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DE-102019005898-B4 - Method for removing glare from objects using a headlight system of a motor vehicle

DE102019005898B4DE 102019005898 B4DE102019005898 B4DE 102019005898B4DE-102019005898-B4

Abstract

Method for removing glare from objects (O1, O2, O3) by means of a headlight system (2) of a motor vehicle (1), comprising the following measures: a) Determining the positions (P1, P2, P3) of two light (L) from a headlight (3) of the headlight system (2) reflecting objects (8, O1, O2, O3) in a camera image (11) which is generated by a camera (4) of the headlight system (2) directed towards the foreground (V) of the motor vehicle (1), b) Area-by-area dimming of the light (L) emitted by the headlight (3) and illuminating the foreground (V) such that the at least two objects (O1, O2, O3) and an area of the foreground (V), which is represented in the camera image (11) by a connecting image section (13) linking the at least two objects (8, O1, O2, O3), are illuminated with reduced luminous intensity, so that less reflected backlight is produced by them, characterized in that - for each position (P1, P2, P3) of a reflective object (O1, O2, O3) detected in the camera image (11), the distance of which to the headlight (3) of the headlight system (2) is determined, - the reduction of the luminous intensity with which light (L) is emitted from the headlight (3) is carried out in such a way that for objects (O1, O2, O3) at a greater distance from the headlight (3) the luminous intensity is reduced less than for objects (O1, O2, O3) at a shorter distance from the headlight (3).

Inventors

  • Carsten Gut

Assignees

  • Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20190821

Claims (9)

  1. Method for glare reduction of objects (O1, O2, O3) by means of a headlight system (2) of a motor vehicle (1), comprising the following measures: a) Determining the positions (P1, P2, P3) of two light (L) from a headlight (3) of the headlight system (2) reflecting objects (8, O1, O2, O3) in a camera image (11) which is generated by a camera (4) of the headlight system (2) directed towards the area in front (V) of the motor vehicle (1), b) Area-wise dimming of the light (L) emitted by the headlight (3) and illuminating the area in front (V) such that the at least two objects (O1, O2, O3) and an area of the area in front (V) which is represented in the camera image (11) by a connecting image section (13) connecting the at least two objects (8, O1, O2, O3) are illuminated with reduced luminous intensity, so that less reflected backlight is generated by them, characterized in that , that - for each position (P1, P2, P3) of a reflective object (O1, O2, O3) detected in the camera image (11), its distance to the headlight (3) of the headlight system (2) is determined, - the reduction of the luminous intensity with which light (L) is emitted from the headlight (3) is carried out in such a way that for objects (O1, O2, O3) at a greater distance from the headlight (3) the luminous intensity is reduced less than for objects (O1, O2, O3) at a shorter distance from the headlight (3).
  2. Procedure according to Claim 1 , characterized in that, in the course of measure a), for each position (P1, P2) of the at least two identified reflective objects (O1, O2), a section of the image (14a, 14b) of the camera image (11) belonging to the respective object (O1, O2) is assigned, in which the object in question (O1, O2) is arranged in the camera image (11), so that at least a first and a second section of the image (14a, 14b) are determined in this way.
  3. Procedure according to Claim 2 , characterized in that , starting from the first and second image sections (14a, 14b), a connecting image section (13) linking these two image sections (14a 14b) is determined, so that in measure b) at least an area of the foreground (V) of the motor vehicle (1), which corresponds in the camera image to the two image sections (14a, 14b) and the connecting image section (13), is illuminated with reduced light intensity.
  4. Procedure according to one of the Claims 1 until 3 , characterized in that - in measure a) the position (P3) of at least one third, preferably several third, object(s) (O3) is additionally determined, which are arranged in the camera image (11) between the first and second object(s) (O1, O2), - the connecting image section (13) between the first and the second object(s) (O1, O2) is defined such that it contains the at least one third object (O3).
  5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the position (P1, P2, P3) of the at least two objects (O1, O2, O3) is determined by means of reflecting radar beams.
  6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a degree of dimming of the light (L) emitted by the headlight (2) is iteratively controlled for each object (O1, O2, O3) by means of a control loop.
  7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that - the headlight (3) has at least one high-resolution and at least one low-resolution light-generating area, - the dimming of the light (L) emitted by the headlight (3) is limited to the at least one high-resolution area.
  8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one object (O1, O2, O3) is a road user, preferably another vehicle or motor vehicle (22), or a traffic sign or a guidepost (L1, L2, L3) or a reflector (R1, R2, R3) provided preferably on road boundaries, most preferably on guardrails.
  9. Motor vehicle (1), - with a headlight system (2) comprising at least one high-resolution headlight (3) for illuminating the area in front of the motor vehicle (1) and a camera (4) for capturing the area in front (V), - with a control or regulating device (5) cooperating with the headlight system (2) and configured or programmed to carry out the method according to one of the preceding claims.

Description

The invention relates to a method for removing glare from objects using a headlight system of a motor vehicle. The invention further relates to a motor vehicle with a control/regulating device that is configured/programmed to carry out this method. Modern motor vehicles are often equipped with high-performance headlights, which, for example, have light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and therefore emit light with a greater luminous intensity than previously known from headlights of older designs. The light emitted by modern headlights is often so intense that it is reflected off objects with reflective surfaces, such as traffic signs or guideposts, and subsequently dazzles the driver. Therefore, it is known in the art to manipulate the light emitted by the headlight in such a way as to at least reduce the reflection of the light emitted by the headlight off the aforementioned reflective object. This procedure is referred to below as "glare reduction" of the respective object. For example, the DE 10 2012 210 467 A1 Such a procedure involves creating an image of the vehicle's illuminated surroundings and determining whether a traffic sign is present. If so, the position of the traffic sign is determined, and the light emitted by the vehicle's lighting system is adjusted towards the identified position of the traffic sign to reduce the reflection of the light emitted by the lighting system from the traffic sign. A similar method, in which a high-resolution headlight of a motor vehicle is controlled in such a way that objects detected in the vicinity of the motor vehicle are de-glared, is derived from the DE 10 2015 016 375 A1 known. From the DE 20 2017 102 056 U1 , the DE 10 2014 216 545 A1 as well as the DE 10 2007 040 042 A1 Methods are known in which individual objects are detected and masked in front of a motor vehicle. The US 9.01 3.058 B2 Disclosure reveals a method for focusing objects using a vehicle's headlight system. In this method, the positions of two objects reflecting light from a headlight of the headlight system are generated in a camera image of the foreground. The light emitted by the headlight is then selectively dimmed such that the two detected objects and a connecting area between them are illuminated with reduced light intensity. This results in less reflected backlighting from these objects. It is an object of the present invention to demonstrate new approaches in the development of methods for reducing glare from objects illuminated by a motor vehicle headlight, which generate backlighting through reflection. In particular, an improved method for reducing glare is to be created in which the headlight can be controlled in a simple manner, so that only small amounts of control data need to be transmitted to the headlight for control purposes. This problem is solved by the subject matter according to independent claim 1. Preferred embodiments are the subject of dependent claims. The basic idea of the invention is therefore to avoid having to separately identify all objects generating backlighting in front of a motor vehicle illuminated by a high-resolution headlight and reduce their illumination by controlling the headlight accordingly, thus reducing the amount of disruptive backlighting. Instead, it is proposed to identify only two objects generating backlighting in a camera image of the area in front of the vehicle by means of image analysis. In a further process step, not only are those two areas of the area in front of the vehicle that correspond to the position of the two identified objects in the camera image masked by controlling the headlight accordingly; according to the invention, an additional area of the area in front of the vehicle is also masked, which corresponds in the camera image to a section connecting the two previously described image sections. This image section is subsequently referred to as the "connecting image section" or "connecting area". This method exploits the fact that the connecting area between the two identified objects often contains other objects that create backlighting. This is the case, for example, with guideposts and traffic signs that line the side of the road section driven on by a motor vehicle. The same applies to vehicles parked one behind the other at the roadside. In a camera image of the area in front of the vehicle, generated by a camera inside the vehicle, these objects are frequently located along a straight line. or curved connecting line arranged one after the other. Therefore, for effective glare reduction using the inventive method, it is sufficient to determine only the positions of the two outer objects arranged on the connecting line by means of image recognition and, as a result of this determination, to control the headlight in such a way that not only the two explicitly determined objects are glare-free in the camera image, but also the aforementioned connecting image section or connecting area between these two objects. A separate co