Vehicle lamp control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9302611-B2
Application number	US-201414548799-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2014
Priority date	Nov 20, 2013
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

In a vehicle lamp control device, a control unit is configured to a) hold a road surface angle reference value and a vehicle posture angle reference value in a volatile manner, b) generate an optical axis adjusting signal using a vehicle posture angle in response to variation in a total angle during the stop of the vehicle, c) avoid generating or outputting the optical axis adjusting signal or output an optical axis holding signal, and hold a road surface angle as a new reference value, in response to variation in the total angle during travelling of the vehicle. The control unit, in response to receiving the turn-off signal of the switch, d-1) writes at least the road surface angle reference value in the storage unit or continues to execute the step (c) while delaying the step (d-1).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle lamp control device comprising:
a receiver configured to receive an output value of an inclination sensor, an output value of a vehicle speed sensor and a signal indicating turn-on/off of a switch of a power supply configured to supply power to the control device,
wherein the inclination sensor is configured to derive a total angle including a road surface angle and a vehicle posture angle, and the total angle is an inclination angle of a vehicle to a horizontal plane, the road surface angle is an inclination angle of a road surface to the horizontal plane and the vehicle posture angle is an inclination angle of the vehicle to the road surface;
a control unit configured to control an optical axis of a vehicle lamp; and
a storage unit configured to store a road surface angle reference value and a vehicle posture angle reference value in a non-volatile manner,
wherein the control unit is configured to:
a) hold the road surface angle reference value and the vehicle posture angle reference value in a volatile manner,
b) generate an optical axis adjusting signal using the vehicle posture angle, which is obtained from the total angle and the held road surface angle reference value and hold the obtained vehicle posture angle as a new reference value, in response to variation in the total angle during the stop of the vehicle;
c) avoid generating or outputting the optical axis adjusting signal or output an optical axis holding signal, and hold the road surface angle, which is obtained from the total angle and the held vehicle posture angle reference value, as a new reference value, in response to variation in the total angle during travelling of the vehicle; and
d) in response to receiving the turn-off signal of the switch,
d-1) when the output value of the vehicle speed sensor received before the turn-off of the switch is a value indicating the stop of the vehicle, write at least the road surface angle reference value of the held road surface angle reference value and the held vehicle posture angle reference value in the storage unit, and
d-2) when the received output value of the vehicle speed sensor is a value indicating the travel of the vehicle or a value indicating abnormality of the vehicle speed sensor or when the output value of the vehicle speed sensor is not received at least within a predetermined time before receiving the turn-off signal, continue to execute the step (c) while delaying the step (d-1).

2. The vehicle lamp control device according to claim 1 , wherein
in response to receiving the turn-off signal of the switch, the control unit is further configured to determine whether to execute or delay the step (d-1) based on the output value of the inclination sensor, when the received output value of the vehicle speed sensor is a value indicating the travel of the vehicle or a value indicating abnormality of the vehicle speed sensor or when the output value of the vehicle speed sensor is not received at least within a predetermined time before receiving the turn-off signal.

3. The vehicle lamp control device according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit is further configured to execute the step (d-1) when variation per unit time of the output value of the inclination sensor is a threshold or less.

4. The vehicle lamp control device according to claim 1 , wherein
in response to receiving the turn-off signal of the switch, the control unit is further configured to:
write, in the storage unit, abnormality information indicating abnormality of the vehicle speed sensor, when the received output value of the vehicle speed sensor is a value indicating abnormality of the vehicle speed sensor or when the output value of the vehicle speed sensor is not received at least within a predetermined time before receiving the turn-off signal, and
output the abnormality information in response to receiving the turn-on signal of the switch or in response to a request from an external device.

5. The vehicle lamp control device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to maintain the supply of power from the power supply in the turn-off state of the switch.

Assignees

• Koito Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamazaki Masashi
• Kasaba Yusuke
• Goto Kazuo

Classifications

• B60Q2300/132

  Pitch · CPC title

• B60Q2300/146

  Abnormalities, e.g. fail-safe · CPC title

• B60Q2300/112

  Vehicle speed · CPC title

• B60Q1/115 Primary

  by electric means {(details of the electric drive components, e.g. motors, shafts, ball joints B60Q1/076)} · CPC title

• B60Q2300/324

  Road inclination, e.g. uphill or downhill · CPC title