Vehicle and system for detecting trailer connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11440474-B2
Application number	US-201916404932-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2019
Priority date	May 7, 2019
Publication date	Sep 13, 2022
Grant date	Sep 13, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle is provided that includes a trailer hitch, a camera oriented to capture images of the trailer hitch, and a controller processing the captured images, detecting a trailer safety chain associated with a trailer, determining a connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle, and generating an output indicative of the determined connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle. The vehicle may determine a change in a scene of the captured image following placement of a trailer coupler onto a vehicle hitch and determine a trailer connection state based on the change in scene.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a trailer hitch;
a camera oriented to capture images of the trailer hitch;
a hitch assist system for assisting with connecting a trailer to the trailer hitch, wherein the hitch assist system places the vehicle in a position such that the trailer hitch is aligned to be coupled to the trailer coupler; and
a controller processing the captured images, detecting a trailer safety chain associated with a trailer, determining a connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle, and generating an output indicative of the determined connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle, wherein the step of detecting the trailer safety chain comprises comparing the captured images to known safety chain images and recognizing a contour pattern of a chain by recognizing an outline of interconnected linkages of the chain in the image, and wherein the step of determining the connection of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle comprises determining a continuous safety chain pattern between the vehicle and the trailer.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a display for displaying the output as a warning to a driver of the vehicle.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller further detects the vehicle is in a trailer mode before generating the output.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller compares the captured images to known images of safety chains stored in memory.

5. A hitch assist system for assisting with connecting a trailer to a trailer hitch and detecting a trailer safety chain connection state between a trailer and a vehicle, the system comprising:
a camera oriented to capture images of the vehicle trailer hitch coupled to the trailer; and
a controller processing the captured images, controlling placement of the vehicle in a position such that the trailer hitch is aligned to be coupled to the trailer coupler detecting a trailer safety chain connected to a trailer, determining a connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle, and generating an output indicative of the determined connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle, wherein the step of detecting the trailer safety chain comprises comparing the captured images to known safety chain images and recognizing a contour pattern of a chain by recognizing an outline of interconnected linkages of the chain in the image, and wherein the step of determining the connection state of the trailer safety chain to the vehicle comprises determining a continuous safety chain pattern between the vehicle and the trailer.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising a display for displaying the output as a warning to a driver of the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the controller further detects the vehicle is in a trailer mode before generating the output.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the controller compares the captured images to known images of safety chains stored in memory.

9. A vehicle comprising:
a trailer hitch;
a camera oriented to capture images of the trailer hitch;
a hitch assist system for assisting with connecting a trailer to the trailer hitch, wherein the hitch assist system places the vehicle in a position such that the trailer hitch is aligned to be coupled to the trailer coupler; and
a controller processing the captured images, determining a change in a scene of the captured images following placement of a trailer coupler onto a vehicle hitch, determining a trailer connection state based on the change in the scene, and generating an output indicative of the determined trailer connection state, wherein the change in scene is determined based on detecting a change in position of a trailer feature, wherein the step of determining the change in a scene comprises comparing the captured images to known images of trailer features including safety chain images and recognizing a contour pattern of a safety chain by recognizing an outline of interconnected linkages of the chain in the image.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the hitch assist system includes an active suspension for adjusting a height of the trailer hitch relative to the trailer coupler.

11. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the trailer feature comprises one or more of a trailer coupler, a trailer jack assembly and the safety chain.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Niewiadomski Luke
• Trombley Roger Arnold
• Chen Lihui

Classifications

• G06V10/751

  Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching · CPC title

• G06V20/59

  inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions · CPC title

• G06V10/44

  Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• B60D1/06

  Ball-and-socket hitches · CPC title