Camera based trailer identification and blind zone adjustment

• US 10,276,049 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aptiv Technologies AG (Aptiv PLC)
• Original Assignee: Aptiv Technologies Limited (Aptiv PLC)
• Inventors: Prasad, Premchand Krishna, Cashler, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Li, Tracy Y.
• Application Number:
  US15/250,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20180061239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 974 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2300/14 Tractor-trailers, i.e. combinations of a towing vehicle and one or more towed vehicles, e.g. caravans; Road trains
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9315 Monitoring blind spots
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93272 in the back of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93274 on the side of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A trailer-identification system is configured to identify a trailer towed by a host-vehicle. The system includes a camera and a controller. The camera is used to capture an image of a trailer towed by a host-vehicle. The controller is in communication with the camera and is configured to detect a character on the trailer, identify a trailer-model of the trailer based on the character, and adjust a blind-zone proximate to the host-vehicle based on the trailer-model.

Claims

1. A trailer-identification system configured to identify a trailer towed by a host-vehicle, said system comprising:

a camera used to capture an image of a trailer towed by a host-vehicle;

a radar-sensor configured to detect an other-vehicle present in a blind-zone proximate to the host-vehicle, said blind-zone extending a distance perpendicular to a left-side and a right-side of the host-vehicle and extending a distance beyond a rear of the trailer;

a database that associates the character in the image with the trailer-model, the database including dimensions of the trailer related to the trailer-model; and

a controller in communication with the camera, the radar-sensor, and the database, said controller configured to detect a character on the trailer, identify a trailer-model of the trailer based on the character, and adjust the blind-zone proximate to the host-vehicle based on the trailer-model, wherein inboard-boundaries of the adjusted blind-zone are collinear with sides of the trailer, and wherein a trailer-boundary is excluded from the blind-zone.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the database includes one of a trailer-width, a trailer-length, and a trailer-height of the trailer-model.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the system includes an angle-detector used to determine a trailer-angle of the trailer, and the controller is further configured to identify the trailer-model based on the trailer-angle.

4. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the blind-zone is further modified based on the trailer-angle.

5. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein a lane-departure-warning is activated when the trailer-angle exceeds an angle-threshold.

6. The system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the angle-threshold is based on the trailer-model.