Geometrically Shaped Ellipsoid Vehicular Mirror

Abstract

Cross-view mirrors for buses and other vehicles which provide modified image sizes. The mirror assemblies have lens members created from the shape of a portion of an elliptical or circular toroid volumetric shape with an elliptical or circular cross-sectional shape. A first embodiment has an elliptical toroid volumetric shape with an elliptical cross-sectional shape. A second embodiment has an elliptical toroid volumetric shape with a circular cross-sectional shape. A third embodiment has a circular toroid volumetric shape with an elliptical cross-sectional shape.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 617,902, filed Dec. 29, 2006.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The present invention relates generally to vehicle mirror assemblies, and, more particularly to exterior cross-view mirrors assemblies for vehicles.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Vehicle mirror assemblies can play a vital role in vehicle operation. Placement of the vehicle operator within the vehicle structure often makes direct line-of-sight to surrounding vehicle areas impractical. Yet such visual inspections of surrounding areas often are necessary for the vehicle operator to properly operate the vehicle. As vehicle size increases, so often does the difficulty of accurate visual inspections. Vehicles, such as school buses and commercial vans, typically have increased sizes and require visual inspection of areas in front and to the side of the vehicle. To this end, it is well known that vehicle mirrors may be front-end mounted to t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The proposed mirror assemblies with toroid-shaped lenses improve image quality and proportion, enhancing the driver's ability to recognize objects by minimizing mirror size and distortion, thereby providing a wider, clearer field of view without obstructing forward vision.

Problems solved by technology

Placement of the vehicle operator within the vehicle structure often makes direct line-of-sight to surrounding vehicle areas impractical.

As vehicle size increases, so often does the difficulty of accurate visual inspections.

Unfortunately, increasing the size of the convex mirror quickly becomes inefficient as the mirror itself begins to become an obstruction to forward viewing.

Although the use of cross-over mirror designs has proven highly successful in the increase of viewing area while minimizing mirror size, present designs still can incorporate drawbacks.

One of the drawbacks of these common cross-over mirror designs results from the reflection of the vehicle itself within the mirror.

This results in a reduction of useful mirror surface area since the user does not commonly monitor reflection of the vehicle itself.

This can result in distorted images with reduced image proportions such as long thin images.

The reduction in image proportion can result in an increased strain on the driver to identify the objects reflected in these regions.

Another problem with many of the mirrors known today, including cross-over mirrors, is that they are designed or constructed with certain curvatures and structures to attempt to resolve certain concerns.

This often results in significant distortion of the mirror lens surface and resulting image.

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