The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 17, 2010
Filed:
Mar. 20, 2008
Masato Okuda, Novi, MI (US);
Christian Arthur Trager, Canton, MI (US);
Lisa Marie Brown, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Michael Wiegand, Birmingham, MI (US);
Tanemichi Chiba, Novi, MI (US);
Christopher Kurpinski, Berkley, MI (US);
Jeffrey Edward Angeliu, Farmington, MI (US);
Hirohiko Yanagawa, Chiryu, JP;
Yoshihisa Sato, Nagoya, JP;
Toshihiro Wakamatsu, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Justin Mcbride, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Thomas Keeling, Plymouth, MI (US);
Masato Okuda, Novi, MI (US);
Christian Arthur Trager, Canton, MI (US);
Lisa Marie Brown, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Michael Wiegand, Birmingham, MI (US);
Tanemichi Chiba, Novi, MI (US);
Christopher Kurpinski, Berkley, MI (US);
Jeffrey Edward Angeliu, Farmington, MI (US);
Hirohiko Yanagawa, Chiryu, JP;
Yoshihisa Sato, Nagoya, JP;
Toshihiro Wakamatsu, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Justin McBride, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Thomas Keeling, Plymouth, MI (US);
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Erlanger, KY (US);
Denso International America, Inc., Southfield, MI (US);
Denso Corporation, Kariya-Shi, JP;
Abstract
A system for assisting the alignment of a hitch pin mounted on the rear of a vehicle with a hitch socket mounted on the front of a trailer. The system includes a camera mounted to the vehicle and positioned to capture an image rearwardly of the vehicle. A video display is contained within the vehicle which displays the image captured by the camera. A processor is also contained in the vehicle which calculates a preferred path of travel of the vehicle to position the hitch pin in alignment with the hitch socket. The processor is programmed to provide instructions to an operator of the vehicle of the required steering to maintain the vehicle on the preferred path of travel. The processor recalculates the preferred path of travel whenever the vehicle veers from the preferred path of travel by a preset threshold.