Vehicle headlight control using imaging sensor

A control system for automatically controlling the state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle, said control system comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view, said optical system including an image array sensor containing a plurality of pixels;
• and
• an imaging processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the state of the headlamps as a function of the output of pixels imaging the same spectral band of light, wherein said optical system is further configured to spatially segregate light sources having different spectral compositions on said pixel image array sensor.

A control system for automatically controlling the state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle, said control system comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view;
• and
• an imaging processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the state of the headlamps as a function of the output of pixels imaging the same spectral band of light, wherein said image processing system includes at least two photosensor arrays, and wherein said optical system comprises at least two lenses, one of said at least two lenses being configured to image onto one of said at least two photosensor arrays, and the other of said at least two lenses being configured to image onto the other of said at least two photosensor arrays.

A control system for automatically controlling the state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle, said control system comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view, said optical system including two or more lenses and an image array sensor;
• and
• an imaging processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the state of the headlamps as a function of the output of pixels imaging the same spectral band of light, wherein said image processing system includes means for computing the average output of a selected group of neighboring pixels in said image array sensor.

A control system for automatically controlling the state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle, said control system comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view;
• and
• an imaging processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the state of the headlamps as a function of the output of pixels imaging the same spectral band of light, wherein said optical system includes an image array sensor containing a plurality of pixels, and where the control signal is based on a pixel threshold value that varies as a function of the predetermined field of view imaged by said plurality of pixels.

A control system for automatically controlling the state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle, said control system comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view;
• and
• an imaging processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the state of the headlamps as a function of the output of pixels imaging the same spectral band of light, wherein said optical system includes an image array sensor containing a plurality of pixels, and where the image processing system is configured to respond to a lower output from pixels imaging the predetermined field of view directly in front of the controlled vehicle than from pixels imaging other regions of the predetermined field of view.

A control system for automatically controlling the state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle, the control system comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view, the optical system including at least two photosensor arrays and at least two lenses, each of said at least two lenses being configured to image said predetermined field of view onto a respective one of said at least two photosensor arrays;
• and
• an image processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the headlamps as a function of the relative output of the pixels imaging said external sources of light.

A control system for automatically controlling the high beam state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view onto an image sensor containing a plurality of pixels, said optical system configured to selectively transmit one or more predetermined spectral bands of light, and said optical system configured to image light within each predetermined spectral band onto particular portions of said image sensor;
• and
• an image processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the high beam state of the headlamps as a function of the output of one or more pixels within one of said portions relative to the output of other pixels within the same portion.

A control system for automatically controlling the high beam state of the headlamps of a controlled vehicle comprising:

• an optical system for imaging external sources of light within a predetermined field of view onto an image sensor containing a plurality of pixels, said optical system configured to selectively transmit one or more predetermined spectral bands of light, and said optical system configured to image light within each predetermined spectral band onto particular portions of said image sensor;
• and
• an image processing system for processing images from said optical system and providing a control signal for controlling the high beam state of the headlamps as a function of the output of one or more pixels within one of said portions relative to the output of other pixels within the same portion, wherein said image processing system provides a control signal for controlling the high beam state of the headlamps as a function of the output of pixels within one of said portions relative to the output of pixels within another one of said portions and where each of said pixels within one portion images substantially the same region of space as a corresponding pixel within the other portion.