Patent ID: 7810939

Claim:
An exterior mirror system suitable for a vehicle, said system comprising: an exterior mirror assembly including a fixed support for mounting to a side of a vehicle, and a support arm including an upper arm and a lower arm extending from said fixed support to a distal end; and a mirror housing supported by said support arm and movable along said support arm from a first position proximate to said fixed support to a second position proximate to said distal end of said support arm; a first electrically powered extending mechanism, including at least one of a worm gear and a clutch, for moving said mirror housing relative to said fixed support along said support arm from said first position to said second position; a second electrically powered pivoting mechanism for pivoting said support arm about said fixed support between an operative position, wherein said support arm generally extends outwards from said fixed support, and a folded position, wherein said support arm generally extends transverse to said operative position and is generally folded to said side of a vehicle; a mirror unit, including a third electrically powered mirror unit adjust mechanism disposed in said mirror housing and operable to adjust said mirror unit to a desired adjusted position about orthogonal axes; and an electronic control system for controlling said powered extending mechanism, said powered pivoting mechanism, and said powered mirror unit adjust mechanism; said control system including memory for storing information associated with said electronic control system; wherein said electronic control system includes a first manually-operable control for manually operating said powered extending mechanism, a second manually-operable control for manually operating said powered pivoting mechanism, and a third manually-operable control for manually operating said third electrically powered mechanism; and wherein said electronic control system is operable by a driver of a vehicle to control operation of at least said powered extending mechanism independent of said operation of said powered pivoting mechanism.