi corresponding to the curve data of the curve, when 0""θi<180°, α=k φ θ118
When 0° and θi < 360°, 1φ1×(θ
i 180°), etc., and control may be made such that the tighter the curve, the larger the diffusion angle. And step 21
At step 1, it is determined whether or not the lamp switch 4 is turned on. If the lamp switch 4 is turned on and the lamp is turned on, at step 212, the lamp operation control means is activated according to the intersection angle φ and the diffusion angle α. A control signal is output to 8, and the deflection of the optical axis of the lamp device 9 is adjusted and the diffusion of illumination light is adjusted by moving the bulb 2 back and forth, based on the characteristics shown in FIG. 1O111, for example. If it is determined in step 211 that the lamp switch 4 is not turned on, the process returns to step 105. Note that this step 211 is between step 200 and step +10, etc.
It may be 0 but a-).

The embodiment shown in FIG. 12 does not determine the shortest route of the course in the previous embodiment, but connects a designated route input circuit 20 prepared in advance to the microcomputer 1, and the course setting circuit I6 shown in FIG. Also, step +03 in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is omitted. This is normal for route buses, regular trucks, etc.
Since there is a predetermined travel course, the travel course can be input into the designated route input circuit 20 using a tape, CD, floppy disk, or the like.

Therefore, in this embodiment, it is essentially unnecessary to set the current location and destination, but in order to correct the course or use it only as a navigation, an information input circuit 6a for initializing the current location and destination is provided. .

The embodiment shown in FIG. 13 is also a simple system that does not provide route guidance. In this embodiment, a turn signal sensor 21 is connected to the microcomputer 1, so that when a turn signal signal is input, the lamp optical axis and diffusion angle can be controlled at a predetermined angle in one direction of the turn signal. be. That is, if there is an intersection in front of the vehicle on the map data, and it can be determined that the front and back of the intersection are the same national highway, etc., it is estimated that the vehicle will proceed in that direction. However, if the estimate is incorrect and a turn signal is issued when the driver needs to turn left or right, the lamp irradiation range can be adjusted in one direction by the turn signal.

Furthermore, if the vehicle is not at an intersection but at a T-junction and is unsure of which direction it should go, the lamp control signal output circuit 18 shown in FIG. When the turning direction is determined, the lamp irradiation range can be adjusted within a predetermined adjustment range using the blinker in one direction. FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of this embodiment for convenience. In step 300, it is determined whether the i-th coordinate point from the current location of the vehicle is an intersection. If it is determined that the intersection is not an intersection but a curve, the steps 201 and subsequent steps of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 are performed. When it is determined that the i-th coordinate point is an intersection, it is determined in step 301 whether or not there are road markings with the same label up to and after the i-th coordinate point. be judged. If there is no road display with the same label, it is determined in step 302 that there is a curve, and the steps 201 and subsequent steps are similarly performed. If there is a road sign with the same label, the driver drives straight ahead, and if a blinker signal is issued on the way, it is determined in step 303, and in step 304, a control signal in the direction of the blinker is output, and the lamp operation is controlled. The means 8 is activated only in a predetermined manner.

In FIG. 15, when the angle of swing of the lamp optical axis is large, the voltage applied to the lamp is controlled to drop in advance. This is because, for example, the deflection angle of the lamp optical axis is large,
When a strong light shines on a guardrail on the roadside, the reflected light causes areas other than the direction in which the vehicle is traveling to shine white, making it difficult to see. Therefore, step 207
Alternatively, in step 209, the lamp optical axis deflection angle φ is calculated, and if the value is large, in step 400, the lamp applied voltage V is
For example, the voltage is lowered at a ratio given by v=k-vo/Iφ1, and the process proceeds to each step after 210. As a result, when the deflection angle of the lamp optical axis is large, it is determined that the area close to the vehicle is being illuminated, and the amount of irradiation light is reduced. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the direction of the lamp is simply changed, but it is also possible to detect an oncoming vehicle and prevent the optical axis from pointing to the right even if there is a right curve.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, when driving at night, the lamp irradiation range can be directed toward the inside of the curve shortly before entering the curve, thereby improving the driver's visibility. It has great effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 are electrical circuit diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a flow chart diagram showing the operating procedure of the same embodiment device;
Figure 4.5 is a vertical cross-sectional view and cross-sectional view of the lamp device, Figure 6.7 is an explanatory diagram showing the road data of the navigation system, and Figure 8 is an enlarged explanatory diagram of the ■ range part of Figure 7. , No. 9
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the thin blade distance and the lamp optical axis deflection angle, Figure 1O is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the diffusion angle and the lamp optical axis deflection angle, and Figure 1+ is the relationship between the bulb stroke and the diffusion angle. 12 is an electric circuit diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 13 is an electric circuit diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 14 is a flowchart diagram of the same embodiment. 15th
This figure is a flowchart of the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a curved road. 1.. Forward road judgment means, 8.. Lamp operation control means,
9... Lamp device. Fig. 3 Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13 Fig. Fig. 13

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A lamp device whose irradiation range is variable at least in the left and right directions, and the distance to the bending point of the road in front of the vehicle on the map and the bending point at the bending point based on the input of map information and the input of the vehicle's position on the map. 1. A lamp device for a vehicle, comprising: ahead road determining means for determining a direction; and lamp operation control means for operating said lamp device in accordance with an output of said ahead road determining means.