Visor digital mirror for automobiles

• US 9,609,222 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2013
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visionquest Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Visionquest Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Rowles, John W., Min, Kyaw Z.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Kumar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lam, Vinh
• Application Number:
  US14/046,915
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: 345/76, 345/7, 362/492, 362/488, 362141-144, 362/511, 362/560, 362135-137, 362/155, 362/365, 362/368, 362/375, 362/394, 459/487, 248/466, 2967972- 975
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 3/00 Antiglare equipment associated with windows or windscreens optical viewing arrangements for vehicles B60R1/00; Sun visors for vehicles sun visors having appliances for storing or holding personal property B60R7/05
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/20 for lighting specific fittings of passenger or driving compartments; mounted on specific fittings of passenger or driving compartments lighting for dashboards B60Q3/10
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/02 for radio sets, television sets, telephones, or the like; Arrangement of controls thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 33/004 Sanitary equipment, e.g. mirrors, showers, toilet seats or paper dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0317 in co-operation with a patterned surface, e.g. absolute position or relative movement detection for an optical mouse or pen positioned with respect to a coded surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0007 Image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/54 Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/56 provided with illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/57 Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 39/042 by measuring the incident light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light sources in general, i.e. where the type of light source is not relevant

Abstract

In one embodiment of the invention, a digital mirror is disclosed including an enclosure; a display device mounted in the enclosure to display images at a front side of the enclosure; an image capture device mounted in the enclosure adjacent the display device to reduce parallax error; lights mounted in the enclosure adjacent the display device; and a light diffuser mounted to the enclosure around the display device over the one or more lights. The one or more lights provide lighting in front of the display device and the image capture device captures images in the field of view in the front. The light diffuser diffuses and softens the light emitted by the one or more lights. Alternatively, the image capture device may be mounted on an articulated arm that may be used to capture and display various angles in the filed of view of the digital mirror.

Claims

1. A visor digital mirror for an automobile sun visor, the visor digital mirror comprising:

an enclosure with a vanity digital mirror, the enclosure to couple to the automobile sun visor, the enclosure including

a first enclosure half; and

a second enclosure half moveably coupled to the first enclosure half, the second enclosure half adapted to mount to an automobile sun visor;

a display device mounted in the second enclosure half to display images of a user at a front side of the second enclosure half;

an image capture device mounted in the second enclosure half adjacent the display device to reduce parallax error, the image capture device to capture images of the user in the field of view of the front side of the second enclosure half; and

one or more lights mounted in the second enclosure half adjacent the display device, the one or more lights to illuminate the user in the field of view of the front side of the second enclosure half to facilitate the capture of images of the user by the image capture device.

2. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, wherein

the enclosure further includes

a hinge coupled to the first enclosure half and the second enclosure half near edges of each, the hinge pivotally coupling the first enclosure half and the second enclosure half together to allow the first enclosure half to flip opened and closed over the second enclosure half.

3. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, wherein

the first enclosure half is a slideable cover that is slidingly coupled to the second enclosure half to slide open and closed over the display device.

4. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more user interface buttons mounted in the second enclosure half of the enclosure.

5. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, further comprising:

an intensity selecting user interface device coupled to the one or more lights, the intensity selecting user interface device to select the light intensity provided by the one or more lights.

6. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, wherein

each of the one or more lights includes a plurality of light emitting diodes.

7. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, wherein

the display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device with an array of M by N pixels.

8. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, wherein

the display device is an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device with an array of M by N pixels.

9. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, further comprising:

a touch screen user interface mounted in the enclosure over the display device, the touch screen user interface to select one or more of a digital zoom, light intensity of the one or more lights, power to the image capture device and the display device, one or more images for concurrent display on the display device, and true images or mirror images for display on the display device and a menu button to display one or more of camera control functions, display control functions, lighting control functions, and power control functions.

10. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of user selectable buttons mounted in the enclosure, the plurality of user selectable buttons to select one or more of a digital zoom, light intensity of the one or more lights, power to the image capture device and the display device, one or more images for concurrent display on the display device, and true images or mirror images for display on the display device.

11. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, wherein

the one or more lights are selectively powered on to illuminate the user,

the image capture device captures one or more images of the user viewing the display device, and

the display device displays the one or more captured images of the user to the user.

12. The visor digital mirror of claim 1, further comprising:

a processor coupled to the image capture device and the display device, wherein the processor controls the image capture device to capture the one or more images of the user and the display device to display the one or more captured images of the user.

13. The visor digital mirror of claim 12, further comprising:

a user input device in communication with the processor to receive and perform a user requested task.

14. The visor digital mirror of claim 13, wherein

the user requested task is to switch between displaying true images or horizontal mirror images on the display device.

15. The visor digital mirror of claim 12, wherein

the user input device is a microphone mounted to the enclosure and a voice decoder coupled to the microphone to receive and recognize voice commands as the user requested task.