Patent ID: 7175323

Claim:
A reduced glare projector style headlight assembly, comprising: a light source for projecting visible light; a reflector adjacent said light source for directing the light in a generally forward path; an optical lens positioned in said forward path for inverting and manipulating the light into a focused beam pattern; an opaque mask positioned in a portion of said forward path between said lens and said reflector for creating an upper shadow region in said focused beam pattern to shield on-coming traffic, said mask having a top edge establishing a light-shadow boundary in said focused beam pattern; and said mask including a transition region proximate said top edge for passing a limited amount of projected light below said top edge whereby traces of projected light are introduced above said light-shadow boundary in said focused beam pattern so that on-coming traffic is not confronted with abrupt changes in light intensity as said light-shadow boundary crosses into and out of view.