Vehicle cabin lighting apparatus

1. A vehicle cabin lighting apparatus comprising:

a monitor mounted to a ceiling of a vehicle cabin;

a monitor folding-or-unfolding detector for detecting whether said monitor is placed in a folded or unfolded state;

a monitor controller for determining whether said monitor is placed in a video display mode or lighting mode based on a detection output of said monitor folding-or-unfolding detector, for controlling an operation of said monitor according to a result of the determination, and for applying, as illumination light, light emitted out of said monitor to the vehicle cabin when said monitor is placed in the lighting mode; and

wherein the monitor controller controls the operation of said monitor so that said monitor enters the lighting mode when said monitor is placed in the unfolded state, and so that said monitor enters the video display mode when said monitor is placed in the unfolded state, and so that said monitor enters the video display mode when said monitor is placed in the folded state.

2. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the monitor controller selects and adjusts one of at least an amount, a color, and a pattern of the light emitted out of said monitor, and provides a corresponding instruction to said monitor when said monitor is placed in the lighting mode.

3. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising an accommodating case having two or more openings for lighting formed at predetermined positions thereof, for accommodating the monitor therein, and a light guiding member disposed in said accommodating case, for guiding the light emitted out of said monitor to said two or more openings to apply the light to the vehicle cabin as the illumination light.

4. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising an accommodating case having two or more openings for lighting formed at both ends thereof, for accommodating the monitor therein, and a light guiding member disposed in said accommodating case, for guiding the light emitted out of said monitor to said two or more openings so tat the light is reflected by the ceiling of the vehicle to apply the light to the vehicle cabin as the illumination light.

5. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising an accommodating case having two or more openings for lighting formed at both ends thereof, and a hollow formed therein, for accommodating the monitor therein, and a plurality of reflectors arranged in said hollow of said accommodating case, for guiding the light emitted out of said monitor to said two or more openings so that the light is reflected by the ceiling of the vehicle to apply the light to the vehicle cabin as the illumination light.

6. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising a vehicle alarm generator connected to the monitor controller, for, when the vehicle is placed in an alarm mode in which an abnormal condition occurs in the vehicle, generating an emergency alarm corresponding to the status of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the vehicle alarm generator includes a vehicle status detector for detecting the status of the vehicle, and a vehicle alarm unit for generating an alarm signal based on an output of said vehicle status detector, and for causing the monitor controller to generate the emergency alarm which is based on a predetermined light form according to the status of the vehicle at least when the monitor is placed in the lighting mode.

8. The light guiding member according to claim 3 ,

wherein the light guiding member is a prism.

9. The accommodating case according to claim 3 ,

wherein an optical fiber is attached into the accommodating case as a light guiding member which is formed so as to reflect light emitted out of the monitor.

10. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising an accommodating case for accommodating the monitor therein;

wherein the accommodating case is composed of a transparent or translucent material thereof, to emit the light to the vehicle cabin as the illumination light.

11. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising the monitor controller determines whether there is a necessity to adjust one of at least an amount, a color, and a pattern of the light emitted out of said monitor, and provides a corresponding instruction to said monitor when said monitor is placed in the lighting mode.

12. The accommodating case according to claim 3 ,

wherein the two or more openings for lighting formed at predetermined positions thereof are disposed between the accommodating case and a ceiling of the vehicle cabin.

13. The monitor controller according to claim 2 ,

wherein the monitor controller selects and adjusts one of at least an amount, a color, and a pattern of the light emitted out of said monitor, and provides a corresponding instruction to said monitor based on a musical genre.

14. The monitor controller according to claim 2 ,

wherein the monitor controller selects and adjusts one of at least an amount, a color, and a pattern of the light emitted out of said monitor, and provides a corresponding instruction to said monitor based on a musical melody.

15. The vehicle cabin lighting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprises playback unit and a music type determining unit,

wherein the music type determining unit extracts music type information corresponding to music currently being played by the playback unit from a memory so as to determine the type of music information.

16. The monitor controller according to claim 15 ,

wherein the monitor controller selects and adjusts one of at least an amount, a color, and a pattern of the light emitted out of said monitor, and provides a corresponding instruction to said monitor based on a musical genre as determined by the music type determining unit.