Vehicle lamp system for indicating autonomous driving and charge level of battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11110856-B2
Application number	US-201916968564-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 8, 2019
Priority date	Feb 16, 2018
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

Problem: To clearly indicate an autonomous driving state and a charge level of a battery of a vehicle with a single lamp.Solution: A vehicle headlamp (3) includes a communication lamp (7) for indicating an autonomous driving state of a vehicle while the vehicle is driving, and a lamp ECU (32) for performing control to cause the communication lamp (7) to indicate a charge level of a battery (31) while the vehicle is stationary. The lamp (7) includes an elongated light guide body that continuously extends along a straight line or a curve and a plurality of light emitting devices (22) arranged at an interval in a longitudinal direction of the light guide body. The lamp ECU (32) controls the output of light from each of the light emitting devices (22) to change an illuminated range of the light guide body according to the charge level of the battery (31).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle lamp system comprising:
a lamp for indicating an autonomous driving state of a vehicle while the vehicle is driving, and
a control unit for performing control to cause the lamp to indicate a charge level of a battery while the vehicle is stationary,
wherein the lamp includes an elongated light guide body that continuously extends along a straight line or a curve and a plurality of light emitting devices arranged at an interval in a longitudinal direction of the light guide body,
wherein the light guide body includes a trunk portion for indicating the autonomous driving state and the charge level to an outside of the vehicle, and a plurality of branch portions branching out from the trunk portion toward respective light emitting devices, and
wherein the control unit controls the output of light from each of the light emitting devices to change an illuminated range of the light guide body according to the charge level of the battery.

2. The vehicle lamp system of claim 1 :
wherein the trunk portion includes one end for indicating a minimum charge level of the battery and another end for indicating a full charge level of the battery, and the plurality of branch portions are provided obliquely with respect to the trunk portion so as to extend from the respective light emitting devices toward the one end of the trunk portion.

3. The vehicle lamp system of claim 1 , wherein the lamp indicates the autonomous driving state and the charge level in different luminescent colors.

4. The vehicle lamp system of claim 1 , wherein the lamp indicates the autonomous driving state and the charge level in different patterns of emission.

5. The vehicle lamp system of claim 1 , wherein the lamp is disposed at a front of a vehicle body.

6. The vehicle lamp system of claim 1 , wherein the lamp is disposed in the proximity of a charging inlet on the vehicle body.

7. The vehicle lamp system of claim 1 wherein the lamp is disposed on a roof portion of the vehicle body.

Assignees

• Koito Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sugimoto Atsushi
• Takahashi Toru

Classifications

• B60Q1/508

  specific to vehicles driving in fleets or convoys · CPC title

• B60Q1/543

  for indicating other states or conditions of the vehicle (indicating taxis' state of hire or fare G07B13/045) · CPC title

• B60Q1/5035

  electronic displays · CPC title

• F21S43/14

  Light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• B60Q1/2611

  Indicating devices mounted on the roof of the vehicle · CPC title