OPTICAL SENSOR

• US 20100012824A1
• Filed: 06/22/2009
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TRW Automotive Electronics & Components GmbH & Co. KG
• Original Assignee: TRW Automotive Electronics & Components GmbH & Co. KG
• Inventors: Backes, Ulrich
• Granted Patent: US 8,338,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/215
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/0837 with a particular arrangement of the optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/08 with discontinuous faces, e.g. Fresnel lens diffractive Fresnel lenses G02B5/1876

Abstract

An optical sensor has an optical plate which is adapted to make surface contact on a pane, in particular a windshield of a motor vehicle. It further has one or preferably a plurality of photoreceivers arranged on the side of the optical plate facing away from the pane. An optical mask is arranged in the optical path upstream of each photoreceiver, the optical mask having light-blocking and light-transmissive surface areas. The light-transmissive surface areas each allow an optical path to traverse the optical plate, impinging on the photoreceiver and is delimited by the light-blocking surface areas.

Claims

1. An optical sensor comprising an optical plate adapted to make surface contact on a pane, in particular a windshield of a motor vehicle, and at least one photoreceiver which is arranged on a side of the optical plate facing away from the pane, and further comprising an optical mask having light-blocking and light-transmissive surface areas, said light-transmissive surface areas allowing an optical path delimited by said light-blocking surface areas and traversing said optical plate, ending on said photoreceiver.

2. The optical sensor according to claim 1, wherein said optical plate includes Fresnel lens structures.

3. The optical sensor according to claim 1, wherein said optical mask is located between said optical plate and said photoreceiver.

4. The optical sensor according to claim 3, wherein said optical mask is applied over an area on a face of the optical plate facing said photoreceiver.

5. The optical sensor according to claim 4, wherein said optical mask is printed on the face of the optical plate facing said photoreceiver.

6. The optical sensor according to claim 4, wherein said photoreceiver is coupled to the optical plate via an optical coupling layer.

7. The optical sensor according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of sensor units having different light directional characteristics are formed by a plurality of photoreceivers arranged on the same side of the optical plate and by associated light-transmissive surface areas of the optical mask.

8. The optical sensor according to claim 7, wherein said plurality of sensors constitute a rain sensor and two light sensors having different light directional characteristics.

9. The optical sensor according to claim 1, wherein said light-blocking surface areas are formed by an opaque layer from which the light-transmissive surface areas are recessed.

10. The optical sensor according to claim 9, wherein said light-blocking areas and said light-transmissive surface areas each have a patterned structure.

11. The optical sensor according to claim 10, wherein said patterned structure consists of multiple pattern elements each having a surface area that is small in comparison with the surface area of a light-sensitive surface of said photoreceiver.

12. The optical sensor according to claim 11, wherein said pattern elements are square elements.