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US 2006/0076478 A1Published application
Moisture sensor
AssigneeGentex Corporation
InventorsRyan Johnson, Joseph Stam, Jon Bechtel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides various improvements in components for optical based moisture sensing systems and to moisture sensing systems incorporating the components.
Claims33
An apparatus, comprising:
- a target generating means for projecting a predetermined pattern of illumination toward a substantially transparent substrate comprising an interior surface and an exterior surface;
- an optical sensing means configured to detect reflection of said illumination of said target generating means from said interior surface and to detect reflection of said illumination of said target generating means from said exterior surface such that said interior reflection is separate from said exterior reflection.
An apparatus, comprising:
- an image sensor comprising a plurality of pixel sensors configured such that a first portion of said pixel sensors are utilized to detect moisture on an interior surface of a substantially transparent substrate and a second portion of said pixel sensors are utilized to detect moisture on an exterior surface of said substantially transparent substrate.
An apparatus, comprising:
- at least one supplemental light source for projecting illumination toward a substantially transparent substrate, said substantially transparent substrate comprising an interior surface and an exterior surface;
- a detection screen configured such that reflection of illumination from said at least one supplemental light source off of at least one surface of said substantially transparent substrate at least partially impacts upon said detection screen;
- and
- an image sensor configured to detect illumination that impacts said detection screen such that moisture is detected on at least one surface of said substantially transparent substrate.
1 more element
An apparatus, comprising:
- at least two supplemental light sources for projecting illumination toward a substantially transparent substrate, said substantially transparent substrate comprising an interior surface and an exterior surface;
- and
- an image sensor configured to detect illumination projected by said at least two supplemental light sources reflected from at least one surface of said substantially transparent substrate, wherein both a size and shape of at least one contiguous moisture presence on at least one surface of said substantially transparent substrate are detected.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a two dimensional array of pixels optically coupled to an interior surface of a vehicle windshield such that a primary optical axis associated with said two dimensional array of pixels forms an angle with respect to said interior surface resulting in at least a portion of a field of view of said two dimensional array of pixels is within the windshield.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.