VEHICLE TRAILER ANGLE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for determining a hitch angle of a trailer attached to a vehicle comprising:
- a rearward-looking video camera mounted on the vehicle and operable to capture images rearward of the vehicle;
an image processor for processing the captured images and locating a marker on the trailer; and
a computing unit determining a hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer based on the located marker.
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Abstract
A vehicle 1 towing a trailer 4 is fitted with three video cameras 5, 6, 7 fitted to the rear of the vehicle and on each door mirror. A view from any camera can be presented to the driver on a display 11. A predicted trailer path, calculated in a computing unit 10, is also presented to the driver on the display 11 as guide lines overlaid on the camera view. The computing unit 10 is also configured to calculate a hitch angle by tracking the position of a trailer-mounted marker in the camera view.
71 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system for determining a hitch angle of a trailer attached to a vehicle comprising:
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a rearward-looking video camera mounted on the vehicle and operable to capture images rearward of the vehicle; an image processor for processing the captured images and locating a marker on the trailer; and a computing unit determining a hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer based on the located marker. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of determining a hitch angle of a trailer towed by a vehicle, comprising:
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obtaining an image of a trailer towed by the vehicle with a rearward-looking video camera mounted to the vehicle; tracking a marker associated with the trailer in the image with an image processor; and determining with a computing unit a hitch angle between the vehicle and trailer based on the tracked marker. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of predicting a path of a trailer attached to a vehicle, comprising:
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measuring a vehicle steering angle; obtaining an image of the trailer with a rearward-looking video camera located on the vehicle; tracking a marker associated with the trailer in the image; determining a hitch angle between the vehicle and trailer based on the location of the marker; calculating a predicted path of the trailer from the hitch angle and vehicle steering angle; and displaying the predicted trailer path on a display. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification