Patent ID: 8511841

Claim:
A blind spot indicator mirror for a vehicle, said blind spot indicator mirror comprising: a transparent glass substrate having a front side and a rear side; a mirror reflector coated onto said transparent glass substrate; wherein visible light reflectance by said mirror reflector coated substrate is at least about 40 percent visible light reflectance for visible light incident upon the front side of said mirror reflector coated substrate; wherein said mirror reflector coated substrate does not exhibit substantial spectral selectivity in its reflectance of visible light incident upon the front side of said mirror reflector coated substrate; a blind spot indicator light display that emits visible light upon a detection by a blind spot detector that is part of a vehicle equipped with said blind spot indicator mirror, wherein said blind spot indicator light display is disposed to the rear of the rear side of said mirror reflector coated substrate and configured so that said light emitted by said blind spot indicator light display passes through said transparent glass substrate to be viewed by a viewer viewing from the front side of said transparent glass substrate, and wherein said blind spot indicator light display is operable, when electrically powered and when operated in the equipped vehicle during day time driving conditions, to exhibit a display luminance of at least about 60 foot lamberts as measured with said blind spot indicator light display placed behind, and emitting light through, said transparent glass substrate; wherein said blind spot indicator light display is operable, when electrically powered and when operated in the equipped vehicle during night time driving conditions, to exhibit a reduced display luminance that is less than about 40 percent of the display luminance exhibited during day time driving conditions; wherein said blind spot indicator light display comprises at least one light emitting diode; wherein said mirror reflector comprises at least one of (a) a metal thin film layer, (b) an elemental semiconductor thin film layer and (c) a metal thin film layer combined with a metal oxide thin film layer; and wherein said blind spot indicator mirror comprises an exterior sideview mirror configured for use at an exterior side of a vehicle.