Vehicle illumination device, vehicle and illumination control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10636302-B2
Application number	US-201616064788-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2016
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

An illumination device installed in a vehicle capable of traveling in an automatic driving mode is provided with an illumination unit configured so as to radiate light outward from the vehicle, and an illumination control unit configured so as to control the illumination unit, on the basis of an illumination control signal sent from transportation infrastructure, which is provided with a light-emitting body for radiating light outward, in order to make the illumination state of the illumination unit correspond to the illumination state of the light-emitting body.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle illumination device provided to a vehicle capable of traveling in an automatic driving mode, the vehicle illumination device comprising:
an illumination unit provided on the vehicle and configured to irradiate light toward an exterior of the vehicle; and
an illumination control unit configured to control the illumination unit based on an illumination control signal transmitted from a traffic infrastructure equipment including a light-emitting body configured to irradiate light toward an exterior of the infrastructure equipment, such that an illumination state of the illumination unit matches an illumination state of the light-emitting body of the traffic infrastructure equipment in order to visually signal that the vehicle and the traffic infrastructure equipment are in communication with each other, the light-emitting body provided on the traffic infrastructure equipment,
wherein the light-emitting body is installed on a road.

2. The vehicle illumination device according to claim 1 , wherein the illumination control unit is configured to control the illumination unit to blink in synchronization with the light-emitting body.

3. The vehicle illumination device according to claim 1 , wherein the illumination control unit is configured to control the illumination unit such that an illumination color of the illumination unit corresponds to an illumination color of the light-emitting body.

4. A vehicle capable of traveling in an automatic driving mode, the vehicle comprising:
the vehicle illumination device according to claim 1 ;
a first wireless communication unit configured to receive the illumination control signal; and
a vehicle control unit configured to control traveling of the vehicle.

5. An illumination control system comprising:
the vehicle according to claim 4 ; and
the traffic infrastructure equipment including:
the light-emitting body including a light-emitting unit configured to irradiate light toward an exterior of the traffic infrastructure equipment; and
a communication device including a control signal generation unit configured to generate the illumination control signal and a second wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly transmit the illumination control signal.

6. The illumination control system according to claim 5 , wherein the light-emitting body further includes:
a third wireless communication unit configured to receive the illumination control signal; and
a light emission control unit configured to control the light-emitting unit based on the illumination control signal such that an illumination state of the light-emitting unit corresponds to an illumination state of the illumination unit.

7. The illumination control system according to claim 5 , wherein when the vehicle exists within a predetermined range from the communication device, the first wireless communication unit is able to receive the illumination control signal from the second wireless communication unit.

8. The illumination control system according to claim 7 , wherein the light-emitting body is arranged at an intersection point or in the vicinity thereof, and
wherein the communication device is arranged in the vicinity of the intersection point.

9. The illumination control system according to claim 5 , wherein the vehicle is a group of vehicles traveling in a row traveling mode,
wherein the light-emitting body is arranged in plural at an outer side of a road on which the group of vehicles is traveling, and
wherein the illumination control unit of each vehicle is configured to control the corresponding illumination unit such that an illumination pattern formed by the illumination units of the group of vehicles corresponds to an illumination pattern formed by the light-emitting units of the plurality of light-emitting bodies.

Assignees

• Koito Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takii Naoki
• Yamazaki Masashi
• Tatara Naoki
• Okamura Toshihiro
• Masuda Takeshi

Classifications

• G08G1/096791

  where the origin of the information is another vehicle · CPC title

• G08G1/164

  Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/0112

  from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD] · CPC title

• B60W30/00

  Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units · CPC title

• G08G1/163

  involving continuous checking · CPC title