Interior rearview mirror assembly with full screen video display

An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle, said interior rearview mirror assembly comprising:

• a mirror head pivotable about a mirror support configured to attach at an interior portion of a vehicle equipped with said interior rearview mirror assembly;
• wherein said mirror head comprises a mirror reflective element;
• wherein said mirror reflective element comprises an electro-optic mirror reflective element having a front substrate and a rear substrate with an electro-optic medium disposed therebetween, and wherein said front substrate has a first surface and a second surface and said rear substrate has a third surface and a fourth surface, said second surface and said third surface opposing said electro-optic medium;
• wherein a transflective mirror reflector is disposed at said third surface, and wherein said transflective mirror reflector at least partially reflects light incident thereon and at least partially transmits incident light therethrough;
• wherein said electro-optic mirror reflective element comprises a reflective region defined by said transflective mirror reflector;
• a video display device disposed rearward of said reflective region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device comprises a display screen that occupies at least 75 percent of said reflective region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device comprises a backlighting array of light emitting diodes for backlighting said display screen;
• wherein said electro-optic mirror reflective element comprises an overhang region where a cross dimension of said front substrate is greater than a corresponding cross dimension of said rear substrate;
• a light sensor disposed at the overhang region, wherein said light sensor senses light levels at said interior rearview mirror assembly, and wherein said light sensor is disposed behind said front substrate and below said video display device, and wherein said light sensor senses light that passes through said front substrate of said electro-optic mirror reflective element at the overhang region, and wherein the light that passes through said front substrate at the overhang region does not pass through said electro-optic medium of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said light sensor is integrated with a user input that is configured to actuate at the overhang region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said user input is configured to actuate based on a touch event at said first surface of said front substrate at the overhang region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device is operated to display video images captured by a rearward viewing camera of the vehicle;
• wherein, when said video display device is operated to display video images, light emitted by said video display device passes through said transflective mirror reflector of said electro-optic mirror reflective element for viewing of displayed video images by a driver of the vehicle viewing said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device is operated responsive at least in part to actuation by a user of the user input;
• and
• wherein, with said mirror support attached at the interior portion of the equipped vehicle, at least some of said light emitting diodes of said video display device are controlled responsive to a determination, via said light sensor, of a glare source being present at the area in the rearward field of view of said rearward viewing camera that is being displayed at a region of said video display device that is backlit by said at least some of said light emitting diodes.

An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle, said interior rearview mirror assembly comprising:

• a mirror head pivotable about a mirror support configured to attach at an interior portion of a vehicle equipped with said interior rearview mirror assembly;
• wherein said mirror head comprises a mirror reflective element;
• wherein said mirror reflective element comprises an electro-optic mirror reflective element having a front substrate and a rear substrate with an electro-optic medium disposed therebetween, and wherein said front substrate has a first surface and a second surface and said rear substrate has a third surface and a fourth surface, said second surface and said third surface opposing said electro-optic medium;
• wherein a transflective mirror reflector is disposed at said third surface, and wherein said transflective mirror reflector at least partially reflects light incident thereon and at least partially transmits incident light therethrough;
• wherein said electro-optic mirror reflective element comprises a reflective region defined by said transflective mirror reflector;
• a video display device disposed rearward of said reflective region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device comprises a display screen that occupies at least 75 percent of said reflective region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device comprises a backlighting array of light emitting diodes for backlighting said display screen;
• wherein said electro-optic mirror reflective element comprises an overhang region where a cross dimension of said front substrate is greater than a corresponding cross dimension of said rear substrate;
• a light sensor disposed at the overhang region, wherein said light sensor senses light levels at said interior rearview mirror assembly, and wherein said light sensor is disposed behind said front substrate and below said video display device, and wherein said light sensor senses light that passes through said front substrate of said electro-optic mirror reflective element at the overhang region, and wherein the light that passes through said front substrate at the overhang region does not pass through said electro-optic medium of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said light sensor is integrated with a user input that is configured to actuate at the overhang region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said user input is configured to actuate based on a touch event at said first surface of said front substrate at the overhang region of said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein, with said mirror support attached at the interior portion of the equipped vehicle, said video display device is operable to display video images captured by a rearward viewing camera of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein said display screen of said video display device comprises an array of pixels that includes a plurality of sub-arrays of pixels having red, green, blue and clear pixels;
• wherein, with said mirror support attached at the interior portion of the equipped vehicle, and when said video display device is operated to display video images, light emitted by said video display device passes through said transflective mirror reflector of said electro-optic mirror reflective element for viewing of displayed video images by a driver of the equipped vehicle viewing said electro-optic mirror reflective element;
• wherein said video display device is operated responsive at least in part to actuation by a user of the user input;
• and
• wherein said video display device is operable to display images using clear pixels to provide a brighter displayed image, and wherein said video display device is operable to display images without using clear pixels to reduce the brightness of the displayed images.