Device and method for controlling an interior lighting system of a vehicle

Abstract

A device for controlling an interior lighting system of a vehicle to produce ambient lighting and/or reading lighting involves the interior lighting system having an array of a plurality of light sources. The device includes a control unit, by means of which the light sources of the array can be individually controlled in order to produce the ambient lighting and/or the reading lighting, and an input unit that can be connected to the control unit. The input unit has a touch-sensitive screen for inputting a current set of control information for the control unit. The control unit controls the light sources on the basis of the current set of control information. Furthermore, the input unit, on the basis of the current set of control information, displays associated ambient lighting and/or reading lighting for an illuminable region in the vehicle interior on the screen.

Claims

1. A device for controlling an interior lighting system of a vehicle, wherein the interior lighting system has an array of a plurality of light sources to produce internal lighting and/or reading lighting, the device comprising: a control unit configured to individually control the plurality of light sources of the array to produce the internal lighting and/or the reading lighting; and an input unit connected to the control unit, wherein the input unit has a touch-sensitive screen configured for input of a current set of control information for the control unit, wherein the control unit is configured to control the plurality of light sources on the basis of the current set of control information, wherein the control unit is configured to control beam forming of the array of the plurality of light sources by adjusting an aperture angle of a cone of light produced by the array of the plurality of light source, a focusing of a light path produced by the array of the plurality of light sources, or a direction of the light path produced by the array of the plurality of light sources, and wherein the input unit is configured to display, on the basis of the current set of control information and concurrently with a display of a plurality of buttons for adjusting parameters of the internal lighting and/or reading light, an illuminable region of the interior of the vehicle within a grid on the screen, wherein the displayed illuminable region includes at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle that is displayed within the grid on the screen as an image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated, including a corresponding color and brightness, by the internal lighting and/or reading light.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising: a first input element on the touch-sensitive screen configured to confirm the current set of control information, wherein the control unit is configured to implement internal lighting and/or reading lighting in the vehicle interior corresponding to the current set of control information by controlling the plurality of light sources correspondingly, only after selection of the first input element to confirm the current set of control information.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the input unit having the touch-sensitive screen is configured to allow a user to select a state from predetermined states of the vehicle and/or a state from predetermined states of a surrounding region of the vehicle, and can associate the state(s) with the current set of control information, the device further comprises a memory unit configured to save the current set of control information and the selected state of the vehicle and/or the selected state of the surrounding region of the vehicle, the touch-sensitive screen further comprises a second input element configured to initiate saving the current set of control information and the associated state of the vehicle and/or of the surrounding region of the vehicle in the memory unit.

4. The device of claim 3, further comprising: a first system configured to detect a current state of the vehicle; and a second system configured to detect a current state of the surrounding region of the vehicle, wherein the control unit is configured such that, in an operating mode and responsive to selection of the current state of the vehicle as a first state and/or a current state of the surrounding region of the vehicle as a second state, the plurality of light sources are controlled in accordance with the set of control information associated with the first state and/or second state.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to implement, during the input of a current set of control information into the input unit, internal lighting and/or reading lighting associated with the current set of control information in the vehicle interior in real time by controlling the plurality of light sources correspondingly.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein a set of control information comprises at least one of: a color temperature, a value of luminous flux for setting the brightness of the internal lighting and/or the reading lighting, an illumination region of the reading lighting in the vehicle interior, a lighting scenario for the internal lighting, a lighting scenario for the reading lighting, a start time and/or an end time or a period of time for the activation of the internal lighting and/or the reading lighting by the control unit, a time course of the color temperature, a time course of the value of the luminous flux for the brightness, a time course of an arrangement, shape, and/or size of the illumination region of the reading lighting in the vehicle interior, a temporally variable lighting scenario for the internal lighting, and a temporally variable lighting scenario for the reading lighting.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising: a switch configured to activate or deactivate the device.

8. The device of claim 1, further comprising: an additional lighting unit configured to only produce internal lighting can be in the interior of the vehicle, wherein the additional lighting unit is connected to and controlled by the control unit to produce the internal lighting, and wherein the additional lighting unit is arranged between two rear seats in a rear region of the vehicle and/or on a vanity mirror in the rear region of the vehicle.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one illumination region includes at least two spaced-apart illumination regions, and wherein the grid comprises a plurality of horizontal lines running horizontally across the image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light each of which is intersected by a respective one of a plurality of vertical lines running across the image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of buttons indicates a value for a parameter associated with the respective one of the plurality of buttons.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the input unit is configured to concurrently display the plurality of buttons for adjusting parameters of the internal lighting and/or reading light, the at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle within a grid on the screen, and a name of the internal lighting and/or reading light.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle is a plurality of illumination regions of the interior of the vehicle, which are displayed by the input unit, wherein the plurality of illumination regions of the interior of the vehicle are spatially displayed within the grid on the screen corresponding to regions of the vehicle actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light, wherein the internal lighting and/or reading light actually illuminate portions of the left and right side of the interior of the vehicle, and the plurality of illumination regions are correspondingly displayed in the left and right side of the grid.

13. A method for controlling an interior lighting system of a vehicle, wherein internal lighting and/or reading lighting can be produced by the interior lighting system, and the interior lighting system has an array of a plurality of light sources, the comprising the steps of: receiving, by an input unit having a touch-sensitive screen and connected to a control unit, a user selection of a current set of control information; concurrently displaying, on a display unit, a plurality of buttons for adjusting parameters of the internal lighting and/or reading light and an illuminable region of the interior of the vehicle within a grid on the screen, wherein the displayed illuminable region includes at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle associated with the current set of control information on the screen, wherein the at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle is displayed within the grid on the display on the screen as an image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated, including a corresponding color and brightness, by the internal lighting and/or reading light; and controlling, by the control unit, the plurality of light sources of the array to produce the internal lighting and/or the reading lighting on the basis of the current set of control information wherein the control unit controls beam forming of the array of the plurality of light sources by adjusting an aperture angle of a cone of light produced by the array of the plurality of light source, a focusing of a light path produced by the array of the plurality of light sources, or a direction of the light path produced by the array of the plurality of light sources.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one illumination region includes at least two spaced-apart illumination regions, and wherein the grid comprises a plurality of horizontal lines running horizontally across the image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light each of which is intersected by a respective one of a plurality of vertical lines running across the image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of buttons indicates a value for a parameter associated with the respective one of the plurality of buttons.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the display unit concurrently displays the plurality of buttons for adjusting parameters of the internal lighting and/or reading light, at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle within a grid on the screen, and a name of the internal lighting and/or reading light.

17. A vehicle, comprising: an interior lighting system having an array of a plurality of light sources to produce internal lighting and/or reading lighting; and a device, comprising a control unit configured to individually control the plurality of light sources of the array to produce the internal lighting and/or the reading lighting; and an input unit connected to the control unit, wherein the input unit has a touch-sensitive screen configured for input of a current set of control information for the control unit, wherein the control unit is configured to control the plurality of light sources on the basis of the current set of control information, wherein the control unit is configured to control beam forming of the array of the plurality of light sources by adjusting an aperture angle of a cone of light produced by the array of the plurality of light source, a focusing of a light path produced by the array of the plurality of light sources, or a direction of the light path produced by the array of the plurality of light sources, and wherein the input unit is configured to display, on the basis of the current set of control information and concurrently with a display of a plurality of buttons for adjusting parameters of the internal lighting and/or reading light, an illuminable region of the interior of the vehicle within a grid on the screen, wherein the displayed illuminable region includes at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle within the grid on the screen as an image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated, including a corresponding color and brightness, by the internal lighting and/or reading light.

18. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein the at least one illumination region includes at least two spaced-apart illumination regions, and wherein the grid comprises a plurality of horizontal lines running horizontally across the image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light each of which is intersected by a respective one of a plurality of vertical lines running across the image of a region of the vehicle as actually illuminated by the internal lighting and/or reading light.

19. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of buttons indicates a value for a parameter associated with the respective one of the plurality of buttons.

20. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein the input unit is configured to concurrently display the plurality of buttons for adjusting parameters of the internal lighting and/or reading light, the at least one illumination region of the interior of the vehicle within a grid on the screen, and a name of the internal lighting and/or reading light.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

(1) In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a vehicle having a device for illuminating the interior of the vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention, and

(3) FIG. 2 shows a method for illuminating the interior of the vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention,

(4) FIG. 3 shows a touch-sensitive screen having an illustrated slide control according to a further embodiment of the invention,

(5) FIG. 4 shows a touch-sensitive screen having a display of reading lighting according to a further embodiment of the invention,

(6) FIG. 5 shows a touch-sensitive screen having a display of locally limited lighting according to a further embodiment of the invention, and

(7) FIG. 6 shows a touch-sensitive screen having selectable settings according to a further embodiment of the invention.

(8) The illustrations in the drawings are schematic and not to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) FIG. 1 shows a vehicle 1 having a device 100 for controlling an interior lighting system. This device 100 comprises an array 15 having light sources 16. In order to increase the luminous flux and thereby the illuminance in the vehicle 1, an additional lighting unit 17 is also available, which is attached between the rear seats 55 or the vanity mirror 57. A control unit 25 is used to control the light sources 16. The control unit 25 receives its instructions from a user, who enters inputs on the input unit 27. For this purpose, this input unit 27 has a screen 28. The screen 28 comprises a first input element 29 that is used to confirm the current set of control information. These settings selected in the context of a preview are adopted and executed on the light sources 16 of the array 15 only when the user confirms the current set of control information by touching the first input element 29. Furthermore, a second input element 30 is used to initiate saving the current set of control information and link information on the memory unit 32. A current set of control information associated with specific states is saved on a memory unit 32. Furthermore, there is a switch 36, which permits a user to either activate or deactivate the device.

(10) FIG. 2 shows a method for controlling an interior lighting system of a vehicle 1, it being possible for the interior lighting system to produce internal lighting and/or reading lighting, and the interior lighting system having an array 15 of a plurality of light sources 16. The method comprises the following steps: a user inputting S1 a current set of control information for a control unit 25 into an input unit 27 that can be connected to the control unit 25, the input unit 27 having a touch-sensitive screen 28, displaying S2 internal lighting and/or reading lighting associated with the current set of control information for an illuminable region in the vehicle interior on the screen 28, and controlling S3 the light sources 16 of the array 15 by means of the control unit 25 in order to produce the internal lighting and/or the reading lighting on the basis of the current set of control information.

(11) FIG. 3 shows a touch-sensitive screen 28 having a slider for adjusting the color temperature of the light sources 16 of the array 15. The color temperatures range from 2,700 kelvin (2,700 K) to 6,000 kelvin. Furthermore, the interior lighting system can be switched on or off. The operating element “on/off” is available for this purpose. Furthermore, a period of time can be input that determines how many seconds pass while increasing the dim level of the light sources, i.e., a period of time from switching on until the predetermined luminous flux is fully reached. This period of time, which is selected to be three seconds in the example, therefore determines the increase in luminous flux over time in a switch-on process. The stationary luminous flux is determined in a “brightness” parameter, the brightness already taking into account the psychophysiological effects of human perception. Furthermore, the brightness can be input as a percentage value of the maximum brightness. For example, the human eye does not perceive a doubling of the luminous flux as a doubling of the subjectively perceived brightness, but rather as a logarithmically formed value thereof. Similar to this transition period, the parameter “effect” describes a time sequence of lighting, in particular of the luminous flux and the extent of the illuminated region. The pre-set parameters “spot” “A” to “C” provide specific settings of the reading light. Specifically, the spots contain, by way of example, the option for the user to activate internal light, reading light and spots irrespective of the reading light, for example, on the seat pocket, center console or belt buckle.

(12) FIG. 4 shows a touch-sensitive screen 28, on which an illumination region of the interior of the vehicle 1 is shown symbolically on the screen 28. The drawing shows two illumination regions of a left-hand cone of reading light and a right-hand cone of reading light on the screen 28 as an image of the actual illumination regions in the vehicle interior. In this example, the “reading light” tab is activated accordingly.

(13) FIG. 5 shows a touch-sensitive screen 28, on which an illumination region of the interior of the vehicle 1 is shown symbolically on the screen 28. The drawing shows an illumination region in the center of the vehicle, which is set by the “spot A” tab by way of example.

(14) FIG. 6 shows a touch-sensitive screen 28 having a graphic user surface for configuring the settings. This relates, inter alia, to loading the factory settings, the option that when the program is ended the current control information, and optionally the link information, i.e., the information regarding the current state FZ(t) of the vehicle and/or the current state UZ(t) of the surrounding region of the vehicle, should be saved. Furthermore, it can be set whether effects are to be implemented when switching on and off. Effects of this kind introduce the desired lighting in an artificially decelerated manner, also called “fade-in.” When switching off, a soft transition from the “lighting” state to the “off” or “dark” state of some to all of the light sources 16 of the array 15 can also be achieved.

(15) Although the invention has been illustrated and explained in detail by preferred embodiments, the invention is not restricted by the examples disclosed and other variations can be derived by a person skilled in the art without leaving the scope of protection of the invention. It is therefore clear that a large number of possible variations exist. It is also clear that embodiments cited by way of example are really only examples that should not be understood in any way as limiting the scope of protection, the possible applications or the configuration of the invention. Instead, the preceding description and the description of the drawings allow a person skilled in the art to specifically implement the exemplary embodiments, said person being able, being aware of the inventive concept disclosed, to implement various changes, for example with regard to the function or arrangement of individual elements mentioned in an exemplary embodiment, without leaving the scope of protection defined by the claims and their legal equivalents, such as more extensive explanation in the description.