Method and apparatus for assessing a quality of a headlight

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9366568-B2
Application number	US-201313969081-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2013
Priority date	Aug 18, 2012
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

In a method of assessing a quality of a headlight of a motor vehicle during travel or operation on a shake bench facility, operation of the headlight is monitored by a camera. A camera image or a chronological sequence of camera images is evaluated as a function of at least one predefined criterion, such as, e.g., a brightness distribution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of assessing a quality of a headlight of a motor vehicle during travel or operation on a shake bench facility, comprising:
taking the motor vehicle to travel or to operate on a shake bench facility;
monitoring the headlight using a camera during the travel of the motor vehicle or the operation of the motor vehicle on the shake bench facility; and
evaluating a camera image of the headlight or a chronological sequence of camera images of the headlight obtained during the travel of the motor vehicle or the operation of the motor vehicle on the shake bench facility as a function of at least one predefined criterion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one predefined criterion is a brightness distribution.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one predefined criterion is a change in time of a brightness or brightness distribution.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising subdividing each camera image into a predefined number of subimages, and determining a brightness of the subimages, for ascertaining the brightness distribution.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining for a chronological sequence of the subimages for each subimage a minimum, mean value, and maximum of the brightness for a predefined time period.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one predefined criterion is a location of a light-dark boundary of the headlight.

7. Apparatus for assessing a quality of a headlight of a motor vehicle, comprising:
a light box secured to the motor vehicle at a location to ensure a radiation of the headlight into the light box;
a camera accommodated in the light box and monitoring the headlight during the travel of the motor vehicle or the operation of the motor vehicle on the shake bench facility; and
a computer for evaluating image data of the headlight captured by the camera during the travel of the motor vehicle or the operation of the motor vehicle on the shake bench facility.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the camera and the computer are connected by wireless communication for transmission of image data captured by the camera to the computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the computer is constructed for evaluating the image data as a function of at least one predefined criterion and for display of an evaluation result that characterizes the quality of the headlight.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the camera is constructed for an image capture rate of at least 200 images per second.

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Brosinger Manuel

Classifications

• G01M11/064

  by using camera or other imaging system for the light analysis · CPC title

• G01J1/4257 Primary

  applied to monitoring the characteristics of a beam, e.g. laser beam, headlamp beam (monitoring arrangements for lasers in general H01S3/0014) · CPC title

• G01M11/062 Primary

  using an indicator mounted on the head-light · CPC title