Rearview assemblies incorporating hands-free telephone components

A rearview assembly for a vehicle comprising:

• a housing for attachment to the vehicle;
• a display positioned in said housing;
• an audio/data transceiver associated with said housing for receiving wireless audio and data signals from a first communications device proximate the vehicle;
• a controller positioned in said housing and coupled to said display and said audio/data transceiver, said controller controls said display for indicating the presence of a wireless connection by displaying the signal strength of a second communications device in communication with the first communications device located proximate the audio/data transceiver;
• wherein the first communications device and second communications device communicate via a second wireless connection in a wireless telephone network;
• and
• wherein said controller is operative in a pairing mode and an operational mode, during the pairing mode, said controller searches for, discovers and acquires a unique identification code of a device with which said audio/data transceiver is to be paired, during the operational mode, said controller determines whether a device having the unique identification code is within the range of said audio/data transceiver and exchanges data with the device through said audio/data transceiver, also during the operational mode, said controller prevents the exchange of certain data with detected devices that are not paired with said audio/data transceiver.

A vehicle rearview assembly for providing an image of a scene to the rear of the driver of the vehicle, said rearview assembly comprising:

• a mounting structure for mounting to the vehicle;
• a display;
• an audio/data transceiver associated with said mounting structure for transmitting and receiving wireless audio and data signals to/from a portable device having a similar audio/data transceiver;
• a control circuit coupled to said audio/data transceiver, said control circuit being operative in a pairing mode and an operational mode, during the pairing mode, said control circuit searches for, discovers and acquires a unique identification code of a portable device with which said audio/data transceiver is to be paired, during the operational mode, said control circuit determines whether a portable device having the unique identification code is within the range of said audio/data transceiver and exchanges data with the portable device through said audio/data transceiver, also during the operational mode, said control circuit prevents the exchange of certain data with detected portable devices that are not paired with said audio/data transceiver;
• and
• wherein operation in the pairing mode is indicated by displaying the signal strength of a wireless telephone network connection in communication with the portable device on said display.

A vehicle rearview assembly for providing an image of a scene to the rear of the driver of the vehicle, said rearview assembly comprising:

• a mounting structure for mounting to the vehicle;
• an audio/data transceiver for transmitting and receiving audio and data signals to/from a portable telephone;
• a hands-free microphone associated with the mounting structure for providing an audio signal to said audio/data transceiver;
• and
• a control circuit coupled to the audio/data transceiver, said control circuit determines whether portable telephones having predetermined identification codes are within the range of the audio/data transceiver, said control circuit being configured to establish a priority amongst the portable telephones for use of said hands-free microphone, said control circuit exchanges data with the portable telephones through said audio/data transceiver causing the portable telephone with the highest priority to automatically disable its microphone, wherein said control circuit enables speech to be picked up by said hands-free microphone and transmitted to the portable telephone with the highest priority through said audio/data transceiver.