FR2916713A1 - METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AN ELECTRICAL ANTI-THEFT FOR A VEHICLE AND ANTI-THEFT ANTI-THEFT IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM - Google Patents

Abstract

The method is implemented in a lock (1) operating by blocking the steering column of the vehicle. The method is of the type in which a power supply (ALIM) for locking the antitheft device is provided to the antitheft device only when a power supply circuit of the vehicle engine is in an open state and in which a lock command (V / D), a vehicle stop information (Vv /) and an engine stop information (Vm /) are taken into account to allow locking. According to the invention, the method furthermore takes into account information (+ APC /) representing the open or closed state of the motor power supply circuit for authorizing locking (S1) only when the motor is stopped. (Vm / = 1) and the motor power supply circuit is actually open (+ APC / = 1).

Description

Vehicle antitheft control method and antitheft system

of implementation

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

  The present invention relates to a method for controlling an electric vehicle antitheft device, in particular for a motor vehicle, and an antitheft system for implementing the method.

  BACKGROUND ART OF THE INVENTION. Designed to play the role of antitheft, mechanical systems comprising a lock blocking the steering column of a vehicle and actuated by means of a key, have been known for a long time. The modern anti-theft devices mounted on current vehicles, and more particularly the so-called keyless vehicles, use electrical locks 15 (AVE) in particular to facilitate their control through electrical signals from central units fitted to the vehicle. For obvious safety reasons, it goes without saying that a breakdown or failure of the antitheft control system must not lead to an inadvertent steering lock while the vehicle is running. In order to solve this problem, it is known by the inventive entity a solution adapted to an AVE lock which is described below with reference to Fig.1. As shown in Fig.1, the AVE 1 receives a lock / unlock command V / D from a cabin control unit (UCH) 3, a vehicle information Vv / stopped and Vm information / motor stopped. The information Vv / = 1 and Vv / = 0 respectively indicates that the vehicle is stationary and that the vehicle is traveling. The Vv / information is derived from the vehicle traveling speed information (designated V vehicle) available in a vehicle brake control unit (UCF). The information Vm / = 1 and Vm / = 0 respectively indicates that the engine is stopped and that the vehicle is running. The information Vm / is generally -2 deduced from the rotational speed information of the vehicle engine (designated V motor) available in a motor control unit 4. A supply voltage ALIM of the vehicle power supply network is also provided to the AVE under the supervision of the UCH 3 unit.

  In this solution of the prior art, the locking of the direction, when a lock command is given (V / D = 1), is possible only if the speed of the vehicle is zero (Vv / = 1) and the motor is stopped (Vm / = 1) and, provided of course, that the AVE is supplied with the appropriate supply voltage ALIM. This power supply voltage ALIM is generally the +12 V battery voltage of the vehicle and is supplied to the AVE only when the ignition of the vehicle is cut off, which constitutes an additional security, the lock of the antitheft device being in front of the vehicle. only when the vehicle is in the parking position. This solution thus provides for three conditions each enabling the lifting of a locking prohibition, namely: ALIM present, vehicle at stop Vv / = 1, and engine at stop Vm / = 1. In practice, in current vehicles, the information relating to the orders given to the AVE and to the vehicle stop are generally conveyed through a CAN-type embedded bus (acronym for Controller Area Network, in other words controllers). The engine stop information is generally transmitted through a dedicated wire link in order to enhance the safety in the event of a CAN bus failure. This described solution of the prior art is generally satisfactory even for a vehicle equipped with an alternator system operating in automatic engine stop / restart mode, also known by the Anglo-Saxon word Stop and Go. This engine stop / restart operating mode consists, under certain conditions, in causing the engine to come to a complete stop when the vehicle is itself stationary, then to restart the engine as a result, for example, of a driver action interpreted as a restart request. Automakers must meet increasing safety demands and automotive suppliers are required to provide equipment that meets the safety requirements of the ASIL D standard. It is therefore desirable to propose new solutions that guarantee a level of safety that is still needed. superior.

  GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention essentially aims to provide a control method of an electric antitheft device ensuring a very high level of operational safety and which is particularly suitable for use in vehicles equipped with the engine stop / restart function. The control method according to the invention of an electric antitheft device for a vehicle, the antitheft device operating by blocking the steering column of the vehicle, is of the type of those in which a power supply for locking the antitheft device is provided to the antitheft device that when a power supply circuit of a vehicle engine is in an open state and in which a lock / unlock command, vehicle stop information and engine stop information are taken into account to allow locking. According to the invention, the method also takes into account information representative of the open or closed state of the motor power supply circuit for allowing the lock only on the condition that the motor is at the same time. shutdown and the engine power supply circuit is actually open. In the method according to the invention, the fact that the engine is at a standstill (Vm / = 1) is not a condition for lifting a ban on locking the electric antitheft device, as is the case in the art former 25 of Fig.1. The new condition proposed by the invention and indicated above, namely, a stationary motor and an effectively open motor power supply circuit, replaces the motor condition at a standstill of the prior art and provides, as this will become clearer later on, increased operational safety especially in the case of vehicles equipped with the engine stop / restart function. According to a particular characteristic of the invention, the engine stop information is obtained from an engine speed information supplied by an engine control computer. Alternatively, said engine stop information is provided by an electric machine mechanically coupled to the engine. According to another particular characteristic, the engine stop information is provided by an electrical power module electrically coupled to an electric machine mechanically coupled to the engine. The invention also relates to an antitheft system for carrying out the method described briefly above. The antitheft system according to the invention comprises an electric antitheft device comprising first means able to receive the electric power supply, the lock / unlock command and the vehicle stopping information and to cause locking / unlocking of the antitheft device. according to states of said voltage, order and information. According to the invention, the antitheft system also comprises means for producing an authorization / inhibition signal supplied to the first means and authorizing a locking of the antitheft device only if the vehicle engine is at the same time. shutdown and that a power supply circuit of the motor is actually open. According to a particular embodiment, the antitheft device comprises: electrical locking means of the steering column of the vehicle; - A control unit locking means adapted to receive the lock / unlock command of a control unit of the passenger compartment of the vehicle; - Electrical locking means of the locking means; and a control circuit of the blocking means receiving the authorization / inhibition inhibition signal. According to one characteristic, the authorization / lock inhibition signal is received on an input terminal of the control circuit connected to a dedicated port of an engine control computer. According to another particular characteristic, the authorization / inhibition inhibition signal is received on an input terminal of the control circuit connected to an output of an AND logic gate, suitable to be integrated in an alternator, or an alternator. starter, mechanically coupled to the motor, of which both inputs respectively receive the engine stop information and the information representative of the open or closed state of the engine power supply circuit. According to yet another characteristic, the authorization / lock inhibition signal is received on an input terminal of the control circuit connected to an output of an AND logic gate adapted to be integrated in an inverter connected to an alternator-starter mechanically coupled to the motor, both of which receive respectively the engine stop information and the information representative of the open or closed state of the motor power supply circuit. The invention also relates to an alternator, or an alternator-starter, associated with the antitheft system described briefly above. According to the invention, the alternator, or alternator-starter, has an output terminal connected to an output of an integrated logic AND gate, both of which receive the engine stop information, respectively. And information representative of the open or closed state of the motor power supply circuit. The invention also relates to an inverter associated with the antitheft system described briefly above. According to the invention, the inverter has an output terminal 20 connected to the output of an integrated logic AND gate, both of whose inputs receive respectively the motor stop information and the representative information. the open or closed state of the motor power supply circuit. These few features described briefly above will have made obvious to the skilled person the advantages provided by the invention over the prior art. The detailed specifications of the invention are given in the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that these drawings have no other purpose than to illustrate the text of the description and in no way constitute a limitation on the scope of the invention.

  BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig.1 is a block diagram of an electric anti-theft system for -6 vehicle according to the prior art. Fig.2 is a block diagram of an electric vehicle antitheft system according to the invention. Fig.3 is a schematic representation of the electric vehicle antitheft system 5 according to the invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION As shown in Fig.2, in addition to the order and information V / D, Vv / and Vm / io taken into account in the prior art described above with reference to Fig.1, the method of controlling an electric antitheft device for vehicle according to the invention takes into account additional information + APC / representative of the open or closed state of the motor power supply circuit. When the power supply circuit of the motor is closed, that is to say, when the ignition is put into the vehicle, the information + APC / gives a logic state 0. When the power supply circuit of the motor motor is open, that is to say, when the ignition is cut in the vehicle, the information + APC / gives a logical state 1. Unlike the prior art, in the present invention, the engine information to the stop (Vm / = 1) is no longer supplied as it is to the AVE for an authorization of a lock of this one, because the stationary engine situation (Vm / = 1) can simply correspond to a momentary stopping phase of the vehicle during which a stop / restart system motor 25 equipping the vehicle stopped the engine. According to the invention, in a normal operating situation, out of failure, a lock of the AVE 1, resulting in the blocking of the steering column, will be authorized only if the following conditions are satisfied: lock command V / D = 1, voltage ALIM present, vehicle stop information Vv / = 1, and (Vm /).(+ APC /) = 1, the operator. being here the logical operator AND. The logic gate 20 shown in FIG. 2 introduces this logic function AND carried out on the information Vm / and + APC / in order to produce a signal5 -7 of authorization / inhibition of the lock Si which is supplied to the AVE 1. The logical states of the signal Si are those indicated by the following truth table I: Vm / = 1 (V motor = 0) Vm / = 0 (V motor <> 0) + APC / = 0 S1 = 0 (lock not S1 = 0 (lock not allowed by Si) allowed by Si) + APC / = 1 S1 = 1 (lock allowed S1 = 0 (lock not by Si) allowed by Si) Table I For example, always with reference to Fig.2, in the case of a hardware failure PHw on a supply line 2 supplying the voltage ALIM and a software failure PSw in a microprocessor (P) equipping the AVE, the method of the invention guarantees a safe behavior of the AVE by prohibiting any blocking of the steering column in the case of a vehicle equipped with the engine stop / restart function. More specifically, in the fault situation described above, the line 2 is considered to be at the voltage ALIM = + 12V because of the failure PHw, whereas it should be at 0 V, the contact of the vehicle not being cut. In addition, it is considered in this example that although the vehicle is rolling Vv / = 0, the software failure PSw microprocessor P induces a state of the outputs of the P such as that which could result from a lock order V / D = 1 and a stopped vehicle information Vv / = 1. In this failure situation, the stopped engine information Vm / = 1 will not be sufficient on its own to cause a blockage of the vehicle. steering column. The information + APC / = 1 will also have to be satisfied. Consequently, a stopping of the engine which could be controlled by an engine stop / restart system and intervene, for example, when the driver has engaged the neutral position of the vehicle gearbox, can not under any circumstances have the effect of blocking the steering column of the vehicle. As clearly shown in the example detailed above, the method according to the invention therefore provides an additional level of security over the prior art. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the engine stop information Vm / is derived from engine speed information supplied by the engine control computer 4.

  Alternatively, according to another embodiment of the invention, the engine stop information Vm / is provided by an electric machine 6 shown in Fig.3 and is mechanically coupled to the engine. Since, in the case of an engine stop / restart system, the electric machine 6 is preferably an alternator-starter, the engine speed information is available either at the level of the control circuits 7 of the alternator or at the level of the control circuit 7 of the alternator. of the starter inverter, and it is therefore possible to deduce the information Vm / at the machine 6. The method of controlling an electric vehicle lock according to the invention has the major advantage of being compatible both with a conventional architecture, where the electric machine 6 is a simple alternator, with an architecture of stop / restart motor type. To do this, it suffices for the logic function which produces the authorization / inhibition signal S1 of the lock from a signal S2 representative of the zero (Vm / = 1) or non-zero motor speed information (Vm / = 0) and a signal S3 representative of the open (+ APC / = 1) or closed (+ APC / = 0) state of the motor power supply circuit is integrated, preferably in the form of an AND logic gate 8, in the electrical machine 6. Since the signals S2 and S3 are already present at the electrical machine 6, the electrical wiring harness is little modified compared to the known systems of the state of the art. FIG. 3 shows the detailed structure of an AVE 1. In a manner known per se, electrical locking means 9 of the steering column 10 of the vehicle are controlled by a control unit 11 receiving locking / unlocking commands. the cockpit control unit 3 via a bus type CAN 12 (on which are also interfaced including the braking systems 13 and the airbags 14). The AVE 1 comprises electrical locking means 15 of the locking means 9 controlled by a control circuit 16 receiving the signal S1 for enabling / inhibiting the locking on an input terminal 17. In the embodiment of FIG. the invention shown in Fig.3, the input terminal 17 is connected to an output terminal 18 of the electrical machine 6 5 connected to the output 19 of the integrated AND logic gate 8. The electric machine 6 thus produced, alternator or alternator-starter comprising an inverter, thus has the advantage of being completely compatible with the needs of antitheft devices of the electromechanical type as described above. As is obvious, the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described above. In particular, the exemplary embodiment of the logic function generating the signal S1 for authorization / inhibition of the lock by a logic gate 8, and its integration in the electrical machine 6 simply by means of an additional dedicated output terminal 18, described above, are not limiting: other types of signals and / or interface known to those skilled in the art can be implemented and have the same functionality. On the contrary, the invention embraces all the possible embodiments that would remain within the scope defined by the claims below.

Claims (11)

  1) A method of controlling an electric vehicle antitheft device, said antitheft device (AVE 1) operating by locking the steering column of said vehicle, said method being of the type of those in which a power supply (ALIM) for locking said antitheft device (AVE 1) is supplied to said antitheft device (AVE 1) only when a power supply circuit of a vehicle engine is in an open state and in which a lock / unlock command (V / D), a vehicle stop information io (Vv /) and an engine stop information (Vm /) are taken into account to authorize said locking, characterized in that said method also takes into account information (+ APC /) representative of the open or closed state of said motor power supply circuit for authorizing the locking (S1 = 1) only if said motor is at a standstill (Vm / = 1, V motor = 0) and said circuit of ali engine electrical power is actually open (+ APC / = 1).   2) A method of controlling an electric vehicle antitheft device according to claim 1, characterized in that said engine stop information (Vm /) is obtained from a motor speed information (V engine) provided by 20 a control computer (CM) of said engine.   3) A method of controlling an electric vehicle antitheft device according to claim 1, characterized in that said engine stop information (Vm /) is provided by an electric machine (6) mechanically coupled to said engine.   4) A method of controlling an electric vehicle antitheft device according to claim 1, characterized in that said engine stopping information (Vm /) is provided by an electric power module electrically coupled to an electric machine (6). mechanically coupled to said engine.   5) Antitheft system for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising an electric antitheft device (1) -11- comprising first means adapted to receive said power supply (ALIM), lock order / unlocking (V / D) and vehicle stop information (Vv /) and causing a locking / unlocking of said antitheft device according to states of said voltage, order and information, characterized in that it also comprises means ( And 20; ME, 8) for producing said lock enable / disable signal (Si) supplied to said first means and allowing said anti-theft device to be locked only on condition that the vehicle engine is stationary ( Vm / = 1, V motor = 0) and a power supply circuit of said motor is actually open io (+ APC / = 1).   6) antitheft system according to claim 5, characterized in that said antitheft device (1) comprises: - electrical locking means (9) of the steering column (10) 15 of said vehicle; - A control unit (11) of said locking means (9) adapted to receive said lock / unlock command (V / D) of a vehicle control unit (3) of the vehicle; - Electric locking means (15) of said locking means (9); and a control circuit (16) of said blocking means (15) receiving said lock enable / disable signal (Si).   An antitheft system according to claim 6, characterized in that said lock enable / disable signal (Si) is received at an input terminal (17) of said control circuit (16) connected to a dedicated port of a control computer (4) of said engine.   8) Antitheft system according to claim 6, characterized in that said authorization / lock inhibition signal (Si) is received on an input terminal (17) of said control circuit (16) connected to an output (19). ) an AND logic gate (8), adapted to be integrated into an alternator (6), or an alternator, (6) mechanically coupled to said motor, each of which inputs respectively receive said information of motor stop (Vm /, S2) and said information (+ APC /, S3) representative of the open or closed state of said motor power supply circuit.   9) anti-theft system according to claim 6, characterized in that said authorization / lock inhibition signal (S1) is received on an input terminal of said control circuit connected to an output of an AND logic gate adapted to be integrated in an inverter connected to an alternator-starter mechanically coupled to said motor, each of which inputs respectively receive said engine stop information (Vm /) and said information io (+ APC /) representative of the open or closed state of said motor power supply circuit.   10) Alternator (6), or alternator-starter (6) associated with the antitheft system according to claim 8, characterized in that it has an output terminal (18) 15 connected to an output (19) of a door integrated logic (8) of which both inputs respectively receive said motor stop information (Vm /, S2) and said information (+ APC /, S3) representative of the open or closed state of said circuit motor power supply. 20   11) Inverter associated with the anti-theft system according to claim 9, characterized in that it has an output terminal connected to the output of an integrated logic AND gate of which both inputs respectively receive said information of motor stop (Vm /) and said information (+ APC /) representative of the open or closed state of said motor power supply circuit.