Vehicle indicating side marker lighting systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9566901-B1
Application number	US-201615145094-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 3, 2016
Priority date	May 3, 2016
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

Side marker lighting systems, methods of providing side marker lighting, and vehicles including the same are disclosed. A side marker lighting system includes a light emitting module having a plurality of light emitting diodes, a sensor module, and a master controller having instructions to receive data from the sensor module, where the data is indicative of a vehicle located in the vicinity of the side marker lighting system, determine that the vehicle is moving toward the system at an angle, determine location coordinates of the vehicle with respect to the system, determine a direction of light based on the location coordinates of the vehicle such that the direction of light is aimed at the vehicle, and direct the light emitting module to selectively activate the light emitting diodes such that the light emitting diodes produce a collective beam that corresponds to the first direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A side marker lighting system comprising:
a light emitting module comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes;
a sensor module; and
a master controller comprising a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium storing one or more machine-readable instructions to:
receive data from the sensor module, wherein the data is indicative of a vehicle located in the vicinity of the side marker lighting system,
determine that the vehicle is moving toward the side marker lighting system at an angle,
determine location coordinates of the vehicle with respect to the side marker lighting system,
determine a direction of light based on the location coordinates of the vehicle such that the direction of light is aimed at the vehicle, and
direct the light emitting module to selectively activate the plurality of light emitting diodes such that the plurality of light emitting diodes produce a collective beam that corresponds to the direction of light.

2. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium further stores one or more machine-readable instructions to:
determine second location coordinates of the vehicle with respect to the side marker lighting system when the vehicle moves with respect to the side marker lighting system to an area outside of the direction of light;
determine a second direction of light based on the second location coordinates such that the second direction of light is aimed at the vehicle; and
direct the light emitting module to selectively activate the plurality of light emitting diodes such that the plurality of light emitting diodes produce the collective beam that corresponds to the second direction of light.

3. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium further stores one or more machine-readable instructions to:
determine that the vehicle has moved outside the vicinity of the side marker lighting system; and
direct the light emitting module to deactivate the plurality of light emitting diodes.

4. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium further stores one or more machine-readable instructions to:
activate the side marker lighting system based on at least one of a power on of a vehicle in which the side marker lighting system is installed, a detected ambient light level, and an activation of a headlight switch.

5. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the collective beam comprises a deluminated zone that corresponds to an area projected onto the vehicle that is aimed at a driver of the vehicle.

6. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting module comprises the plurality of light emitting diodes arranged on a curved surface positioned such that each of the plurality of light emitting diodes is particularly positioned according to a curvature of the curved surface.

7. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the side marker lighting system is one or more of a front side marker lighting system and a rear side marker lighting system.

8. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting module further comprises an LED controller for selectively activating the plurality of light emitting diodes.

9. The side marker lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module comprises an imaging device that images an area adjacent to the side marker lighting system.

10. A method of providing side marker lighting, the method comprising:
receiving, by a master controller of a side marker lighting system, data from a sensor module, wherein the data is indicative of a vehicle located in the vicinity of the side marker lighting system;
determining, by the master controller, that the vehicle is moving toward the side marker lighting system at an angle;
determining, by the master controller, location coordinates of the vehicle with respect to the side marker lighting system;
determining, by the master controller, a direction of light based on the location coordinates of the vehicle such that the direction of light is aimed at the vehicle; and
directing, by the master controller, a light emitting module to selectively activate a plurality of light emitting diodes such that the plurality of light emitting diodes produce a collective beam that corresponds to the direction of light.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, by the master controller, second location coordinates of the vehicle with respect to the side marker lighting system when the vehicle moves with respect to the side marker lighting system to an area outside of the direction of light;
determining, by the master controller, a second direction of light based on the second location coordinates such that the second direction of light is aimed at the vehicle; and
directing, by the master controller, the light emitting module to selectively activate the plurality of light emitting diodes such that the plurality of light emitting diodes produce the collective beam that corresponds to the second direction of light.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, by the master controller, that the vehicle has moved outside the vicinity of the side marker lighting system; and
directing, by the master controller, the light emitting module to deactivate the plurality of light emitting diodes.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
activating, by the master controller, the side marker lighting system based on at least one of a power on of a vehicle in which the side marker lighting system is installed, a detected ambient light level, and an activation of a headlight switch.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein directing the light emitting module to selectively activate the plurality of light emitting diodes such that the plurality of light emitting diodes produce a collective beam that corresponds to the direction of light comprises directing the light emitting module to selectively activate the plurality of light emitting diodes such that the plurality of light emitting diodes produce the collective beam comprising a deluminated zone that corresponds to an area projected onto the vehicle that is aimed at a driver of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the location coordinates of the vehicle comprises receiving data from the sensor module and mapping the location of the vehicle to coordinate axes based on the data.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein directing the light emitting module to selectively activate a plurality of light emitting diodes comprises:
determining, for each of the plurality of light emitting diodes, a second direction of an individual beam emitted from each of the plurality of light emitting diodes, wherein the second direction is different for each individual beam;
determining a first portion of the plurality of light emitting diodes, wherein the first portion comprises one of the plurality of light emitting diodes that emit an individual beam that corresponds to the direction of light; and
directing the light emitting module to activate only the first portion of the light emitting diodes to produce the collective beam.

17. A first vehicle comprising a side marker lighting system, the side marker lighting system comprising:
a light emitting module comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes and an LED controller for selectively activating one or more of the plurality of light emitting diodes in a pattern to produce a

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Eng & Mfg North America Inc

Inventors

• Lindsay Brian L

Classifications

• H05B45/10

  Controlling the intensity of the light · CPC title

• H05B47/11

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title

• B60Q1/0023

  the element being a sensor, e.g. distance sensor, camera · CPC title

• B60Q1/0047

  Signalling unit mounted on a headlamp unit · CPC title

• B60Q1/32 Primary

  for indicating vehicle sides {, e.g. clearance lights} · CPC title