Patent ID: 6049749
Filing Date: 2000-04-11
Classification: B60K,B60Q,B60W

Abstract:
A lighting apparatus for controlling irradiation of a vehicle lighting device, said lighting apparatus comprising:an irradiation control means for controlling the irradiation of said lighting device in accordance with a road profile, operation of the vehicle and running condition of the vehicle;a road profile calculating means for determining road-direction data representing a first predicted advancing direction of the vehicle, associated with an advancing direction of the vehicle in the case where the vehicle advances along a road on which the vehicle is running at present, in accordance with map information including the road profile and the present position information of the vehicle; anda vehicle advancing direction predicting means for predicting vehicle-direction data representing a second predicted advancing direction of the vehicle intended by a driver, on the basis of an operation signal given by the driver, wherein the operation signal given by the driver includes a direction indicating signal, and the vehicle advancing direction predicting means predicts vehicle-direction data based on at least the operation signal given by the driver,wherein the irradiation control means compares the road-direction data with the predicted-vehicle-direction data to determine a difference therebetween, andwherein the irradiation control means controls the lighting device in accordance with the road-direction data when said difference is in an allowable range, and controls the lighting device in accordance with the predicted-vehicle-direction data when the difference is outside of the allowable range.