Patent ID: 7025469

Claim:
A rear-view mirror with a wide viewing angle and reduced single-image distortion installed on a vehicle, the mirror comprising a monolithic plastic body which is made of transparent plastic material and has a surface that faces objects to be detected which is flat and an opposite reflecting surface which has an aspheric configuration generated by rotation, about an axis which is parallel to a centerline axis of the vehicle on which the mirror is installed, of a curve whose design equation is: M= 1/[1+(2 E/R )] wherein M is the angular magnification of a reflected image of the mirror, E is the distance of the eye of a driver from the surface of the mirror that faces objects to be detected, and R is the radius of curvature of the reflecting surface which has a point by point variation over said reflecting surface given by the equation: Z=C ( X 2 +Y 2 )/1+[1 −SC 2 ( X 2 +Y 2 )] 1/2 +A ( X 2 +Y 2 ) wherein X, Y and Z are coordinates of the reflecting surface and C, S and A are parameters representing, respectively, a curvature factor, a shape factor and a correction factor which depend on the distance E and angular magnification M, said distance E and angular magnification M having values set in relation with the characteristics of the vehicle.