Patent ID: 7817020

Claim:
A rearview assembly for a vehicle, said rearview assembly comprising: a mounting structure adapted to be mounted to a vehicle, said mounting structure including a housing; a rearward viewing device for providing a rearward view to a vehicle occupant; and at least one position sensor disposed in said housing, said position sensor including at least; a first radiation emitter; a second radiation emitter; sensor processing circuitry coupled said first and second radiation emitters; and radiation reception element coupled to said sensor processing circuitry, wherein said radiation reception element is configured to receive light emitted by said first emitter and not reflected by an object, and light emitted by second emitter and reflected by said object, thereby adjusting a light intensity of said first radiation emitter based on the received light from said radiation reception element; and wherein said at least one position sensor is configured to determine at least one of the distance of said object from said at least one position sensor and the position of said object on the surface of said rearward viewing device by monitoring said light intensity of said first radiation emitter.