Optical: systems and elements – Mirror
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-09
2004-06-08
Cherry, Euncha (Department: 2872)
Optical: systems and elements
Mirror
Reexamination Certificate
active
06746127
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rearview mirror provided in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.
In recent years, with the development of intelligent transport systems (ITS), incorporation of an information network into vehicles is now under progress. Together with this trend, vehicles are equipped with a human machine interface (HMI) associated with a variety of information systems. The HMI is located at a location at which a driver can easily operate it, such as near the driver's seat. For example, in an electronic toll collection system (ETC), a car-equipped ETC is provided near the driver's seat as an HMI.
Generally, a variety of operation devices, a display, and the like are provided near the driver's seat, so that it is sometimes difficult to ensure a space for installing a car-equipped ETC. To address this problem, conventionally, there has been proposed to arrange the car-equipped ETC within a rearview mirror which is provided with multiple functions. In the following, a conventional rearview mirror
51
will be described with reference to
FIGS. 9
to
11
.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the rearview mirror
51
is located between a driver's seat
54
and a passenger's seat
55
in a front section of a passenger compartment
53
of a vehicle
52
. As shown in
FIGS. 10 and 11
, the rearview mirror
51
includes a housing
56
and a reflector
57
. The reflector
57
is fixed in the passenger compartment
53
to orient substantially toward the back of the vehicle. A slot
58
, through which an IC card
159
can be inserted as a recording medium, is formed on a side facing the driver's seat of the housing
56
(on the right side in FIGS.
10
and
11
).
As shown in
FIG. 11
, the housing
56
contains an interface unit
59
and a data processing unit
60
which make up a car-equipped ETC. The interface unit
59
is provided with a card holder
59
a
which is in communication with the slot
58
. The card holder
59
a
is formed such that the IC card
159
can be inserted into or removed from the card holder
59
a
in a direction substantially parallel with the mirror surface of the reflector
57
.
For ensuring a backward field of view from the driver's seat, the mirror surface of the rearview mirror
51
must be inclined toward the driver's seat. Specifically, as shown in
FIG. 9
, the rearview mirror
51
is used with its mirror surface inclined toward the driver's seat by up to 30 degrees. However, the rearview mirror
51
is set such that the IC card
159
is inserted in a direction substantially parallel with the mirror surface of the rearview mirror
51
. For this reason, for inserting the IC card
159
, the driver is obliged to insert the IC card
159
backward from a direction in which the vehicle
52
is running, as indicated by an arrow F
1
in FIG.
9
. In other words, the driver must insert the IC card
159
in front from a position far from the driver's scat. Therefore, a windshield is likely to interfere with the driver's hand or the like when the driver inserts or remove the IC card
159
, making it difficult to perform operations involved in the insertion and removal of the IC card
159
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rearview mirror which permits the driver to readily insert or remove a thin recording medium.
In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides a rearview mirror located between a driver's seat and a front passenger's seat in a front section of the passenger compartment of a vehicle. The rearview mirror includes a housing, a reflector and an interface. The housing includes a front surface facing the driver's seat, a rear surface at the opposite side of the front surface, and a slot at a part closer to the driver's seat than the passenger's seat. The slot receives a recording medium that stores predetermined data. The reflector is attached to the front surface of the housing. The interface is located in the housing. The recording medium is attached to and removed from the interface by moving the recording medium along a predetermined moving axis. The interface performs at least one of reading of data from the recording medium and writing of data to the recording medium. The predetermined moving axis is inclined relative to the front surface of the housing such that the predetermined moving axis approaches the center of the housing.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with be accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6158655 (2000-12-01), DeVries, Jr. et al.
patent: 2003/0107521 (2003-06-01), Matsuura et al.
patent: 2 783 777 (2000-03-01), None
patent: 11-28980 (1999-02-01), None
Cherry Euncha
Crompton Seager & Tufte LLC
Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho
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