CN111663870A

CN111663870A - Concealed door handle controller

Info

Publication number: CN111663870A
Application number: CN202010540729.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邓兆平; 向松; 彭浩
Original assignee: Continental Automotive Research & Development Chongqing Co ltd
Current assignee: Continental Automotive Research & Development Chongqing Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-15
Filing date: 2020-06-15
Publication date: 2020-09-15

Abstract

A hidden door handle control configured to communicate with a keyless entry system, the hidden door handle control comprising: the control part judges whether effective pressing action exists on the door handle or not based on the door handle position change detected by the position sensor, if the effective pressing action exists, the keyless entry system is triggered to start identity authentication, and after the identity authentication passes, the control part drives the execution mechanism to unfold the hidden door handle. For the vehicle with the position sensor, the unlocking intention of the user is judged only through software processing, namely through detection of the position change of the door handle, so that other hardware is not needed, and the hardware cost is saved.

Description

Concealed door handle controller

Technical Field

The invention relates to a vehicle body control technology, in particular to a hidden door handle control device.

Background

In the keyless entry system equipped to the current vehicle, a user can conveniently unlock the entry vehicle by carrying a remote control key or a smart device having a virtual key with him. To detect the unlocking intention of the user, a physical button or a capacitive sensor is generally adopted as a detection device in the current design. The user triggers the key validity authentication by pressing a physical key or touching a capacitive sensor mounted inside the door handle. After the key validity authentication is passed, the door handle may be deployed based on monitoring of changes in the door handle position by a position sensor (e.g., a hall sensor) so that the user may open the vehicle door.

However, the physical keys or the capacitive sensors require a certain hardware cost. In addition, for some vehicles equipped with hidden door handles, since the door handles are retracted inside the vehicle body before unlocking is triggered, the user cannot touch the inside of the door handles to reveal the intention of unlocking, and the capacitive sensor is difficult to function.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention solves the problem of providing a hidden door handle control device with lower hardware cost.

The hidden door handle control is configured to communicate with a keyless entry system, the hidden door handle control comprising: the control part judges whether effective pressing action exists on the door handle or not based on the door handle position change detected by the position sensor, if the effective pressing action exists, the keyless entry system is triggered to start identity authentication, and after the identity authentication passes, the control part drives the execution mechanism to unfold the hidden door handle.

Compared with the prior art, the scheme has the following advantages: for the vehicle with the position sensor, the unlocking intention of the user is judged only through software processing, namely through detection of the position change of the door handle, so that other hardware is not needed, and the hardware cost is saved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario for handling unlocking of a hidden door handle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a hidden door handle employed by the hidden door handle control apparatus to detect a valid press motion according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the logic processing for a hidden door handle control device to detect valid pressing actions according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an application of the hidden door handle control device to handle unlocking according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention to those skilled in the art. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Furthermore, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described. Rather, it is contemplated that the invention may be practiced with any combination of the following features and elements, whether or not they relate to different embodiments. Thus, the following aspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrative and should not be considered elements or limitations of the claims except where explicitly recited in a claim.

Fig. 1 illustrates an application scenario in which a hidden door handle control apparatus handles unlocking according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 1, the hidden door handle control apparatus includes: the position sensor, the control part and the actuating mechanism are arranged at the hidden door handle. Specifically, a position sensor is arranged to detect the position change of the door handle lever, and the control part controls the movement of the door handle lever through the actuating mechanism, so that the hidden door handle is unfolded or retracted. And, through the handle control to door handle position change can also be to hidden door handle's expansion or retraction control more accurately. The position sensor may be provided in the door handle mechanism assembly or in the control unit. When the position sensor is disposed in the door handle mechanism assembly, the position information of the door handle lever is transmitted to the control portion. The control unit contains the processing logic for door handle control, position detection and press detection, which can generally be implemented in software.

How the door handle control device detects the unlocking intention of the user is further described below with reference to fig. 1, 2, and 3. Referring to fig. 1 and 2, in the application process of the present embodiment, when the user presses the hidden door handle, the door handle lever rotates with the pressing of the user on one side to generate a position change, the hall sensor serving as the position sensor can detect the position change, and the detection result is sent to the control portion to execute a logic process for detecting the unlocking intention of the user.

Referring further to fig. 2 and 3, in particular, the change in the position of the door handle may be detected by the output signal of the hall sensor (e.g., a square wave signal as shown in fig. 3). Experiments prove that the square wave signal of the Hall sensor is in direct proportion to the position change. For example, 4 consecutive square wave signals equal one rotation of the door handle actuator (e.g., motor) which also moves the door handle a distance. So that it can be confirmed whether there is a pressing event or not in this way. In practical applications, there may be a door handle mistakenly touched, for example, a user leans to a door handle position to rotate the door handle as shown in fig. 2. At this time, although the door handle is rotated and the position change is detected by the square wave signal of the hall sensor, the pressing event cannot be considered as a valid pressing, or the subsequent authentication and unlocking are falsely triggered. The detection logic executed by the control unit may be configured to maintain a proper force range for the door handle to be pressed for a certain time when the user intends to unlock the door. That is, the change in the position of the door handle detected by the square wave signal of the hall sensor should be maintained within a certain distance interval, and the change in the position maintained within the certain distance interval should last for a certain time. Therefore, the control part determines that the change of the door handle position represents effective pressing, and the unlocking intention of the user is reflected.

As reflected in the processing logic of the signals illustrated in fig. 3, the control unit detects that the door handle is pressed by the continuous square wave signal of the hall sensor, and then continuously tracks the change in the position of the door handle during the pressing. If the position change of the door handle is between the minimum effective pressing value and the maximum effective pressing value, and the time in the interval is greater than or equal to the minimum effective pressing time, the control part considers that the effective pressing action is detected at this time. Other press events that cannot meet both the position change interval and duration requirements are not considered valid press actions. For example, in the case where the user releases the door handle immediately after the user erroneously touches the door handle and finds the erroneous operation, the hall sensor can detect the change in the position of the door handle, but the release operation of the door handle occurs before the minimum effective pressing time is reached, and the control unit does not recognize the pressing event detected by the hall sensor this time as an effective pressing. For example, in the case where the user mistakenly touches the door handle and causes a slight positional change of the door handle, the hall sensor can detect the positional change of the door handle, but the positional change of the door handle does not reach the minimum value of the effective pressing force, and the control unit does not recognize the pressing event detected by the hall sensor this time as an effective pressing force. As another example, in the case where the user leans against the door handle as mentioned above, the change in the position of the door handle caused by the normal hand pressing is much larger than the change in the position of the door handle caused by the normal hand pressing, and thus exceeds the maximum value of the effective pressing, the control portion does not recognize the pressing event detected by the hall sensor this time as an effective pressing. Therefore, the control part can effectively discriminate various misoperation conditions through judging the position change interval and the duration time so as to accurately identify effective pressing actions reflecting the unlocking intention of the user.

On the basis, the control part further pushes identity authentication and unlocking through communication with the keyless entry system. As shown in fig. 1 and 4, the control unit generates an authentication request and transmits the authentication request to the keyless entry system after recognizing the valid pressing operation. After receiving the request, the keyless entry system performs identity authentication on the relevant electronic devices (such as a remote control key carried by the user or a smart device with a virtual key) within the communication range to determine whether the current user has the right to unlock the vehicle door. After the identity authentication is passed, the keyless entry system sends a result of successful authentication to the door lock controller to trigger unlocking of the vehicle door, and the authentication result can also be sent to the control part. After the door lock controller is successfully unlocked, the door lock state is also sent to the control part. After learning that the vehicle door is unlocked, the control part drives the actuating mechanism to unfold the hidden door handle, so that a user pulls the door handle to open the unlocked vehicle door.

Based on the above description, those skilled in the art will understand that the door handle control device may be a function execution body formed by cooperating modules respectively provided in different physical components, as shown in fig. 1. For example, the position sensor, the Door handle lever, the actuator are integrated in the physical component of the Door handle mechanism assembly, while the Control Unit and the Door lock controller are integrated in the physical component of the Door Control module (DCU). The door control module and the door handle mechanism assembly can be connected through a wire harness to realize information transmission required in the processing. In addition, the door handle control device may also be a device that integrates the above functional modules independently, i.e., the door handle mechanism assembly and the control part are integrated into a single physical component. The separately integrated physical components may communicate with the door lock controller and keyless entry system via a wiring harness or vehicle bus to effect the information transfer required in the above-described process.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it is not limited thereto. Various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure, and it is intended that the scope of the present invention be defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A hidden door handle control configured to communicate with a keyless entry system, the hidden door handle control comprising: the control part judges whether effective pressing action exists on the door handle or not based on the door handle position change detected by the position sensor, if the effective pressing action exists, the keyless entry system is triggered to start identity authentication, and after the identity authentication passes, the control part drives the execution mechanism to unfold the hidden door handle.

2. The hidden door handle control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position sensor is disposed at the door handle.

3. The hidden door handle control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control portion generates an authentication request and transmits the authentication request to the keyless entry system after confirming that there is a valid pressing action, and receives an authentication result returned by the keyless entry system.

4. The hidden door handle control apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the keyless entry system further sends a result of successful authentication to the door lock controller after passing the authentication to trigger unlocking of the door.

5. The hidden door handle control apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the control section drives the actuator to deploy the hidden door handle after the door is unlocked.

6. The hidden door handle control apparatus of claim 4, wherein the position sensor and actuator are integrated into the door handle mechanism assembly and the control and door lock controller are integrated into the door control module.