US 12,293,542 B1
System and method to locate and label a trailer coupler
Bo Yu, Troy, MI (US); Jiabin Shen, Burnaby (CA); Kamran Ali, Troy, MI (US); Kenneth Weber, Ajax (CA); and Guanyang Luo, Warren, MI (US)
Assigned to GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed by GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed on Oct. 25, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/494,231.
Int. Cl. G06T 7/73 (2017.01); B60K 35/10 (2024.01); B60K 35/28 (2024.01); B60R 1/26 (2022.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)
CPC G06T 7/73 (2017.01) [B60R 1/26 (2022.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01); B60K 35/10 (2024.01); B60K 35/28 (2024.01); B60K 2360/166 (2024.01); B60K 2360/21 (2024.01); B60R 2300/808 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20081 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30252 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for locating a trailer coupler on a trailer to assist with the coupling of the trailer coupler to a vehicle hitch on a vehicle, the system comprising:
a human-machine interface (HMI) disposed within the vehicle;
a camera disposed on the vehicle and detecting an environment surrounding the vehicle;
a global positioning system (GPS) including one or more GPS satellites for obtaining a vehicle position information;
a remote computing system;
a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication network;
a controller having a processor, a memory, and one or more input/output (I/O) ports, the I/O ports in communication with the camera, the HMI, the GPS, and the remote computing system via the V2I communication network; the memory storing programmatic control logic; the processor executing the programmatic control logic; the programmatic control logic including a trailer coupler labeling application (TCLA) including:
a first control logic for sensing, via the camera, at least one of a hitched state and an unhitched state of the trailer coupler with the vehicle hitch;
a second control logic for capturing an optical data with the camera when the vehicle hitch is in the hitched state and in the unhitched state;
a third control logic for determining a distance of the vehicle hitch and trailer coupler relative to the camera when the vehicle hitch is in the hitched state;
a fourth control logic for sensing, via the camera, the movement of the vehicle relative to the trailer when the vehicle hitch is in the unhitched state;
a fifth control logic for determining a location of the trailer coupler when the vehicle hitch is in the unhitched state based, at least in part, on the determined distance of the vehicle hitch and trailer coupler relative to the camera when the vehicle hitch is in the hitched state and the sensed movement of the vehicle relative to the trailer; and
a sixth control logic that identifies the location of the trailer coupler in the captured optical data and creates a label on the trailer coupler in an image defined by the captured optical data.