JPH061018B2 - Vehicle locking / unlocking control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention identifies a vehicle user by performing predetermined signal communication with a portable device carried by the vehicle user to open and close the vehicle. The present invention relates to a vehicle locking / unlocking control device for controlling locking / unlocking of a body lock device, and more particularly to a signal communication system for discriminating misplacement of the portable device.

[Background of technology]

The applicant of the present application has previously proposed a "radio wave type key system" in Japanese Patent Application No. 57-132118. 4 and 5 show a schematic configuration of this radio wave type key system.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a portable communication device (hereinafter referred to as a portable device), which is carried by a vehicle user in a pocket of pants, for example, instead of a mechanical key. On the other hand, the vehicle 18 is equipped with a locking / unlocking control device 2 for controlling a locking device such as a door, a loop antenna 10 for communication is arranged in the window, and the locking / unlocking control device 2 is provided near the door handle.
A start switch 12 for transmitting a request signal from the portable device 1 to the portable device 1 is provided.

The portable device 1 includes a passive element that receives a request signal transmitted from the lock / unlock control device 2. And
When the driver carrying the portable device 1 manually operates the start switch 12 in order to unlock the door lock, the request signal generating circuit 11 in the locking / unlocking control device 2 is activated to loop the request signal for a certain period of time. Transmit from antenna 10. This request signal is received by the loop antenna 3 of the portable device 1 by the electromagnetic induction effect. Then, on the portable device 1 side, the request signal detection circuit 7
Then, the request signal is detected and the code signal generating circuit 8 is operated.

When the code signal generation circuit 8 is activated, the code signal unique to the vehicle 18 which is stored in the code storage circuit 9 in advance is output. Then, in the modulation circuit 5, the carrier oscillation circuit 6
The carrier signal supplied from the device is modulated by the code signal and transmitted via the output circuit 4 and the loop antenna 3.

Then, on the vehicle side, the unique signal is received via the loop antenna 10 and supplied to the code matching circuit 14 via the receiving / demodulating circuit 13.

The code collating circuit 14 is for determining whether or not the code signal unique to the vehicle registered in advance in the code storage circuit 15 and the code signal match. Only when both code signals match, the actuator The drive circuit 16 is driven.

Then, when the actuator drive circuit 16 is driven, the actuator 17 for unlocking and locking the door lock is driven, and the door lock is unlocked.

By the way, in such a radio key system,
The portable device 1 exists near the locking / unlocking control device 2 on the vehicle side,
Further, the door lock is locked / unlocked whenever the start switch 12 is operated. Therefore, when the driver operates the start switch 12 after leaving the vehicle with the portable device 1 left inside the vehicle, the door lock is locked, but the driver leaves the vehicle without noticing the situation. In that case, since the portable device 1 is present in the vehicle, it is conceivable that the door lock will be unlocked if a third person operates the activation switch 12, so the applicant of the present application has a function for preventing the transmitter from being left behind. A locking / unlocking control device for a vehicle equipped with is proposed.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle locking / unlocking control device having a misplacement prevention function for a portable transmitter has been conventionally configured basically as shown in FIG. 6 (see, for example, JP-A-60-119878).

In this figure, 20 is a portable device carried by a vehicle user, 30 is a locking / unlocking control device mounted on the vehicle, and 21 is an activation switch provided near a door handle or the like. 31 is a communication means including a loop antenna, a request signal generation circuit and a reception demodulation circuit, 36 is a use for identifying the identity of the vehicle user by collating the unique code signal transmitted from the portable device 20 in response to the request signal Person identification means, 39 is a drive circuit of an actuator for controlling the locking device of the vehicle opening / closing body. Therefore, the locking / unlocking control device 30 also controls locking / unlocking of the opening / closing body such as the door based on a predetermined signal communication executed with the portable device 20, similarly to the radio wave key system described with reference to FIG. It has become.

Reference numeral 32 is a misplacement detection means for detecting whether or not the portable device 20 has been misplaced in the vehicle compartment when the door is locked.
The misplacement detection means 32 is composed of a signal level detection means 33, a signal level change detection means 34, and a discrimination means 35. The signal level detecting means 33 transmits the unique code signal transmitted from the portable device 20 (when the vehicle user presses the start switch 21 when leaving the vehicle, the communication means 31 sends a request signal to the portable device 20 at regular intervals. The signal level change detection means 34 detects the signal level change amount based on a plurality of (for example, two) signal levels V ₁ and V ₂ sampled by the signal level detection means 33. To detect. The discriminating means 35 discriminates whether the portable device 20 is left in the vehicle compartment or taken out on the basis of the change amount (V ₁ −V ₂ ) of the unique code signal thus detected. If the amount of change is within the predetermined range, it is left behind, and if it exceeds the predetermined range, it is determined to carry it out. Then, when the determination means 35 determines that the portable device 20 is left behind, the alarm device 22 (for example, a horn).
The warning signal is issued by and the drive circuit 39 of the actuator is driven for a certain period of time to keep the door unlocked. If the vehicle user notices the warning and the portable device 20 is taken out, the drive circuit 39 of the actuator operates to lock the door, while the user does not notice (or ignore) the warning, the door is unlocked, the portable device 20 When a series of actions such as taking out is not performed, after a certain period of time, the drive circuit 39 of the actuator is driven to lock the door. in this case,
The door will be locked by a mechanical key.

As described above, in the locking / unlocking control device 30, when the vehicle user locks the door when leaving the vehicle, when the start switch 21 near the door handle is pressed, the communication means 31 causes the portable device 20 to move. A request signal is transmitted at regular intervals, and the portable device 20 issues a unique code signal in response to the request signal. The misplacement detection means detects misplacement of the portable device 20 based on the signal level change amount of the unique code signal.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, it is desirable to detect misplacement of a portable device as soon as possible. From this point of view, in order to speed up the misplacement detection in the conventional vehicle locking / unlocking control device, it is necessary to shorten the communication interval executed between the portable device and the vehicle-mounted communication means. However, the conventional vehicle locking / unlocking control device transmits a request signal at regular time intervals and communicates by obtaining a response signal (unique code signal) from the portable device. Therefore, if the communication interval is shortened, a predetermined time ( From the time when the start switch is turned on until the actuator drive circuit operates and the door is locked, the number of communications increases, the current consumption increases, and the battery is consumed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to accelerate misplacement detection of a portable device without increasing current consumption.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above problems and achieve the problem, the vehicle locking and unlocking control device of the present invention is provided with communication interval control means for extending the transmission interval time of the request signal with time.

[Action]

According to the present invention, since the transmission interval time of the request signal transmitted from the communication means is extended stepwise, the communication interval between the communication means and the portable device which transmits the unique code signal in response to the request signal. The time also extends over time. Therefore, the communication interval is early at the time of locking the door and becomes late with the passage of time. When the portable device is taken out, the movement of the portable device is fine at the beginning when the door is locked (because the vehicle user is in the vicinity of the vehicle) and increases with the passage of time (because the vehicle user is leaving). In the radio wave key system which is the technical background of the present invention, since the induction electromagnetic field having a high distance attenuation property is used as the communication medium in consideration of the radio interference to the peripheral wireless device, the portable device is separated from the vehicle. As the time goes by, the signal level change of the response signal from the portable device becomes smaller. The reason why the communication interval is extended over time is to correspond to the attenuation of the amount of change in the signal level.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an example of a vehicle locking / unlocking control device according to the present invention, which is provided with communication interval control means 40 for controlling the transmission interval of request signals. This will be described below.

In the figure, 20 is a portable device, 21 is a start switch, and 30 is a locking / unlocking control device mounted on a vehicle. Reference numeral 31 is a communication unit including a loop antenna, a request signal generation circuit, and a reception demodulation circuit. The communication means 31 transmits a request signal to the portable device 20 when the vehicle user leaves the vehicle and locks all the doors of the vehicle by turning on the activation switch 21 or the like, and responds to the request signal. By receiving a unique code signal from the portable device 20, predetermined signal communication is performed. Reference numeral 40 is a communication interval control means for extending the request signal transmission interval from the communication means 31 with time. Since the unique code signal from the portable device 20 is a response signal to the request signal, if the transmission interval of the request signal is extended with time, the communication interval between the portable device 20 and the communication means 31 is also extended with time. Will be done. Reference numeral 31 is a user identification means for comparing the unique code signal from the portable device 20 to identify the identity with the vehicle user, and is composed of a code storage circuit 37 and a code comparison circuit 38.

Reference numeral 39 is a drive circuit of an actuator for controlling the lock device of the vehicle opening / closing body. Therefore, like the conventional device, the locking / unlocking control means 30 also compares the signal code based on the predetermined signal communication executed with the portable device 20 to the door (in the present embodiment, only the door of the vehicle opening / closing body is considered). ) Is controlled to lock and unlock.

Reference numeral 32 is a misplacement detection means for detecting whether or not the portable device 20 has been misplaced in the vehicle compartment when the door is locked.
This misplacement detection means 32, a signal level detection means 33 for detecting the signal level of the unique code signal from the portable device 20,
It is composed of a discrimination means 35 for discriminating misplacement of the portable device 20 based on the presence / absence of fluctuation of the signal level detected by the signal level detection means 33, and the communication interval control means 40.
42 and 43 are, for example, a door state detection device that detects a closed state of a door in a two-door vehicle and outputs an H level signal, and 44 is a lock of all doors (key lock, keyless lock, various kinds of operation by operating the start switch 21). Reference numeral 45 denotes a gate circuit which outputs an H level signal when locked. The misplacement detection means 32 operates when the H level signal is output from the gate circuit 45, starts sampling of the unique code signal from the portable device 20, detects a change in the signal level, and leaves the portable device 20 behind. Make a distinction.
Reference numeral 22 is an alarm device that issues a warning when the misplacement detection means 32 detects misplacement of the portable device 20.

Next, the misplacement detection of the portable device 20 by the locking / unlocking control device 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The misplacement detection means 32 starts its operation when all the doors are closed and all the doors are locked, and initializes the signal level sampling counter N to O (S-
1). It then sends a request signal to the portable device 20 (S-2), detects the signal level (V _M) of the response signal thereto (S-3). Next, it is judged whether or not it is taken out (S-4), but when the count value (N) is O (that is, the first sampling number), the fluctuation of the signal level cannot be judged. N to N +
The signal level of the response signal is detected again by shifting to 1 (S-5 → S-9). This misplacement detection means 32, for example, the determination of the take-out when a response signal level different values twice consecutively when the response signal level V _M and the count value N ≠ O when the count value N = O Therefore, when N = 1 (the second sampling number), the carry-out determination cannot be made, and after waiting for 0.3 seconds,
After shifting to N = 2, the third signal level sampling is performed. Then, when the signal levels are different from the signal level V _M when N = 0 in the second and third samplings, it is determined that the device is taken out, and the misplacement detection process ends.

Reference numeral O in FIG. 3 indicates a carry-out determination. Therefore, the signal level of the response signal is 2 even after the third time.
When the value becomes different from V _M continuously, it is judged to be taken out, and the misplacement detection operation ends.

Next, if N = 2 and no carry-out decision is made, 0.
After waiting for 4 seconds, shift to N = 3 and perform the next sampling (S-6 → S-10). Then, when N = 3 (the fourth sampling number), when the same signal level as V _M is detected three times in a row, the misplacement judgment is made and the vehicle user is notified of the misplacement of the portable device 20 via the alarm device 22. Warning. The symbol X in FIG. 3 indicates a case where a warning is given. The warning is given at 1 second intervals from 1 second to 13 seconds after the start of misplacement detection. That is, after issuing a warning at N = 3, waiting for 0.5 seconds and shifting to N = 4, the next sampling is performed (S-7 → S-
11) If the misplacement judgment is made even when N = 4, wait 0.5 seconds without shifting a warning, shift to N = 5 (S-7 → S-11), and perform the next signal sampling. . The symbol Δ in FIG. 3 indicates such a state of misplacement determination → waiting period for next sampling.

Then, when N = 13, the carry-out judgment is not made yet, and after issuing the warning, the waiting time until the next sampling (that is, the communication interval time) is extended to 10 seconds (S-8 → S-1).
2). Then, the sampling is continued until N = 16, and when the carry-out determination is still impossible, the detection processing is ended, the signal output level of the portable device 20 is lowered, and the door opening operation by a third person is prevented. The symbol ▲ in FIG. 3 indicates the end of the detection process.

In this embodiment, the timing for activating the misplacement detection means is set to the time when all the doors of the vehicle are closed and all the doors are locked, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the door is opened. You may make it start from. Further, as the misplacement detection method, the determination is made based on whether the first sampling signal V _M and the subsequent sampling signal are the same. However, the present invention is not limited to such a method, and for example, two signal levels before and after may be used. It is also possible to judge whether or not the variation amount is within a predetermined range. Also,
Needless to say, the setting of the communication interval time is not limited to the above embodiment.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, since the vehicle locking / unlocking control device according to the present invention is configured to extend the predetermined communication interval time during locking with the portable device over time, the operation is not terminated by the carry-out determination. When the communication is not performed, the number of communications can be reduced corresponding to the movement of the portable device, and the power consumption can be reduced reasonably. Further, along with this, the number of signal detections immediately after the start of the operation can be increased, so that the misplacement detection or the carry-out determination becomes faster. If the misplacement detection becomes earlier, a warning can be issued to the vehicle user sooner, and if the carry-out determination becomes earlier, the end of operation becomes faster and extra power consumption can be avoided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a vehicle locking / unlocking control device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of misplacement detection processing of the vehicle locking / unlocking control device according to the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a table showing an operating state of misplacement detection means according to the present invention, FIGS. 4 and 5 are configuration diagrams showing a general example of a radio wave key system, and FIG. 6 is a conventional vehicle having misplacement detection means. It is a block diagram showing a locking / unlocking control device. 20 ... Portable device 30 ... Locking / unlocking control device 31 ... Communication means 32 ... Misplacement detection means 40 ... Communication interval control means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A portable device based on communication means for performing a predetermined signal communication with a portable device by transmitting a request signal a plurality of times when a door is opened and closed, and a presence or absence of a signal level change of a response signal from the portable device. In a vehicle locking and unlocking control device having a misplacement detection means for detecting misplacement of the machine,
A locking / unlocking control device for a vehicle, comprising a communication interval control means for extending the transmission interval time of the request signal with time.