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EP-4737214-A1 - IMPROVED GLARE FREE HIGH BEAM FUNCTION IN A VEHICLE

EP4737214A1EP 4737214 A1EP4737214 A1EP 4737214A1EP-4737214-A1

Abstract

The invention provides method of controlling a lighting module to project a pixelated beam, the vehicle comprising a control module performing a glare free high beam function. The method comprises, for each border of a shadow tunnel positioned at an initial border position : - obtaining (602) a target border position for the border of the shadow tunnel; - controlling (605-607) the light source to move the border from the initial border position to the target border position. If an update direction is a tunnel reducing direction, controlling the light source comprises: - moving (606) the border to an intermediate border position being determined based on a current time period and on a current border speed that depends on a distance between a current border position and the target border position; - if the intermediate border position differs from the target border position, repeating (607) the previous step.

Inventors

  • LUBAT, ARTHUR
  • DREZET, Matthieu

Assignees

  • Valeo Vision

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20241030

Claims (14)

  1. A method of controlling a lighting module (110; 110.1; 110.2) mounted in a vehicle (100), the lighting module comprising a light source (202) with a plurality of light elements (210) that are separately controllable to project a pixelated or segmented beam (300; 310; 400; 410; 500; 510; 800) in front of the vehicle, the vehicle comprising a control module (101; 201) performing a glare free high beam function that is arranged to control the light source to create at least one shadow tunnel (811; 821; 831) in the pixelated or segmented beam based on a position of at least one other vehicle detected in front of the vehicle, wherein the method comprises, for each border of a shadow tunnel positioned at an initial border position (805.1; 805.2): - obtaining (602) a target border position (806.1; 806.2) for the border of the shadow tunnel; - controlling (605-607) the light source (202) to move the border from the initial border position (805.1; 805.2) to the target border position (806.1; 806.2); wherein, when an update direction going from the initial border position to the target border position is a tunnel reducing direction, controlling the light source (202) to move the border from the initial border position (805.1; 805.2) to the target border position (806.1; 806.2) the light source (202) comprises: - moving (606) the border from a current border position to an intermediate border position (815.1; 815.2; 825.1; 825.2), towards the target border position, the intermediate border position being determined based on a current time period and based on a current border speed that depends on a distance between the current border position and the target border position; - when the intermediate border position differs from the target border position, repeating (607) the previous step, at a next time period, the intermediate border position becoming the current border position.
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a predefined increasing function (700) sets correspondences between speed values and possible distances between the current border position and the target border position, wherein the current border speed is determined by applying the predefined increasing function to the distance.
  3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the predefined increasing function is linear in a first predefined range (701) of possible distances between the current border position and the target border position that are comprised between zero and a predefined distance value.
  4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the predefined increasing function is a polynomial function in a first predefined range (701) of possible distance values between the current border position and the target border position that are comprised between zero and a predefined distance value.
  5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the predefined increasing function is a constant in a second predefined range (702) of possible distances between the current border position and the target border position that are above the predefined distance value.
  6. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein if the update direction is a tunnel opening direction, the control module (101; 201) controls (605) the light source to move the border from the initial border position directly to the target border position without any intermediate border position.
  7. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the steps of obtaining (602) the target border position for the border of the shadow tunnel and of controlling (605-607) the light source (202) to move the border from the initial border position (805.1; 805.2) to the target border position (806.1; 806.2), are carried out during a first time period T1 of index k, and are repeated for a next first time period T1 of index k+1; wherein the current time period based on which the intermediate border position (815.1; 815.2; 825.1; 825.2) is determined, is a second time period T2, the second time period T2 being shorter than or equal to the first time period T1.
  8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second time period T2 is more than N times shorter than the first time period T1, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2.
  9. A computer program comprising instructions arranged for implementing the method according to one of claims 1 to 8, when said instructions are executed by a processor (901).
  10. A control module (101; 201) arranged for controlling at least one lighting module (110.1; 110.2; 110) of a vehicle (100), the lighting module comprising a light source (202) with a plurality of light elements (210) that are separately controllable to project a pixelated or segmented beam in front of the vehicle, the control module being configured for performing a glare free high beam function to create at least one shadow tunnel (811; 821; 831) in the pixelated or segmented beam based on a position of at least one other vehicle detected in front of the vehicle, wherein the control module comprises a processor (901) configured for, for each border of a shadow tunnel positioned at an initial border position (805.1; 805.2): - obtaining a target border position (806.1; 806.2) for the border of the shadow tunnel; - controlling the light source to move the border from the initial border position to the target border position; wherein, when an update direction going from the initial border position to the target border position is a tunnel reducing direction, controlling the light source to move the border from the initial border position to the target border position the light source comprises: - moving the border from a current border position to an intermediate border position (815.1; 815.2; 825.1; 825.2), towards the target border position, the intermediate border position being determined based on a current time period and based on a current border speed that depends on a distance between the current border position and the target border position; - when the intermediate border position differs from the target border position, repeating the previous step, at a next time period, the intermediate border position becoming the current border position.
  11. A system comprising a control module according to claim 10 and a lighting module (110.1; 110.2; 110), the lighting module comprising a light source (202) with a plurality of light elements (210) that are separately controllable to project a pixelated or segmented beam.
  12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the lighting module (110.1; 110.2; 110) comprises a pixelated electroluminescent light source, wherein the plurality of light elements (210) are mounted on a common substrate, the lighting module (202) being configured to project a pixelated beam.
  13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the lighting module comprises a matrix light module (110.1; 110.2; 110), wherein the plurality of light elements (210) are mounted on respective substrates, the lighting module being configured to project a segmented beam.
  14. A vehicle (100) comprising a pair of lighting modules (110; 110.1; 110.2), and at least one control module (101; 201) according to claim 10.

Description

This invention is related to the field of automotive lighting devices, and more particularly, to the control thereof. Automotive luminous devices comprise light sources, so that the lighting modules mounted in headlamps of a vehicle may provide some light, either for lighting and/or signalling. Several types of light sources families are used nowadays, all of them having advantages and disadvantages. It is nowadays known to use light sources that comprises a plurality of individually controlled light elements, such as Light Emitting Diodes, LEDs. Such a light source may be mounted in a lighting module of a vehicle, and may be controlled by a driver unit so as to perform at least one lighting function, based on control signals received from a body controller of the vehicle. The plurality of light elements of the light source may be arranged in a matrix comprising several lines and several columns, or may be arranged in one line. The lighting module may further comprise an optic system that is arranged to project a beam, that comprise several segments (if several hundreds or thousands of light elements are arranged in one line) or several pixels (if the light elements are arranged in matrix). It is thus possible to produce a pixelated or segmented light beam with which the lighting module is able to perform localized lighting functions, for example project a pattern onto the scene. The lighting module may perform a glare free high beam function; GFHB, which consists in controlling the segmented or pixelated beams projected by the headlamps of the vehicle to maintain a high beam function while crossing or following other vehicles on the road. To this end, information acquired by a camera may be used to detect the positions of other vehicles in the scene in front of the vehicle performing the GFHB function, and to turn off parts (segments or pixels) of the beams projected by the headlamps to create darkened zones (also known as shadow tunnels) around the positions of the other vehicle, thereby avoiding glaring the other road users. The GFHB function is dynamic and is constantly adapted to the information acquired by the camera, so that the positions of the other vehicles vary: this requires to update the position of the shadow tunnels, comprising the positions of the borders of the shadow tunnels (the borders between the bright area or areas, and the shadow tunnel). The position of the GFHB tunnels can be updated, if needed, at a given frequency, or every first time period T1. In some situations, the positions of the other vehicle evolve quickly in the scene in front of the vehicle, which causes the GFHB function to quickly displace the borders of the shadow tunnel. This enables to avoid glaring other drivers but may be disturbing for the driver of the vehicle implementing the GFHB function. To avoid this, Maximum Border Motion Slew rate, MBMS, is a feature of the GFHB function that sets a maximum angular speed per time step for updating a position of the border of the shadow tunnels created by the GFHB function, when the border is moved towards the interior of the shadow tunnel (for example, when the right border of the shadow tunnel is moved to the left direction). Therefore, when a target tunnel position of the shadow tunnel (defining target border positions of the borders of the shadow tunnel) is different from a current position of the shadow tunnel: to move a border from an initial border position to its target border position, if the border is moved towards the exterior (called a tunnel opening direction) of the shadow tunnel (a part of the ignited section of the beam is turned off), then the border is moved to its target border position instantly, without taking into account the maximum angular speed. This enables to avoid glaring the other drivers;to move a border from the initial border position to its target border position, if the border is moved towards the interior (called a tunnel reducing direction) of the shadow tunnel (a part of the beam that is in the shadow tunnel is re-ignited), then the border is moved to its target border position, at an angular speed that is less than or equal to the maximum angular speed. Therefore, when the initial border position is remote from its target border position, the border is updated at the maximum angular speed, and may reach the target border position after several time steps, which reduces the disturbance of the user. However, even when the MBMS feature is activated, when the position of the shadow tunnel is moving fast, if a border is moved in a tunnel reducing direction, it is moved at the maximum angular speed, and then stops abruptly when reaching the target border position : the dynamic of the border goes from the maximum angular speed to 0 degree per second in one time step, which is disturbing for the user. There is therefore a need to improve the MBMS feature of the GFHB function to reduce the disturbance of the user driving the vehicle implementi