Controllable headlamp

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12561984-B2
Application number	US-202318226105-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2023
Priority date	Jul 25, 2022
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

A headlight for a vehicle is described herein. The headlight includes a hybridized device and a controller. The hybridized device includes an array of light emitting devices that illuminate a roadway on which the vehicle is located when operating. The controller is electrically coupled to the hybridized device and, when operating, causes the array of light emitting devices to selectively project a patterned light on to an object on the roadway using the hybridized device and causes a camera to capture an image of the patterned light projected on the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A headlight for a vehicle comprising:
a hybridized device comprising:
a silicon backplane, and
a monolithic array on the silicon backplane, the monolithic array comprising a plurality of light emitting pixels; and a controller that is electrically coupled to the hybridized device and is configured to, when operating:
control the silicon backplane to turn on or off groups of the light emitting pixels to selectively project a patterned light on to an object on a roadway, and
cause a camera to capture an image of the patterned light projected on the object.

2 . The headlight of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the camera to capture the image of the patterned light projected on the object for object detection for another system in the vehicle.

3 . The headlight of claim 2 , wherein the another system in the vehicle is one of adaptive cruise control or autonomous driving.

4 . The headlight of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the light emitting pixels comprises at least 20,000 light-emitting segments spaced 20 μm or less apart.

5 . The headlight of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to select a pattern of the patterned light based on at least one of:
operating parameters of the vehicle, or the image of the patterned light projected on the object captured by the camera.

6 . The headlight of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to project the patterned light on to the object on the roadway for a period of time that is less than a threshold of human perception.

7 . The headlight of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to project a non-patterned light on the roadway using the hybridized device.

8 . The headlight of claim 7 , wherein the non-patterned light is in a visible spectrum and the patterned light is in a non-visible spectrum.

9 . A method of controlling a hybridized device and a camera to detect an object on or near a roadway on which a vehicle is traveling, wherein the hybridized device comprises a silicon backplane and a monolithic array on the silicon backplane, wherein the monolithic array comprises a plurality of light emitting pixels, the method comprising:
sending a control signal to cause the silicon backplane to turn on or off groups of the light emitting pixels of the hybridized device to selectively project a patterned light on to the object; and causing a camera to capture an image of the patterned light projected on the object.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the camera is caused to capture the image of the patterned light projected on the object for object detection for another system in the vehicle.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the another system in the vehicle is one of adaptive cruise control or autonomous driving.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising selecting a pattern of the patterned light based on at least one of:
operating parameters of the vehicle, or the image of the patterned light projected on the object captured by the camera.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the patterned light is projected on to the object on the roadway for a period of time that is less than a threshold of human perception.

14 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising projecting a non-patterned light on the roadway using the hybridized device.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the non-patterned light is in a visible spectrum and the patterned light is in a non-visible spectrum.

16 . The headlight of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the silicon backplane to cause the monolithic array to simultaneously project both the patterned light and the non-patterned light on the roadway for at least a period of time.

17 . The method of claim 9 , wherein both the patterned light and the non-patterned light are projected on the roadway for at least a period of time.

Assignees

• Lumileds Llc
• Lumileds Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Spinger Benno
• Vanderhaeghen Dirk
• Bonne Ronald Johannes
• Schrama Wouter
• Lesch Norbert
• Van Den Akker Patrick

Classifications

• G06T2207/10048

  Infrared image · CPC title

• B60Q2300/30

  Indexing codes relating to the vehicle environment · CPC title

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• G06T7/55

  from multiple images · CPC title

• G06T2207/30252

  Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle · CPC title