Enhanced glare reduction

• US 20100065721A1
• Filed: 10/20/2009
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Craig Broude, Leon D. Rosen
• Original Assignee: Craig Broude, Leon D. Rosen
• Inventors: Broude, Craig, Rosen, Leon D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,143,563 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/201.100
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 3/04 adjustable in transparency

Abstract

The driver of a vehicle (10) is protected from glare caused by the bright lights of an oncoming vehicle at night, or by the Sun lying low in the sky. The vehicle windshield (20) is divided into pixels (42) whose transparency can be reduced. The transparency of a limited area of the windshield is controlled by reducing the transparency of windshield pixels that lie along the light path (32) of bright light that passes through an area (34) of the windshield to the driver'"'"'s eyes. In one system, a small sensor (44) includes a sensor plate (50) with an array of sensor pixels (54), and a lens (56) that forms an image of a forward portion of the environment on the sensor pixel array. An electronic circuit (70) couples sensor pixels to corresponding windshield pixels, and reduces the transparency of windshield pixels when corresponding sensor pixels are brightly illuminated. In another system, a sensor is provided that senses a finger (84) of the driver touching one of the windshield pixels to reduce the transparency of that window pixel for a selected time period.

Claims

1. Apparatus for use in a vehicle to protect a driver whose eyes are at a predetermined eye position, from bright lights originating from point-like sources, including a windshield with a part (40) that the driver most commonly looks through to view an area of the environment that is generally forward of the vehicle, said windshield having multiple windshield pixels whose transparency and opacity can be varied, comprising:

a sensor located beside said windshield part and having a sensor area containing multiple sensor pixels, a lens that forms an image of said environment area onto said sensor area, and a circuit coupled to said multiple sensor pixels and to said windshield pixels that controls the transparency of each of said windshield pixels in accordance with the amount of light falling on a directly corresponding one of said sensor pixels, without opto-electronically determining the position of the driver'"'"'s eyes;

said circuit constructed to reduce the transparency of a glare-blocked zone of said windshield pixels to block glaring light that would otherwise reach the driver'"'"'s eyes at said predetermined eye position by passing through said glare-blocked zone.

2. The apparatus described in claim 1 including:

a manual control that is manually operable by said driver to move said predetermined position up or down to a new predetermined position.

3. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein:

said glare-blocked zone occupies no more than 10% of the windshield width and no more than 10% of the windshield vertical height, and said glare blocked zone is horizontally elongated in order to block light from reaching each of the driver'"'"'s eyes at said predetermined position.

4. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein:

said circuit for controlling the transparency of windshield pixels decreases the transparency of windshield pixels that lie within an angle of at least 3°

along a line extending from a center of said glare-blocked zone to said predetermined position of the driver'"'"'s eyes, to reduce light at both eyes of the driver.

5. Apparatus for use in a vehicle to avoid exposing a driver to glare, where the driver'"'"'s eyes have a center located at a predetermined eye position with respect to the vehicle windshield, and where the glare is caused by a bright light that passes along a path through the windshield to said eye position, wherein:

said windshield has multiple pixels lying in a windshield part (40) that the driver usually looks through and whose transparency can be reduced; and

including

a sensor that lies beside said windshield part and that has a sensor area and a lens that forms an image of the environment that can be seen through at least portions of said windshield onto said sensor area with parts of said sensor area each corresponding directly to pixels of said windshield; and

a circuit that detects high relative illumination of limited areas of said sensor area and that reduces the transparency of corresponding pixels of said windshield.

6. Apparatus for use in a vehicle to avoid exposing a driver to glare, wherein:

said windshield has multiple areas whose transparency can be reduced; and

including

a sensor that senses the driver manually touching one of said windshield multiple areas, and a circuit coupled to said sensor that reduces the transparency of that windshield area that is touched by the driver.

7. The apparatus described in claim 6 wherein:

said circuit is constructed to maintain said windshield area that was touched, at a reduced transparency only for a predetermined time period, without requiring said driver to set the time period each time the driver touches said one of said windshield areas.