SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN VEHICLE AND TRAILER AND METHOD OF USING THE SAME
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for use with a vehicle and a trailer, comprising:
- a plurality of electrical components mounted on the trailer, wherein each of the electrical components is a tail lamp component;
a plurality of communication modules mounted on the trailer that each includes an input/output device coupled to a modem, wherein each of the input/output devices is a rear facing camera directed to an area directly behind the trailer, and wherein a field of view of each of the cameras overlaps to provide video data that can be combined at the vehicle to obtain three-dimensional information regarding the area behind the trailer;
a plurality of power lines mounted on the trailer that are each coupled to one of the electrical components and one of the modems; and
a vehicle-trailer interface mounted on the trailer that is coupled to the power lines and is arranged to connect with a corresponding interface mounted on the vehicle, wherein the system is configured such that the power lines both provide electrical power to the electrical components and convey the video data for the modems.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for communication between a vehicle and trailer over existing power lines, such as by using a power line communication (PLC) arrangement. A PLC modem may convey data over electrical power that is supplied on the power lines and/or may elicit data from electrical power supplied on the power lines. This enables one or more electronic control units (ECUs) on the vehicle to communicate with input/output devices on the trailer, such as rearward-facing cameras or braking devices, without having to provide separate, dedicated communication lines therebetween.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A system for use with a vehicle and a trailer, comprising:
-
a plurality of electrical components mounted on the trailer, wherein each of the electrical components is a tail lamp component; a plurality of communication modules mounted on the trailer that each includes an input/output device coupled to a modem, wherein each of the input/output devices is a rear facing camera directed to an area directly behind the trailer, and wherein a field of view of each of the cameras overlaps to provide video data that can be combined at the vehicle to obtain three-dimensional information regarding the area behind the trailer; a plurality of power lines mounted on the trailer that are each coupled to one of the electrical components and one of the modems; and a vehicle-trailer interface mounted on the trailer that is coupled to the power lines and is arranged to connect with a corresponding interface mounted on the vehicle, wherein the system is configured such that the power lines both provide electrical power to the electrical components and convey the video data for the modems. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A system for use with a vehicle and a trailer, comprising:
-
a modem mounted on the vehicle; an electronic control unit (ECU) that is mounted on the vehicle and that is configured to provide data to the modem; a power line mounted on the vehicle that is coupled to the modem; a separate power line mounted on the vehicle that provides electrical power to the vehicle-trailer interface directly from a power source; a vehicle-trailer interface mounted on the vehicle that is coupled to the power line and is arranged to connect with a corresponding interface mounted on the trailer, wherein the system is configured such that the power line both provides electrical power to one or more braking devices of the trailer and conveys trailer braking data for the modem, wherein the trailer braking data is data that can be used to control the one or more braking devices of the trailer, and wherein the separate power line provides supplemental electrical power to the one or more braking devices; and a trailer sway detector, wherein the ECU is coupled to the trailer sway detector such that the trailer sway detector provides trailer sway data to the ECU and wherein the trailer braking data provided to the modem by the ECU is based at least partly on the trailer sway data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
15. (canceled)
-
19. A method of communicating data between a vehicle and a trailer, comprising the steps of:
-
exchanging data between an electronic control unit (ECU) and a modem, wherein the ECU and the modem are mounted on the vehicle; transferring electrical power between the modem and a vehicle-trailer interface via a power line, wherein the vehicle-trailer interface and the power line are mounted on the vehicle; transferring supplementary electrical power from a power source included in the vehicle to the vehicle-trailer interface via a second power line; receiving trailer sway data at the ECU from a plurality of trailer sway detectors mounted on the vehicle, wherein the trailer sway data is received at the ECU via a vehicle communications bus; generating brake control data based on the trailer sway data, wherein the brake control data includes two or more control signals for each of two or more braking devices mounted on the trailer, wherein each of the two or more control signals indicates to the braking devices a braking level that is to be applied by the braking device, and wherein the vehicle-trailer interface is configured to provide the supplementary electrical power to each of the two or more braking devices on the trailer; and sending the brake control data from the modem to the vehicle-trailer interface via the power line at the same time the electrical power is transferring between the modem and the vehicle-trailer interface.
-
Specification