Patent ID: 7157856

Claim:
In an apparatus for controlling a headlight for a vehicle having a headlight lamp of a multifunction structure having a plurality of high, middle and low angle and steering headlight filaments each capable of emitting light for providing high, middle and low angle and steering beams, an apparatus for controlling a headlight for a vehicle, comprising: a light switch capable of providing an automatic mode to a vehicle driver, said automatic mode capable of automatically changing an on and off time of the headlight and a lighting angle of the headlight; a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a running speed of a vehicle when an automatic mode is selected by the light switch and generating a vehicle speed signal corresponding to the detected vehicle speed; an opponent vehicle headlight luminous intensity sensor for detecting a luminous intensity of the opponent vehicle headlight of the vehicle when the automatic mode is selected by the light switch and generating a luminous intensity signal corresponding to the detected opponent vehicle luminous intensity; a vehicle surrounding luminous intensity sensor for detecting a surrounding luminous intensity of the vehicle when the automatic mode is selected by the light switch and generating a luminous intensity signal corresponding to the detected surrounding luminous intensity; a controller for determining a lighting step of the headlight in accordance with a vehicle speed, opponent vehicle headlight luminous intensity signal and vehicle surrounding luminous intensity signal from the vehicle speed sensor, the opponent vehicle headlight luminous intensity sensor and the vehicle surrounding luminous intensity sensor and controlling an operation that a corresponding filament among the high, middle and low angle headlight filaments is turned on based on the determined lighting step; a headlight relay unit for supplying a power to a corresponding selected filament based on the determined lighting step among the high, middle and low angle headlight filaments in accordance with a control of the controller; and a power unit for supplying a power to each element of the vehicle.