Interior rearview mirror system with compass
First Claim
1. An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle comprising:
- an interior rearview assembly having a mirror casing and a reflective element, said mirror casing being adjustable relative to an interior portion of the vehicle; and
a compass system comprising a compass sensor, a microprocessor and a display viewable by a driver of the vehicle, said compass system being operable to display directional information indicative of a directional heading of the vehicle to a driver of the vehicle, said display comprising a plurality of at least partially light transmissive ports formed in a reflective coating of said reflective element, said display comprising a plurality of illumination sources positioned behind and generally aligned with corresponding ones of said plurality of ports, said microprocessor being positioned remote from said mirror casing and being electrically connected to said illumination sources, said microprocessor being operable to at least one of directly energize each of said illumination sources independently and directly energize two or more of said illumination sources in combination to provide illumination through one or more respective ones of said ports to convey the directional information to the driver of the vehicle.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An interior rearview mirror system includes a compass system and a display. The compass system is operable to display information indicative of a directional heading of the vehicle to a driver of the vehicle. The display comprises a plurality of ports formed in a reflective coating of a mirror reflective element and includes illumination sources positioned behind and generally aligned with corresponding ones of the ports. Each of the illumination sources may be energized to project illumination through a respective one of the ports such that the ports are backlit by the respective illumination sources, in order to convey the directional information to the driver of the vehicle. The system may include a microprocessor operable to control each illumination source via a respective wire connected between the microprocessor and each illumination source. The compass system may utilize a global positioning system for vehicle direction determination.
273 Citations
71 Claims
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1. An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle comprising:
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an interior rearview assembly having a mirror casing and a reflective element, said mirror casing being adjustable relative to an interior portion of the vehicle; and
a compass system comprising a compass sensor, a microprocessor and a display viewable by a driver of the vehicle, said compass system being operable to display directional information indicative of a directional heading of the vehicle to a driver of the vehicle, said display comprising a plurality of at least partially light transmissive ports formed in a reflective coating of said reflective element, said display comprising a plurality of illumination sources positioned behind and generally aligned with corresponding ones of said plurality of ports, said microprocessor being positioned remote from said mirror casing and being electrically connected to said illumination sources, said microprocessor being operable to at least one of directly energize each of said illumination sources independently and directly energize two or more of said illumination sources in combination to provide illumination through one or more respective ones of said ports to convey the directional information to the driver of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle comprising:
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an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror casing and a reflective element, said mirror casing being adjustable relative to an interior portion of a vehicle;
a compass module generally fixedly mountable at a mounting portion of said interior rearview mirror assembly, said compass module comprising a compass sensor and compass circuitry, said compass circuitry receiving an input from said compass sensor and determining a directional heading of the vehicle in response to said input; and
a display, said display being positioned at said reflective element of said interior rearview mirror assembly, said display comprising a plurality of light transmissive ports formed at said reflective element and a plurality of illumination sources, said illumination sources being positioned generally adjacent to respective ones of said ports and being actuatable to emit illumination through said respective ones of said ports, each of said illumination sources being in electrical communication with said compass circuitry via a respective wire, said compass circuitry being operable to energize an appropriate one of said illumination sources via said respective wire associated with the appropriate one of said illumination sources to indicate the directional heading of the vehicle at said display. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle comprising:
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an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror casing and a reflective element, said mirror casing being adjustable relative to an interior portion of a vehicle;
a microprocessor and a compass sensor positioned at a compass pod positioned at or near said interior rearview mirror assembly, said compass pod being generally fixedly positioned relative to the vehicle; and
a compass display at said reflective element of said interior rearview mirror assembly, said compass display including a plurality of ports formed at said reflective element and a plurality of illumination sources positioned within said casing and behind said reflective element and generally aligned with said plurality of ports, said microprocessor being operable to provide electrical power to an appropriate one or more of said illumination sources of said display via one or more wires to project illumination through an appropriate one or more of said ports to display directional information indicative of the directional heading of the vehicle to a driver of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. An interior rearview mirror system comprising:
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an interior rearview assembly having a mirror casing and a reflective element, said mirror casing being adjustable relative to an interior portion of a vehicle;
a global positioning system of the vehicle, said global positioning system generating locational data;
a magnetoresponsive sensor, said magnetoresponsive sensor generating direction indicative signals;
a microprocessor, said microprocessor processing at least one of said locational data and said direction indicative signals and generating directional heading information indicative of the directional heading of the vehicle; and
a display associated with or adjacent to said interior rearview mirror assembly and viewable by the driver of the vehicle, said display displaying said directional heading information, said microprocessor temporarily processing said direction indicative signals generated by said magnetoresponsive sensor to generate said directional heading information when said locational data generated by said global positioning system is compromised, thereby ensuring consistency of said directional heading information being displayed. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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Specification