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US 6,786,609 B2Granted
Apparatus for watching around vehicle
AssigneesAutonetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
InventorMasayoshi Imoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an apparatus for watching around a vehicle, an internal reflection preventive film 37 for preventing stray light from undergoing total reflection in a prism is formed outside an effective area with respect to an imaging lens 9 disposed to the rear side 8B of the prism. Thus, the quantity of stray light is reduced by preventing the total reflection.
Claims17
An apparatus for watching around a vehicle, comprising:
- an imaging device including;
- a casing disposed on an outer side of said vehicle and having a pair of right and left transmission window portions in either side of said casing;
- a prism contained in said casing in the form of an isosceles triangle in section with a vertical angle directed to a front part of said casing, the right and left sides of said prism which correspond to the equal sides of the isosceles triangle being directed to the respective right and left transmission window portions;
- and
- an imaging element disposed to the rear of said prism and used for converting a ray of light from the left and right sides of said prism into respective left and right image signals by concentrating light on an imaging plane via an imaging lens, the ray of light being incident on one of the right and left sides of said prism, reflected from the other side of said prism and emitted from the rear side of said prism to said left and right image signals;
- and
- an internal reflection preventive means for preventing stray light from undergoing total reflection forms a light transmission window on the rear side of said prism, the internal reflection preventive means being sufficiently sized to cover at least a portion of the rear side of said prism and prevent stray light entering from the left and right sides of said prism from entering into the opposing left and right image signals.
4 more elements
An apparatus for watching around a vehicle, comprising:
- an imaging device including;
- a casing disposed on the outer side of the vehicle and having a pair of right and left transmission window portions in either side of the casing;
- and
- a prism contained in said casing in the form of an isosceles triangle in section with its vertical angle directed to the front part of the casing, the prism having a left, right and rear side, the right and left sides of the prism which correspond to the equal sides of the isosceles triangle being directed to the respective right and left transmission window portions;
- and
- an imaging element disposed to the rear of said prism and used for converting a ray of light from the left and right sides of said prism into respective left and right image signals by concentrating light on an imaging plane via an imaging lens, the ray of light being incident on one of the right and left sides of said prism, reflected from the other side of said prism and emitted from the rear side of said prism to said left and right image signals;
- and
- light absorbing means for absorbing light resulting from the partial reflection of the stray light from the left and right side of said prism is sufficiently sized on at least the rear side of said prism prevent the stray light from appearing on the opposing left and right image signals, the light absorbing means including a predetermined holder for supporting said prism and a buffer member to buffer said prism against vibration from said predetermined holder.
5 more elements
An apparatus for watching around a vehicle, comprising:
- an imaging device including;
- a casing disposed on the outer side of said vehicle and having a pair of right and left transmission window portions in either side of said casing;
- a prism contained in said casing in the form of an isosceles triangle in section with a vertical angle directed to the front part of said casing, the right and left sides of said prism which correspond to the equal sides of the isosceles triangle being directed to the respective right and left transmission window portions;
- an imaging element disposed to the rear of said prism and used for converting a ray of light from the left and right sides of said prism into respective left and right image signals by concentrating light on an imaging plane via an imaging lens, the ray of light being incident on one of the right and left sides of said prism, reflected from the other side of said prism and emitted from the rear side of said prism to said left and right image signals;
- and
- internal reflection preventive means sufficiently sized on at least the rear side to prevent stray light having an incident angle of at least 50° and preventing total reflection according to the following equation:
- n1=refractive index of the internal reflection preventive means
- n2=refractive index of prism
- θ1=incident angle of stray light
- n1>sin θ1×n2, so that stray light from one of the left and right window portions greater than 50° incidence is prevented from total reflectance through the prism and entry into the opposite image signal.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.