Patent Application
20160075276
This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-186034, filed on Sep. 12, 2014, the entire content of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle-interior illumination device for illuminating a cabin of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
As a vehicle-interior illumination device for illuminating a cabin of a vehicle, reading lamps may be arranged in the cabin. A plurality of reading lamps is arranged, corresponding to individual seats, where each reading lamp individually illuminates a corresponding seat. Each of the reading lamps is turned on or off by operating an individual switch (refer to JP 2014-73762 A).
In addition, a switch for a reading lamp is arranged in a field of view of an occupant on a seat, such as on an upper portion of a door or a window on a side of the seat (e.g., a side of a roof liner), so that the occupant on the seat can operate the switch of the reading lamp for use.
Although various types of switches are available for reading lamps, such as push button switches and slider switches, they may tend to have a rather smaller operating unit, resulting in difficulty using such an operating unit in a moving vehicle. Also, when a position of a seat is slid, the seat goes away from a switch, possibly resulting in difficulty using the switch. Moreover, when an occupant on another seat tries to turn off a reading lamp that remain lit, or when a parent tries to turn on or off a reading lamp of a seat where his or her child is seated on, the occupant or the parent has to move to the seat that is subject to illumination by the reading lamp to operate the switch.
The present invention has been made in light of the above described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle-interior illumination device having improved operability when turning on or off illuminations, including reading lamps, individually illuminating seats in a cabin.
A vehicle-interior illumination device according to one aspect of the present invention is a vehicle-interior illumination device for illuminating a cabin of a vehicle. The vehicle-interior illumination device includes a plurality of seat lamps individually illuminating seats in the cabin and a plurality of operating units for each seat arranged in the cabin so as to respectively correspond with the seat lamps. Each of the plurality of operating units for each seat is provided with an area that is touchable by an occupant on corresponding seat and with another area that is touchable by occupants on adjacent seats, so as to turn on or off the corresponding seat lamp by touching the areas.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an operating unit for each seat is touch-operable by an occupant on a seat that is subject to illumination by a corresponding seat lamp, as well as by other occupants on adjacent seats. Therefore, the seat lamp can be turned on or off from not only the seat that is subject to illumination by the seat lamp, but also adjacent seats for improved operability of turning on or off seat lamps.
Each of the operating units for each seat may be provided with the area that is touchable by the occupant on corresponding seat and with areas that are touchable by occupants on front and rear adjacent seats.
In this vehicle-interior illumination device, each operating units for each seat is touch-operable from a seat that is subject to illumination by a corresponding seat lamp, as well as from front and rear adjacent seats. Therefore, even when a position of a seat is moved forward or rearward, an operating unit for each seat corresponding to the seat can be touch-operated by occupants.
In addition, configuring an operating unit for each seat that can be touched by occupants on front and rear adjacent seats requires the operating unit for each seat to extend in a front-rear direction. Accordingly, operating units for each seat can be touch-operated by occupants in various postures, even though such a posture, which is taken when touch-operating an operating unit for each seat, vary due to some reasons including variation in passenger's generations including, for example, elderly passengers who might be comparatively difficult to raise their arms high.
Moreover, such operating unit for each seat may be arranged on a ceiling of the cabin.
In this vehicle-interior illumination device, as the operating unit for each seat is arranged on the ceiling of the cabin, the operating unit for each seat can be prevented from being touch-operated mistakenly by passengers, other than when turning on or off a seat lamp.
With a vehicle-interior illumination device according to an aspect of the present invention, seat lamps for individually illuminating seats in a cabin can be turned on or off in an improved manner.
Hereinafter, embodiments of a vehicle-interior illumination device according to the present invention will be explained with reference to drawings.
As shown in
In addition, in
Next, a schematic configuration of the control system of the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lights 25 to 31 will be explained with reference to a block diagram of
The light sources 33a to 33f of the respective map lamps 21 and 23 and the respective reading light 25 to 31 are each mounted on a circuit board 37 together with a connector 35 with a built-in controller. The connector 35 with the built-in controller has: a female connector part 35a to which a male connector 39a of a multiplex communication line 39 can be connected; and a controller 35b including, for example, one-chip microcomputer.
The light sources 33a to 33f are each connected to the controller 35b via a conductive pattern, which is not shown, of the circuit board 37. Additionally, the controller 35b controls lighting on or off of the light sources 33a and 33b of the respective map lamps 21 and 23, and the light source 33c to 33f of the respective reading lights 25 to 32 on the basis of a control signal input from an illumination ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 43 via the multiplex communication line 39.
The circuit boards 37 described above are arranged in gaps between a roof liner 13 of the vehicle 1 and a body of the vehicle 1 (back of the roof liner 13) shown in the explanatory drawing of
The multiplex communication line 39 from illumination ECU 43 connected to the connector 35 with the built-in controller on the circuit board 37, as shown in
As shown in
The map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a correspond to the operating units for each seat described in the claims, and are configured by, for example, electrostatic capacity type touch panel switches. Each time the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a are touch-operated, the lighting ECU 43 repeats turning on and off of the corresponding map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31.
As shown in
The map lamp switches 21a and 23a are formed in a front-rear length so that the map lamp switches 21a and 23a are touch-operated by occupants on the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5 in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5. Also, portions near rear edges of the map lamp switches 21a and 23a are arranged in positions where occupants on the seats 7 and 9 in a second row can touch-operate the switches in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the seats 7 and 9.
The reading lamp switches 25a and 27a are formed in a front-rear length so that the reading lamp switches 25a and 27a are touch-operated by occupants on the seats 7 and 9 in the second row in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the seats 7 and 9. Also, portions near front edges of the reading lamp switches 25a and 27a are arranged in positions where occupants on the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5 can touch-operate the switches in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5. Moreover, portions near rear edges of the reading lamp switches 25a and 27a are arranged in positions where occupants on the seat 11 can touch-operate the switches in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the seat 11.
The reading lamp switches 29a and 31 a are formed in a front-rear length so that the reading lamp switches 29a and 31 a are touch-operated by occupants on the seat 11 in the third row in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the seat 11. Also, portions near front edges of the reading lamp switches 29a and 31a are arranged in positions where occupants on the seats 7 and 9 can touch-operate the switches in an entire moving range in a front-rear direction of the seats 7 and 9.
The illumination ECU 43 controls lighting on or off of the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lights 25 to 31. For that reason, the illumination ECU 43 has a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a hard disk (none of them are shown), and the like. Additionally, the CPU performs control of lighting on or off of the light sources 33a to 33f of the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lights 25 to 31 by using the RAM as a work area while referring to a table stored in the hard disk in accordance with a program stored in the ROM.
As described above, in this embodiment, the map lamp switches 21 a and 23 a for turning on or off the map lamps 21 and 23 that illuminate the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5 are arranged so as to be touch-operated by not only occupants on the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5, but also occupants on the seats 7 and 9 in the second row at rear adjacent to the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5.
Similarly, in this embodiment, the reading lamp switches 25a and 27a for turning on or off the reading lamps 25 and 27 that illuminate the seats 7 and 9 in the second row are arranged so as to be touch-operated by not only occupants on the seats 7 and 9 in the second row, but also occupants on the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5 at front adjacent to the seats 7 and 9 and occupants on the seat 11 in the third row at rear adjacent to the seats 7 and 9.
Also, in this embodiment, the reading lamp switches 29a and 31 a for turning on or off the reading lamps 29 and 31 that illuminate the seat 11 in the third row are arranged so as to be touch-operated by not only occupants on the seat 11 in the third row, but also occupants on the seats 7 and 9 in the second row at front adjacent to the seat 11.
Therefore, the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31 can be turned on or off from not only the corresponding driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5, the seats 7, 9 and 11 in the second and third rows, which are subject of illumination by the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31, but also front and rear adjacent seats for improved operability when turning on or off of the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31.
Also, in this embodiment, the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a are arranged in a long belt-like shape in a front-rear direction so that the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a can securely be touch-operated by occupants even though the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5, the seats 7, 9 and 11 in the second and the third rows are moved forward or rearward.
Further, arranging the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a in a long belt-like shape in a front-rear direction allows occupants to touch-operate the operating units for each seat in various postures, even though such a posture, which is taken when touch-operating an operating unit for each seat, vary due to some reasons including variation in passenger's generations including, for example, elderly passengers who might be comparatively difficult to raise their arms high.
Incidentally, the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a may be a mechanical type where pressing a switch by an occupant causes the switch to displace against a spring force to open or close a contact (not shown), alternative to an electrostatic capacity type touch panel switches.
Also, as a variation shown in the explanatory drawing of
Moreover, as another variation shown in the explanatory drawing of
In addition, as shown in dashed line in the explanatory drawing of
In this case, the map lamp switches 21a and 23a are arranged so as to be touch-operated by both of occupants on the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5. Also, the reading lamp switches 25a and 27a are arranged so as to be touch-operated by both of occupants on the seats 7 and 9 in the second row. Moreover, the reading lamp switch 29a is arranged so as to be touch-operated by not only occupants on a center and a left side (reading lamp 29 side) of the seat 11 in the third row, but also an occupant on a right side (reading lamp 31 side) of the seat 11, whereas the reading lamp switch 31a is arranged so as to be touch-operated by not only occupants on the center and the right side (reading lamp 31 side) of the seat 11 in the third row, but also an occupant on the left side (reading lamp 29 side) of the seat 11.
When configured like this, the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31 can be turned on or off by not only occupants on the driver seat 3 and the front passenger seat 5, the seats 7, 9 and 11 in the second and the third rows, which are subject of illumination by the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31, but also occupants on seats at left and right adjacent to the seats that are subject to illumination by the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31. In this case, the map lamps 21 and 23 and the reading lamps 25 to 31 can also be turned on or off in an improved manner.
In any of the embodiments, the touch panels of the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a may be arranged on, for example, door trims and side trims arranged on sides of the cabin. However, it is advantageous that the map lamp switches 21a and 23a and the reading lamp switches 25a to 31a are arranged on the roof liner 13 to lower possibility of mistakenly touch-operating the switches other than when touch-operating the switches.
In addition, in the embodiment shown in
Also, as shown in the embodiments and the variations described above, it is optional whether multiplex communication lines 39 that couple the lighting ECU 43 and controller-equipped connectors 35 on the circuit boards 37 for the reading lamps 25 to 31 are routed in pillars 15 and 17 of the vehicle 1. Moreover, it is optional whether the controller-equipped connectors 35 are used for coupling the lighting ECU 43 and the circuit boards 37 for the reading lamps 25 to 31.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-186034 | Sep 2014 | JP | national |
