Assembly for a vehicle, lighting unit, vehicle, and vehicle comprising an assembly
Assigneesams OSRAM Automotive Lighting Systems Gmbh, Continental Automotive Technologies GmbH
InventorsPhilip Pikart, Christian Gammer, Jan-Erik Kuenecke, Benjamin Dollinger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An arrangement or a projection headlight with a modulator, in particular with a DMD, is disclosed. In this case, a projection lens of the arrangement not only images the image content of the modulator in the surrounding area, but also images the surrounding area on the modulator. The modulator can thus guide the imaging of the surrounding area to a camera and reflect light from a light source into the surrounding area.
Claims20
An optical arrangement comprising:
- a light source that emits light;
- a light passage;
- a spatial modulator that controls the emitted light received from the light source, wherein the spatial modulator directs the emitted light received from the light source out of the optical arrangement through the light passage;
- a camera that captures an image from incident light coming from an object, wherein the incident light enters the optical arrangement from the object through the light passage and then is reflected off the spatial modulator before reaching the camera, where the image is captured from the incident light;
- and
- a controller that controls the spatial modulator, wherein the controller controls the spatial modulator to direct the emitted light through the light passage based on the image captured by the camera.
A method of operating an optical arrangement, comprising:
- orienting each of a plurality of mirrors of a spatial modulator both in a first mirror position and in a second mirror position, wherein in the first mirror position emitted light from a light source is reflected by the plurality of mirrors out of the optical arrangement through a light passage, and wherein in the second mirror position incident light coming from objects and entering the optical arrangement from the objects through the light passage is then reflected by the plurality of mirrors towards an image sensor of a camera;
- and
- capturing an image from the incident light, wherein the incident light coming from the objects enters the optical arrangement through the light passage and is then reflected by the plurality of mirrors towards the image sensor of the camera, where the image is captured from the incident light, and wherein the emitted light is directed out through the light passage based on the image captured by the camera.
A lamp of a motor vehicle, comprising:
- a light source that emits light;
- a light passage;
- a spatial modulator that controls the emitted light received from the light source, wherein the spatial modulator directs the emitted light received from the light source out of the lamp through the light passage onto a surrounding area of the motor vehicle;
- a camera that captures an image from incident light coming from a surrounding area of the motor vehicle, wherein the incident light enters the lamp from the surrounding area through the light passage and then is reflected off the spatial modulator before reaching the camera, where the image is captured from the incident light, wherein the image depicts the surrounding area of the motor vehicle;
- and
- a controller that controls the spatial modulator, wherein the controller controls the spatial modulator to direct the emitted light through the light passage based on the image captured by the camera.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.