Wireless vehicle-trailer interface system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10168708-B2
Application number	US-201715474834-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2017
Priority date	Mar 30, 2017
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A wireless vehicle-trailer interface system for communication between a vehicle and a trailer is provided. The vehicle may include a vehicle hitch, a vehicle control system, a vehicle radio frequency system, and a processor, the processor configured to generate a unique data packet for each vehicle radio frequency system, determine, for each received response packet, a distance between a corresponding receiving vehicle radio frequency system and a corresponding transmitting trailer radio frequency systems, determine a relative physical position of each vehicle radio frequency system and trailer radio frequency system, determine dimensions of the trailer, determine a physical position of a vehicle hitch and a trailer coupled, and generate instructions for the vehicle control system to cause the vehicle to move to align the vehicle hitch with a trailer coupler.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle hitch;
at least one vehicle control system;
at least one vehicle radio frequency system comprising a transceiver;
a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and the at least one vehicle control system, the processor configured to:
generate a unique data packet for each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system;
generate an instruction for each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system to transmit the unique packet associated with the respective at least one vehicle radio frequency system;
receive, from each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system, a distance between a corresponding receiving one of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and a corresponding transmitting one of at least one trailer radio frequency systems based upon a time in flight of the corresponding transmitted unique packet and a corresponding response packet transmitted by the respective trailer radio frequency system;
determine a relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system based upon the determined distance;
determine, based upon the determined relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system, dimensions of the trailer;
determine a physical position of the vehicle hitch relative to a trailer coupler based upon the determined relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system; and
generate instructions for the at least one vehicle control system to cause the vehicle to move to align the vehicle hitch with a trailer coupler of the trailer.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is an ultra-wideband transceiver.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle includes at least two vehicle radio frequency systems,
wherein the processor is further configured to determine the relative physical position of each of the at least two vehicle radio frequency systems and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system by triangulating the position of the least one trailer radio frequency system relative to the at least two vehicle radio frequency systems.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface, the user interface comprising a display, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, from the at least one vehicle radio frequency system, camera data from the at least one trailer radio frequency system; and
generate instructions for the user interface to display the camera data on the display of the user interface.

5. A vehicle, comprising:
at least one vehicle radio frequency system comprising a transceiver;
a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one vehicle radio frequency system, the processor configured to:
generate a unique data packet for each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system;
generate an instruction for each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system to transmit the unique packet associated with the respective at least one vehicle radio frequency system;
receive, from each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system, at least one response packet transmitted from at least one trailer radio frequency system corresponding to a trailer;
determine, for each received response packet, a distance between a corresponding receiving one of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and a corresponding transmitting one of the at least one trailer radio frequency systems based upon a time in flight of the corresponding transmitted unique packet and the corresponding response packet;
determine a relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system based upon the determined distance; and
determine, based upon the determined relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system, dimensions of the trailer.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , comprising:
a vehicle hitch; and
at least one vehicle control system communicatively coupled to the processor,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a physical position of the vehicle hitch relative to each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system; and
generate instructions for the at least one vehicle control system to cause the vehicle to move to align the vehicle hitch with a trailer coupler of the trailer.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the instructions are displayed to a user on a display.

8. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the instructions cause a control system of the vehicle to automatically move the vehicle.

9. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the vehicle includes at least two vehicle radio frequency systems,
wherein the processor is further configured to determine the relative physical position of each of the at least two vehicle radio frequency systems and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system by triangulating the position of the least one trailer radio frequency system relative to the at least two vehicle radio frequency systems.

10. The vehicle of claim 5 , further comprising a user interface, the user interface comprising a display, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, from the at least one vehicle radio frequency system, camera data from the at least one trailer radio frequency system; and
generate instructions for the user interface to display the camera data on the display of the user interface.

11. A wireless vehicle-trailer interface system for communication between a vehicle and a trailer, the wireless vehicle-trailer interface system comprising:
a vehicle hitch;
at least one vehicle control system;
at least one vehicle radio frequency system comprising a first transceiver;
a first processor communicatively coupled to the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and the at least one vehicle control system, the first processor configured to:
generate a unique data packet for each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system;
generate an instruction for each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system to transmit the unique packet associated with the respective at least one vehicle radio frequency system;
receive, from each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system, at least one response packet transmitted from at least one trailer radio frequency system corresponding to a trailer;
determine, for each received response packet, a distance between a corresponding receiving one of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and a corresponding transmitting one of the at least one trailer radio frequency systems based upon a time in flight of the corresponding transmitted unique packet and the corresponding response packet;
determine a relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system based upon the determined distance;
determine, based upon the determined relative physical position of each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio frequency system, dimensions of the trailer;
determine a physical position of the vehicle hitch relative to each of the at least one vehicle radio frequency system and each of the at least one trailer radio freq

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Cohen Daniel T
• Lavi Nadav
• Scheim Kobi
• Camden Andrew R

Classifications

• B60Y2300/28

  related to towing or towed situations · CPC title

• B60W2300/14

  Tractor-trailers, i.e. combinations of a towing vehicle and one or more towed vehicles, e.g. caravans; Road trains · CPC title

• B60W30/18036

  Reversing · CPC title

• B60W2556/55

  using telemetry · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title