Patent ID: 7540620

Claim:
A video mirror system for a vehicle, said video mirror system comprising: an interior rearview mirror assembly having a mirror housing and a transflective reflective element; wherein said mirror housing is adjustably mounted at an interior portion of the vehicle via a double pivot mounting arrangement; wherein said transflective reflective element comprises a transflective mirror reflector that is partially transmissive of light and partially reflective of light incident thereon; wherein adjustment of said mirror housing via said double pivot mounting arrangement adjusts a rearward field of view of said transflective reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in a vehicle equipped with said video mirror system; a video display screen disposed in said mirror housing and behind said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element, wherein information displayed by said video display screen is viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle viewing through said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element when said video display screen is activated and wherein, when said video display screen is not activated, the presence of said video display screen behind said transflective mirror reflector of said transflective reflective element is substantially not discerned by a driver of the equipped vehicle normally viewing said transflective reflective element when operating the equipped vehicle; a compass sensor disposed within said mirror housing and behind said transflective reflective element, wherein said compass sensor adjusts in tandem with adjustment of the rearward field of view of said transflective reflective element; compass circuitry responsive to said compass sensor for determining a directional heading of the vehicle; a compass display in the vehicle for displaying directional heading information to the driver of equipped vehicle; and wherein said compass circuitry at least partially compensates for movement of said compass sensor caused by adjustment of said mirror housing via an algorithm processed by a microprocessor.