Patent ID: 8446550

Claim:
A liquid crystal mirror that darkens in response to headlights impinging on the mirror, the liquid crystal mirror comprising: a substantially transparent front substrate having interior and exterior surfaces and a substantially transparent and conductive layer on the interior surface of the front substrate; a back substrate having interior and exterior surfaces and being spaced from the front substrate to define a liquid crystal cell between the interior surfaces of the substrates, and an at least partially reflective and conductive layer on the interior surface of the back substrate; an alignment compound on opposite sides of and bounding the liquid crystal cell; a liquid crystal fluid contained within the liquid crystal cell, the liquid crystal fluid including a dichroic dye; an electronic control circuit coupled to the transparent conductive layer on the front substrate and the reflective conductive layer on the back substrate, the electronic control circuit adapted selectively to apply a voltage signal to the layers to affect the transmittance of the liquid crystal fluid; and a headlight sensor coupled to the electronic circuit for sensing an intensity of light impinging on the mirror, the electronic circuit applying a voltage signal or discontinuing a voltage signal to reduce the transmittance of the liquid crystal fluid in response to a light intensity sensed by the headlight sensor above a predetermined headlight threshold.