Abstract:
An electronic towing ball viewer for placement near a towing ball on the exterior of a vehicle, so that a person backing a towing vehicle toward a trailer hitch may see the ball as it approaches the trailer hitch. The unit includes a zoom function which zooms to the lower center, to the right, left, lower left, or lower right of the screen in order to give the user a view of those regions in order to better see a tow ball and trailer hitch.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority date of the provisional application entitled ELECTRONIC VIEWER filed by Leroy E. Anderson on Oct. 5, 2007 with application Ser. No. 60/977,790. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention generally relates to an apparatus for viewing items at the rear of a vehicle, and more particularly to a digital device for viewing the towing hitch of a vehicle. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Trailers and equipment attached to the rear of a towing vehicle are coupled to the vehicle by various types of connections, with a towing ball inter-fitting with a trailer hitch on a trailer tongue being a common system. In order to connect the towing vehicle to the vehicle being towed, the towing vehicle is backed into position so that the towing ball is directly under the hitch of the towed vehicle. Towing vehicles can be trucks or automobiles, and it is difficult for the driver to accurately back up the towed vehicle so that it is perfectly in position under the trailer hitch. Due to difficulty in accurately backing to this position this job is often a two man job, with a spotter giving directions to the driver on how to maneuver the towing vehicle into position. 
         [0004]    Solving this problem is sometime attempted by the use of mirrors, but these are problematic and do not really solve the problem. Accordingly, what is needed is a device for viewing the towing ball of a vehicle as the towing vehicle approaches a trailer hitch to allow for one man connection of a trailer hitch to a towing ball. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The invention is an electronic towing ball viewer, which is mounted to a vehicle in a position so that it can view the towing ball of the vehicle as the vehicle is backed towards a vehicle to be towed. It includes a digital camera lens unit which is mounted adjacent to the towing ball. The towing ball can be on the rear of a vehicle or on the front of a vehicle. 
         [0006]    The device also includes a digital viewing screen unit with a view screen for mounting inside the vehicle. The digital viewing screen unit is operationally connected to a digital camera lens unit for convenient viewing of the towing ball of the vehicle. The operational connection may be by conventional wires or it may be by a wireless connection using any number of wireless formats. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a view of the electronic tow ball viewer of the invention positioned adjacent to a towing ball. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a side view showing the digital camera lens unit viewing a towing ball. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the digital camera lens unit adjacent a towing ball. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a front view of the digital viewing screen unit mounted on a dash board. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0011]    The electronic towing ball viewer of the invention is shown in  FIGS. 1 through 4 .  FIG. 1  shows a towing ball  60  and a trailer hitch  98 . The towing ball  60  will typically be mounted on the rear bumper of a vehicle, but could also be mounted on the front bumper of a vehicle. Shown in  FIG. 1  is a digital camera lens  12  and a digital viewing screen  14 . The digital view screen  14  includes a zoom point selector pad  42  by which the user specifies which portion of the screen to zoom in on. It also includes an off center zoom feature  16  and an off center zoom feature activation button. After selecting the portion of the view screen to zoom in on using the zoom point selection pad  42 , pressing the off center activation button  18  causes the image to zoom in on the selected portion of the image. The device shown in  FIG. 1  includes a speaker/microphone  46  in both the digital viewing screen unit and the digital camera lens unit  14  and  12 . This is so that a spotter, if one is present, and the driver of the towing vehicle can converse using the device of the invention. 
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a side view of a typical towing arrangement showing the towing ball  60  mounted adjacent the bumper  58  of the automobile  56 . The digital camera lens unit  12  is positioned near the bumper  58  of the vehicle and includes a light source  40  for illuminating the towing ball in low light situations. The default range of the camera is shown in the angle designated  66 . This particular range of camera would be useful to identify the position of the trailer hitch as the towing vehicle approached the trailer hitch. As the trailer hitch approached a position directly over the ball  60  the driver of the vehicle could utilize the off center zoom feature to change the angle of the camera toward a downward viewing angle which is shown as  68 . Using this viewing angle the towing ball  60  can be positioned perfectly under the trailer hitch. 
         [0013]      FIG. 3  shows the digital camera lens unit  12  with a light source  40  mounted adjacent to an above towing ball  60 . The default range of the camera is shown as  66 , with a range  70  showing what a camera would see if it zoomed to the left, and a range  72  showing what a camera would see if it zoomed to the right. Also shown are auxiliary camera  74  which may be utilized with the system in order to allow views to the side of the automobile. 
         [0014]    The electronic viewer of the invention is shown in  FIGS. 1-9 .  FIG. 1  shows an exploded view of the electronic viewer of the invention. Shown is the digital viewing screen  14 , the digital camera lens  12 , the display cover  22 , the battery box  26 , and batteries  28 . 
         [0015]    The electronic viewer  10  of the invention further includes a speaker/microphone  46  which is shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the electronic viewer  10  of the invention in which the pieces are assembled and the view screen  14  is visible. 
         [0017]      FIG. 6  shows a cross-sectional view of the electronic viewer  10  of the invention mounted in a door  32 . The door  32  would either be drilled to have a hole through the door, or an existing peephole viewer would be removed from the door, leaving a hole for installation of the electronic viewer  10  of the invention.  FIG. 6  shows the electronic viewer  10  of the invention with the digital viewing screen  14  mounted on one side of the door and the digital camera lens  12 , mounted on the other side of the door. In the example shown in  FIG. 6 , the camera and the view screen are connected by wiring and may be placed inside a door tube  30  as part of the installation kit. The device can also be installed on a door in which there is no pre-existing peephole viewer hole, and the digital camera lens  12  is mounted on one side of the door, and is in communication with the viewing screen  14  using any one of a number of available wireless technologies. 
         [0018]    The electronic viewer  10  of the invention also has the capability of zooming in on an object with a zoom feature which zooms to an off-center region of the screen. It is common in the prior art for an electronic viewing device to zoom straight forward and to magnify the portion of the screen which is in the center of the screen. This is generally a workable practice in Items such as cameras. However, in a viewer which is utilized in a door situation, it is more advantageous to zoom to an area that is not in the center of the view screen. This requires the use of a zoom point selection pad which can be in the form of a pad of buttons shown in  Figure 4 , or can be in the form of a touch screen zoom selection such as shown in  FIG. 44 . By choosing the area to zoom towards, the view screen zooms, for instance, to the lower bottom of the screen, the lower left or right, the right side of the screen, the left side of the screen, or the center left or right upper part of the screen. 
         [0019]      FIG. 4  shows an image of a person in the lower center of the view screen  14 . When a selection is made on the zoom point selection pad  42  to zoom to the lower center of the screen, the view changes to that shown in  FIG. 5 . Shown in  FIG. 4  is a view button  24  which activates the unit and a zoom button  16  which controls the amount of magnification of the image. 
         [0020]      FIG. 5  also shows a magnification button  50 , and a brightness button  48 . The brightness button  48  can be tapped to 
         [0021]    While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. 
         [0022]    While there is shown and described the present preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that this invention is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.