Granted Patent B2

US 12,472,872 · App. 18/425,983 · Granted Nov 18, 2025

Inventor: Brian Karl Lickfelt (Powell, OH)

Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

B60R1/072B60N2/0237B60N2/0248B60N2/0278B60N2/10

Abstract

Claims (54)

1 . A system, comprising:

control circuitry that is communicatively coupled to a sensor system of a vehicle:

receives, from the sensor system, sensor information indicative of a squat condition of the vehicle, caused by a load on a towed trailer that is coupled to the vehicle;

determines a first position of a mirror assembly or a seat assembly of the vehicle;

determines, based on the sensor information, an offset by which the mirror assembly or the seat assembly is to be moved with reference to the first position; and

controls, based on the offset, a movement of at least one of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly to a second position that is different from the first position,

wherein the sensor information includes a plurality of levels of the squat condition corresponding to a plurality of timestamps, and wherein the control circuitry further:

determines a first level of the plurality of levels at a first timestamp of the plurality of timestamps and a second level of the plurality of levels at a second timestamp of the plurality of timestamps; and

skips the determination of the offset and the control of the movement based on a determination that a difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp is below a threshold time.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor system comprises at least one of:

a stroke sensor disposed on a bed space of the towed trailer; and

one or more cameras located on a rear portion of the vehicle.

3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further updates the offset in a user profile associated with the vehicle, and the user profile is stored on at least one of a key fob, a cloud server, or a personal computing device.

4 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the offset includes an offset angle and a direction of rotation as one of a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction.

5 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein the offset angle is equal to a value of angular displacement included in the sensor information, and the value of angular displacement corresponds to a level of the squat condition that is caused by the load on the towed trailer.

6 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein the mirror assembly comprises a first outside rearview mirror on a first side of the vehicle and a second outside rearview mirror on a second side of the vehicle, and wherein each of the first outside rearview mirror and the second outside rearview mirror is moved by the offset angle in the counterclockwise direction based on the determined offset.

7 . The system according to claim 6 , wherein the control circuitry further detects a lean in the vehicle based on the sensor information,

wherein the offset is determined further based on the detection of the lean and includes a first offset angle for the first outside rearview mirror and a second offset angle for the second outside rearview mirror, and the first offset angle is different from the second offset angle.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further:

detects a mode of the vehicle as a towing mode; and

controls a display device associated with the vehicle based on the detection to render the offset and the squat condition associated with the vehicle on a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

9 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the GUI comprises a prompt overlay with an option to lock the movement of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly before the movement of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly is controlled.

10 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the GUI further comprises an option to save the offset as a preferred setting associated with a towing mode of the vehicle, and wherein the control circuitry further:

detects an activation of the towing mode of the vehicle; and

controls the movement of at least one of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly further based on the activation of the towing mode and the preferred setting associated with the towing mode.

11 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further:

detects a change in a mode of the vehicle from a towing mode to an active driving mode that is different from the towing mode;

updates the offset based on the detection of the change; and

controls the movement of at least one of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly from the second position to the first position based on the updated offset.

12 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further locks the mirror assembly to the first position while the seat assembly is moved to the second position.

13 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further locks the seat assembly to the first position while the mirror assembly is moved to the second position.

14 . A method, comprising:

in a system that includes control circuitry communicatively coupled to a sensor system of a vehicle:

receiving, from the sensor system, sensor information indicative of a squat condition of the vehicle, caused by a load on a towed trailer that is coupled to the vehicle;

determining a first position of a mirror assembly or a seat assembly of the vehicle;

determining, based on the sensor information, an offset by which the mirror assembly or the seat assembly is to be moved with reference to the first position;

controlling, based on the offset, a movement of at least one of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly to a second position that is different from the first position; and

controlling a display device associated with the vehicle to render the offset and the squat condition associated with the vehicle on a Graphical User Interface (GUI), wherein the GUI comprises a prompt overlay with an option to lock the movement of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly before the movement of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly is controlled.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the sensor system comprises at least one of:

a sensor disposed on a bed space of the towed trailer; and

one or more cameras located on a rear portion of the vehicle.

16 . The method according to claim 14 , further comprising updating the offset in a user profile associated with the vehicle, wherein the user profile is stored on at least one of a key fob, a cloud server, or a personal computing device.

17 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the offset includes an offset angle and a direction of rotation as one of a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the mirror assembly comprises a first outside rearview mirror on a first side of the vehicle and a second outside rearview mirror on a second side of the vehicle, and

wherein each of the first outside rearview mirror and the second outside rearview mirror is moved by the offset angle in the counterclockwise direction based on the determined offset.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a system for a vehicle, cause the system to execute operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, from a sensor system of the vehicle, sensor information indicative of a squat condition of the vehicle, caused by a load on a towed trailer that is coupled to the vehicle;

determining a first position of a mirror assembly or a seat assembly of the vehicle;

determining, based on the sensor information, an offset by which the mirror assembly or the seat assembly is to be moved with reference to the first position;

controlling, based on the offset, a movement of at least one of the mirror assembly or the seat assembly to a second position that is different from the first position; and

detecting a lean in the vehicle based on the sensor information, wherein the mirror assembly comprises a first rearview mirror on a first side of the vehicle and a second rearview mirror on a second side of the vehicle, and wherein the offset is determined further based on the detection of the lean and includes a first offset angle for the first rearview mirror and a second offset angle for the second rearview mirror, and the first offset angle is different from the second offset angle.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 19 , wherein the sensor information includes a plurality of levels of the squat condition corresponding to a plurality of timestamps, and wherein the operations further comprising:

determining a first level of the plurality of levels at a first timestamp of the plurality of timestamps and a second level of the plurality of levels at a second timestamp of the plurality of timestamps; and

skipping the determination of the offset and the control of the movement based on a determination that a difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp is below a threshold time.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (20)