Vehicle trailer angle detection system and method
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJeremy John Greenwood, Stephen Nicholls, Andrew Stephen Bell Crawford
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle 1 towing a trailer 4 is fitted with three video cameras 5, 6, 7 fitted to the rear of the vehicle and on each door mirror. A view from any camera can be presented to the driver on a display 11. A predicted trailer path, calculated in a computing unit 10, is also presented to the driver on the display 11 as guide lines overlaid on the camera view. The computing unit 10 is also configured to calculate a hitch angle by tracking the position of a trailer-mounted marker in the camera view.
Claims14
A system for determining a hitch angle of a trailer attached to a vehicle, comprising:
- a rearward-looking video camera mounted on the vehicle and operable to capture images rearward of the vehicle;
- an image processor for processing the captured images and locating a marker on the trailer, wherein the marker comprises at least one of a mark, a sticker attached to the trailer and a vertical edge of the trailer;
- a computer determining the hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer based on the located marker;
- and
- a display for displaying a trailer view visible to a driver of the vehicle.
A system for determining a hitch angle of a trailer attached to a vehicle, comprising:
- a rearward-looking video camera mounted on the vehicle and operable to capture images rearward of the vehicle;
- an image processor for processing the captured images and locating a marker on the trailer;
- a computer determining a hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer based on the located marker;
- a display for displaying a trailer view visible to a driver of the vehicle;
- and
- a steering angle sensor for sensing a vehicle steering angle, wherein the computer further calculates a predicted path of a trailer from the hitch angle and the vehicle steering angle.
A method of determining a hitch angle of a trailer towed by a vehicle, comprising:
- obtaining an image of a trailer towed by the vehicle with a rearward-looking video camera mounted to the vehicle;
- tracking a marker associated with the trailer in the image with an image processor, wherein the marker comprises at least one of a mark, a sticker attached to the trailer and a vertical edge of the trailer;
- determining with a computer the hitch angle between the vehicle and trailer based on the tracked marker;
- and
- displaying a view of the trailer on a display that is visible to a driver of the vehicle.
A method of predicting a path of a trailer attached to a vehicle, comprising:
- measuring a vehicle steering angle;
- obtaining an image of the trailer with a rearward-looking video camera located on the vehicle;
- tracking a marker associated with the trailer in the image;
- determining a hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer based on the tracked marker;
- sensing a vehicle steering angle;
- calculating a predicted path of the trailer from the hitch angle and the vehicle steering angle;
- and
- displaying the trailer image and the predicted trailer path on a display that is visible to a driver of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.