CN112088110A

CN112088110A - Method for illuminating a seat in a vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN112088110A
Application number: CN201980031156.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: S.弗兰克; A.亨克尔
Original assignee: Volkswagen Automotive Co ltd
Current assignee: Volkswagen Automotive Co ltd
Priority date: 2018-06-04
Filing date: 2019-06-03
Publication date: 2020-12-15
Also published as: DE102018208742A1; WO2019233950A1; DE112019002819A5

Abstract

A method for illuminating a seat (2) in a vehicle is proposed, having the steps: a detection of the occupancy state of the seat (2), b-determination of whether the interior space lighting lamp (10) is at risk of glare for a user occupying the seat (2) as a function of the detected occupancy state, c-setting of a parameter indicating the risk of glare for the seat (2) in a control unit (18) of the interior space lighting lamp (10) if there is a risk of glare for the user, and d-taking at least one measure for reducing the risk of glare as a function of the set parameter. Furthermore, a motor vehicle is proposed, which is provided for detecting the presence of a rear-facing child seat (14) on one or more seats (2), and which has a control unit (18), wherein the control unit (18) controls at least one interior lighting lamp (10) in such a way that, when the presence of such a rear-facing child seat (14) is detected, a dazzling effect of the interior lighting lamp (10) on a child located on the rear-facing child seat (14) is avoided.

Description

Method for illuminating a seat in a vehicle

The invention relates to a method for illuminating a seat in a vehicle and to a motor vehicle.

In the interior of vehicles (or vehicles), in particular motor vehicles, a large number of lamps are usually arranged which carry different lighting functions, see for example patent documents DE 102015215371 a1, DE 102012015039 a1, DE 102014007618 a1 and DE 602005001515T 2. Usually, at least one lamp is assigned to each seat, which lamp serves as a reading light. Such reading lights are typically designed so that the area where the user holds a book or other object to be viewed is well illuminated. The illuminated area corresponds here in most cases to the knees of a seated user.

The conventional arrangement and illumination intensity of the reading light may be disadvantageous if the associated seat is not used by an adult, but is used by an infant or a young child. The infant or young child is usually not seated directly on the seat, but is seated on an additional child seat or lies in an infant lounge arranged on the actual seat. These child seats or infant couches are usually designed for safety reasons such that the orientation (or bearing) of the infant or child occupying the seat is rotated 180 ° about the vertical with respect to the standard orientation. In other words, the primary direction of vision of the child or infant is thus towards the rear of the vehicle, i.e. opposite to the driving direction. Thus, the face of the infant or child is often located directly in the area illuminated by the reading light. The light intensity of the reading light is typically high so that the child or baby is dazzled. In addition, in particular in the case of infant lounges, the infant lying therein is in most cases viewed almost completely upwards, so that the risk of the reading lamp being dazzled is increased again, since the reading lamp is usually integrated in the ceiling of the vehicle.

It is known from DE 102010011306 a1 to create an environment of reduced irritation inside a motor vehicle in certain situations, for example when driving at night or when an infant or child falls asleep. For this purpose, the audio source and the light emitting source are simultaneously dimmed such that loud noise and bright light do not scare the sleeping child. In this case, in principle, the emission characteristics of a plurality of noise sources and light sources are adjusted simultaneously.

DE 102013021928 a1 describes a method for controlling a comfort device, which may also be a reading light, for example, as a function of the circumstances. A camera is provided that monitors a passenger to determine if he has closed his eyes. If it is detected that the eyes are closed, the passenger is assumed to be sleeping or resting, and the illumination intensity of at least one lamp associated with the seat concerned is limited.

The methods known from the prior art allow either preventing dazzling of sleeping adults or taking global precautions on the entire vehicle, in order to avoid disturbing the well-being of any person in the vehicle. However, since infants and young children often also sleep during the day or night, it is desirable to avoid only disturbing the sleeping infant or young child at any time of the day without negatively affecting other passengers. It is also advantageous that the reading light can be used by an adult user without restriction. The object of the invention is therefore to provide a method for illuminating seats in a vehicle and a motor vehicle in which the lamps in the interior of the vehicle are individually avoided for each seat to dazzle the infant or young child who may use the seat.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a method and a motor vehicle, having the steps:

a. the occupancy state of the seat is detected,

b. it is determined, on the basis of the detected occupancy state, whether the interior space illumination lamp, or the interior lighting device, poses a glare risk to the user occupying the seat,

c. if there is a risk of glare for the user, a parameter is set in the control unit of the interior lighting lamp which indicates the risk of glare for the seat, and

d. at least one measure for reducing the risk of glare is taken depending on the set parameters,

the motor vehicle is provided for detecting whether a rear-facing child seat is present in one or more seats, with a control unit which controls at least one interior lighting lamp in such a way that, when the presence of such a rear-facing child seat is detected, a dazzling effect of the interior lighting lamp on a child in the rear-facing child seat is avoided, or with a suggestion to a user of the vehicle to activate a corresponding control mode of the interior lighting lamp.

By the method according to the invention it is possible to separately investigate whether an infant or a young child is sitting together in the vehicle and may be dazzled. The method may in particular be performed for each individual seat and may thus control the lighting situation individually for each individual seat.

The occupancy state of the seat may have, for example, a value of "empty", "occupied by an adult" or "occupied by a child seat". The first two values represent that no modification is required here, while the last value "occupied by the child seat" is understood (or interpreted) as that there is a risk of glare, and the corresponding parameters are set accordingly.

Measures to achieve a glare risk reduction can then be taken on the basis of the set parameters. These measures can be carried out automatically by the control unit. The associated reading light or light to be influenced is therefore preferably an electronically controllable illuminating light in general. Measures for minimizing the risk of glare may include reducing the illumination intensity (or brightness) of one or more illumination lamps. If the lamp to be influenced provides a manual dimming function, a maximum illumination intensity can be set when setting the parameters, which limits the range of illumination intensities that can be achieved by the dimming function.

Depending on the design, it is also possible to switch off or deactivate one or more lighting lamps completely. In an embodiment of the invention, provision can be made for the reading light to be switched on immediately in place of a lamp for illuminating other lamps having diffuse radiation properties.

According to a preferred embodiment, at least one measure for reducing the risk of glare consists in automatically adjusting the maximum illumination intensity of the interior illumination lamp. That is, once the glare risk is determined, the associated illumination lamp is dimmed. The process can be carried out completely automatically in this case. The presence of a risk of glare can be determined in various ways here. For this purpose, images of a camera, possibly existing sensors for detecting the occupancy of the seat, or also personal identification can be used. The camera may, for example, perform pattern recognition and determine whether a person is at risk of glare. For this purpose, the camera can take images of a specific region of the vehicle and perform an image analysis. Face recognition may be performed, for example. If a face or eyes are recognized, information about whether the face or at least one eye is located in a predefined image region or in a predefined solid angle range around the central emission direction of the illumination lamp can be used to determine whether there is a risk of glare. The current illumination intensity of the illumination lamp and the distance between the face and the illumination lamp can also be used to assess the glare risk.

The occupancy of the seat can also be detected by monitoring whether a device for fixing the child seat (for example an ISOFIX device) is currently in use. Systems that detect one or more users of the vehicle in different ways may also be utilized. For example, the driver or other user of the vehicle can be identified by a transponder, which is integrated, for example, in a keyless system for opening and activating the vehicle. A configuration can then be stored for each user of the vehicle, in which configuration it is determined whether an infant or a young child is generally present in the vehicle at the same time as the respective user and is therefore at risk of dazzling. In addition to the responding transponder, the user may also be identified, for example, by the typical position of the driver's seat (which may also be assigned to the driver's configuration) or by facial or voice recognition.

Another possibility is to monitor the status of the child safety device of the back door and/or the back window. An enabled child safety device may here be used as an indicator parameter for the presence of a child that may be at risk of glare. It is likewise possible to monitor whether one of the rear doors has been opened before the start of the journey. If the door is not opened, it can be considered as an indication that no child is getting on and thus there is no risk of glare.

At least one measure for reducing the risk of glare may be to ask a vehicle user and/or to display a recommendation for changing the maximum illumination intensity of the interior space illumination lamp. In a further step, it can be queried whether the selections made should also be stored for future use, for example until the user makes a change to them.

The system is thus not fully automated, but the driver or other user of the vehicle is the final supervisor. It may then be suggested, for example via a user interface, that a home mode of interior space lighting be activated when a risk of glare for a child in the vehicle is detected. If, for example, different driving profiles (or driving characteristics) are already present, information about which driving profile is currently selected can also be used in order to assess the presence of a glare risk. For example, if one driving configuration is explicitly marked as a home configuration, a parameter indicating the glare risk may be set automatically. Alternatively, parameters specified by the driving configuration may also be taken into account, which parameters specify, for example, the ambient lighting, the volume of the audio device, etc.

The user may intervene in the system in different ways. For example, settings which are relevant to the current use of the seat and which influence the control of the associated illumination lamp can be specified in a menu for each seat. Thus, for example, a "rear-facing infant/young child" arrangement can be provided which, on the one hand, limits the maximum illumination intensity of the associated illumination lamp or lamps and, on the other hand, deactivates possibly present airbags which are not necessary or even constitute a risk in the respective use. Furthermore, an "auto detection" option may be enabled for each seat, which switches the system for the relevant seat into an automatic mode, in which the method is performed fully automatically.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the orientation of the user occupying the seat is used as a criterion for determining whether a glare risk exists, wherein the glare risk is assumed to exist when the face of the user is oriented opposite to the driving direction. Thus, it is effectively distinguished between a situation in which the user's face is located within the area illuminated by the reading lamp and a situation in which the user's face is located outside this area and therefore no glare occurs. In order to determine the orientation of a user occupying the seat, it can be determined whether there is a baby couch or a child seat with their backrest pointing in the driving direction, so-called reborder, on the seat.

In order to achieve a particularly comfortable situation for both the driver and the passenger, it can be provided that the detection of the occupancy state, the determination of the glare risk and the setting of the parameters are carried out automatically. Thus, neither the driver nor the other person needs to take any operational steps to detect and eliminate a possible glare risk.

For this reason, the gravitational force acting on the seat can be used to determine the occupancy state of the seat. Typically, the weight of a child seat and infant lounge chair is a few kilograms. Meanwhile, only relatively small children need to be transported with a child seat or infant recliner. From this, a parameter range of the total weight acting on the seat can be determined, which can infer the presence of a child seat or an infant's reclining chair. In other words, the possibility of the seat being used by a child looking backwards can be excluded with greater certainty, for example when the seat carries a weight of more than 40 kg. Accordingly, there is no risk of glare. For example, sensors integrated in the seat can be interrogated and when the seat is subjected to a weight of, for example, between 5 kg and 35 kg or between 3 kg and 20 kg, it can be assumed that a corresponding child seat is present or that a child seat with a child therein is present and therefore there is a risk of glare.

It is also possible to automatically set a parameter indicating the risk of glare when the airbag associated with the seat is deactivated. Currently, the function for deactivating an airbag for at least the co-driver is the standard function. The airbag is normally closed just when the rear-facing child seat is mounted on the associated seat. This serves to protect a child or infant seated therein from the airbag. Thus, the closure of the airbag may be assessed as a reliable indicator parameter of the presence of such a child seat or baby couch. No additional sensors are then required to evaluate the occupancy state of the relevant seat.

In an embodiment of the invention, it is possible to read a code associated with a child seat arranged on the seat for detecting the occupancy state. The code can be, for example, an NFC tag or another wireless signal. The code may also be read optically, for example in the form of a bar code or the like. For this purpose, an optical scanner, for example a laser scanner or an infrared scanner, can be integrated in the vehicle.

The above-described methods for detecting the occupancy state and/or the possible glare risk of a seat can in principle be combined with one another in any combination, as long as the respective combination is not clearly unreasonable. In this case, embodiments can be provided in which it is sufficient if only one of the methods determines the occupancy or glare risk of the seat. Alternatively, it may also be necessary for the parameters to be set that a plurality of the methods determine the presence of a glare risk in a consistent manner. The risk of glare present can therefore be recognized particularly reliably.

It is also possible that the parameter indicating the glare risk is set by means of a switch arranged near the seat and thus covers the parameter value which may be set by the automatic system. The switch may be activated, for example, when a child seat or infant recliner is installed. The switch can be connected to a control device for the illumination lamp.

In a specific embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the setting of the parameters is carried out manually by the user and for this purpose the user is provided with the option of a corresponding marking in the user interface. No further sensors or analytical logic are therefore required to determine the occupancy state of the seat and to set or deactivate the parameter indicative of the glare risk accordingly. This enables a particularly simple construction while at the same time protecting the construction almost completely against faults. As already mentioned above, provision can also be made for the user of the vehicle to be advised, for example, by setting parameters via a display on the user interface, when a glare risk is detected. In other words, an additional step is built into the method, which additional step provides the user with confirmation that measures for reducing the risk of glare should be taken.

In an advantageous embodiment, provision is made for the set parameters to be stored until they are deleted by the user. This can be advantageous in the case that a child seat or baby couch is often removed from the vehicle, but the corresponding child or baby still has its "sitting seat" in the vehicle, so that the setting for this seat, once selected, remains constant.

It is also possible, for example, for the parameters to be set and deactivated again both by means of the aforementioned switches and by means of a user interface which can be operated from the front seats. Furthermore, different operating modes can be specified, for example a purely manual setting of the switches, an automatic determination of the occupancy state with the possibility of manually overriding the generated parameters, etc.

Furthermore, one or more measures for reducing the risk of glare may be automatically terminated or deactivated if an accident situation is present or detected, for example detected by one or more airbag sensors of the vehicle. This can provide better interior lighting for vehicle occupants and possible emergency responders in the event of a collision.

Embodiments of the invention are further explained with reference to the drawings and the following description. In the drawings:

fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a seat arrangement in a vehicle, to which the method according to the invention can be applied.

Fig. 1 shows a vehicle rear seat 2 having a seat surface 4 and a backrest 6. On the inner side of the roof 8, an illumination lamp 10 is mounted. The light is oriented such that light 12 emitted therefrom illuminates an area of the rear seat 2 where an adult user seated thereon may hold an object he wants to see. That is to say that the illuminated area is at a distance from the backrest 6 and extends in a height of approximately 20cm to 40cm above the seat surface 4.

A child seat 14 is arranged on the seat surface 4. The child seat is oriented such that the child using the child seat 14 sits facing rearward, i.e., with its face oriented opposite to the driving direction. The head of the child and therefore the face or eyes are generally located in an area 16, which area 16 in turn corresponds relatively precisely to the area illuminated by the illumination lamp 10 described above. Thus, the cargo lamp 8 often dazzles a child using the child seat 14 when the cargo lamp 10 is operating in a conventional, standard mode designed to illuminate an object to be viewed.

The headlight 10 is connected to a control device 18 and, when it is detected or recognized that a rear-facing child seat 14 is arranged on the rear seat 2, the control device dims or deactivates the headlight 10, which can be prevented from dazzling a child by operating the schematically illustrated control device 18 according to the invention. The control device 18 may be connected to a central computing unit of the vehicle, so that it can be controlled, for example, via a user interface that needs to be operated by the driver. The switches and/or sensors can then likewise be connected to the control unit or to the central processing unit.

Similar to the rear seat 2, the method can of course be applied to every other seat in the vehicle.

List of reference numerals

2 rear seat

4 seat surface

6 backrest

8 vehicle roof

10 lighting lamp

12 light

14 child seat

16 head region

18 control device

Claims

1. A method for illuminating a seat in a vehicle, characterized by the steps of:

a. the occupancy state of the seat is detected,

b. determining, on the basis of the detected occupancy state, whether the interior space lighting lamp is at risk of dazzling a user occupying said seat,

d. at least one measure for reducing the risk of glare is taken depending on the set parameters.

2. Method according to the preceding claim,

at least one measure for reducing the risk of glare consists in automatically adjusting the maximum illumination intensity of the interior space illumination lamp.

3. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one measure for reducing the risk of glare consists in asking for and/or displaying a recommendation to a vehicle user to change the maximum illumination intensity of the interior space illumination lamp.

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the orientation of a user occupying a seat is used as a criterion for judging whether there is a risk of glare, wherein a risk of glare is considered to be present if the user's face is oriented opposite to the driving direction.

5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the detection of occupancy status, the determination of glare risk and the setting of parameters are performed automatically.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for detecting the occupancy state, a code belonging to a child seat arranged on the seat is read.

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the parameter indicating the glare risk is set by means of a switch arranged near the seat and thus overrides the value of the parameter which may be set by an automatic system.

8. Method according to claims 1 to 4 or 6 to 7, characterized in that the setting of the parameters is done manually by the user and for this purpose the user is provided with the option of a corresponding marking in the user interface.

9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the set parameters are stored until deleted by the user.

10. A motor vehicle provided for recognizing the presence of a rear-facing child seat in one or more seats, having a control unit which controls at least one interior space illumination lamp in such a way that a dazzling effect of the interior space illumination lamp on a child located on the rear-facing child seat is avoided when the presence of such a rear-facing child seat is recognized, or which proposes a suggestion to a user of the vehicle to activate a corresponding control mode of the interior space illumination lamp.