The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 22, 2013
Filed:
Sep. 08, 2009
Atsushi Sugimoto, Shizuoka, JP;
Hirohisa Deguchi, Shizuoka, JP;
Shoichiro Yokoi, Shizuoka, JP;
Yuji Sugiyama, Shizuoka, JP;
Atsushi Sugimoto, Shizuoka, JP;
Hirohisa Deguchi, Shizuoka, JP;
Shoichiro Yokoi, Shizuoka, JP;
Yuji Sugiyama, Shizuoka, JP;
Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A vehicle headlamp apparatus is provided. The vehicle headlamp apparatus includes a first lamp configured to selectively produce a first high beam light distribution pattern and an infrared light distribution pattern, a second lamp configured to selectively produce a second high beam light distribution pattern and a low beam light distribution pattern, a vehicle detector which detects a vehicle running ahead, and a condition-dependent selection controller which controls the first and second lamps. The condition-dependent selection controller controls the second lamp to produce the low beam light distribution pattern when the vehicle detector detects a vehicle and to produce the second high beam light distribution pattern when the vehicle detector detects no vehicle. The condition-dependent selection controller controls the first lamp to produce the infrared light distribution pattern, irrespective of whether the vehicle detector detects a vehicle.