Patent ID: 8436747

Claim:
A vehicle illumination system, comprising: a light source configured for emitting light in the visible wavelength range for illuminating surroundings of a vehicle, an interior of the vehicle, or both the surroundings and the interior; a modulation unit configured for modulating the emitting of the light of the light source, where the emitted light is modulated with a frequency that is high enough so that the modulation of the light is substantially not perceivable by a person; a sensor that detects modulated light emitted by the light source and provides a received signal indicative thereof; a vehicle range finding system that receives and processes the received signal and generates a distance signal relating to the distance of the object; and a vehicle information transfer system that includes an information processing unit, which receives and processes the received signal and controls the modulation of the light in such a way that the emitted light is modulated in dependence on a predetermined information to be transmitted.