System, method, and computer program product for generating modified light emissions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12370939-B2
Application number	US-202218718205-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2022
Priority date	Dec 10, 2021
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

Provided are systems, methods, and computer program products for generating modified light emissions. The system includes at least one signal receiver arranged on a vehicle, at least one sensor arranged on the vehicle, at least one lighting system arranged on the vehicle, and at least one processor in communication with the at least one signal receiver, the at least one sensor, and the at least one lighting system, the at least one processor configured to: receive a first signal with the at least one signal receiver; receive sensor data from the at least one sensor; determine lighting data based on the first signal; generate a modified light emission by geometrically transforming the lighting pattern based on the sensor data; and control the at least one lighting system to output the modified light emission.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
at least one signal receiver arranged on a vehicle;
at least one sensor arranged on the vehicle;
at least one lighting system arranged on the vehicle as part of a headlight system of the vehicle configured to illuminate a region in a forward direction from the vehicle; and
at least one processor in communication with the at least one signal receiver, the at least one sensor, and the at least one lighting system, the at least one processor configured to:
receive a first signal with the at least one signal receiver;
receive sensor data from the at least one sensor;
determine lighting data based on the first signal;
generate a modified light emission by transforming the lighting data based on the sensor data;
control the at least one lighting system to output the modified light emission; and
dynamically update the modified light emission while the vehicle is in motion to output an updated modified light emission.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signal receiver comprises a positioning system, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of an inertial sensor and a camera, and wherein the at least one lighting system comprises at least one headlight arranged on the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signal receiver comprises an antenna, wherein the first signal comprises a wireless signal received from a transmitter arranged in another vehicle or along a roadway.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises an inertial sensor, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one rotational measurement, and wherein transforming the lighting data based on the sensor data comprises applying the transformation to the lighting data based on the at least one rotational measurement.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lighting system comprises a spatial light modulator configured to impose varying spatial modulation on light emitted from a light source to emit the modified light emission.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lighting data comprises at least one directional symbol.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lighting data comprises illumination of a lane.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first signal identifies at least one of the following: a lane marking, a traffic sign, a traffic signal, a traffic management indicator, or any combination thereof, the at least one processor further configured to determine a location of the vehicle based on the first signal, wherein the lighting data is determined at least partially based on the location of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises an orientation sensor configured to determine an orientation of the vehicle, and wherein the sensor data comprises orientation data representing the orientation of the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the determined orientation of the vehicle comprises at least one of pitch, yaw, and roll of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 1 , the at least one processor further configured to:
determine topographical data of at least a portion of a surface surrounding the lighting system based on the first signal, wherein the modified light emission is generated based on the sensor data and the topographical data.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one lighting system comprises an array of light emitting diodes configured to be selectively controlled based on the modified light emission.

13. A method comprising:
receiving, with at least one processor, a first signal from at least one signal receiver;
receiving, with the at least one processor, sensor data from at least one sensor arranged on a vehicle;
determining, with the at least one processor, lighting data based on the first signal;
generating, with the at least one processor, a modified light emission by transforming the lighting data based on the sensor data; and
controlling, with the at least one processor, at least one lighting system arranged on the vehicle to output the lighting data, the at least one lighting system part of a headlight system of the vehicle configured to illuminate a region in a forward direction from the vehicle; and
dynamically updating, with the at least one processor, the modified light emission while the vehicle is in motion to output an updated modified light emission.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one signal receiver comprises a positioning system, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of an inertial sensor and a camera, and wherein the at least one lighting system comprises at least one headlight arranged on the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one signal receiver comprises an antenna, wherein the first signal comprises a wireless signal received from a transmitter arranged in another vehicle or along a roadway.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises an inertial sensor, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one rotational measurement, and wherein transforming the lighting data based on the sensor data comprises applying the transformation to the lighting data based on the at least one rotational measurement.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the lighting system comprises a spatial light modulator configured to impose varying spatial modulation on light emitted from a light source to emit the modified light emission.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the lighting data comprises at least one directional symbol.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the lighting data comprises illumination of a lane.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first signal identifies at least one of the following: a lane marking, a traffic sign, a traffic signal, a traffic management indicator, or any combination thereof, the at least one processor further configured to determine a location of the vehicle based on the first signal, wherein the lighting data is determined at least partially based on the location of the vehicle.

21. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one sensor is configured to determine an orientation of the vehicle, and wherein the sensor data comprises orientation data representing the orientation of the vehicle.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the determined orientation of the vehicle comprises at least one of pitch, yaw, and roll of the vehicle.

23. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining topographical data of at least a portion of a surface surrounding the lighting system based on the first signal, wherein the modified light emission is generated based on the sensor data and the topographical data.

24. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one lighting system comprises an array of light emitting diodes configured to be selectively controlled based on the modified light emission.

25. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
receive a first signal with at least one signal receiver;
receive sensor data from at least one sensor arranged on a vehicle;
determine lighting data based on the first signal;
generate a modified light emission by transforming the lighting data based on the sensor data;
control at least one lighting system arran

Assignees

• Univ Carnegie Mellon

Inventors

• Tamburo Robert
• Narasimhan Srinivasa
• Hoe James
• Rowe Anthony
• Nguyen Marie

Classifications

• B60Q2300/45

  Special conditions, e.g. pedestrians, road signs or potential dangers · CPC title

• B60Q2300/33

  Driving situation · CPC title

• B60Q2300/136

  Roll · CPC title

• B60Q2300/134

  Yaw · CPC title

• B60Q2300/132

  Pitch · CPC title