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US 11,077,729 B2Granted
System and method for trailer height adjustment
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsChen Zhang, Mark Davison, Yu Ling
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle system comprises a hitch ball mounted on a vehicle and a controller configured to identify a coupler position of a trailer. The controller is further configured to control motion of the vehicle aligning the hitch ball with the coupler position and monitor a height of the coupler relative to the hitch ball. In response to the coupler height being less than a height of the hitch ball, the controller is configured to stop the motion of the vehicle.
Claims16
A vehicle system, comprising:
- a controller that:
- identifies a coupler position of a coupler of a trailer;
- controls motion of the vehicle completing an alignment of a hitch ball with the coupler position;
- monitors a coupler height of the coupler relative to the hitch ball;
- stops the motion of the vehicle in response to the coupler height being less than a hitch height of the hitch ball;
- in response to the vehicle stopping, monitors the coupler in response to a manual adjustment of the coupler height;
- in response to the manual adjustment of the coupler height, identifies a direction of the manual adjustment;
- and
- outputs an adjustment instruction in response to the direction of the manual adjustment, wherein the adjustment instruction identifies whether the direction of the manual adjustment adjusts the coupler height to be compatible for connection to the hitch ball.
6 more elements
A method for controlling a vehicle comprising:
- identifying a coupler position including a coupler height of a trailer in sensor data;
- controlling motion of the vehicle aligning a hitch ball of the vehicle with the coupler position;
- stopping the motion of the vehicle at a predetermined distance from the coupler position;
- outputting an instruction for adjusting the coupler height;
- monitoring the coupler height identifying a height compatibility between a hitch height of the hitch ball and the coupler height, wherein the monitoring comprises monitoring the coupler height during a manual adjustment of the coupler height;
- identifying an adjustment direction of the manual adjustment;
- and
- in response to the adjustment direction, outputting an adjustment instruction indicating feedback regarding the adjustment direction, wherein the adjustment instruction indicates whether the adjustment direction will result in the coupler height being greater than the hitch height.
5 more elements
A vehicle system, comprising:
- a hitch receiver of a vehicle;
- a sensor system configured to capture sensor data comprising a coupler position of a trailer;
- an indication device;
- and
- a controller that:
- identifies the coupler position from the sensor system;
- controls motion of the vehicle aligning a hitch ball with the coupler position;
- monitors a coupler height of the coupler relative to a hitch height of the hitch ball;
- stops the motion of the vehicle in response to the coupler height being less than the hitch height of the hitch ball;
- identifies a direction of an adjustment of the coupler height based on the sensor data;
- monitors the direction of the manual adjustment in response to the adjustment;
- and
- in response to the direction of the adjustment, outputs an adjustment instruction indicating feedback regarding the adjustment, wherein the adjustment instruction communicates an indication whether the direction of the adjustment changes the coupler height to be compatible for connection to the hitch.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.