Vehicle in-cabin lighting system, method for actuating vehicle in-cabin lighting system, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11565625-B2
Application number	US-202117147459-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2021
Priority date	Feb 7, 2020
Publication date	Jan 31, 2023
Grant date	Jan 31, 2023

Abstract

A vehicle in-cabin lighting system includes: an outward gaze guiding section that is provided inside a vehicle cabin at a vehicle front side and at a vehicle width direction outer side of a vehicle seat, and that becomes brighter than its surroundings on activation of an outer side lighting device; and a control section that is configured to determine whether or not an occupant sifting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on detection of operation of an operation section by the occupant or based on detection of a state of the occupant, and to activate the outer side lighting device so as to make the outward gaze guiding section brighter in a case in which determination is made that there is no interest in interacting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle in-cabin lighting system comprising:
an outward gaze guiding section that is provided inside a vehicle cabin at a vehicle front side and at a vehicle width direction outer side of a vehicle seat, and that becomes brighter than its surroundings on activation of an outer side lighting device;
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine whether or not an occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on detection of operation of an operation section by the occupant or based on detection of a state of the occupant, and
activate the outer side lighting device so as to make the outward gaze guiding section brighter in a case in which determination is made that there is no interest in interacting, wherein:

the outward gaze guiding section comprises at least one of a pillar garnish or a door garnish;
the outer side lighting device is installed at the vehicle width direction outer side of at least one of the pillar garnish or the door garnish; and
the processor is configured to activate the outer side lighting device so that light is emitted from the at least one of the pillar garnish or the door garnish.

2. The vehicle in-cabin lighting system of any one of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
estimate an emotional state of the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat and output a signal indicating the estimated emotional state; and
determine whether or not the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with the other occupant based on the output signal.

3. The vehicle in-cabin lighting system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an inward gaze guiding section that is provided inside the vehicle cabin at the vehicle front side and at a vehicle width direction inner side of the vehicle seat, and that becomes brighter than its surroundings on activation of an inner side lighting device, wherein
the processor is configured to:
determine whether or not the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on detection of operation of the operation section by the occupant or based on detection of a state of the occupant,
activate the outer side lighting device so as to make the outward gaze guiding section brighter in a case in which determination is made that there is no interest in interacting, and
activate the inner side lighting device so as to make the inward gaze guiding section brighter in a case in which determination is made that there is an interest in interacting.

4. The vehicle in-cabin lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the occupant has an interest in interacting with the another occupant based on a state of the occupant acquired from at least one of:
image data of the occupant obtained by a camera in a vehicle cable,
fluctuations in a heartrate of the occupant from a biometric sensor,
fluctuations in respiration of the occupant obtained by a biometric sensor, or
a signal from a portable terminal indicating an intention of the occupant.

5. The vehicle in-cabin lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the occupant is asleep, and in response to a determination that the occupant is asleep, to deactivate the outer side lighting device.

6. The vehicle in-cabin lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether or not the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with the another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on blood pressure fluctuations and respiratory fluctuations.

7. A vehicle in-cabin lighting system comprising:
an inward gaze guiding section that is provided inside a vehicle cabin at a vehicle front side and at a vehicle width direction inner side of a vehicle seat, and that becomes brighter than its surroundings on activation of an inner side lighting device;
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine whether or not an occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on detection of operation of an operation section by the occupant or based on detection of a state of the occupant, and
activate the inner side lighting device so as to make the inward gaze guiding section brighter in a case in which determination is made that there is an interest in interacting

wherein the inward gaze guiding section comprises at least one of a front seat armrest or a center console;
the inner side lighting device is installed inside at least one of the front seat armrest or the center console; and
the processor is configured to activate the inner side lighting device so that light is emitted from the at least one of the armrest or the center console.

8. The vehicle in-cabin lighting system of claim 7 , wherein:
the inner side lighting device is a reading lamp configured to shine light directly in front of an occupant; and
the processor is configured to make the at least one of the armrest or the center console brighter by changing a lighting direction of the reading lamp.

9. A method for actuating a vehicle in-cabin lighting system provided inside a vehicle cabin and comprising a gaze guiding section that becomes brighter than its surroundings on activation of a lighting device, the method comprising:
determining whether or not an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on detection of operation of an operation section by the occupant or based on detection of a state of the occupant; and
activating the lighting device so as to make the gaze guiding section emitting light from a pillar garnish or a door garnish brighter based on the determined presence or absence of interest in interacting with the other occupant.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the gaze guiding section comprises an outward gaze guiding section provided at a vehicle front side and a vehicle width direction outer side of the vehicle seat, and the lighting device comprises an outer side lighting device that makes the outward gaze guiding section brighter, the method further comprising
activating the outer side lighting device so as to make the outward gaze guiding section brighter in a case in which the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has been determined not to have an interest in interacting with the other occupant.

11. The method system of claim 9 , wherein determining whether or not the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with the another occupant inside the vehicle cabin further based on blood pressure fluctuations and respiratory fluctuations.

12. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute processing to actuate a vehicle in-cabin lighting system provided inside a vehicle cabin, the system comprising a gaze guiding section that becomes brighter than its surroundings on activation of a lighting device, the processing comprising:
determining whether or not an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat has an interest in interacting with another occupant inside the vehicle cabin based on detection of operation of an operation section by the occupant or based on detection of a state of the occupant; and
activating the lighting device so as to make the gaze guiding section emitting light from a pillar garnish or a door garnish brighter based on the determined presence or absence of interest in interacting wit

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Mizobata Hiroshi
• Uchibori Kazuma

Classifications

• B60Q3/80 Primary

  Circuits; Control arrangements (for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47) · CPC title

• B60Q3/74

  for overall compartment lighting; for overall compartment lighting in combination with specific lighting, e.g. room lamps with reading lamps (general lighting mounted on specific fittings B60Q3/20; general lighting for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/43) · CPC title

• H05B47/105

  in response to determined parameters · CPC title

• B60Q3/76

  for spotlighting, e.g. reading lamps (spotlighting on or for specific fittings B60Q3/20; spotlighting in mass transit vehicles B60Q3/44) · CPC title

• B60Q3/731

  for autonomous vehicle travel · CPC title