Patent ID: 8083386

Claim:
An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle, said interior rearview mirror assembly comprising: a mirror casing; a reflective element; wherein said reflective element comprises a transflective mirror reflector established at a surface of a transparent substrate, wherein said transflective mirror reflector is partially reflectant and partially transmissive of visible light incident thereat; a display device disposed in said mirror casing and behind said reflective element, wherein said display device is configured to display through said transflective mirror reflector and said transparent substrate when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in a vehicle for normal viewing by a driver of the vehicle; wherein said display device comprises a single undivided display screen and a plurality of illumination sources operable for backlighting portions of said single undivided display screen; and wherein said display device is at least operable in (a) a first mode wherein said plurality of illumination sources are not activated so that the presence of said display device is substantially covert to a driver of the vehicle viewing said reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in the vehicle, (b) a second mode wherein said plurality of illumination sources are activated so that information displayed by said backlit single undivided display screen is viewable through said transflective mirror reflector by a driver of the vehicle viewing said reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in the vehicle, and (c) a third mode wherein (i) some of said plurality of illumination sources are activated so that information displayed by a corresponding backlit portion of said single undivided display screen is viewable through said transfleetive mirror reflector by a driver of the vehicle viewing said reflective element when said interior rearview mirror assembly is normally mounted in the vehicle and (ii) others of said plurality of illumination sources are non-activated so that the presence of a corresponding non-backlit portion of said single undivided display screen is substantially covert to the driver of the vehicle viewing said reflective element.