Patent ID: 7772794

Claim:
A vehicular wiper controlling apparatus comprising: an optical part comprising a photo emission element that irradiates light to a sensing surface, and a photo-detector that is arranged at a position receiving the light emitted from the photo emission element and reflected by the sensing surface, the sensing surface being part of a surface of a windshield glass of a vehicle; an estimating part that estimates a condition of the sensing surface by analyzing a change in an output signal of the photo-detector; and a wiper controlling part that controls an operation of a wiper installed in the vehicle according to an estimation result signal outputted from the estimating part; wherein the estimating part comprises a displacement status data generating part that calculates displacement status data representing a displacement status of the output signal of the photo-detector respectively based on a plurality of sampling data trains obtained from the output signal of the photo-detector at plural kinds of sampling periods in both of a period in which the wiper is in operation and a period in which the wiper is not in operation, a pattern data storing part that stores in advance displacement status pattern data representing a displacement status of the output signal of the photo-detector when a lying object or a contact object is present on the sensing surface and displacement status pattern data representing a displacement status of the output signal of the photo-detector when a wiper blade passes over the sensing surface, and a matching part that compares the displacement status data calculated by the displacement status data generating part with the displacement status pattern data stored in the pattern data storing part and outputs the estimation result signal representing the condition of the sensing surface.