Patent Grant
11505128
This application claims priority to and benefits of Chinese Patent Application Serial Nos. 201910324704.7 and 201920553085.4, each filed with National Intellectual Property Administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on Apr. 22, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the field of vehicle technologies, and particularly to a foot step for a vehicle.
A conventional foot step for a vehicle generally does not have a decorative light bar, thus causing a poor appearance of the foot step. Even if some foot steps for the vehicle are provided with the decorative light bar, the decorative light bar only plays a decorative role and has a poor cost-effectiveness.
A foot step for a vehicle according to embodiments of a first aspect of the present disclosure includes a step body and a light unit. The light unit is disposed on the step body and at least includes a warning light group. The warning light group is configured to emit light to warn nearby traffic participants of a width and an expected driving route of the vehicle.
A vehicle according to embodiments of a second aspect of the present disclosure includes a foot step for a vehicle. The foot step for the vehicle includes a step body and a light unit. The light unit is disposed on the step body and at least includes a warning light group. The warning light group is configured to emit light to warn nearby traffic participants of a width and an expected driving route of the vehicle.
Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be given in the following description, some of which will become apparent from the following description or be learned from practices of the present application.
The above and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present application will become apparent and easy to understand from descriptions of the embodiments with reference to the drawings.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Same or similar reference signs represent the same or similar components or components that have the same or similar functions from beginning to end. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, are merely used to explain the present disclosure, and cannot be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.
A foot step 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure is described below with reference to
As illustrated in
In the foot step 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the light unit is provided on the step body 10, and during the use of the vehicle 1000 (e.g., during the driving and the roadside parking and/or waiting), the warning light group 200 projects the light to the ground, so as to provide information to the traffic participants through the projection and warn those traffic participants (e.g., the vehicles and the pedestrians nearby) of the expected driving route of the vehicle 1000 in the embodiment, thus achieving the purpose of safe driving, improving the safety of using the vehicle 1000, and also allowing the appearance of the vehicle 1000 to be aesthetic.
As illustrated in
In a specific embodiment illustrated in
In this way, since the warning light group 20 is arranged on the step body 10, the projection on the ground can be realized, while the light of at least part of the warning light group 20 is visible on the left and right sides of the vehicle 1000. Thus, even if the traffic participants have not observed the ground, they can still determine the expected driving route of the vehicle 1000 and the width of the vehicle 1000 through the light emitted from an outer side of the foot step 100, thereby further improving the working stability of the warning light group 20.
As illustrated in
Of course, the functions of the warning light group 20 in the embodiment of the present disclosure are not limited to this, and the warning light group 20 in the embodiment is further configured to improve the driving atmosphere. For example, the strip-shaped light bars 21 are not only suitable for forming an arrow warning on the ground to warn the traffic participants of the turning of the vehicle, but also may be configured as a marquee or a flowing water light to improve the driving atmosphere. In this way, on the premise that the warning light group 20 has a function of warning to improve the safety driving of the vehicle 1000, the warning light group 20 further has a function of improving the driving atmosphere, thus leading to a cool and aesthetic overall appearance of the vehicle 1000.
Moreover, it may be understood that the user may also adjust the frequency and the color sequence of the warning light group 20 based on their needs, when the warning light group 20 displays in a manner of the flowing water light or the marquee, so as to further improve the user experience.
As illustrated in
It may be understood that the step body 10 has an extended state which facilitates the passenger to get on the vehicle and a retracted state after the door is closed. The illuminating light group 30 includes at least one high-brightness light bar which is suitable for emitting light when the step body 10 is in the extended state. That is to say, only when the passenger gets on or off the vehicle, the illuminating light group 30 will light up, so as to reduce the energy consumption of the light unit on the premise of facilitating the passenger to get on or off the vehicle.
In some embodiments, the foot step 100 is an electric foot step, and the step body 10 is electrically driven to switch between the extended state and the retracted state.
As illustrated in
Specifically, the step body 10 of the vehicle 1000 may be provided with a weight sensor, a passenger identification sensor, and so on. Thus, the weight sensor collects a weight of the passenger and records the weight through an on-board electronic control unit (ECU). The passenger identification sensor senses whether the passenger that steps on the step body 10 is the passenger recorded by the on-board ECU, and then compares the data measured by the weight sensor at this time with the data recorded in the on-board ECU. When the weight of the passenger changes relatively greatly, a warning is generated by the auxiliary light group 40.
That is to say, the auxiliary light group 40 may selectively emit light of at least two colors to indicate the weight change of the passenger.
In this way, with the auxiliary light group 40, a warning can be generated when the weight of the passenger changes significantly, which is helpful for the passenger to pay attention to his/her health status.
As illustrated in
It may be understood that, in some embodiments, the foot step 100 is fixed to a vehicle body through a bracket 60, and in other embodiments, the foot step 100 is integrated with a bottom-edge beam of the vehicle body.
The vehicle 1000 according to a second aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure includes a foot step 100 for the vehicle 1000 according to the above embodiments.
The technical effects of the vehicle 1000 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure are the same with those of the above foot step 100, and thus will not be described further herein.
In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the orientations or the position relationships indicated by terms such as “central,” “longitudinal,” “lateral,” “length,” “width,” “thickness,” “up,” “down,” “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “inner,” “outer,” “clockwise,” “counterclockwise”, “axial” “radial” and “circumferential” indicate are the orientations or the position relationships illustrated in the drawings, only intended for convenient descriptions of the present disclosure and also for simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and hence cannot be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.
In the description of the present disclosure, “a first feature”, “a second feature” may include one or more of this feature.
In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more than two.
In the description of the present disclosure, the first features is “above” or “below” the second feature may be that the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, or that the first feature is not in direct contact with the second feature, but via another feature therebetween.
In the descriptions of the present disclosure, the first feature “up”, “above” and “on” the second feature may be that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or merely be that the first feature has a level higher than the second feature.
In the descriptions of the present disclosure, terms such as “an embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “an exemplary embodiment”, “an example”, “a specific example,” or “some examples,” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In this specification, exemplary descriptions of aforesaid terms are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.
Although embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described above, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that changes, modifications, alternatives, and variations can be made in the embodiments without departing from principles and purposes of the present disclosure.
While this patent document contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any invention or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions. Certain features that are described in this patent document in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.
Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the embodiments described in this patent document should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments.
Only a few implementations and examples are described and other implementations, enhancements, and variations can be made based on what is described and illustrated in this patent document.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201910324704.7 | Apr 2019 | CN | national |
| 201920553085.4 | Apr 2019 | CN | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10539285 | Johnson | Jan 2020 | B1 |
| 10576879 | Salter | Mar 2020 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200331396 A1 | Oct 2020 | US |
