Optical: systems and elements – Mirror
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-22
2004-06-01
Sikder, Mohammad (Department: 2872)
Optical: systems and elements
Mirror
C359S839000, C359S273000, C359S275000, C235S380000, C235S384000, C235S462010, C701S110000, C701S115000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06742905
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. It is therefore 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 that is provided with multiple functions. In the following, a conventional rearview mirror
51
will be described with reference to
FIGS. 7
to
9
.
As shown in
FIG. 7
, the rearview mirror
51
is located between a driver's seat
54
and a front passenger seat
55
in the passenger compartment
53
of a vehicle
52
. As shown in
FIGS. 8 and 9
, the rearview mirror
51
comprises a case
56
and a mirror portion
57
. The mirror portion
57
is fixed to a roof (not shown) of the vehicle
52
to orient substantially rearward. A slot
58
, through which an IC card
159
is inserted as a recording medium, is formed in the case
56
at a side facing the driver's seat (on the right side as viewed in FIGS.
8
and
9
).
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the case
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 communicated 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 mirror portion
57
.
The width of the slot
58
is substantially equal to the width of a part of the IC card
159
that is inserted. Thus, the orientation and position of the IC card
159
relative to the slot
58
is limited. In other words, the IC card
159
cannot be inserted into the rearview mirror
51
unless the IC card
159
is precisely aligned with the slot
58
.
Also, an optimal position for an operator to insert or remove the IC card
159
into or from the rearview mirror
51
largely varies depending on the physical constitution, the dominant hand, and habit of the operator. Therefore, some operators may not readily insert and remove the IC card
57
into and from the rearview mirror
51
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rearview mirror that permits the driver to readily insert and remove a thin recording medium.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a rearview mirror. The rearview mirror is 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. The housing has a slot for receiving a recording medium that stores predetermined data. The recording medium has an inserted part. The slot has a width, which is larger than a width of the inserted part. The recording medium is inserted into the slot at an arbitrary position in the width direction of the slot. The reflector is attached to the front surface of the housing. The interface is located in the housing. The interface performs at least one of reading of data from the recording medium and writing of data to the recording medium. The interface includes a detector, a data input/output unit and a moving mechanism. The detector detects insertion of the recording medium into the slot. The data input/output unit swaps data with the recording medium. The moving mechanism moves one of the data input/output unit and the recording medium to a position where the data input/output unit faces the recording medium.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5459660 (1995-10-01), Berra
patent: 5803043 (1998-09-01), Bayron et al.
patent: 5995898 (1999-11-01), Tuttle
patent: 6158655 (2000-12-01), DeVries et al.
patent: 2 352 552 (2001-01-01), None
Ito Michimasa
Suyama Terumasa
Crompton Seager & Tufte LLC
Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakucho
Sikder Mohammad
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