Patent Application
20130010484
This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0067885 filed on Jul. 8, 2011 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and all the benefits accruing therefrom under 35 U.S.C. 119, the contents of which in its entirety are herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive turn signal lamp and a method for controlling the same, and more particularly, to an automotive turn signal lamp allowing other drivers or pedestrians to easily detect a change in travel direction of a vehicle or a turning direction at an intersection even when it is difficult to see the turn signal lamp, and a method for controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, vehicles include various lamps having lighting functions for enabling a driver to easily recognize and see objects around the vehicle when driving at night and a signaling function for informing drivers of other vehicles or pedestrians about certain intention of driver in the vehicle.
For example, head lamps and fog lamps are used to provide a lighting function, and a turn signal lamp, a reversing lamp, a brake lamp and a side marker are used to provide a signaling function. The turn signal lamps are installed on front/rear and left/right sides of the vehicle and are turned on and off when the vehicle changes from one traveling lane to another or when the vehicle is turning at, e.g., an intersection to inform other vehicles or pedestrians of the driver's intended change in travel direction of the vehicle. Accordingly, the other vehicles or pedestrians can see that the turn signal is on and make preparations, thereby preventing a vehicle accident from occurring.
Some of the turn signal lamps corresponding to the changed direction are turned on and off according to the driver's operation, the driving state of the vehicle or the like, thereby informing other vehicles or pedestrians of the change in the traveling lane of the vehicle or the turning direction at an intersection or the like. However, when the other vehicle is traveling in a lateral position along or almost along side the vehicle that is turning or the other vehicle is traveling from the opposite direction of intended turning direction of a vehicle at an intersection, even though the turn signal lamp of the vehicle is turned on and off, it is difficult for the driver of the other vehicle to easily see the on/off of the turn signal lamp.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a system and method of enabling the drivers of other vehicles to easily detect a change in the traveling direction or a turning direction at an intersection even where it is difficult for the drivers of other vehicles to see whether the turn signal lamp is on or off.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
In view of the above, the present invention provides an automotive turn signal lamp which irradiates light of a road pattern indicating a traveling direction to be changed when a vehicle changes its traveling direction to allow the drivers of other vehicles to easily detect a change in the traveling direction of the vehicle even where it is difficult for the drivers of other vehicles to see the turn signal lamp, and a method for controlling the same.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automotive turn signal lamp, comprising: a detection unit which detects a change in a traveling direction of a vehicle; and a turn signal lamp which irradiates light of a road pattern indicating the traveling direction to be changed.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling an automotive turn signal lamp, comprising: detecting, by a detection unit, a change in a traveling direction of a vehicle; and irradiating light of a road pattern indicating the traveling direction to be changed.
The above and other aspects and features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of accomplishing the same may be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the present invention will only be defined by the appended claims. Throughout the specification, like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.
It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, combustion, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum).
In some embodiments, well-known steps, structures and techniques will not be described in detail to avoid obscuring the invention.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Embodiments of the invention are described herein with reference to plan and cross-section illustrations that are schematic illustrations of idealized embodiments of the invention. As such, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, embodiments of the invention should not be construed as limited to the particular shapes of regions illustrated herein but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing. In the drawings, respective components may be enlarged or reduced in size for convenience of explanation.
Hereinafter, an automotive turn signal lamp and a method for controlling the automotive turn signal lamp in accordance with embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
A change from one traveling lane to another or turning at an intersection will be described as an example of the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 in the embodiment of the present invention, but it is not limited thereto. That is, the present invention may include all cases where the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed in various situations.
When the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed, the first lamp unit 110 may be turned on and off to inform other vehicles or pedestrians of the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle 10. Also, the second lamp unit 120 may irradiate light in the direction of a road pattern, indicating the traveling direction to be changed, in one direction from the vehicle 10. The third lamp unit 130 may provide information on the circumferential state to other vehicles or pedestrians.
In the embodiment of the present invention, each of the turn signal lamps 100 installed on the front and left/right sides of the vehicle 10 includes the first lamp unit 110, the second lamp unit 120 and the third lamp unit 130, and each of the turn signal lamps 100 installed on the rear and left/right sides of the vehicle 10 includes only the first lamp unit 110. However, it is merely one example to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and the second lamp unit 120 and the third lamp unit 130 having the same functions may be also installed on the rear and left/right sides of the vehicle 10.
The second lamp unit 120 may include a plurality of light source parts 121 to 124 arranged in one direction on one side of the head lamp 20, and the third lamp unit 130 may include one light source part. However, it is merely one example to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and the number of the light source parts included in the second lamp unit 120 and the third lamp unit 130 may be changed according to the purpose and need.
As shown in
Further, the shape formed on the road by the light source part 121 of
When the light source parts 121 to 124 of the second lamp unit 120 are different sizes and installed at angles, it is possible to form the road pattern 150 in which circular shapes are arranged in one direction as illustrated in
Further, all of the shapes 151 to 154 included in the road pattern 150 have circular shapes in the example of
Meanwhile, it can be seen from
Further, the shapes 151 to 154 included in the road pattern 150 have sizes gradually increasing as they go away from the vehicle 10 in the embodiment of the present invention. This allows the road pattern 150 to have directionality such that other vehicles or pedestrians can more easily recognize the intended traveling direction. Although the shapes 151 to 154 have sizes gradually increasing as they go away from the vehicle 10 in the embodiment of the present invention, it is not limited thereto. The shapes 151 to 154 may have sizes gradually decreasing or the same size.
Meanwhile, in the embodiment of the present invention, the turn signal lamp 100 may include the third lamp unit 130 in addition to the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120. The third lamp unit 130 may form a road pattern having a character, a shape, a color and the like to inform other vehicles of certain information around the circumferential state, e.g., when there is another vehicle or pedestrian or a vehicle accident occurs at a location invisible to other vehicles, as described above. The character, shape, color and the like may be achieved by a lens, light source and the like included in the third lamp unit 130.
For example, as shown in
Further, the vehicle 10 may include a device allowing the driver to select a character, a shape, a color and the like of the road pattern 160 such that various road patterns may be formed according to the circumferential state.
The case where the third lamp unit 130 is operated when the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed has been described in the embodiment of the present invention. However, it is merely one example to facilitate understanding of the present invention. The third lamp unit 130 may be operated independently of the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 when it is necessary to inform other vehicles or pedestrians of the information on the circumferential state. Further, the third lamp unit 130 may be omitted if there is a separate lamp capable of indicating the circumferential state.
The detection unit 200 may detect the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle. Specifically, the detection unit 200 may detect the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle according to the operation of the driver or the driving state of the vehicle. For example, the detection unit 200 may detect the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 when the driver operates an operation lever for operating the turn signal lamp 100 installed on one side of a steering wheel provided in the vehicle 10, or when a lane detection unit detects vehicle 10 is departing into another lane. However, it is merely one example to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and it is not limited thereto.
Further, the detection unit 200 may detect that the traveling direction is changed to a direction having a higher priority according to the predetermined priority order when the direction according to the driver's operation of the operation lever is different from the direction according to the detection of lanes. For example, when the direction according to the driver's operation of the operation lever is a left direction while the direction according to the detection of lanes is in a right direction (or vice versa), the detection unit may change the operation of turning signal to the right or left to correct for a driver's mistake according to the predetermined priority order. That is, since the vehicle 10 is actually moving in the opposite direction indicated by the driver the detection unit determines that the driver's input was incorrect and corrects for this mistake to avoid a possible accident.
As mentioned above, the detection unit 200 may include logic for detecting a lane change. In particular, a camera module may be configured to detect the change in the traveling direction through a lane detection technique. When the vehicle 10 begins to crossover a lane line in an image obtained by the camera module, the detection unit detects that the vehicle 10 is changing lanes in a corresponding direction.
The control unit 300 may determine the traveling direction to be changed according to the detection results of the detection unit 200, determine a lamp unit or light source part to be operated according to the determination results, and control the supply of current to turn the lamp unit or light source part on/off.
For example, when the vehicle 10 is turning right at an intersection, the control unit 300 may control such that the blinking pattern 140 can be formed by supplying the current to the first lamp units 110 installed on the front/rear and right sides of the vehicle, and the road pattern 150 can be formed and turned on and off in the same way as the first lamp units 110 by supplying the current to the second lamp unit 120. Further, if it is necessary to turn on the third lamp unit 130, the control unit 300 may be controlled so that the road pattern 160 has a character, shape and color and the like corresponding to the circumferential state can be formed by supplying the current to the third lamp unit 130.
The control unit 300 may be controlled so that the second lamp unit 120 can be turned on and off in the same way as the first lamp unit 110, and the light source parts 121 to 124 included in the second lamp unit 120 can be simultaneously or sequentially turned on and off.
In this case, in the present invention, since light of the road pattern 150 indicating the change in the traveling direction is irradiated by the second lamp unit 120, the vehicle 11 traveling in a lateral position almost similar to the vehicle 10 also can easily detect the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle 10. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a vehicle accident from occurring when two vehicles change lanes at the same time, or the driver of the vehicle 11 beside the vehicle 10 does not see that the vehicle next to them is intending to change lanes.
Accordingly, in the case of
The above example for providing a pedestrian approaching warning has been illustrated in
If it is detected that the traveling direction of the vehicle is changing, the control unit 300 operates the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 by supplying the current to the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 corresponding to the changed direction (step S120). That is, if the current is supplied by the control unit 300, the first lamp unit 110 forms the blinking pattern 140 to allow a vehicle located behind or beside the vehicle 10 to recognize the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and the second lamp unit 120 irradiates light of the road pattern 150 indicating the change in the traveling direction to allow a vehicle traveling from the opposite direction to the traveling direction to recognize and see the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle 10.
In this case, a case where the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 are operated at the same time when the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed has been described at step S120. However, it is merely one example to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and it is not limited thereto. Only one of the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 may be operated according to the selection of the driver or the like.
Meanwhile, if it is requested by the driver or the like to provide the information on the circumferential state (e.g., various situations or factors occurring around the vehicle) to other vehicles (step S130), the control unit 300 supplies the current to the third lamp unit 130 in addition to the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 to irradiate light of the road pattern 160 indicating the circumferential state (step S140).
Meanwhile, at step S140, whether to operate the third lamp unit 130 may be determined by selection of the driver or the like. If a separate device is provided, the third lamp unit 130 may be omitted. Further, although a case where the third lamp unit 130 is operated after operating the first lamp unit 110 and the second lamp unit 120 has been described as an example in
In the automotive turn signal lamp and the method for controlling the automotive turn signal lamp in accordance with the present invention, at least one of the following effects can be obtained.
In a case where the vehicle changes its traveling direction, by irradiating light of a road pattern indicating the changing traveling direction, the change can be easily seen by vehicles and pedestrians that would have in the past had difficulty detecting that the turn signal has been activated. Further, by irradiating light of a road pattern indicating a situation occurring at a location invisible to drivers of other vehicles in addition to the road pattern indicating the traveling direction to be changed, it is possible to inform other vehicles of the situation, thereby preventing occurrence of a vehicle accident.
Although the above exemplary embodiment is described as using a plurality of units to perform the above process, it is understood that the above processes may also be performed by a single controller or unit. Furthermore, the control logic of the present invention may be embodied as computer readable media on a computer readable medium containing executable program instructions executed by a processor, controller or the like. Examples of the computer readable mediums include, but are not limited to, ROM, RAM, compact disc (CD)-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, flash drives, smart cards and optical data storage devices. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed in network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable media is stored and executed in a distributed fashion, e.g., by a telematics server.
The effects of the present invention are not limited thereto, and other effects of the present invention can be apparently understood from the description of claims.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. The exemplary embodiments should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2011-0067885 | Jul 2011 | KR | national |
