AN ELECTRO-OPTIC ELEMENT

摘要

A vehicular rearview assembly that has a rounded outer perimeter edge to satisfy safety standards and contains an EC element having a complex peripheral ring, a front surface that is fully observable from the front of the assembly, and a user interface with switches and sensors that activate and configure, in cooperation with electronic circuitry of the assembly, pre-defined function(s) or device(s) of the assembly in response to the user input applied to the user interface. A complex peripheral ring may include multiple bands the structures of which is adapted to provide for specified optical characteristics of light, reflected off of the ring. Electrical communications between the electronic circuitry, the mirror element, and the user interface utilize connectors configured to exert a low contact force, onto the mirror element, limited in part by the strength of adhesive affixing the EC element to an element of the housing of the assembly.

主权项

1. An electro-optic element comprising:
a first substrate having first and second surfaces; a second substrate having third and fourth surfaces, the second and third surfaces disposed in a parallel and spaced-apart relationships such to form a gap therebetween; a sealing material circumferentially disposed along a perimeter of the third surface to sealingly affix the second and third surfaces together to form a chamber therebetween; and an electro-optic medium in the chamber; wherein at least one of the second and third surfaces carries a transparent conducting oxide (TCO); wherein the at least one of the second and third surfaces carried a metal-containing layer; wherein the metal-containing layer is substantially absent at at least a portion of a surface of the TCO to define an opening and the TCO layer is present in substantially all of the opening; and wherein the metal-containing layer has a sharp or abruptly terminated edge.