The invention relates to a trailer brake control system, in particular an anti tow or anti theft system.

Trailers of commercial vehicle combinations will often be parked outside of a secured yard of the transport company, which provides a window of opportunity for unauthorized movement of those vehicles. A number of technical solutions have been developed to protect a trailer from being stolen or to reduce its attractiveness. At a basic level, such solutions are simple mechanical locks that can be applied to the coupling of the trailer to prevent the trailer from being coupled to a truck.

More advanced anti-theft solutions have been developed which typically use an arrangement offering control over the parking braking system of the trailer. GB2417764 discloses a parking brake which is applied by removal of fluid pressure from the spring actuator. The valve is moved to a second condition in which fluid pressure is prevented from being applied to the spring actuator to release the parking brake, until the valve is reset manually.

EP3481685 discloses a vehicle braking system comprising a spring brake control assembly and an immobiliser valve which is movable between brake release position in which the spring brake control assembly is operable to cause the flow of pressurised fluid into the spring brake chamber or to vent the spring brake chamber to a low pressure region, and an immobilise position in which the spring brake control assembly is operable to connect the spring brake chamber to a low pressure region but cannot be operated to cause the flow of pressurised fluid into the spring brake chamber.

These systems provide a permanent application of the parking braking system that can only be set and reset when a set of criteria would be fulfilled. Generally all such systems do have to rely on the existing infrastructure within the Trailer braking system so that the connections between the components which form the braking system are relatively easy accessible. There are also solutions based on GSM and/or GPS hardware. An example of this is US2015217727 which discloses an approach which uses an embedded security system installed on the trailer which transmit data from a refrigerated trailer such as the trailer's present position, a speed of the trailer, a temperature set point in the trailer, a return air temperature, a discharge air temperature, an operating mode, a unit mode, an alarm status, an hours of operation indication, a fuel quantity, a fuel consumption rate and total, a status of a door, a battery voltage, and other sensed information. In response, the remote control system can communicate with and/or send commands back to the trailer. The security system can be part of the refrigeration control unit or a standalone system and can track unauthorized movement of the trailer. GSM and GPS systems on trailers have not been widely adopted due to the additional costs for operators and they are relatively easy to disable if their presence is known.

Therefore such systems do provide a certain protection against theft of trailers, but only to an extent that spontaneous theft of parked vehicles might be successfully avoided. Anyone with knowledge about the infrastructure of trailer braking systems or the GSM and GPS systems, which is likely to be most of those involved in the process of stealing and disposing of a trailer, can overcome these security solutions too easily.

Many of the known anti-theft systems require authentication from the user before the trailer can be used and there are a number of different approaches. Conventional solutions can work with classic keys. More advanced systems require a multiple digit PIN Code to be entered into a suitable control panel to release the brakes.

The various known different solutions for a driver authentication creates certain problems for the usability of the protected vehicles. Whenever trailers are used by a variety of drivers it means that keys will need to get handed over from one driver to the next. Another possibility would be to hand out more than one key to all the drivers that shall be able to move one trailer. If a certain procedure is required to disable a locking mechanism then the knowledge of that procedure needs to be passed to all relevant drivers of the vehicle. The same applies to PIN Codes that might be required for unlocking of an anti-theft device, which would be known by a significant number of people. As drivers move between jobs, PIN Codes would need to be constantly updated and so this approach represents a significant security risk. Additionally all of the above proposals simply describe that the use of known anti-theft devices inevitably have a certain impact on the efficiency of the usage of the commercial vehicle when such efficiency is generally considered as crucial.

The present invention therefore seeks to provide a more efficient anti tow or anti theft solution for a trailer.

According to the invention there is provided a trailer vehicle control system according to the features of Claim 1

Preferred aspects of the invention can be found in the sub-claims.

Preferably, the brake control module is adapted to send a second identification code, which second identification code is used to register the biometric identifier with the first device and the mapping of the biometric identification to the first identification code.

Preferably, the biometric identifier is one or more of a fingerprint or face

The principle underlying the invention is the enablement of biometric identification to control the brakes on a trailer vehicle and to alert the driver to the unauthorized use of the trailer. The advantage of using such an authorization mechanism for the anti-theft system is that it is much easier to use and so the use of the anti-theft systems would increase compared to the classic multi-digit PIN code.

Drivers would benefit from such an improved mechanism since they would not have to remember several PIN Codes for different vehicles, but could always use one general authentication for the range of vehicles that are assigned to them for use.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a known trailer electronic braking system Fig. 2 shows schematically the electrical connection in a further embodiment of the invention

Figure 1 shows a trailer electronic braking system in which the utility vehicle trailer has a steerable front axle with front wheels 1, 2 and a rear axle with rear wheels 3, 4. Rotational wheel speed sensors 5-8 are in each case assigned to the front wheels 1, 2 and the rear wheels 3, 4, and are connected by way of electric lines 9-12 with an electropneumatic brake pressure control module 13 (EBS module) which is primarily assigned to the rear axle brakes. One brake 14-17 is in each case assigned to the front wheels 1, 2 and the rear wheels 3, 4, which brake 14-17 can be applied by means of brake cylinders 18, 19 of the front axle or spring-loaded brake cylinders 20, 21 of the rear axle.

The braking system of the trailer vehicle can be connected by way of three connections, specifically a pneumatic supply line connection 22, a pneumatic control line connection 23 and an electric control connection 24, with the braking system of a tractor or a further trailer. The electric control line 24 provides the ISO 11992 CAN data connection.

The supply line connection 22 is connected by way of a return valve 25 and a parking valve 26 with an air brake reservoir 27. From the air brake reservoir 27, a pneumatic line 28, 30 leads to a supply input of the pressure control module 13 and ABS valve 32. In addition, a pneumatic line 29 branches off the parking valve 26 to the pressure control module 13. A pneumatic line 30 extends between the parking valve 26 and the air brake reservoir 27.

The ABS valve 32 is assigned jointly to both brake cylinders 18, 19 of the front axle and is connected with the brake cylinder 18 by way of a pneumatic line 33 and with the brake cylinder 19 by way of a pneumatic line 34. The ABS valve 32 has two electric control inputs which are connected by way of "one" electric line 35 shown here only schematically with the pressure control module 13.

Furthermore, the ABS valve 32 has a pneumatic control input 36 which is connected by way of a return valve 37 with the pneumatic control connection 23. The pneumatic control input 36 is also connected by way of a pneumatic control line 38 with a pneumatic control input of the pressure control module 13. The pressure control module 13 has an integrated pressure sensor (not shown) which measures the pressure in the pneumatic control line 38, that is, the control pressure present at the pneumatic control input 36 of the ABS valve, which control pressure is identical to the maximal pressure which can be controlled into the brake cylinders 18, 19.

The pressure control module 13 has pneumatic outputs 39-42 which are connected by way of assigned pneumatic lines with the spring brake cylinders 20 or 21.

Furthermore, pneumatic axle load sensors or air bellows 43, 44 are provided at the rear axle and permit a determination of the axle load, particularly of the dynamic axle load during braking and starting. The axle load sensors or air bellows 43, 44 are connected by way of pneumatic lines with the pressure control module 13. Correspondingly the pressure in airbags 45, 46 provided at the front axle, which here are electrically controlled, may be detected by the transducer 47. However, the axle load sensors 45,46 are not absolutely necessary.

To provide stability control a lateral acceleration sensor 50 is provided, which may also be integrated with a yaw sensor, and the output of the lateral acceleration sensor is fed to the pressure control module/ECU 13. Typically the lateral acceleration sensor 50 is integrated into the pressure control module/ECU 13. In the event that lateral acceleration on the trailer is detected, the pressure control module can provide for increased brake force at the front and/or rear axles. When the lateral acceleration sensor 50 detects lateral acceleration on the trailer in which it is installed, the sensor generates a signal setting the stability control to active.

With respect to the embodiment described to Figure 1, the ABS valve 32 may be replaced with an electro-pneumatic valve where the electric control line 35 consists of a commutation means preferably CAN and an electric power source.

The pressure control module 13 receives data from the wheel speed sensors on the trailer and also receives a signal indicating whether the brake pedal in the vehicle cab is depressed or not, as well as the brake pressure demand. In addition to the ISO 7638 electrical connection shown, trailers can also have an ISO 1185 electrical connection for supplying power to indicator lights and the trailer stop lights.

In an alternative installation of the braking system shown schematically in Figure 2 in a trailer 400. The front end of the trailer, denoted by kingpin 401, is provided with a separate ISO 12098 connector 402 and ISO 7638 connector 403. The ISO 7638 connector 403 is provided with an electronic control unit 404. The electronic control unit 404 is connected by way of an electrical and CAN bus connection 405 to the trailer EBS 406 and by way of electrical connection 407 to a splitter 408, which is also connected to the ISO 12098 connector 402 and which provides the connection to the trailer lighting system. The trailer lighting system The trailer lighting system, which is symmetrically arranged on the trailer, comprises rear light clusters 409, which clusters include the brake, reversing and night lights, top 410 and bottom 411 rear marker lights, four side marker lights 412 and a front marker light 413 the system is provided with the ISO 7638 and, optionally, ISO 1185 (or alternately ISO12098) connections being connected to an electronic control module. The electronic control module can be located at the trailer headboard and receive the brake and running gear control signals from the Truck-Trailer CAN bus. The trailer electronic module is further connected to a first trailer brake CAN bus, to which the trailer brake module (equivalent to EBS module 13) is connected The trailer brake module is further connected to wheel speed sensors and Auxiliary I/O.

In this embodiment, the trailer is provided with an internal CAN bus, in particular a 5V CAN bus, to enable auxiliary devices or functions to be installed such as a trailer information module, tyre pressure monitoring system or trailer access point. The internal bus is connected to the trailer electronic pressure module.

The ISO 11992 standard defines a maximum speed on the bus at 125 Kb/s as the signal on that CAN bus has a range from 0 to the truck battery voltage. As trailers are disconnected and reconnected frequently, there is inevitably damage to the connectors resulting in attenuation of the voltage. On the known systems, a 5V CAN bus is unsuitable for connection to a truck due to this damage as the signal will be attenuated from too low a level to provide a reliable signal over the life time of the system. The connection between the electronic control module and the module and is however permanent upon installation. The absence of any connection damage leads to much reduced signal attenuation on the CAN bus connections so the 5V CAN bus can be used. Moreover, the speed of the data signals on this CAN bus can also be increased to 250Kb/s or higher, which in turn enables much more data to be placed on the CAN bus. This enables the introduction of further functionality on the trailer such as obstruction detection or lane control.

The trailer internal CAN bus enables auxiliary devices or functions to be installed such as a trailer information module, tyre pressure monitoring system or trailer access point such as that disclosed in GB2499459. The trailer internal bus is connected to the electronic control module.

The electronic control module comprises a power management function, the CAN bus connections and the warning light circuit connection. The control logic for the trailer brake system is located in this module rather than in the brake control module.

When the anti-theft system is activated via a secure CAN message or other secure signal directly to the EBS modulator the brake control module (13) of the trailer applies the parking brake system for the trailer and may also store that status internally or alternatively make use of a trailer access point, if installed. It would both keep the parking braking system exhausted (i.e. applied) as well as the desired status of the anti theft system stored as activated until the anti-theft system is deactivated by an authorised user.

The brake control module monitors the outputs of the wheel speed sensors on the wheels of the trailer. If the brake control module detects wheel speed of all wheels signals when the anti theft system has an activated status and the wheel speed signals are within a plausible tolerance between the individual sensors, the brake control module can assume that the vehicle is being driven and/or being used in an unauthorised way. Preferably, the signals are taken from all the wheel speed sensors on the trailer to provide security against false activation but fewer signals could be used. The brake control module can then act in one or more of a number of ways. These methods could be programmed into the brake control module by the trailer OEM, which advantageously will not require additional hardware on the trailer.

In a first embodiment, when vehicle speed is detected under an anti-theft ACTIVE condition, the brake control module will pulse the trailer brakes a set number of times, for example 10 times, to warn the driver and to therefore lead the driver to stop the vehicle. If the vehicle nonetheless continues driving and reaches the configured Full Brake Limit (with an exemplary range between 9-30 km/h and a preferred value of 28 km/h) a full brake activation will be made on the trailer. The vehicle will be braked to standstill and held for 20 seconds. This function can then be disabled for the remainder of the power cycle of the trailer. If during the 20 seconds holding period the driver applies a brake pressure of more than say 5 bar, the function is reset to its initial state and will operate as described before. If the vehicle cannot be stopped with the full brake activation, this function should be disabled. In other words the requested brake activation is removed after 40 seconds to avoid overheating of the brakes. When the vehicle stops the function will be reset and will operate as described as above. When the function is activated or disabled the yellow warning lamp on the truck will be illuminated and during the braking phases the tractor can be signalled over the ISO11992 CAN bus to illuminate the stop lights on the trailer. When the anti-theft is deactivated this function is deactivated. If the vehicle is driven with the anti-theft deactivated and later during driving the anti-theft is detected as activated and the speed exceeds 30 km/h for 30 seconds the detection of the anti theft system active shall be treated as defect and the function disabled. Again, the yellow warning lamp will be illuminated. . Alternatively or additionally, the RED Lamp could be illuminated. As the RED lamp indicates STOP Now, and on many vehicles will cause the dashboard to emit an audible warning signal.

For that authentication process a smart device (phone or tablet) that offers biometric identification such as a fingerprint reading or the facial recognition can be used either directly or the use of built-in short range communication technology in such devices so that bringing such a device in close proximity to a vehicle mounted device can enable the biometric identifiers to be authenticated. The Trailer EBS 13, 404, 406 is provided with a trailer access point or microcontroller that has an interface feature to enable a connection to a smart device to be established. This can be either wirelessly or via the vehicle CAN bus or powerline.

When the anti-theft system is programmed by the Trailer OEM it will require a set up to be executed. This can be done by the Trailer OEM as a service for its customer or by the customer themselves.

Therefore the anti-theft system would normally be handed over to the Customer with a documentation package including a standard authentication mechanism which would consist of a PIN code and a PUK (personal unlocking key) code. The PUK code would be used to link the trailer EBS to the authentication device.

In the case that a separate device is used with the capability of a fingerprint reading or facial recognition, then during the setup process of the anti-theft system, the configuration program for the anti-theft system will offer a possibility to map a set of fingerprints or biometric markers of a face with the PIN Code. The aforementioned device that would be capable biometric identifier reading itself. Alternatively, the configuration program could also offer the administration of biometric identifiers such as fingerprints or faces suitable for authentication of the respective vehicle.

If on the other side a smart device (smartphone or tablet) would be used, then the respective App on that smart device can offer the mapping of a set of fingerprints and/or facial recognition with one PIN Code.

It would also be possible for the brake control module to send a specific message to a connected telematics system that would then be immediately transmitted to the vehicle owner so that they would be alerted to unauthorized usage of the vehicle.

It would be possible for the braking ECU to keep a list or database of authorized access codes (individual fingerprints without knowing which real persons those belong to). The external device on which the App would be executed will request the user to enter the access code (fingerprint) and then submit that kind of access code to the braking ECU which would compare with the stored authorized access codes. Only if the submitted code would match one of the stored authorized ones, then the activation / deactivation would be executed. The same would apply to facial verification.

In the event of unauthorised driving being detected with the anti theft system set to active, it would additionally or alternatively be possible for certain auxiliary functions under the control of the brake control module, such as lift-axle control, automatic load distribution functions or cornering aids, to be disabled. It would further also be possible to actuate a lock function for a steering axle if the trailer has one. Each of these steps will reduce the attractiveness of the trailer to a potential thief..

It would further be possible for the brake control module to send an error message via the CAN bus to the truck to cause an error message to be displayed that the trailer should not be driven any further.

It would also be possible for information regarding the unauthorized usage to be stored by the brake control module, which would be accessible to a technician carrying out a diagnostic session at a later time to inform them about the unauthorized use of the vehicle.

At this time, the standards in force are ISO 1185:2003 ISO 7638-1/2:2018, ISO 11992:2021 and 18012098:2020.