Lawrence Welk, the bandleader who entertained millions of Americans over a generation of broadcasting his TV show, once received a patent: for a music-themed design of an ashtray.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7575348 | Vehicle headlamp device A vehicle headlamp device that includes a forward vehicle detecting device and a projection state changing device for switching a projection state of the headlamp between a first and second projection state. The device also includes a specific state determining devi... | 08/18/2009 |
| 7568822 | Predictive adaptive front lighting algorithm for branching road geometry A system for predictive front lighting of a vehicle. The system includes at least two headlamps, at least two swivel mechanisms and a controller. The first and second headlamps project a beam pattern for illumination of the vehicle path. The controller receives vehi... | 08/04/2009 |
| 7510310 | Vehicle lighting device A vehicle lighting device includes a light source unit for emitting light for forming a high beam light distribution pattern by projecting forward light from the light source unit. The high beam light distribution pattern has at least two illumination patterns which... | 03/31/2009 |
| 7503677 | Headlight control apparatus and method for vehicle A headlight control apparatus and method controls an irradiation direction of a headlight. This apparatus uses a navigation-based swivel angle calculated based upon the shape of a road in a navigation-based control period, and a steering-based swivel angle calculate... | 03/17/2009 |
| 7429120 | Headlight swivel control apparatus The headlight swivel control apparatus includes a first function of obtaining road map data, current position information of a vehicle, and width-direction-position information for determining a position of the vehicle on a road on which the vehicle is driving in a ... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7429918 | Vehicle lighting system A vehicle lighting system for illuminating ahead of a vehicle is provided with a plurality of light sources each adapted to illuminate a different illumination area to thereby form a predetermined light distribution pattern as a whole and a control unit for determin... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7425085 | Vehicle headlight apparatus A vehicle headlight apparatus includes a headlight and an actuator. The actuator horizontally changes a lighting direction of the headlight. The vehicle headlight apparatus drives the actuator such that the actuator horizontally changes the lighting direction of the... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7423665 | Vehicle pathway vision system having in-path delineation reticle A vehicle vision system displays a vehicle pathway image that includes a reticle for visually identifying the in-path portion of the image. A reticle array is disposed between a video camera chip and a lens, and includes a conical or frustro-conical region of substa... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7390112 | Fixed light for bends for a motor vehicle The fixed light for bends for a motor vehicle comprises at least two light sources, means sensitive to the path of the vehicle for supplying a signal dependent on the nature of the road followed by the vehicle, and means for controlling successive switching on the s... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7374320 | Vehicular headlamp apparatus A control unit of a vehicular headlamp apparatus can selectively perform steering angle control and navigation-cooperative control. The steering angle control operates a drive mechanism based on a steering angle and a speed of a vehicle to control a headlamp's swive... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7364333 | Vehicle headlight system with variable beam shape In a vehicle headlight system with a light source (2) and at least one reflector (1) for shaping the light emitted by the light source into a high beam and a low beam, and with a shield (7) adjustable via an actuating element (9) between ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7354172 | Methods and apparatus for controlled lighting based on a reference gamut Methods and apparatus for controlled lighting based on a reference color gamut that is shared amongst multiple lighting units. A reference color gamut may be determined for multiple lighting units based on spectral power distributions associated with the lighting un... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7350945 | System and method of detecting driving conditions for a motor vehicle A system for a motor vehicle for detecting driving conditions on a road, including a nebulosity, the range of visibility in the presence of a nebulosity or the distance between an obstacle in the road and the motor vehicle. The system includes a headlight which emit... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7350944 | Automatic leveling apparatus and method of headlamp for vehicle In an automatic leveling apparatus, a motor inclines an optical axis of a headlamp in an up and down direction relative to a vehicle body, a vehicle height sensor detects a change in a height direction of an axle portion of a front wheel or a rear wheel of a vehicle... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7347595 | Method of providing modulated illumination of a road, and a vehicle headlight for performing the said method The invention relates to a method of lighting a road with a vehicle headlight, in which the projected light is modulated in response to the presence of any persons on the road. The method comprises the following operations: detecting in the road scene at least one p... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7344288 | Lighting system for vehicle A vehicle lighting system 1 reads position data of a plurality of nodes which are situated ahead of and behind the current position of a cruising vehicle using vehicle current position data and road map data to estimate the shape of a driving path by connecti... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7325951 | Front side lighting device Front side lighting device for motor vehicles is placed on both sides of the front of the vehicle. The device includes a compact reflector and a light source whose light beam is asymmetrical, with an angle (β) of an outer spread being greater than angle (α) of an ... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7323831 | Illumination device An illumination device has an illumination unit which glows when current flows through a load thereof, at least one instruction unit for instructing the illumination unit to glow, a PWM signal generating unit which generates a plurality of PWM signals based on that ... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7322709 | Side-mirror-controlling apparatus A door-mirror-controlling apparatus includes an ECU, a velocity detector, a turn-signal lamp, and a DC motor; the ECU includes an MPU and a motor driver circuit. The velocity detector detects the velocity of an automobile, and outputs a velocity signal to the ECU. T... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7281827 | Vehicle headlight apparatus A vehicle headlight apparatus includes a headlight and an actuator. The actuator horizontally changes a direction of an optical axis of the headlight. The vehicle headlight apparatus detects a rotational state of at least one predetermined wheel. The vehicle headlig... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7280901 | Method of control of light beams emitted by a lighting apparatus of a vehicle and a system for performing this method A system for controlling at least one beam of light emitted from a lighting apparatus in a vehicle. The control system may, in at least one embodiment, control the lighting apparatus based on road navigation data and/or vehicle sensor data. The road navigation data ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7272497 | Vehicle navigation system with multi-use display A vehicle navigation system (e.g., GPS) with multi-use display generator that provides for the switching of a displayed image from a navigational based image to a non-navigational image such as a favorite photo. This versatility allows for the user of a vehicle navi... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7268679 | Rear lighting system applied to an automotive vehicle A rear lighting system for an automobile having the ability to serve several functions and to detect and compensate for burned out or damaged lighting elements. ... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7252419 | Motorcycle headlight assembly An adjustable motorcycle headlight with multiple degrees of freedom enables the rider to aim the light where it is needed, as well as facilitating the factory assembly process by enabling fine adjustment after the headlight is mounted. The motorcycle headlight is at... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7252418 | Lights for motor vehicles Lights, in particular for motor vehicles, comprising at least one light source and a cover that is arranged in front of the light source in the direction of radiation, wherein the cover includes an electric diffuser which may change the optical properties thereof to... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7248840 | Re-positioning reminder for personal portable electronic equipment The present invention relates to a re-positioning reminder for personal portable electronic equipment. Such a reminder is housed in the electronic equipment and is at least equipped with an environment detecting unit, a control unit, a time counting module and at le... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7244055 | Headlight for motor vehicle An illumination device for single-track motor vehicles that emits bundled light in the form of a light beam bundle, that in a first propagation direction (A) is aimed at the roadway area located in front of the motor vehicle. The illumination device (SCH) comprises ... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7246021 | Automatic front light optical axis direction adjusting system for vehicles The directions of optical axes of headlights of a vehicle are adjusted based on a steering angle by switching filters of different response speed characteristics. The filters are provided with hystereses along boundaries neighboring to each other. The filters are sw... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7241034 | Automatic directional control system for vehicle headlights A structure and method for operating a directional control system for vehicle headlights that is capable of altering the directional aiming angles of the headlights to account for changes in the operating conditions of the vehicle. One or more operating condition se... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7241035 | Lighting apparatus having means for compensating for failure of lighting on a bend This invention proposes lighting apparatus, for a vehicle having two passing lights for producing a passing beam, which are adapted to pivot to a position deflected to the left or to the right when the vehicle is on a left-hand bend or a right-hand bend, respectivel... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7239951 | Apparatus for automatically adjusting direction of light axis of vehicle headlight An apparatus for automatically adjusting a direction of a headlight of a vehicle includes a steered angle sensor detecting a steered angle of a steering wheel of a vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor detecting a speed of the vehicle, a control unit performing a swivel c... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7239231 | Light control device for vehicle In a light control device for a vehicle, a control portion determines whether an illuminance detected by an illuminance sensor reaches a first reference illuminance, and performs a turning on or off control of lights of the vehicle based on the determined result. Wh... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7234849 | Vehicle lighting apparatus A vehicle lighting apparatus can help improve irradiation for different speeds of an automobile. The vehicle lighting apparatus includes lamps for installation at front portions of an automobile. An irradiation direction of the lamps can be deflected in left and rig... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7233311 | Digital display apparatus for vehicle and method of displaying information A digital display apparatus for a vehicle includes an optical engine that includes a light source, a reflection type digital light deflector that has a plurality of micro mirror elements, a light irradiation unit that irradiates reflected light from the reflection t... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7227611 | Adaptive and interactive scene illumination Apparatus for adaptively and interactively lighting a scene includes a digital light projector that includes a light emitter and a digital light processor optically coupled to the emitter such that the emitter light is projected onto respective individual fields of ... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7226193 | Illuminating device for a vehicle for realizing an asymmetrical light distribution The present invention in various embodiments relates to an illuminating device for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, for realizing an asymmetrical light distribution. The asymmetrical light distribution has a greater illumination depth on the vehicle's side ... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7217018 | Structure of automobile lamp An improved structure of the automobile lamp includes a base, a fixing pipe having two longitudinal grooves, and a lamp seat fixedly connected on the base inside the fixing pipe for combining with an automobile lamp body. An outer pipe is provided with a driving gea... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7210828 | Vehicle lighting system A vehicle lighting system comprising an additional illumination lamp for additionally illuminating ahead of a vehicle and a control means for controlling turn-on and turn-off of the additional illumination lamp so as to follow a steering angle at which the vehicle i... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7204621 | Vehicle provided with inclination sensor To prevent an inclination sensor of a vehicle from becoming soiled by flying matter such as muddy water splashes scattered by the rotating wheels of the vehicle itself, which may result in false detection of the inclination of the vehicle to a road surface, a vehicl... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7204620 | Headlamp device with swivel control for a vehicle Front viewability during turning may be enhanced by a headlamp device for a vehicle arranged to perform swivel control. The headlamp device is arranged so that when a vehicle 2 is turning around a right curve with low beam, the vehicle velocity V and the esti... | 04/17/2007 |