Vehicle hitch ball detection system
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsLuke Niewiadomski, Nikhil Nagraj Rao, Rick Haubenstricker, Richard Campbell, Mark Bowers, Lihui Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle control system includes an imager mounted with and directed to a rear of the vehicle and outputting image data, a vehicle speed sensor mounted with the vehicle and outputting vehicle speed data, and an image processor receiving the image data and the vehicle speed data. The image processor is programmed to monitor a signal from the vehicle speed sensor and, when the signal from the vehicle speed sensor indicates a vehicle speed above a predetermined minimum speed, execute a feature extraction function to locate a hitch ball mounted to the vehicle in the image data.
Claims19
A vehicle control system, comprising:
- an imager mounted with and directed to a rear of a vehicle and outputting image data including a series of still image frames at sequential intervals;
- a vehicle speed sensor mounted with the vehicle and outputting vehicle speed data;
- and
- an image processor receiving the image data and the vehicle speed data and programmed to:
- monitor a signal from the vehicle speed sensor;
- and
- when the signal from the vehicle speed sensor indicates a vehicle speed above a predetermined minimum speed, execute a feature extraction function, including a continuous analysis of successive still images, to locate a hitch ball mounted to the vehicle in the image data.
A vehicle, comprising:
- a vehicle steering system;
- an imager mounted with and directed to a rear of the vehicle and outputting image data including a series of still image frames at sequential intervals;
- a vehicle speed sensor mounted with the vehicle and outputting vehicle speed data;
- and
- a controller:
- operating in a free driving mode including:
- receiving the image data and the vehicle speed data;
- monitoring a signal from the vehicle speed sensor;
- and
- when the signal from the vehicle speed sensor indicates a vehicle speed above a predetermined minimum speed, executing a feature extraction function, including a continuous analysis of successive still images, to determine a location of a hitch ball mounted to the vehicle in the image data;
- and
- operating in a hitch assist driving mode including outputting a steering control signal to the steering system in reversing of the vehicle to align the hitch ball location with a coupler of a trailer.
A method for determining the location of a hitch ball coupled with a vehicle, comprising:
- receiving image data, including a series of still image frames at sequential intervals, form an imager mounted with and directed to a rear of the vehicle
- monitoring a signal from a vehicle speed sensor;
- and
- when the signal from the vehicle speed sensor indicates a vehicle speed above a predetermined minimum speed, execute a feature extraction function, including a continuous analysis of successive still images, on the image data to identify a hitch ball mounted to the vehicle in the image data;
- and
- extracting the location of the hitch ball from an output of the feature extraction function.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.