Trailer hitching and backing precision guidance system method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. A method for providing guidance to a vehicle when hitching up to a trailer, said method comprising:
- placing a known target object on one of said vehicle and said trailer and an optical sensor on the other of said vehicle and said trailer;
projecting said known target object through an optical center to produce a real image on an image plane of said optical sensor located behind said optical center, wherein an image plane optical axis is normal to said image plane at an image plane origin;
determining a distance between said vehicle and said trailer in response to a size of said real image on said image plane;
determining a vehicle offset from said optical axis in response to said real image offset from said image plane origin; and
providing said guidance to said vehicle in response to said distance and said vehicle offset.
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Abstract
A target unit mounted on vehicle hitch ball contains a known object target and an optical unit mounted on trailer hitch socket contains an optical sensor. A real image of known object target is projected onto image plane of optical sensor. Vehicle hitching distance and offset from optical axis, normal to image plane origin, is related to real image size and offset from image plane origin respectively. Distance and offset are displayed to driver in the form of remaining distance and relative steering commands.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for providing guidance to a vehicle when hitching up to a trailer, said method comprising:
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placing a known target object on one of said vehicle and said trailer and an optical sensor on the other of said vehicle and said trailer; projecting said known target object through an optical center to produce a real image on an image plane of said optical sensor located behind said optical center, wherein an image plane optical axis is normal to said image plane at an image plane origin; determining a distance between said vehicle and said trailer in response to a size of said real image on said image plane; determining a vehicle offset from said optical axis in response to said real image offset from said image plane origin; and providing said guidance to said vehicle in response to said distance and said vehicle offset. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for providing vehicle guidance when backing up a hitched trailer, said method comprising:
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placing a known target object on one of said trailer a backup destination and an optical sensor at the other of said trailer and said backup destination; projecting said known target object through an optical center to produce a real image on an image plane of said optical sensor located behind said optical center, wherein an image plane optical axis is normal to said image plane at an image plane origin; pointing said optical axis along desired backup path; determining a distance between said trailer and said backup destination in response to a size of said real image on said image plane; determining a vehicle offset from said desired backup path in response to a real image offset from said image plane origin; and providing guidance to said vehicle in response to said distance and said vehicle offset.
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14. An apparatus for providing guidance to a vehicle when hitching to a trailer, said apparatus comprising:
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a target unit mounted on one of said vehicle and said trailer and an optical unit mounted on the other of said vehicle and said trailer; wherein said target unit includes a known target object; wherein said optical unit includes an optical center mounted in front of an optical sensor, said optical center projecting a real image of said known target object on an image plane of said optical sensor, wherein an image plane optical axis is normal to said image plane at an image plane origin; the apparatus further comprising an optical unit processor in communication with said optical sensor; wherein said optical unit processor determines distance between said vehicle and said trailer in response to a size of said real image on said image plane; wherein said optical unit processor determines a vehicle offset from said image plane optical axis in response to a real image offset from said image plane origin; and the apparatus further comprising a driver display unit in communication with said optical unit and providing said guidance to said vehicle in response to said distance and said vehicle offset. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification