US Patent 7057500 Rear view monitoring system for motor vehicles

A rear view monitoring system for motor vehicles employs three video assemblies, two of which view regions rearwardly at opposite sides of the vehicle, and the third views the region directly rearwardly of the vehicle. Each assembly has an optical lens which gathers light at a particular viewing angle to produce a focused image, and a camera body which converts the image to an electronic signal capable of adjustment and transmission by electrical conductors. The assemblies also have provision for reversing the image to a mirror-image format. The mirror images are of substantially equal magnification and are displayed on screens mounted within the vehicle at positions generally associated with conventional rear view mirrors.