Vehicle headlamp and vehicle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11358516-B2
Application number	US-201816637629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2018
Priority date	Aug 10, 2017
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

Vehicle headlamp (1), which is designed to form a light pattern in front of a vehicle, comprising a first microprocessor (100), a first memory (110), a control-channel control unit (120) and a first light module (211, 212) with in each case a first output unit (221, 222), and a second light module (213, 214) with in each case a second output unit (223, 224), wherein the vehicle headlamp (1) also comprises an object-channel control unit (130), a second microprocessor (101) and a second memory (90), and the object-channel control unit (130) is designed to receive a message concerning an object channel (131) from a second electronic system (61) of the vehicle and the second microprocessor (101) is designed to at least partially retrieve the message from the object-channel control unit (130) and use it to form image data, and the second microprocessor (101) is also designed to activate the output unit (223, 224) of the second light module (213, 214) by way of a video channel (250), wherein the output unit (223, 224) of the second light module (213, 214) is designed to produce from the control data and the image data of the second light module (213, 214) common data that describe a distribution of the light of a vehicle headlamp.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle headlamp ( 1 ), which is configured to form a light pattern in front of a vehicle, the vehicle headlamp comprising: a first microprocessor ( 100 ); a first memory ( 110 ); a control-channel control unit ( 120 ); at least one first light module ( 211 , 212 ) with a first output unit ( 221 , 222 ); and at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) with a second output unit ( 223 , 224 ), wherein: the first microprocessor ( 100 ) is connected to the first memory ( 110 ) and the control-channel control unit ( 120 ), the control-channel control unit ( 120 ) communicates with the respective output unit ( 221 , 222 , 223 ) of the at least one first and second light module ( 211 , 212 , 213 , 214 ) for purposes of data exchange, the control-channel control unit ( 120 ) is configured to receive at least one control message from a first electronic system ( 60 ) of the vehicle by way of a control channel ( 121 ), and to forward the control message at least partially to the first microprocessor ( 100 ), which by means of parts of the at least one control message forms control data, and with the control data controls at least one operating mode of the vehicle headlamp ( 1 ), the first microprocessor ( 100 ) is configured to retrieve and process first light data ( 111 , 112 ), which are stored in the first memory ( 110 ), and to transmit the first light data to the respective output unit ( 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 ) of the at least one first and second light module ( 211 , 212 , 213 , 214 ), wherein the first and second output unit ( 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 ) is configured to drive an optoelectronic component ( 231 , 232 , 233 , 234 ) connected to the respective output unit ( 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 ) by means of the first light data ( 111 , 112 ), the at least one first light module ( 211 , 212 ) is configured to modulate the light emitted from a first light source at least partially in the direction of at least one first projection optical system by means of a modulator, and to project a first light pattern in front of the vehicle, the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) comprises at least one second light source ( 2 , 12 ), an optoelectronic component ( 233 , 234 ) in which a plurality of controllable optical elements ( 230 ), which are electronically driven by the associated output unit ( 223 , 224 ), are arranged, and at least one second projection optical system ( 4 , 14 ) and the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) is configured to direct the light emitted by the second light source ( 2 , 12 ) to the optical elements ( 230 ) of the optoelectronic component ( 233 , 234 ), and to modulate the light at least partially by means of the optical elements ( 230 ) in the direction of the at least one second projection optical system ( 4 , 14 ), and to project a second light pattern in front of the vehicle, the vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) further comprises an object-channel control unit ( 130 ), a second microprocessor ( 101 ), and a second memory ( 90 ), wherein the second microprocessor ( 101 ) is connected to the object-channel control unit ( 130 ) and the second memory ( 90 ) for purposes of data exchange, the object-channel control unit ( 130 ) is configured to receive at least one message ( 500 ) from a second electronic system ( 61 ) of the vehicle by way of an object channel ( 131 ) and the second microprocessor ( 101 ) is configured to retrieve at least partially the at least one message ( 500 ) from the object-channel control unit ( 130 ), and to form image data from the message ( 500 ), and the second microprocessor ( 101 ) is further configured to drive the respective output unit ( 223 , 224 ) of the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) by way of a video channel ( 250 ), wherein the output unit ( 223 , 224 ) of the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) is configured to generate common data from the control data and from the image data of the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ), which common data describe a light distribution ( 400 ) of a vehicle headlamp.

2. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the first electronic vehicle system ( 60 ) is an on-board electrical system control unit and/or the second electronic vehicle system ( 61 ) is a central driver assistance system.

3. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one first light module ( 211 , 212 ) and/or the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) is a controllable, matrix-form arrangement of light-emitting diodes or micromirrors, wherein the at least one second light module ( 213 , 214 ) has a higher image resolution than the at least one first light module ( 211 , 212 ).

4. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second memory ( 90 , 110 ) stores the first and/or second light data ( 91 , 92 , 111 , 112 ), which comprise at least one light function with a respective predefined light distribution ( 300 , 301 ) of the vehicle headlamp ( 1 ), and/or predefined graphic symbols ( 400 ), and the first and/or second light data ( 91 , 111 ) have been partially received by the first and/or second electronic vehicle system ( 60 , 61 ).

5. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the message ( 500 ) is transmitted using TCP or UDP technology by way of the object channel ( 131 ), which is a branch of an Ethernet network, a branch of a real-time Ethernet network, according to the precision time protocol, or a MOST bus.

6. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the control-channel ( 121 ) is a CAN bus.

7. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according claim 1 , wherein the message ( 500 ) comprises at least one description ( 503 ), and the object-channel control unit ( 130 ) comprises at least one receive identifier ( 140 ) which corresponds to the destination address ( 501 ), and is an IP address.

8. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 7 , wherein the microprocessor ( 100 ) is configured to form at least one light matrix ( 201 , 202 ) from the object description ( 503 ), which represents a light distribution of a vehicle headlamp.

9. The vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 7 , wherein the object description ( 503 ) comprises a light matrix.

10. A vehicle control ( 50 ), comprising at least one vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second electronic systems ( 60 , 61 ) are configured to dynamically determine a light distribution ( 400 ), which is transmitted in the form of the message ( 500 ) to the vehicle headlamp ( 1 ) by way of the object channel ( 131 ).

11. The vehicle control ( 50 ) according to claim 10 , wherein the first and second electronic systems ( 60 , 61 ) comprise at least one sensor, which is configured to detect sensor data, and from the latter determines at least one light distribution ( 400 ).

12. The vehicle control ( 50 ) according to claim 11 , wherein the sensor is a camera sensor, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a radar sensor, a position sensor of a satellite navigation system, a motion sensor, an acceleration sensor, a wheel sensor, or a magnetic field sensor.

13. The vehicle control ( 50 ) according to claim 10 , wherein the vehicle control further comprises a recognition system, which is configured to determine recognition data of an opening means of the vehicle, preferably a vehicle key, which indicate a user of the vehicle, and from the recognition data personalized data, at least one personalized image or video, are determined for the user, which data is transmitted by means of the message ( 500 ) by way of the objec

Assignees

• Zkw Group Gmbh

Inventors

• Lahmer Martin

Classifications

• B60Q1/085 Primary

  due to special conditions, e.g. adverse weather, type of road, badly illuminated road signs or potential dangers (B60Q1/10, B60Q1/12, B60Q1/1423 take precedence) · CPC title

• F21S41/67

  by acting on reflectors · CPC title

• F21S41/153

  arranged in a matrix · CPC title

• B60Q2400/50

  Projected symbol or information, e.g. onto the road or car body · CPC title

• B60Q1/1407

  General lighting circuits comprising dimming circuits · CPC title