Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – External signal light system
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-02
2004-03-23
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2635)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
External signal light system
C340S470000, C340S472000, C340S463000, C340S473000, C340S461000, C340S458000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06710710
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a warning module for rear approaching cards and particularly a warning apparatus adopted on cars for alerting passengers when opening car doors to get out of the cars.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the new century we are living now, cars have been gradually transformed from transportation vehicles to moving offices. Many auxiliary systems have been developed and introduced to help drivers to avoid traffic congestion, find out the optimal routes, make hotel reservations or seek helps from emergency services, or enhance driving safety. While those auxiliary systems may help the drivers to overcome many inconveniences during driving and improve the safety of driving, the safety design for passengers during alighting from the cars is one area which is mostly overlooked.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a conventional car has rearview mirrors mounted on the front car doors to enable the driver or the passengers on the front seat to see if there are rear approaching cars when getting of the car. However the rear car doors do not have the rearview mirrors to give the passengers on the rear seat same kind of aids and warning about the rear approaching cars. If the passengers open the rear car doors inadvertently without due judgement, it could easily result in hit accidents and hurt the passengers or the drivers of the rear approaching cars.
Moreover, even if the front car doors have rearview mirrors to enable the driver and the front seat passengers to see in advance the rear approaching cars before getting off the car, the rearview mirrors have a limited viewing angle and cannot completely capture a wide angle rear view of the car. The situation becomes especially serious at the turns of the road or on the sloped roads. In addition, the rear seat passengers mostly are children or people who have no driving experience, and do not have keen awareness of the dead angle of the rearview mirrors. Furthermore, the rearview mirrors do not function very well in darkness or at night when the ambient light is weak. In general, if the motorcycles or the cars have the headlights turned on, the light may be used to judge the rear approaching cars. But bicycles generally do not have headlights. How to overcome the problems and risks mentioned above deserves serious considerations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore the primary object of the invention is to resolve aforesaid disadvantages. As driving safety and avoidance of accidents requires the awareness and alertness of two sides, the invention aims at providing an apparatus that offers safety warning of the opening car doors to the passengers and the drivers of the rear approaching cars. A rearview mirror is installed on the car door to enable the passenger to see the rear approaching cars within a desired angular range so that the passenger may judge the rear approaching cars before opening the car door. This is the first protection measure. The car door further has a warning light mounted thereon at a desired location matching the opening angle of the car door so that the warning light is turned on when the car door is opened to alert the rear approaching cars. This is the second protection measure. With the dual protection measures set forth above, the safety of the passengers and the drivers of the rear approaching cars may be effectively enhanced.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with references to the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not limitative of the present invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4815689 (1989-03-01), Schiff
patent: 4906088 (1990-03-01), Casey
patent: 4972173 (1990-11-01), Raciti
patent: 5193895 (1993-03-01), Naruke et al.
patent: 6160475 (2000-12-01), Hornung et al.
patent: 6184786 (2001-02-01), Medeiros
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Nguyen Tai T.
Wu Daniel J.
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