Claims:We Claim:
1. A method of controlling the mirror position in a vehicle, said method comprising:

capturing (100), by an image capturing device, an image an occupant in said vehicle;

receiving (102), by a control unit, said captured image from said image capturing device;

processing (104), by said control unit, said captured image for recognizing at least at least one facial feature of said occupant;

converting (106), by said control unit said processed image into at least one signal; and

actuating (108), by said control unit, at least one mirror of said vehicle in dependence of said signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said image capturing device is one chosen from a hand held mobile device and camera.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said image capturing device is in electronic communication with said control unit.
, Description:Complete Specification:

The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
Field of the invention
[0001]This invention is related the field of adjusting and controlling the position of mirror in a vehicle.

Background of the invention
[0002] Vehicles that have electronically controlled outer rear view mirrors are adjusted from inside the vehicle by the following steps. Firstly the mirror that needs to be adjusted (left/ right) is selected with the help of a knob or switch and secondly an adjustor is used to change the orientation of either the left or right mirror. For better accuracy and ease of adjustment there is need to ensure automated selection of the mirrors.

[0003]Prior art patent application CN102785617 relates to an automatic adjusting system and an automatic adjusting method for a side rearview mirror of an automobile. The automatic adjusting system comprises a side rearview mirror adjusting execution mechanism, a seat adjusting execution mechanism, an electronic control unit, a camera, an image recognition module and a side rearview mirror adjusting parameter calculation module, wherein the camera and the image recognition module are connected with each other, the camera picks up an image of a driver who sits on a seat in a cab, and the image recognition module obtains the image from the camera and recognizes the position of eyes of the driver in the image; and the side rearview mirror adjusting parameter calculation module is connected with the electronic control unit and the image recognition module, the current side rearview mirror angle parameter and the current seat position and angle parameters are obtained from the electronic control unit.

[0004]The plane position parameter of the eyes of the driver is obtained from the image recognition module, side rearview mirror adjusting parameters are determined according to the side rearview mirror angle parameter, the seat position and angle parameters and the plane position parameter of the eyes of the driver, and the side rearview mirror adjusting parameters are transmitted to the electronic control unit. Since the adjustment of the side rearview mirror is based on the current position of the eyes of the driver, the automatic adjusting system has the advantages of high adjusting accuracy, convenience in use and high safety.

Brief description of the accompanying drawing
[0005] Different modes of the invention are disclosed in detail in the description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing:

[0006] FIG. 1 method of controlling the mirror position in a vehicle.

Detailed description of the embodiments
[0007] FIG. 1 method of controlling the mirror position in a vehicle. The method comprises capturing (100), by an image capturing device, an image of an occupant in the vehicle. The control unit receives 102 the captured image from the image capturing device. The image capturing device is in electronic communication with the control unit. The captured image is processed by the control unit for recognizing at least at least one facial feature of the occupant, the processed image is converted 106 into a signal by the control unit. The control unit actuates 108 at least one mirror of the vehicle in dependence of the signal. The capturing device may be one of a hand held mobile device and camera.

[0008]The working of the above mentioned method will be explained in further detail. Consider the case wherein a used of the vehicles needs to adjust the left mirror of the vehicle. The occupant/ user now faces towards the left mirror of the vehicle. The image capturing device that is mounted proximal to the left mirror will now capture 100 the image of occupant. Additionally the image capturing device mounted on the right will capture the image of the occupant. The captured image is now received 102 by the control unit. At step 104, the control unit processes the captured image for recognizing at least at least one facial feature of the occupant. The facial feature to be recognized may be the orientation of eyes. At step 106, the control unit converts the processed image into at least one signal. The control unit actuates 108 the mirror (in this case the left mirror) of the vehicle in dependence of the signal.

[0009] Consider the case wherein a used of the vehicles needs to adjust the right mirror of the vehicle. The occupant/ user now faces towards the right mirror of the vehicle. The image capturing device that is mounted proximal to the right mirror will now capture 100 the image of occupant. Additionally the image capturing device mounted on the right will capture the image of the occupant. The captured image is now received 102 by the control unit. At step 104, the control unit processes the captured image for recognizing at least at least one facial feature of the occupant. The facial feature to be recognized may be the orientation of eyes. At step 106, the control unit converts the processed image into at least one signal. The control unit actuates 108 the mirror (in this case the right mirror) of the vehicle in dependence of the signal.

[0010] By using the above mentioned method it is now possible to automate movement of mirrors (left/right) for visibility. The user needs to adjust only the outer rear view mirror adjustor for fine tuning the movement of mirror. Also, the user of the vehicle need not operate selection knob and can directly change the position of the mirror using an orientation knob.

[0011]It should be understood that embodiments explained in the description above are only illustrative and do not limit the scope of this invention in terms of the type of mirror or actuation mechanism used. Many such embodiments and other modifications and changes in the embodiment explained in the description are envisaged. The scope of the invention is only limited by the scope of the claims.