JP2006021568A - Light source device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light source device having a wave length composition formed according to a user's age. <P>SOLUTION: A person authentication part 10 acquires the biometric information of a user and the key information. An age presumption part 12 stores the biometric information and the key information upon relating them previously to the user's birth date information, and presumes the current age of the user from the authenticated birth date of the user and the current date. A photo quantity proportion control part 14 adjusts the photo quantity proportion of a blue light source 20 according to the user's age, i.e. increases as the user grows old. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a light source device, and particularly to emission wavelength control according to the age of a user.

  Conventionally, a technique for adjusting a light source has been proposed in consideration of an elderly person whose light receiving ability is reduced. For example, in Patent Document 1 shown below, the ability to adjust the lens decreases in the elderly, and the focus is on the back of the retina, so when using a short wavelength light with a high refractive index when viewing near the reading, the retinal focus is better. Based on the knowledge that it is easy to match, it has been proposed to construct a white light source with bluish green light as the main component.

  Specifically, a switch is provided in the lighting device, and in the first lighting state in which the switch is pressed, the brightness of the LED is controlled so that blue-green light component: red light component = approximately 1: 1. When the switch is pressed again to shift to the second illumination state, the brightness of the LED is controlled so that the blue-green light component: red light component = approximately 1: 1.2. In the first illumination state, a blue-green light component is included, so that even an elderly person can easily focus. On the other hand, in the second illumination state, a white color with a lot of reddish components is obtained, so that a warmer white color can be obtained. Become.

  FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the peak wavelength and focusing described in this patent document. In the figure, it is shown that the peak wavelength is short, that is, the closer the blue-green light is focused.

JP 2003-298113 A

  In the above-described conventional technology, consideration is given to elderly people by including a blue-green component in white light. However, there are various users who use a certain lighting device, and when the age composition is diverse, it is constant. It is not possible to cope with each user with the wavelength configuration of the ratio. In addition, even when only a specific user uses the lighting device, there is a problem that the wavelength configuration with a certain ratio does not adapt to the reduction in visual acuity as the user ages.

  The objective of this invention is providing the light source device which can irradiate the optimal light according to a user's age, and can improve a user's visibility by this.

  The present invention includes a light source including a blue light source and control means for variably controlling the light amount ratio of the blue light source, and a control means for increasing and controlling the light amount ratio of the blue light source as the user's age increases.

  By increasing the light amount ratio of the blue light source as the user's age increases, it is possible to provide light having an optimum wavelength corresponding to users of all ages.

  In the present invention, based on the acquisition means for acquiring the user's biological information, the storage means for storing the user's biological information and the user's birthday information in association with each other, and the biological information acquired by the acquisition means Searching for the storage means, and estimating means for estimating the current age of the user from current calendar information, the control means is the blue color according to the current age of the user estimated by the estimating means It is preferable to control the light quantity ratio of the light source. Thereby, a user's age can be acquired automatically and the light adapted to the user's age can be provided.

  Further, in the present invention, an acquisition unit that acquires key information for starting the light source device, a storage unit that stores the key information and the birthday information of the user in association with each other, and acquired by the acquisition unit Searching the storage means based on key information, and estimating means for estimating the current age of the user from current calendar information, the control means is the current age of the user estimated by the estimating means It is also preferable to control the light quantity ratio of the blue light source according to the above. Also by this, a user's age can be acquired automatically and the light according to a user's age can be provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the light according to a user's age can be provided and a user's visibility can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a light source device according to the present embodiment. The light source device includes a personal authentication unit 10, an age estimation unit 12, a light quantity ratio control unit 14, and a light emitting unit 16.

  The personal authentication unit 10 authenticates the person who uses the light source device, that is, the user, and uses biometric information (biometrics) such as the user's fingerprint and iris, as well as a key used by the user to activate the light source device. Information etc. are used. A typical example of key information is an ignition key when the light source device is mounted on a vehicle. By operating the ignition key, power is supplied to each part of the vehicle. User data is acquired by preliminarily storing a user ID in an IC memory in the ignition key and acquiring the user ID when the ignition key is operated. When using the user's biometric information, for example, in consideration of the user holding the steering wheel, a fingerprint sensor is provided at a predetermined part of the steering wheel to acquire the user's fingerprint. In addition, the user's eye is photographed by a camera provided in the interior mirror of the vehicle, and the user's iris information is acquired. The biometric information and key information of the user are supplied to the age estimation unit 12.

  The age estimation unit 12 includes a database that stores biometric information, key information, and a user's birthday in advance in association with each other. The age estimation unit 12 searches the database based on the biometric information and key information acquired by the personal authentication unit 10 and estimates the current age of the user. That is, the birthday of the user is specified based on the user's ecological information and key information, and the user's current age is calculated from the current calendar information (calendar information). The estimated age of the user is supplied to the light quantity ratio control unit 14.

The light amount ratio control unit 14 variably controls the light amount ratio in the light emitting unit 16 according to the age of the user estimated by the age estimation unit 12. More specifically, the control is performed so that the shorter the wavelength, that is, the blue light amount increases as the user's age increases. When the light emitting unit 16 includes the white light source 18 and the blue light source 20 as illustrated, the light amount ratio control unit 14 increases the light amount ratio of the blue light source 20 as the user's age increases. There are several control modes of the light quantity ratio control unit 14. The enumeration is as follows.
(1) The light quantity of the white light source 18 is made constant, and only the light quantity of the blue light source 20 is increased.
(2) The light quantity of the white light source 18 and the light quantity of the blue light source 20 are both increased.
(3) The light quantity of the white light source 18 is decreased and the light quantity of the blue light source 20 is increased.

  Which is used is arbitrary, and may be configured so that the user can switch manually as appropriate. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which only the blue light source 20 is increased while the light amount of the white light source 18 is kept constant as the user's age increases.

  The light emitting unit 16 includes the white light source 18 and the blue light source 20 as described above. Typical examples of the white light source 18 and the blue light source 20 are a white LED and a blue LED. The blue LED can be composed of, for example, a gallium nitride (GaN) LED. The white LED is configured as a set of red LEDs, green LEDs, and blue LEDs, and is configured by a combination of an LED light source and a coated phosphor that emits light having a complementary color relationship with the wavelength of the LED light source. The white light source 18 and the blue light source 20 may be configured by a combination of an LED light source and a filter. That is, the white light source 18 is composed of an LED light source and a white filter, and the blue light source 20 is composed of an LED light source and a blue filter. The amount of blue light can be controlled by adjusting the blue transmittance of the blue filter constituting the blue light source 20. The amount of transmitted light may be controlled by interposing a liquid crystal or the like between the LED light source and the blue filter and changing the orientation of the liquid crystal by a driving voltage.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration example when the light source device of the present embodiment is applied to a vehicle. Detection signals from a sensor 21 such as a fingerprint sensor provided at the steering of the vehicle or an iris sensor comprising a camera provided at a vehicle rearview mirror are supplied to an electronic control unit ECU 24 constituted by a microcomputer. The ignition key information from the ignition switch 22 is also supplied to the ECU 24. In the case of a keyless entry, key information is supplied from a receiving unit that receives data wirelessly transmitted from the ignition key instead of the ignition switch 22.

  The rewritable memory 26 such as a flash ROM stores the user's biometric information and key information and the user's birthday information in association with each other. For example, for a user A, the iris information Ia of the user A and the user's date of birth, December 31, 1961 are stored in association with each other. Of course, a plurality of biometric information and key information and the date of birth of the user may be stored in association with each other. For example, the iris information Ia and fingerprint information Sa of the user A, the key information IDa, and the date of birth are stored in association with each other. The memory 26 may store the biometric information, key information, and date of birth in association with a plurality of users. When a plurality of users can use the light source device, it is preferable to register biometric information, key information, and birthday information of the users that can be used in advance in the memory 26.

  When the biometric information from the sensor 21 or the key information from the ignition switch 22 is input, the ECU 24 accesses the memory 26 to search the user's birthday corresponding to the biometric information and the key information, and is further built in the ECU 24. The current age of the user is estimated based on the calendar information. For example, if the user's birthday obtained by searching is December 31, 1961, and the current date is May 18, 2004, the current age of the user is estimated to be 42 years old. it can. After estimating the current age of the user, the ECU 24 controls the light amount ratio of the blue light source 20 in the light emitting unit 16 according to the estimated age.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the light amount ratio control by the light amount ratio control unit 14 or the ECU 24. The white light source 18 is always turned on regardless of age, and the amount of light is constant. On the other hand, the blue light source 20 is uniformly turned off when the user's age is less than 40 years old, and is turned on when the user's age is 40 years old or more to increase the amount of light. In many cases, the blue light source 20 is turned on / off after the age of 40. When the age of 40 is exceeded, the ability to adjust the crystalline lens is reduced, and the normal white light is difficult to see. Based on rules of thumb. When the light source device according to the present embodiment is incorporated in a reading light or an instrument panel mounted on a vehicle, if the user is 40 years old or more, a predetermined amount of blue light is contained in white light. The book at hand, speedometer, fuel gauge, navigation screen, etc. can be easily viewed.

  FIG. 4 shows another example of the light amount ratio control in the light amount ratio control unit 14 or the ECU 24 in the present embodiment. Turning on / off the blue light source 20 at the age of 40 is the same as in FIG. 3, but the light quantity of the blue light source 20 is gradually increased as the user's age increases. Specifically, when the user is 50 years old, the blue LED drive current is increased or the transmittance of the liquid crystal interposed between the LED light source and the blue filter is increased compared to when the user is 40 years old. Let Thereby, fine wavelength control according to the user's age becomes possible, and an optimal light quantity ratio according to the user's age can be realized.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this, A various change is possible.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the user's age is estimated using the user's biological information and key information, but the user's age may be estimated by other methods. For example, when setting a destination in a navigation system mounted on a vehicle, it is generally considered that the type of destination set according to age is different, so the age of the user is estimated according to the set destination Then, the light amount of the blue light source 20 may be variably controlled. When the user's personal information or the like is input to the navigation device, the user's age may be estimated using the personal information.

  Further, a manual switch that can adjust the light amount of the blue light source 20 is provided, and when the user manually adjusts the light amount, the information is stored and learned in the memory 26, and the light amount of the blue light source 20 is optimized for each user. Good. In this case, the light amount of the blue light source 20 is roughly adjusted according to the age of the user, and the light amount is further finely adjusted by the learning value.

It is a conceptual lineblock diagram of an embodiment. It is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment. It is control explanatory drawing of a blue light quantity. It is control explanatory drawing of a blue light quantity. It is a graph which shows the sample sum of a peak wavelength and adjustment power difference.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Identity verification part, 12 Age estimation part, 14 Light quantity ratio control part, 16 Light emission part, 18 White light source, 20 Blue light source, 21 Sensor, 22 Ignition switch, 24 ECU, 26 Memory

Claims (6)

A light source including a blue light source;
Control means for variably controlling the light quantity ratio of the blue light source, the control means for increasing and controlling the light quantity ratio of the blue light source as the user's age increases;
A light source device comprising: The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
Obtaining means for obtaining the user's biometric information;
Storage means for storing the biometric information of the user and the birthday information of the user in association with each other;
An estimation unit that searches the storage unit based on the biological information acquired by the acquisition unit and estimates the current age of the user from current calendar information;
And the control means controls the light quantity ratio of the blue light source according to the current age of the user estimated by the estimation means. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
Obtaining means for obtaining key information for activating the light source device;
Storage means for storing the key information and the user's birthday information in association with each other;
Searching the storage means based on the key information acquired by the acquisition means, estimating means for estimating the current age of the user from current calendar information;
And the control means controls the light quantity ratio of the blue light source according to the current age of the user estimated by the estimation means. The apparatus of claim 1.
The control means sets the light amount of the blue light source to zero when the user's age is less than 40 years, and increases the light amount of the blue light source when the user's age is 40 years or older. A light source device. The apparatus of claim 1.
The blue light source is a blue LED,
The light source device characterized in that the control means changes the light quantity ratio by changing the drive current of the blue LED. The apparatus of claim 1.
The blue light source includes a blue filter,
The light source apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes a light amount ratio by changing a transmittance of the blue filter.

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