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US 6,886,970 B2Granted
Indicating instrument for vehicle
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsToshiki Wada, Katsuhiro Kumazawa, Takaaki Muramatsu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An indicating instrument for a vehicle includes a dial plate, a light modulation member disposed on the dial plate and a controller for controlling the light transmissivity. The light modulation member has variable light transmissivity, and the controller changes the light transmissivity according to a condition of the vehicle when operated.
Claims15
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate having an ornamental, lustrous surface and a display portion;
- a light modulation member having variable light transmissivity disposed on said dial plate;
- an illuminance sensor for sensing illuminance conditions of said display surface caused by extraneous lights;
- and
- a control means for controlling said light transmissivity;
- wherein said control means increases said light transmissivity to a maximum value so that a driver can see the ornamental, lustrous surface through the light modulation member when said vehicle is not operated and controls said light transmissivity according to the illuminance conditions of said display surface so that the driver can see the display portion through the light modulation member without reflection of extraneous lights when said vehicle is operated.
3 more elements
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate having a lustrous ornament and display portion that includes a graded scale;
- a light modulation member having variable light transmissivity, wherein the light modulation member covers the dial plate;
- an illuminance sensor for sensing the illuminance of the display surface caused by extraneous lights;
- and
- a controller for controlling the light transmissivity of the light modulation member, wherein the controller increases the light transmissivity to a maximum value so that a driver can see the ornament through the light modulation member when the vehicle is not operated and controls the light transmissivity according to the illuminance sensed by the illuminance sensor so that a driver can see the display portion through light modulation member without reflection of extraneous lights when the vehicle is operated.
2 more elements
An indicating instrument for a vehicle comprising:
- a dial plate having a lustrous ornament and a graded scale;
- a light modulation member located on the dial plate, wherein the light modulation member has a variable light transmissivity;
- a controller for controlling the light transmissivity of the light modulation member according to extraneous illuminance conditions, wherein the controller increases the light transmissivity to a maximum value so that a driver can see the ornament through the light modulation member when the vehicle is not operated and changes the light transmissivity according to the extraneous illuminance conditions so that a driver can see the graded scale through the light modulation member without reflection of extraneous lights when the vehicle is operated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.