Did You Know...
...that to encourage use of his new invention, the shopping cart, market owner Sylvan Goldman hired fake shoppers to push the carts around his store in Oklahoma City? Seems his customers were reluctant to give up their hand-carried baskets.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8021004 | Mirrored element A mirrored element (101) includes a first section (201) that is translucent when a backlight (301) is on and mirrored when the backlight is off (301). A second section (203) provides a mirrored surface when the backlight (301 | 09/20/2011 |
| 7980711 | Light-emitting display device-equipped rear-view mirror Interference of light is prevented from occurring in a rear-view mirror incorporating a light-emitting display device where a dark color mask member is arranged behind a mirror element. A mirror element is formed by forming a semi-transmissive reflective film on one... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7771062 | Rearview mirror with illuminated area The rearview mirror comprises a mirror glass, which is mounted to a carrier plate. A display unit is disposed behind the mirror glass and the carrier plate, which generates a light beam by means of an illuminant, wherein said light beam is coupled into a light condu... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7455412 | Mirror having a portion in the form of an information provider In a mirror with a non-reflective portion provided within its reflective mirror surface as an information provider the portion is transparent and is backed by a display. The display has a moving image or has a colored image representation. Preferably at least one lo... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7405873 | UV-bandpass filter and application to UV-detecting apparatus or light-emitting apparatus A UV-bandpass filter for transmitting therethrough light having a wavelength included in a UV-region. The bandpass filter is an optical filter including a thin silver film; wherein the thin silver film includes an entrance face and an exit face opposing the entrance... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7400827 | Camera provided with optical finder According to the present invention, light from a taking lens is reflected by a quick return mirror in a lateral direction of a body unit. Then, after passing through a screen, the light is reflected toward an upper side of the body unit by a second mirror except par... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7391549 | Electrochromic mirror An electrochromic mirror including a glass substrate, a transparent conductive film formed on the back of the glass substrate, an electrochromic layer formed on the back of the transparent conductive film, a reflection and electrode film formed on the back of the el... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7379243 | Mirror with built-in display A mirror device (1) which can be simultaneously used for display purposes, based on e.g. an LCD display (5) with a polarizing mirror (2) placed in front of it. The polarizing mirror (2) has the characteristics that it does not disturb the... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7379224 | Electrochromic rearview mirror assembly incorporating a display/signal light According to one embodiment of the present invention, an electrochromic rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle includes an electrochromic mirror having a variable reflectivity, a glare sensor for sensing levels of light directed towards the front element from the re... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7342707 | Indicators and illuminators using a semiconductor radiation emitter package A vehicle lamp assembly includes a housing and an LED lamp carried in the housing. A signal mirror includes a mirror and an LED lamp. The LED lamp includes a heat extraction member. ... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7338177 | Mirror reflective element for a vehicle An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle includes a prismatic mirror element and a display element. The prismatic mirror element includes a wedge-shaped prism element having a front surface and a rear surface and a second element having a transflective ref... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7334925 | Lighted exterior rearview mirror system A lighted exterior rearview mirror system for a vehicle comprises an exterior rearview mirror assembly adapted for mounting to a side of a vehicle. The exterior mirror assembly includes a reflective element having a heater and a breakaway joint assembly having stati... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7333685 | Variable optical attenuator systems Low loss, reliable variable optical attenuators and 1×2 switches and polarization insensitive low loss, reliable variable optical attenuators and 1×2 optical switches are described. In one embodiment, a system of the present invention includes a polarization separ... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7325953 | Vehicle exterior mirror system with turn signal light assembly A vehicular exterior rearview mirror system suitable for use on a vehicle includes an exterior mirror assembly adapted for mounting to a side of a vehicle and a turn signal light assembly. The mirror assembly includes a reflectance element that is moveably mounted o... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7315417 | Screen frame and bezel clip system An apparatus and methods that facilitate efficient and easy installation of a display screen and protective shield onto a cabinet of a display unit such as a projection TV (PTV) and the like. Preferably, a screen frame and bezel clip system includes a bezel clip hav... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7300170 | Apparatus for viewing an operating panel of an electronic device Some embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus for viewing the operating panel of an electronic device, such as a printer, scanner, copy machine, facsimile machine, multi-function device and the like, wherein the apparatus is adapted to allow a perso... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7297393 | Optical film Birefringent optical films have a Brewster angle (the angle at which reflectance of p-polarized light goes to zero) which is very large or is nonexistent. This allows for the construction of multilayer mirrors and polarizers whose reflectivity for p-polarized light ... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7289037 | Mirror assembly for vehicle An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle includes a reflective element assembly portion and at least one cap portion adapted to attach to the reflective element assembly portion. The reflective element assembly portion includes a reflective element. The re... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7266452 | Electronic compass system An electronic compass system includes a magnetic sensor circuit having at least two sensing elements for sensing perpendicular components of the Earth's magnetic field vector. A processing circuit is coupled to the sensor circuit to filter, process, and compute a he... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7249860 | Interior rearview mirror assembly An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle includes a reflective element and a casing. An attachment plate is secured to the reflective element and an electronic circuitry element, such as a printed circuit board, is attached to the attachment plate. The att... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7242748 | X-ray transmissive optical mirror apparatus A mirror is reflective to light and transmissive to x-rays. The mirror has a continuous mirror surface and an x-ray aperture within a body portion of the mirror proximate the continuous mirror surface that is transmissive to x-rays. ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7232231 | Lens for rearview mirror A lens for a vehicle rearview mirror includes a light-transmissible glass substrate, which has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a first coating layer, which has a reflectivity of 10–20% and is coated on the first surface of the g... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7222977 | Light and sound mirror assembly with appearing characters A combination mirror and amusement system for entertaining and amusing a child in a vehicle. A mirror assembly attachable to a vehicle seat includes a mirror and a frame surrounding the mirror. The frame has at least one ornamented portion and at least one appearing... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7224324 | Interactive automotive rearvision system A vehicular mirror system includes a mirror assembly with a mirror casing and a reflective element with a rearward field of view when the mirror assembly is mounted to a vehicle. The mirror casing includes a mounting portion that is adapted to mount the mirror casin... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7224264 | Radar hitch A two part guidance system that can be added to any vehicle with a traditional ball hitch that provides guidance to the driver during the hitching process. A sensor plate holds multiple sensors in an orientation that surrounds the ball and the sensors provide positi... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7215318 | Electrochromic element drive control circuit A drive control circuit for controlling an electrochromic element is substantially integrated into an integrated circuit, with the exception of resistive elements for dissipating heat away from the integrated circuit. The drive control circuit includes a current reg... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7207702 | Vehicle lamp assembly with heat sink An apparatus including at least one LED mounted to a printed circuit board, a reflector including at least one heat stake, and a mounting plate comprising at least one aperture for receiving the at least one heat stake. The at least one LED is positioned between the... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7194830 | Flame simulating assembly A flame simulating assembly for providing an image of flames. The flame simulating assembly has a simulated fuel bed, a light source, and a screen with a front surface disposed behind the simulated fuel bed for transmitting light from the light source through the fr... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7196854 | Complex optical element and method for manufacturing thereof A lens-laminated composite optical element composed of a vitreous optical element having a plane surface to perform inherent optical functions, and a thin and filmy transparent plastic lens portion molded in a curved lens profile and laminated on the plane surface o... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7190259 | Surrounding surveillance apparatus and mobile body A mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus is provided which comprises an omnidirectional vision sensor comprising an optical system for reflecting light incident from a maximum surrounding 360-degree visual field area toward a predetermined direction and an i... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7175291 | Automobile rearview mirror with LCD display An automobile rearview mirror with an LCD display comprises a front panel, a mount, a display unit housed between the front panel and the mount, a front frame, a rear shell, and a mirror. The display unit, the front panel, the mount and the mirror are contained betw... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7166797 | Tandem filters using frequency selective surfaces for enhanced conversion efficiency in a thermophotovoltaic energy conversion system This invention relates to the field of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) direct energy conversion. In particular, TPV systems use filters to minimize parasitic absorption of below bandgap energy. This invention constitutes a novel combination of front surface filters to incr... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7165852 | Breakaway exterior rearview mirror assembly An exterior rearview mirror assembly of a vehicle includes a pivot joint assembly pivotally mounting a movable portion to a base portion of the mirror assembly. The pivot joint assembly includes a support member, a receiving portion and a bracing member. The bracing... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7158881 | Navigation system for a vehicle A navigation system suitable for use in a vehicle includes an interior rearview mirror assembly having an interior reflective element. A database at a site remote from the vehicle includes map data and/or directory data. A global-positioning system receiver is opera... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7151515 | Apparatus and method for performing a mirror function in a portable terminal Disclosed is an apparatus and method for embodying mirror function in a portable terminal by which a user can use an LCD of the portable terminal as a mirror, with a rear polarizer of the LCD constructed to allow the LCD to reflect incident light and to perform as a... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7147903 | High efficiency optical devices Optical devices such as backlight assemblies, according to the present invention include a multilayer optical film in which at least one of the layers comprises an oriented birefringent polymer. The multilayer optical film exhibits low absorptivity and can reflect l... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7141297 | Multilayer optical bodies Optical bodies, comprising: a plurality of first optical layers comprising a first polymer composition that comprises (i) a polyester portion having terephthalate comonomer units and ethylene glycol comonomer units; and (ii) a second portion corresponding to ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7140755 | Security lighted exterior rearview mirror system for a vehicle A security lighted exterior rearview mirror system for a vehicle comprises an exterior rearview mirror assembly adapted for mounting to a side of a vehicle. The assembly includes a reflective element and an actuator for positioning the reflective element about at le... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7130727 | Vehicle safety system having methods and apparatus configurable for various vehicle geometries Methods and apparatus for automatically adjusting the angle of a rotatable side view mirror of an articulated tractor and trailer includes transducers attached to the tractor for transmitting signals toward the trailer and for receiving signals reflected by the trai... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7123168 | Driving separation distance indicator A driving separation indication system for a vehicle includes an imaging sensor, a control and at least one indicator. The control is operable to process an image captured by the imaging sensor representative of a scene occurring exteriorly of the subject vehicle an... | 10/17/2006 |
