Patent ID: 7575348

Claim:
A vehicle headlamp device for a reference vehicle with a headlamp comprising: a forward vehicle detecting device for detecting the presence of a forward vehicle; a projection state changing device for switching a projection state of the headlamp between a first projection state and a second projection state, wherein the headlamp projects a greater amount of light in the second projection state than in the first projection state, and wherein the projection state changing device switches the headlamp to the first projection state when the forward vehicle detecting device detects the presence of the forward vehicle, and wherein the projection state changing device switches the headlamp to the second projection state when the forward vehicle detecting device detects an absence of the forward vehicle; and a specific state determining device that determines whether a specific state exists in which switching between the first and second projection states should be prohibited, wherein the projection state changing device maintains the headlamp in a current state of projection when the specific state determining device determines that the specific state exists.