Rearview mirror

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9914394-B2
Application number	US-201514906012-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2015
Priority date	Feb 28, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

The present invention provides a rearview mirror comprising a panel and a control circuit, a first substrate in the panel is provided with a planar transparent electrode layer, a second substrate is provided with a transparent hydrophobic material layer and multiple block electrodes, a side of the transparent hydrophobic material layer facing the first substrate is provided with multiple cells, lightproof electro-wetting ink is provided within each cell, the block electrodes are provided on a side of the transparent hydrophobic material layer away from the first substrate and can at least reflect part of light entering the rearview mirror from first substrate side, the control circuit is configured to control area of each cell covered by the electro-wetting ink in the cell by controlling a change in intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A rearview mirror, comprising a panel and a control circuit, wherein the panel comprises a first substrate and a second substrate arranged in an aligned manner, the first substrate is located at a light incident/emergent side of the rearview mirror relative to the second substrate, the first substrate comprises a first transparent base substrate and a planar transparent electrode layer stacked on the first transparent base substrate, the second substrate comprises a second base substrate and a transparent hydrophobic material layer and a plurality of block electrodes stacked on the second base substrate, a side of the transparent hydrophobic material layer facing the first substrate is provided with a plurality of cells, each of which is provided with lightproof electro-wetting ink therein, the plurality of block electrodes are provided on a side of the transparent hydrophobic material layer away from the first substrate, each of the block electrodes corresponds to one of the cells, the block electrodes are at least able to reflect a part of light entering the rearview mirror from the first substrate side, and the control circuit is electrically connected to the planar transparent electrode layer and the plurality of block electrodes and configured to respectively provide voltages to the planar transparent electrode layer and the plurality of block electrodes to form an electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the plurality of block electrodes, so as to control an area of each of the cells covered by the electro-wetting ink in the cell by controlling a change in intensity of the electric field, wherein
the second substrate further comprises a switch element array between the block electrodes and the second base substrate, the switch element array comprising a plurality of switch elements, each of which corresponds to one of the block electrodes, and the control circuit provides a voltage to each of the block electrodes through the corresponding switch element,
and wherein the second substrate further comprises a reflecting layer, which is disposed at a side of the second base substrate distal to the plurality of block electrodes and further away from the first substrate relative to the plurality of block electrodes.

2. The rearview mirror according to claim 1 , wherein the block electrodes are transflective electrodes.

3. The rearview mirror according to claim 2 , further comprising a backlight source, which is provided in a layer in the second substrate away from the first substrate relative to both the plurality of block electrodes and the switch element array.

4. The rearview mirror according to claim 3 , wherein the backlight source comprises a light guide plate and a reflector plate arranged in a stacked manner.

5. The rearview mirror according to claim 3 , wherein the second substrate further comprises a color filter layer comprising a plurality of color resisting blocks, each of which corresponds to one of the cells.

6. The rearview mirror according to claim 5 , wherein the color filter layer is provided between the switch element array and the backlight source.

7. The rearview mirror according to claim 1 , wherein the panel further comprises transparent liquid filled between the first substrate and the second substrate, and the transparent liquid is immiscible with the electro-wetting ink.

8. The rearview mirror according to claim 1 , further comprising a brightness sensor configured to detect a change in brightness around the rearview mirror; wherein,
when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror is less than a first predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a first sensing signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit controls the intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes to be a first value upon receipt of the first sensing signal, so that the area covered by the electro-wetting ink in each of the cells is a first predetermined area; and
when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror exceeds the first predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a second sensing signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit controls the intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes to be a second value upon receipt of the second sensing signal, so that the area covered by the electro-wetting ink in each of the cells is a second predetermined area, the second predetermined area being larger than the first predetermined area.

9. The rearview mirror according to claim 8 , wherein, when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror exceeds a second predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a third sensing signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit controls the intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes to be a third value upon receipt of the third sending signal, so that more than one but less than all of the cells are fully covered by the electro-wetting ink, the second predetermined value being larger than the first predetermined value.

10. The rearview mirror according to claim 1 , wherein the panel further comprises transparent liquid filled between the first substrate and the second substrate, and the transparent liquid is immiscible with the electro-wetting ink.

11. The rearview mirror according to claim 1 , further comprising a brightness sensor configured to detect a change in brightness around the rearview mirror; wherein,
when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror is less than a first predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a first sensing signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit controls the intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes to be a first value upon receipt of the first sensing signal, so that the area covered by the electro-wetting ink in each of the cells is a first predetermined area; and
when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror exceeds the first predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a second sensing signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit controls the intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes to be a second value upon receipt of the second sensing signal, so that the area covered by the electro-wetting ink in each of the cells is a second predetermined area, the second predetermined area being larger than the first predetermined area.

12. The rearview mirror according to claim 2 , further comprising a brightness sensor configured to detect a change in brightness around the rearview mirror; wherein,
when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror is less than a first predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a first sensing signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit controls the intensity of the electric field between the planar transparent electrode layer and the block electrodes to be a first value upon receipt of the first sensing signal, so that the area covered by the electro-wetting ink in each of the cells is a first predetermined area; and
when the brightness sensor detects that the change in brightness around the rearview mirror exceeds the first predetermined value, the brightness sensor sends a second sensing signal to the control

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Chengdu Boe Optoelect Tech Co

Inventors

• Sun Shenglin
• Bai Feng
• Qiu Yun
• Wang Zhidong
• Liu Junguo
• Chen Zhiguo
• Liu Lihua

Classifications

• G02B6/0011

  the light guides being planar or of plate-like form · CPC title

• G02B26/02

  for controlling the intensity of light {(G02B26/004 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G02B26/005

  based on electrowetting · CPC title

• B60R1/088 Primary

  using a cell of electrically changeable optical characteristic, e.g. liquid-crystal or electrochromic mirrors · CPC title

• G02B6/0055

  Reflecting element, sheet or layer · CPC title