Back mirror comprising automatic glare-proof function

• US 6,364,495 B1
• Filed: 09/13/2000
• Issued: 04/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Murakami Corporation
• Original Assignee: Murakami Corporation
• Inventors: Sato, Hidenori, Nagao, Mitsuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): SIKDER, MOHAMMAD YUNUS
• Application Number:
  US09/660,682
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 359/603, 359/604, 359/608, 359/609, 359/601, 359/602, 359/265, 359/267, 359/275, 359/266, 359/884, 256/214.AL, 256/205, 256/201.1, 256/214.LS
• US Class Current: 359/603
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/088 using a cell of electrically changeable optical characteristic, e.g. liquid-crystal or electrochromic mirrors

Abstract

A back mirror 1 comprising an automatic glare-proof function of the present invention includes a battery E1, a daytime/nighttime deciding circuit 3 for deciding whether the current time is daytime or nighttime, an integrating circuit 4, an electronic switch FET1, a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding circuit 5 for deciding whether an EC mirror 2 is set to a glare-proof state or a glare-non-proof state, and a driving circuit 6 for applying a DC voltage to the EC mirror 2. The daytime/nighttime deciding circuit 3 is being constantly applied with a DC voltage from the battery E1. When the daytime/nighttime deciding circuit 3 has decided that the current time is daytime, the electronic switch FET1 is turned off, and when the daytime/nighttime deciding circuit 3 has decided that the current time is nighttime, the electronic switch FET1 is turned on. Therefore, the voltage is applied to the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding circuit 5 and the driving circuit 6 only when a decision has been made that the current time is nighttime. Thereby, the power consumption of the battery E1 can be decreased.

Claims

1. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function while having an EC mirror in which a light surrounding a vehicle and a light from the back of the vehicle are detected so as to change over between a glare-proof state and a glare-non-proof state of the EC mirror automatically in response to the results of the detection, said back mirror comprising

a daytime/nighttime deciding means including a first surrounding light sensor that detects a surrounding light of the vehicle and is driven by a voltage output from a DC power source, and detecting whether a current time is daytime or nighttime based on the result of the detection made by the first surrounding light sensor;

a switching means turned on when the daytime/nighttime deciding means has decided that the current time is nighttime;

a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means including a second surrounding light sensor for detecting a light surrounding the vehicle and a backward light sensor for detecting a light from the back of the vehicle, both applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on so as to decide whether the EC mirror is to be set to the glare-proof state or not based on the results of the detection by the second surrounding light sensor and the backward light sensor respectively; and

a driving means applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on, wherein a coloring and a discoloring of the EC mirror will be changed over in response to the result of the decision made by the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means, and the first surrounding light sensor is composed of an element of which resistance value varies according to the brightness of the surrounding light, and the daytime/nighttime deciding means includes a series-connected circuit of the first surrounding light sensor and a resistor in which a voltage output from the DC power source is applied to both ends of the series-connected circuit so that the daytime/nighttime deciding means detects a voltage at a connection point between the surrounding light sensor and the resistor so as to decide whether the current time is daytime or nighttime.

2. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function according to claim 1, wherein a first hysteresis circuit is provided at the connection point between the first surrounding light sensor and the resistor so that the daytime/nighttime deciding means decides whether the current time is daytime or nighttime while detecting an output signal from the first hysteresis circuit.

3. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function according to claim 1, wherein the first and second surrounding light sensors and the backward light sensor are composed of a cadium sulifide element (CdS element), respectively.

4. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function according to claim 1, wherein the EC mirror is composed of a solid type having a memory in the reflectance at the time of coloring.

5. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function while having an EC mirror in which a light surrounding a vehicle and a light from the back of the vehicle are detected so as to change over between a glare-proof state and a glare-non-proof state of the EC mirror automatically in response to the results of the detection, said back mirror comprising

a daytime/nighttime deciding means including a first surrounding light sensor that detects a surrounding light of the vehicle and is driven by a voltage output from a DC power source, and detecting whether a current time is daytime or nighttime based on the result of the detection made by the first surrounding light sensor;

a switching means turned on when the daytime/nighttime deciding means has decided that the current time is nighttime;

a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means including a second surrounding light sensor for detecting a light surrounding the vehicle and a backward light sensor for detecting a light from the back of the vehicle, both applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on so as to decide whether the EC mirror is to be set to the glare-proof state or not based on the results of the detection by the second surrounding light sensor and the backward light sensor respectively; and

a driving means applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on, wherein a coloring and a discoloring of the EC mirror will be changed over in response to the result of the decision made by the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means; and

an integrating circuit which is operated to turn on the switching means based on a first time constant when an output signal of the daytime/nighttime deciding means has been switched from a signal showing nighttime to a signal showing daytime, and being operated to turn off the switching means based on a second time constant when the output signal of the daytime/nighttime deciding means has been switched from the signal showing daytime to the signal showing nighttime.

6. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function while having an EC mirror in which a light surrounding a vehicle and a light from the back of the vehicle are detected so as to change over between a glare-proof state and a glare-non-proof state of the EC mirror automatically in response to the results of the detection, said back mirror comprising

a daytime/nighttime deciding means including a first surrounding light sensor that detects a surrounding light of the vehicle and is driven by a voltage output from a DC power source, and detecting whether a current time is daytime or nighttime based on the result of the detection made by the first surrounding light sensor;

a switching means turned on when the daytime/nighttime deciding means has decided that the current time is nighttime;

a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means including a second surrounding light sensor for detecting a light surrounding the vehicle and a backward light sensor for detecting a light from the back of the vehicle, both applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on so as to decide whether the EC mirror is to be set to the glare-proof state or not based on the results of the detection by the second surrounding light sensor and the backward light sensor respectively; and

a driving means applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on, wherein a coloring and a discoloring of the EC mirror will be changed over in response to the result of the decision made by the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means; and

the backward light sensor and the second surrounding light sensor are composed of an element of which resistance varies in response to the brightness of the surrounding, and the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means includes a circuit connected in series between the backward light sensor and the second surrounding light sensor while a voltage output from the DC power source being applied to both ends of the series-connected circuit so as to decide whether the EC mirror is set to the glare-proof state or not based on a voltage at the connection point between the backward light sensor and the second surrounding light sensor.

7. A backward mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function according to claim 6, wherein a second hysteresis circuit is provided at the connection point between the backward light sensor and the second surrounding light sensor so that the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means decides whether the EC mirror is set to the glare-proof state or not while detecting an output signal from the second hysteresis circuit.

8. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function while having an EC mirror in which a light surrounding a vehicle and a light from the back of the vehicle are detected so as to change over between a glare-proof state and a glare-non-proof state of the EC mirror automatically in response to the results of the detection, said back mirror comprising

a daytime/nighttime deciding means including a first surrounding light sensor that detects a surrounding light of the vehicle and is driven by a voltage output from a DC power source, and detecting whether a current time is daytime or nighttime based on the result of the detection made by the first surrounding light sensor;

a switching means turned on when the daytime/nighttime deciding means has decided that the current time is nighttime;

a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means including a second surrounding light sensor for detecting a light surrounding the vehicle and a backward light sensor for detecting a light from the back of the vehicle, both applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on so as to decide whether the EC mirror is to be set to the glare-proof state or not based on the results of the detection by the second surrounding light sensor and the backward light sensor respectively; and

a driving means applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on, wherein a coloring and a discoloring of the EC mirror will be changed over in response to the result of the decision made by the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means; and

the driving means comprising

a logic circuit which operates to apply a DC voltage to an input terminal of the EC mirror when the output signal from the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means is a signal showing the glare-proof state; and

a third hysteresis circuit provided with a first threshold value and a second threshold value larger than the first threshold value, in which a signal showing a stopping of a voltage supply to the EC mirror is output to the logic circuit when a voltage for coloring the EC mirror has become equal to or larger than the second threshold value, and a signal showing a starting of the voltage supply to the EC mirror is output to the logic circuit when a voltage for coloring the EC mirror has become equal to or smaller than the first threshold value.

9. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function while having an EC mirror in which a light surrounding a vehicle and a light from the back of the vehicle are detected so as to change over between a glare-proof state and a glare-non-proof state of the EC mirror automatically in response to the results of the detection, said back mirror comprising

a daytime/nighttime deciding means including a first surrounding light sensor that detects a surrounding light of the vehicle and is driven by a voltage output from a DC power source, and detecting whether a current time is daytime or nighttime based on the result of the detection made by the first surrounding light sensor;

a switching means turned on when the daytime/nighttime deciding means has decided that the current time is nighttime;

a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means including a second surrounding light sensor for detecting a light surrounding the vehicle and a backward light sensor for detecting a light from the back of the vehicle, both applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on so as to decide whether the EC mirror is to be set to the glare-proof state or not based on the results of the detection by the second surrounding light sensor and the backward light sensor respectively; and

a driving means applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on, wherein a coloring and a discoloring of the EC mirror will be changed over in response to the result of the decision made by the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means; and

the driving means comprises a short-circuit switch for short-circuiting between the input terminals of the EC mirror when the output signal from the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means is a signal showing the glare-non-proof state.

10. A back mirror comprising an automatic glare-proof function while having an EC mirror in which a light surrounding a vehicle and a light from the back of the vehicle are detected so as to change over between a glare-proof state and a glare-non-proof state of the EC mirror automatically in response to the results of the detection, said back mirror comprising

a daytime/nighttime deciding means including a first surrounding light sensor that detects a surrounding light of the vehicle and is driven by a voltage output from a DC power source, and detecting whether a current time is daytime or nighttime based on the result of the detection made by the first surrounding light sensor;

a switching means turned on when the daytime/nighttime deciding means has decided t ha t the current time is nighttime;

a glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means including a second surrounding light sensor for detecting a light surrounding the vehicle and a backward light sensor for detecting a light from the back of the vehicle, both applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on so as to decide whether the EC mirror is to be set to the glare-proof state or not based on the results of the detection by the second surrounding light sensor and the backward light sensor respectively; and

a driving means applied with a voltage output from the DC power source when the switching means has been turned on, wherein a coloring and a discoloring of the EC mirror will be changed over in response to the result of the decision made by the glare-proof/glare-non-proof deciding means, and the DC power source is a battery.