Control apparatus for two section, glare shield mirror

• US 4,697,883 A
• Filed: 08/22/1985
• Issued: 10/06/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd. (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd. (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Itoh, Hiroshi, Hara, Kunihiko, Suzuki, Yasutoshi, Ohmi, Shinya
• Primary Examiner(s): Corbin, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, David
• Application Number:
  US06/768,150
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: 350/331 R, 350/332, 350/336, 350/338, 350/342, 350/278-283
• US Class Current: 359/604
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/088 using a cell of electrically changeable optical characteristic, e.g. liquid-crystal or electrochromic mirrors

Abstract

A control apparatus for controlling the glare shield of a reflecting mirror of a vehicle, wherein the reflecting mirror is provided with on the upper half and lower half portions respectively first and second electro-optic elements whose transmittance of light being variable, and when a first photo detecting circuit determines that incident light on the reflecting mirror detected by an incident light detector is the direct sunlight, a first control circuit applies a voltage to the first electro-optic element to cause the upper half portion of the reflecting mirror to become a glare shield condition, and when a second photo detecting circuit determines that the incident light detected by an incident light detector is light of a headlight of a following vehicle, a second control circuit applies the voltage to the second electro-optic element to cause the lower half portion of the reflecting mirror to become the glare shield condition.

Claims

1. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus of a vehicle for controlling glare shield of a reflecting mirror which has first and second electro-optic elements respectively on upper half and lower half portions of a reflecting mirror layer, the transmittance of light of said first and second electro-optic elements being varied in accordance with an applied voltage, said glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus comprising:

incident light detecting means for detecting light incident on said reflecting mirror from behind said vehicle;

first determining means for determining whether the incident light detected by said incident light detecting means is light corresponding to the direct sunlight or not;

second determining means for determining whether the incident light detected by said incident light detecting means is light stronger than light corresponding to light of a headlight of a following vehicle or not;

day and night determining means for determining the day or the night;

first control means, upon determination of said first determining means that the incident light is the light corresponding to the direct sunlight, for applying a voltage to at least said first electro-optic element to cause the upper half portion of said reflecting mirror to become a glare shield condition; and

second control means, upon determination by said second determination means that the incident light is the light stronger than the light corresponding to the light of the headlight of the following vehicle and upon determination by said day and night determining means that it is the nighttime, for applying the voltage to only said second electro-optic element of said first and second electro-optic elements to cause the lower half portion of said reflecting mirror to become the glare shield condition.

2. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said incident light detecting means includes first and second photosensors for detecting the light incident on said reflecting mirror from behind said vehicle, and said first determining means determines based on a detection signal from said first photosensor whether the incident light is the direct sunlight or not, and said second determining means determines based on a detection signal from said second photosensor whether the incident light is the light stronger than the light corresponding to the light of the headlight of the following vehicle or not.

3. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said reflecting mirror layer is a semi-transparent mirror layer which transmits a part of the incident light, and said first photosensor detects the light transmitted through said first electro-optic element and said semi-transparent mirror layer, and said second photosensor detects the light which is transmitted through said second electro-optic element and said semi-transparent mirror layer.

4. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said day and night determining means includes a surrounding light sensor for detecting light surrounding said vehicle, and a day and night determining circuit for determining the day or the night based on a detection signal from said surrounding light sensor.

5. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said day and night determining means is a light switch which detects a turn-on condition of the headlight of said vehicle.

6. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said day and night determining means determines the day or the night based on the incident light detected by said incident light detecting means.

7. A glare shield type reflecting mirror control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first control means applies the voltage also to said second electro-optic element in addition to said first electro-optic element thereby to cause the upper half portion and the lower half portion to become the glare shield condition.