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An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle includes an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing, a transflective reflective element, a compass sensor and compass circuitry. An information display is disposed in the mirror housing rearward of a transflective mirror reflector of

An interior rearview mirror system for a vehicle includes an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing, a transflective reflective element, a compass sensor and compass circuitry. An information display is disposed in the mirror housing rearward of a transflective mirror reflector of the reflective element, and information displayed by the information display is viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle through the transflective minor reflector of the reflective element when the information display is displaying information. The compass sensor may be disposed in the mirror housing rearward of the reflective element. The compass circuitry may be responsive to the compass sensor for determining a directional heading of the vehicle. The information display is operable to display the directional heading to the driver of equipped vehicle. The compass circuitry at least partially compensates for movement of the compass sensor caused by adjustment of the mirror housing.

대표청구항 ▼

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 1. An information mirror system for a vehicle, said information mirror system comprising: an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing and a transflective reflective eleme

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 1. An information mirror system for a vehicle, said information mirror system comprising: an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing and a transflective reflective element; wherein said transflective reflective element comprises an electrochromic transflective reflective element having a transflective mirror reflector that is partially transmissive of light and partially reflective of light incident thereon; wherein said mirror reflector comprises a metal thin film layer; wherein said transflective reflective element is at least 15 percent transmissive of visible light incident at a rear of said transflective reflective element; wherein said mirror housing is adjustably mounted at an interior portion of the vehicle via a pivot mounting arrangement; wherein adjustment of said mirror housing via said pivot mounting arrangement adjusts a rearward field of view of said transflective reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in a vehicle equipped with said information mirror system; an information display operable to display at least one of (a) video information, (b) text information and (c) iconistic information; wherein said information display is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element, wherein information displayed by said information display is viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle viewing through said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element when said information display is displaying information and wherein, when said information display is not displaying information, the presence of said information display behind said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element is substantially not discerned by a driver of the equipped vehicle normally viewing said transflective reflective element when operating the equipped vehicle; wherein said information display comprises at least one of (a) a multi-element display, (b) a vacuum fluorescent display, (c) a light emitting diode display, (d) a organic light emitting diode display, (e) a liquid crystal display, (f) a electro-luminescent display and (g) a video screen; a compass sensor disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective reflective element, wherein said compass sensor adjusts in tandem with said transflective reflective element when the driver of the vehicle adjusts said mirror housing to adjust a rearward field of view of the driver when viewing said transflective reflective element when said mirror assembly is normally mounted in the vehicle; compass circuitry responsive to said compass sensor for determining a directional heading of the vehicle; wherein said information display comprises a compass display and wherein said compass display is operable to display said directional heading to the driver of equipped vehicle; and wherein said compass circuitry at least partially compensates for movement of said compass sensor caused by adjustment of said mirror housing. 2. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said information display comprises at least one of (a) a reconfigurable multi-element display, (b) a reconfigurable vacuum fluorescent display, (c) a reconfigurable light emitting diode display, (d) a reconfigurable organic light emitting diode display, (e) a reconfigurable liquid crystal display, (f) a reconfigurable electro-luminescent display and (g) a reconfigurable video screen. 3. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said compass sensor is attached at and supported by said transflective reflective element. 4. The information mirror system of claim 3, wherein at least one of (a) said compass circuitry automatically at least partially compensates for a deviating magnetic field of the vehicle and generates a compensated signal indicative of said directional heading of the vehicle, and (b) said compass sensor comprises at least first and second magnetoresponsive sensing elements and wherein a physical mount supports said compass sensor at said transflective reflective element and is configured to orient said first magnetoresponsive sensing element to be substantially parallel to a direction of travel of the vehicle and said second magnetoresponsive sensing element to be substantially orthogonal to the direction of travel of the vehicle when said reflective element is at a selected angled. 5. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said compass circuitry enters a rapid compensating mode in response to an ignition cycle of the vehicle, wherein said compass circuitry automatically exits said rapid compensating mode and enters a less aggressive calibration mode that distinguishes the Earth's magnetic field from magnetic anomalies and non-abrupt changes in the vehicle magnetic signature, and wherein said compass circuitry automatically exits said rapid compensating mode after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the ignition cycle. 6. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said information display comprises a reconfigurable display comprising a plurality of pixels and wherein particular groups of said pixels may be illuminated to form a desired character to display said directional heading to the driver of the equipped vehicle. 7. The information mirror system of claim 6, wherein said information display comprises a video screen and wherein said desired character comprises a cardinal directional heading character. 8. The information mirror system of claim 7, wherein said video screen is operable to display images captured by a video camera of the vehicle. 9. The information mirror system of claim 1 further comprising a global positioning system that is operable to determine a geographical location of the equipped vehicle. 10. The information mirror system of claim 9, wherein at least one of (a) said global positioning system provides altitude data and wherein altitude information is displayed to the driver of the vehicle by said display, and (b) said global positioning system provides time data and wherein time information is displayed to the driver of the vehicle by said information display. 11. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said compass circuitry comprises electrochromic dimming circuitry and is operable to control dimming of said electrochromic reflective element. 12. The information mirror system of claim 1, further comprising a light diffuser interposed between a light source of said information display and the rear of said electrochromic reflective element. 13. The information mirror system of claim 1, further comprising a photosensor operable to detect ambient light levels at said mirror assembly, and wherein said information mirror system adjusts an intensity of at least one of said information display and said compass display responsive to said photosensor, and wherein said information display comprises one of (a) a vacuum fluorescent display, (b) a light emitting diode display and (c) a liquid crystal display. 14. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said compass circuitry at least partially compensates for movement of said compass sensor caused by adjustment of said mirror housing via an algorithm processed by a microprocessor, and wherein said pivot mounting arrangement comprises a double pivot mounting arrangement. 15. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein said reflective element has a reflectance of at least about 60 percent to visible light incident from its front. 16. The information mirror system of claim 1, wherein another information display is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element. 17. The information mirror system of claim 16, wherein said other information display comprises a display on demand display. 18. An information mirror system for a vehicle, said information mirror system comprising: an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing and a transflective reflective element; wherein said transflective reflective element comprises an electrochromic transflective reflective element having a transflective mirror reflector that is partially transmissive of light and partially reflective of light incident thereon; wherein said mirror reflector comprises a metal thin film layer; wherein said transflective reflective element is at least 15 percent transmissive of visible light incident at a rear of said transflective reflective element; wherein said mirror housing is adjustably mounted at an interior portion of the vehicle via a pivot mounting arrangement; wherein adjustment of said mirror housing via said pivot mounting arrangement adjusts a rearward field of view of said transflective reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in a vehicle equipped with said information mirror system; a video screen operable to display video information; wherein said video screen is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element, wherein video information displayed by said video screen is viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle viewing through said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element when said video screen is displaying information and wherein, when said video screen is not displaying information, the presence of said video screen behind said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element is substantially not discerned by a driver of the equipped vehicle normally viewing said transflective reflective element when operating the equipped vehicle; wherein said video screen comprises a reconfigurable display comprising a plurality of pixels; a compass sensor; compass circuitry responsive to said compass sensor for determining a directional heading of the vehicle; wherein said video screen is operable to display said directional heading to the driver of equipped vehicle, and wherein particular groups of said pixels of said video screen are illuminated to form a desired character to display said directional heading to the driver of the equipped vehicle; and wherein said video screen is operable to display images captured by a video camera of the vehicle. 19. The information mirror system of claim 18, wherein said compass sensor is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective reflective element, and wherein said compass sensor adjusts in tandem with said transflective reflective element when the driver of the vehicle adjusts said mirror housing to adjust a rearward field of view of the driver when viewing said transflective reflective element when said mirror assembly is normally mounted in the vehicle, and wherein said compass circuitry at least partially compensates for movement of said compass sensor caused by adjustment of said mirror housing. 20. The information mirror system of claim 18, wherein said compass circuitry comprises electrochromic dimming circuitry and is operable to control dimming of said electrochromic reflective element. 21. The information mirror system of claim 18, wherein at least one of (a) said information mirror system further comprises a light diffuser interposed between a light source of said information display and the rear of said electrochromic reflective element, (b) said information mirror system further comprises a photosensor operable to detect ambient light levels at said mirror assembly and wherein said information mirror system adjusts an intensity of at least one of said information display and said compass display responsive to said photosensor, and (c) said reflective element has a reflectance of at least about 60 percent to visible light incident from its front. 22. The information mirror system of claim 18, wherein another information display is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element, and wherein said other information display comprises a display on demand display. 23. An information mirror system for a vehicle, said information mirror system comprising: an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing and a transflective reflective element; wherein said transflective reflective element comprises an electrochromic transflective reflective element having a transflective mirror reflector that is partially transmissive of light and partially reflective of light incident thereon; wherein said mirror reflector comprises a metal thin film layer; wherein said transflective reflective element is at least 15 percent transmissive of visible light incident at a rear of said transflective reflective element; wherein said mirror housing is adjustably mounted at an interior portion of the vehicle via a pivot mounting arrangement; wherein adjustment of said mirror housing via said pivot mounting arrangement adjusts a rearward field of view of said transflective reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in a vehicle equipped with said information mirror system; a video screen operable to display video information; wherein said video screen is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element, wherein video information displayed by said video screen is viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle viewing through said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element when said video screen is displaying information and wherein, when said video screen is not displaying information, the presence of said video screen behind said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element is substantially not discerned by a driver of the equipped vehicle normally viewing said transflective reflective element when operating the equipped vehicle; wherein said video screen is operable to display images captured by a video camera of the vehicle; said interior rearview mirror assembly comprising a compass sensor and compass circuitry; wherein said compass circuitry is responsive to said compass sensor for determining a directional heading of the vehicle; and another information display disposed in said mirror housing, wherein said other information display comprises a compass display operable to display said directional heading to the driver of the equipped vehicle. 24. The information mirror system of claim 23, wherein said compass sensor is disposed in said mirror housing rearward of said transflective reflective element, and wherein said compass sensor adjusts in tandem with said transflective reflective element when the driver of the vehicle adjusts said mirror housing to adjust a rearward field of view of the driver when viewing said transflective reflective element when said mirror assembly is normally mounted in the vehicle, and wherein said compass circuitry at least partially compensates for movement of said compass sensor caused by adjustment of said mirror housing. 25. The information mirror system of claim 23, wherein said compass circuitry comprises electrochromic dimming circuitry and is operable to control dimming of said electrochromic reflective element. 26. The information mirror system of claim 23, wherein at least one of (a) said information mirror system further comprises a light diffuser interposed between a light source of said information display and the rear of said electrochromic reflective element, (b) said information mirror system further comprises a photosensor operable to detect ambient light levels at said mirror assembly and wherein said information mirror system adjusts an intensity of at least one of said information display and said compass display responsive to said photosensor, and (c) said reflective element has a reflectance of at least about 60 percent to visible light incident from its front. 27. The information mirror system of claim 26, wherein said pivot mounting arrangement comprises a double pivot mounting arrangement. 28. The information mirror system of claim 23, wherein said other information display comprises a display on demand display. 29. The information mirror system of claim 28, wherein said other information display comprises a display on demand vacuum fluorescent display.