Patent Application
20110310503
The present invention relates to a mirror assembly for vehicles in accordance with the preamble of claim 1 and a vehicle according to claim 11 having said mirror assembly.
In recent years, utility vehicles are being equipped with a steadily increasing number of rear-view mirrors allowing the driver to view areas located behind him as well as dead-angle areas. Particularly in the case of utility vehicles with a trailer and when approaching ramps or backing up, for example, it is necessary for the driver to obtain a view as comprehensive as possible of the areas to the left and right of the vehicle. While maneuvering in narrow spaces, the driver's viewing direction keeps changing back and forth, i.e., the driver checks the vehicle by alternatingly looking at left and right external mirrors. Here the eye always requires a certain time span for “locating” a particular mirror from among a plurality of mirrors that are arranged, e.g., adjacent to each other or on different sides of the vehicle. Such locating of the momentarily needed mirror may moreover be rendered difficult if the areas that are open to view through the individual mirrors present different degrees of brightness. Depending on personal habit, this will result in the driver preferably looking into the brighter, darker, upper, lower, more convexly curved or less convexly curved mirror. In a situation where the individual mirrors image similar objects or identical objects from slightly different perspectives, e.g., when starting from one of several identical ramps, the driver may moreover easily let himself be guided by a “wrong mirror” (or mirror image). Presumably the most critical situation does, however, come about in a driving situation in which the glance will shift rather less frequently between several mirrors, so that the “training effect of capturing” the correct mirror as well as accommodation to the area shown therein will come about less rapidly than would be the case during “normal” running such as, e.g., on a highway. For example, there exists a risk of the eye—which usually only observes the left external mirror during forward running—will take too long for singling out the correct one from among several right-hand external mirrors in order to complete a passing maneuver.
From EP 1 253 573 A2 a warning apparatus in automotive vehicles is known whereby upon occurrence of a danger situation the driver's glance is directed to the appropriate mirror as that the mirror is associated to a sensor of the vehicle which detects, e.g., a rearward distance of the automotive vehicle from an obstacle, and the mirror is marked, for example by driving a lighting means (e.g., an LED) affixed to it or integrated into it, as soon as this distance becomes smaller than a predetermined distance.
It is a drawback in the warning apparatus proposed in EP 1 253 573 A2 that its effect, which consists in directing the driver's glance to the appropriate mirror, will manifest upon occurrence of a danger situation only and exclusively, for instance when a distance becomes smaller than a minimum distance (while being cancelled again after the danger situation has been resolved), i.e., depending on the situation but not as a general rule.
Further mirror assemblies that are particularly suited for the use of the present invention are known from DE 102007013028 A1, DE 10036875 A1, DE 7702748 U1, DE 7815094 U1, and DE 19627 417 01.
Starting out from EP 1 253 573 A2 it is therefore the object of the present invention to specify a mirror assembly which enhances the running and traffic safety permanently and independently of a situation. Moreover it is an object of the present invention to specify a vehicle having said mirror assembly.
This object is achieved through the features of claims 1 and 11, respectively.
Due to the permanent visual marking of one of a plurality of glass units in a mirror assembly, the driver's attention is directed to this marked mirror. This results in a shortened perceptional time span. What is being referred to as a perceptional time span in this context is the time interval from the decision to monitor the traffic space with the aid of the mirror assembly up to the recognition of the relevant dangers in the one respective mirror most appropriate for that situation. Enhanced safety is thus achieved in a simple manner and without any additional sensors and electronics. Humans very quickly learn to subconsciously establish contexts from visual impressions. As a result, even after a few glances into the mirrors, the allocation of a viewing direction to a mirror presenting the associated viewing area is stored automatically, together with the visual impression of the mirror itself As soon as the driver subconsciously recalls an advantageous field of view based on the given running situation, he will immediately look into the correct mirror. The swiftness required for selecting the mirror that is advantageous for the respective running situation is hereby increased. Advantageously, the mirror assembly of the invention presents visual discernibility between a main mirror and a wide-angle mirror, to thus enable faster focusing of the eye on the mirror that is desired in the respective situation.
Due to the advantageous aspect of the invention according to claim 2, the main mirror is provided with the permanent visual marking. As it will be mandatory in most cases to check the field of view of the main mirror when looking into the rear-view mirror of a vehicle (field of view according to Group H or III of Guideline 2003/97/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of Oct. 10, 2003), the perceptional time span is shortened in particular, for the attention is directed to the main mirror from the very beginning by the permanent visual marking.
According to an aspect according to claim 4, the permanent visual marking consists in the mirror glass of the main mirror having a color tone different from the mirror glass of the additional mirror(s). Due to this choice the viewed mirror images reproduce different color impressions, which results in facilitated association of a color impression to a field of view.
An advantageous choice for different color tones for the mirror consists in the combination of a mirror glass in a traditional realization, e.g. as a chrome-plated mirror, and the realization of the other mirror glass as a blue mirror, as is known, e.g., from DE 20 2006 015 876 A1 (Claim 5).
According to another advantageous realization of the invention according to claim 6, the permanent visual marking is realized through different degrees of reflectivity of the various glass units. In addition the different degree of brightness constitutes another advantage which is particularly important in the twilight hours and at night, when good view is especially important. Selecting a darker main mirror and a more highly reflective wide-angle mirror in this combination provides the following advantages: Vehicles approaching from afar which are therefore observed with the aid of the main mirror present less glare to the driver than in a normal case. The closer surroundings, on the other hand, may be observed at normal intensity, which is even accentuated more strongly by the difference from the main mirror. Due to the clearly more pronounced curvature of the wide-angle mirror, on the other hand, glare is at any rate clearly reduced in comparison with the main mirror.
The difference in the degree of reflectivity between main mirror and wide-angle mirror is preferably at least 10%—Claim 7.
The permanent visual marking may be realized in a particularly simple manner in the form of a color marking—Claim 8. In this case the individual mirrors themselves or the frame of the respective mirror may be provided with a permanent color marking. A color marking is easy to apply and may be designed in a visually conspicuous manner, resulting in a high attention value.
As may be seen from
The remaining subclaims relate to further advantageous aspects of the invention. Additional details, features and advantages of the present invention become evident from the following description of preferred embodiments while making reference to the appended drawings, wherein:
In accordance with the representation in
In the embodiment according to
In addition, or alternatively, the permanent visual marking may also be realized by the degree of reflectivity of the mirror glass 30 of the main mirror 12 being lower than the degree of reflectivity of the mirror glass 34 of the wide-angle mirror 14—not represented. The different degree of brightness constitutes another advantage which is particularly important in the twilight hours and at night, when good view is especially important. Selecting a darker main mirror glass 30 and a more highly reflective wide-angle mirror glass 34 in this combination provides the following advantages: Vehicles approaching from afar which are therefore observed with the aid of the main mirror 12 present less glare to the driver than in a normal case. The closer surroundings, on the other hand, may be observed at normal intensity, which is even accentuated more strongly by the difference from the main mirror 12. Due to the clearly more pronounced curvature of the wide-angle mirror 14, on the other hand, glare is at any rate clearly reduced in comparison with the main mirror.
Alternatively, the visually permanent marking may also be realized through single color spots or illuminated fields (not represented).
Although the present invention has been disclosed with a view to the preferred embodiments so as to enable enhanced comprehension of the latter, it should be noted that the invention may be realized in different ways without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention should be understood to encompass any possible embodiments and aspects for the shown embodiments that may be realized, without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2009 009 379.6 | Feb 2009 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2010/051978 | 2/17/2010 | WO | 00 | 8/10/2011 |
