Interior rearview mirror assembly with full screen video display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10046706-B2
Application number	US-201615192302-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2016
Priority date	Jun 26, 2015
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle includes a mirror head having a mirror reflective element, and a video display device behind the mirror reflective element and viewable through the mirror reflective element when activated. The video display device includes a display screen that occupies at least 75 percent of a reflective region of the mirror reflective element. The video display device includes a backlighting array of light emitting diodes for backlighting the display screen, and the backlighting array of light emitting diodes includes a plurality of zones of light emitting diodes, with each zone having at least two light emitting diodes. The zones of light emitting diodes are independently controlled based on the video images being displayed by the video display device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle, said interior rearview mirror assembly comprising:
a mirror head pivotable about a mirror support configured to attach at an interior portion of a vehicle equipped with said interior rearview mirror assembly;
wherein said mirror head comprises a mirror reflective element having a transflective mirror reflector that at least partially reflects light incident thereon and at least partially transmits incident light therethrough;
wherein said mirror reflective element comprises a reflective region defined by said transflective mirror reflector;
a video display device disposed rearward of said mirror reflective element;
wherein said video display device comprises a display screen that occupies at least 75 percent of said reflective region of said mirror reflective element;
wherein said video display device is operable to display video images captured by a rearward viewing camera of the vehicle and wherein said video display device displays video images captured by said rearward viewing camera;
wherein, when said video display device is operated to display video images, light emitted by said video display device passes through said mirror reflective element for viewing of displayed video images by a driver of the vehicle viewing said mirror reflective element;
wherein said video display device comprises a backlighting array of light emitting diodes for backlighting said display screen, and wherein said backlighting array of light emitting diodes comprises a plurality of zones of light emitting diodes, and wherein each zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes comprises at least two light emitting diodes, and wherein said zones of light emitting diodes backlight respective regions of said video display device, and wherein the regions of said video display device display respective areas in the rearward field of view of said rearward viewing camera;
wherein said zones of light emitting diodes are independently controlled based on the video images being displayed at the respective regions by said video display device; and
wherein at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes is adjusted responsive to a determination of a feature present at an area in the rearward field of view of said rearward viewing camera that is being displayed at a region of said video display device that is backlit by said at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes.

2. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes is adjusted responsive to a determination of a glare source being present at the area in the rearward field of view of said rearward viewing camera that is being displayed at the region of said video display device that is backlit by said at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes.

3. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes is adjusted responsive to a determination of a headlight of a rear-approaching vehicle being present at the area in the rearward field of view of said rearward viewing camera that is being displayed at the region of said video display device that is backlit by said at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes.

4. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said at least one zone of said plurality of zones of light emitting diodes backlights an upper region of said display screen and wherein said at least one zone is dimmed to reduce the display intensity of a sky region of the displayed video images.

5. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said backlighting array backlighting array of light emitting diodes of said video display device has at least two dimming ranges configured to increase the overall range of illumination intensity of said backlighting array of light emitting diodes.

6. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said mirror reflective element comprises an electro-optic mirror reflective element having a front substrate and a rear substrate with an electro-optic medium disposed therebetween, and wherein said front substrate has a first surface and a second surface and said rear substrate has a third surface and a fourth surface, said second surface and said third surface opposing said electro-optic medium, and wherein said transflective mirror reflector is disposed at said third surface.

7. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 6 , wherein at least one of said electro-optic mirror reflective element and said video display device is adjustable in response to sensed night-time driving conditions to reduce glare that interferes with visibility of displayed images at an electro-optically active region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element.

8. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 6 , comprising a glare light sensor disposed between a plane of said video display device and a plane of said second surface of said front substrate, wherein said glare light sensor is angled relative to said second surface to sense glare at said electro-optic mirror reflective element.

9. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 8 , wherein said glare light sensor is integrated with a user input that is configured to actuate based on a touch event at said first surface of said front substrate of said electro-optic mirror reflective element.

10. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said video display device comprises a video processor that increases background image luminance to limit viewability of reflected images at said reflective region of said mirror reflective element.

11. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said display screen of said video display device comprises an array of pixels that includes a plurality of sub-arrays of pixels having red, green, blue and clear pixels.

12. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 11 , wherein said video display device is operable to display images using clear pixels to provide a brighter displayed image, and wherein said video display device is operable to display images without using clear pixels to reduce the brightness of the displayed images.

13. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 12 , wherein said video display device is operable to display images without using clear pixels responsive to a determination of night-time driving conditions.

14. The interior rearview mirror assembly of claim 1 , wherein said video display device changes from displaying color images to displaying black and white images responsive to a determination of night-time driving conditions.

15. An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle, said interior rearview mirror assembly comprising:
a mirror head pivotable about a mirror support configured to attach at an interior portion of a vehicle equipped with said interior rearview mirror assembly;
wherein said mirror head comprises a mirror reflective element having a transflective mirror reflector that at least partially reflects light incident thereon and at least partially transmits incident light therethrough;
wherein said mirror reflective element comprises a reflective region defined by said transflective mirror reflector;
a video display device disposed rearward of said mirror reflective element;
wherein said video display device comprises a display screen that occupies at least 75 percent of said reflective region of said mirror reflect

Assignees

• Magna Mirrors Of America Inc

Inventors

• Larson Mark L
• Uken John T
• Koetje Christopher R

Classifications

• B60R1/12 Primary

  Mirror assemblies combined with other articles, e.g. clocks · CPC title

• B60R2001/1253

  with cameras, video cameras or video screens · CPC title

• B60R1/04

  mounted inside vehicle {(B60R1/025, B60R1/08 take precedence)} · CPC title

• B60R2001/1223

  with sensors or transducers · CPC title

• H04N7/181

  for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources · CPC title