Patent ID: 7471438

Claim:
A prismatic reflective element assembly for an interior rearview mirror of a vehicle, said prismatic reflective element assembly comprising: a transparent prismatic substrate having a forward facing surface and a rearward facing surface generally opposed said forward facing surface and at an angle relative thereto so as to form a wedge-shaped substrate; a transflective reflector disposed at said rearward facing surface of said prismatic substrate, wherein said transflective reflector comprises at least one sputtered thin film layer; a backlit active matrix liquid crystal display screen disposed behind said transflective reflector disposed at said rearward facing surface of said prismatic substrate; wherein display information emitted by said backlit active matrix liquid crystal display screen passes through said transflective reflector and said prismatic substrate for viewing by a person viewing said forward facing surface of said prismatic substrate; wherein light incident on said forward facing surface and passing through said prismatic substrate to be incident on said transfiective reflector, the transflective reflector substantially transmitting at least one preselected spectral band of radiant energy therethrough while substantially reflecting other radiant energy, exhibits a substantially non-spectrally selective reflectant characteristic as viewed by a person viewing said forward facing surface of said prismatic substrate; and wherein said transflective reflector is at least about 10 percent transmissive of said emitted display information passing therethrough.