Camera for detecting brightness around a motor vehicle has a video image sensor to pick up light reflected from a mirror

摘要

An optical axis (24) in a camera (10) is aligned in a first direction so as to capture an image of a traffic area (26). The camera has a mirror (20) for deflecting light from a second direction onto part of a video image sensor (14). The second direction differs from the first direction. A processing unit generates a brightness signal by relying on image signals from the image sensor. An independent claim is also included for a device for detecting brightness around a motor vehicle.