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EP-4060222-B1 - VEHICLE WITH VEHICLE LIGHTING SYSTEM BASED ON INFRARED LIGHT SOURCES

EP4060222B1EP 4060222 B1EP4060222 B1EP 4060222B1EP-4060222-B1

Inventors

  • YU, Yongkun
  • ZHANG, RUI

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220308

Claims (6)

  1. A vehicle, comprising a low beam system, a high beam system, a vehicle-mounted camera, and a vehicle lighting system based on infrared light sources, the vehicle lighting system comprising: an infrared matrix lamp (10), which comprises a plurality of infrared light sources arranged in a matrix and which is configured to be mounted on a vehicle to provide an illumination range with respect to the vehicle, wherein each of the plurality of infrared light sources corresponds to an illumination region in the illumination range; and a matrix lamp controller configured to turn on, when a target region needs to be illuminated, an infrared light source in the infrared matrix lamp (10) corresponding to the target region on the basis of relative position information between the target region and the vehicle, wherein the relative position information comprises an angular position of the target region relative to a vehicle reference, and wherein in the matrix lamp controller, there is a mapping between the relative position information and an infrared light source range in the infrared matrix lamp (10) corresponding to the relative position information, and the matrix lamp controller turns on the infrared light source corresponding to the target region on the basis of the mapping; characterized in that , the vehicle further comprises a radar apparatus for sensing the relative position information between the target region and the vehicle, wherein the infrared matrix lamp (10) is beforehand calibrated with the radar apparatus such that the angular position of the infrared light source range capable of illuminating the target region relative to a reference point of the infrared matrix lamp (10) corresponds to the angular position of the target region detected by the radar apparatus relative to the vehicle reference, and wherein the vehicle-mounted camera is configured to recognize an object (70) within the target region when the infrared matrix lamp (10) illuminates the target region.
  2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the infrared matrix lamp (10) further comprises a mounting plate (11) for mounting the plurality of infrared light sources, a convex lens (13) provided in front of the plurality of infrared light sources, and a front cover (15) provided in front of the convex lens (13), such that infrared light emitted from the infrared light sources is transmittable through the convex lens (13) and the front cover (15) to illuminate the target region.
  3. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the infrared light source is an infrared light-emitting diode, and the mounting plate (11) is a printed circuit board.
  4. The vehicle according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the infrared matrix lamp (10) further comprises a base (17) and a housing; the mounting plate (11), the convex lens (13) and the housing are mounted to the base (17) such that the mounting plate (11) and the infrared light source thereon are located in an inner cavity (190) of the housing (19); and the front cover (15) is mounted at a front end of the housing (19).
  5. The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the relative position information further comprises distance information of the target region relative to the vehicle, and wherein the matrix lamp controller is further configured to adjust the brightness of the turned-on infrared light source on the basis of the distance information.
  6. The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the infrared matrix lamp (10) is integrated in the low beam system or the high beam system of the vehicle.

Description

Technical Field The invention relates to the technical field of vehicles, and in particular to a vehicle comprising a vehicle lighting system based on infrared light sources. Background Art At present, since there is no ambient light or the ambient light is relatively dark during night driving, the visual recognition capability of a vision system such as a vehicle-mounted camera is relatively poor. This is a vulnerability or potential safety hazard for a vehicle with an autonomous driving capability. In order to avoid this problem, it is necessary for a lighting device of the vehicle to be capable of providing instant road lighting for the vision system. A conventional visible-light high beam system can provide this illumination range, but visible light may also cause glare to preceding or oncoming vehicles while performing illumination. JP 2012 166652 discloses a device to control a lighting condition of a vehicle headlight that can emit infrared light and visible light. The device includes an image recognition part that detects the objects that exist forward of the vehicle by image recognition processing based on the image obtained by taking a picture forward of the vehicle with a camera and an irradiation region calculating part that allocates a part of the irradiation region by the headlamp corresponding to the positions where the objects exist to a first region. Another vehicle is known from JP 2016 083987 A. WO 2019/225349 A1 pertains to an information processing device, an information processing method, an imaging device, a lighting device, and a mobile object that make it possible to improve the accuracy of image recognition processing. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a new vehicle lighting system to address at least one of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art. Summary of the Invention In view of this, an embodiment of the invention provides a vehicle with a vehicle lighting system based on infrared light sources, for effectively solving or alleviating at least one of the disadvantages existing at present. The subject-matter of the present invention is defined by the features of the independent claims. Further preferred embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims. In particular, the invention relates to a vehicle comprising a vehicle lighting system based on infrared light sources, the vehicle lighting system comprising: an infrared matrix lamp, which comprises a plurality of infrared light sources arranged in a matrix and which is configured to be mounted on a vehicle to provide an illumination range with respect to the vehicle, wherein each of the plurality of infrared light sources corresponds to an illumination region in the illumination range; anda matrix lamp controller configured to turn on, when a target region needs to be illuminated, an infrared light source in the infrared matrix lamp corresponding to the target region on the basis of relative position information between the target region and the vehicle, wherein the relative position information comprises an angular position of the target region relative to a vehicle reference, wherein the infrared matrix lamp is beforehand calibrated with a radar apparatus mounted on the vehicle such that the angular position of infrared light source range capable of illuminating the target region relative to a reference point of the infrared matrix lamp corresponds to the angular position of the target region detected by the radar apparatus relative to the vehicle reference. In the vehicle lighting system according to an embodiment of the invention, optionally, the infrared matrix lamp further comprises a mounting plate for mounting the plurality of infrared light sources, a convex lens provided in front of the plurality of infrared light sources, and a front cover provided in front of the convex lens, such that infrared light emitted from the infrared light sources is transmittable through the convex lens and the front cover to illuminate the target region. In the vehicle lighting system according to an embodiment of the invention, optionally, the infrared light source is an infrared light-emitting diode, and the mounting plate is a printed circuit board. In the vehicle lighting system according to an embodiment of the invention, optionally, the infrared matrix lamp further comprises a base and a housing; the mounting plate, the convex lens and the housing are mounted to the base such that the mounting plate and the infrared light source thereon are located in an inner cavity of the housing; and the front cover is mounted at a front end of the housing. In the vehicle lighting system according to an embodiment of the invention, optionally, the relative position information further comprises distance information of the target region relative to the vehicle, wherein the matrix lamp controller is further configured to adjust the brightness of the turned-on infrared light source on the basis of the distance