JP7262948B2 - Portable device, communication control method applied to portable device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a technology for unlocking a vehicle door or starting an engine of a vehicle by wirelessly communicating with the vehicle using a portable device carried by the user of the vehicle. .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technologies are widely used that allow a vehicle door to be unlocked without taking out the key when the vehicle owner gets into the vehicle. Also, a technique is widely used that enables the engine to be started without using the key after getting into the vehicle without taking out the key. In these techniques, a vehicle performs wireless communication with a small wireless communication device (hereinafter referred to as a portable device) carried by a user, thereby authenticating the portable device. Then, when the portable device is determined to be a regular portable device by the authentication, the vehicle door is unlocked by detecting an intention to unlock the door, such as touching the handle of the door. . Therefore, when the user of the vehicle approaches the vehicle carrying the authorized portable device, the door is automatically unlocked, so that the user can get into the vehicle without taking out the vehicle key. Of course, the vehicle and the portable device cannot communicate wirelessly unless they are within range of each other's radio waves. I don't even get tired of it. Also, after getting into the vehicle, the vehicle authenticates the portable device in the passenger compartment, and if it is confirmed that it is a regular portable device, it tries to start the engine by, for example, pressing the start button. Detects intention and starts the engine. This allows the engine to be started without taking out the key.

Today, however, radio wave repeaters are installed near the vehicle and near the portable device, respectively, and radio waves are relayed between the vehicle and the portable device. Unauthorized act of unlocking (hereinafter referred to as unauthorized act of unlocking) may be performed. Therefore, in order to prevent unauthorized unlocking, a so-called GNSS function (a function that receives positioning signals from positioning satellites and detects the current position) is installed in the portable device, and the current time when the vehicle door is locked is A technique has been proposed in which the position is stored. With this proposed technology, if the current position when the portable device receives the radio wave from the vehicle is far from the position when the door is locked, it can be determined that the radio wave from the vehicle has been relayed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the door of the vehicle from being illegally unlocked (Patent Document 1).
Also, if the portable device is equipped with a GNSS function, the vehicle can determine whether or not the portable device is present in the vehicle. It is also possible to prevent the act of illegally starting the engine (hereinafter referred to as illegal starting act).

JP 2015-218457 A

However, the technique proposed above has the problem that it is not always possible to prevent unauthorized unlocking (in some cases, unauthorized starting). This is because positioning signals from positioning satellites may not be received depending on the reception environment, and unauthorized unlocking (or unauthorized starting) cannot be prevented while positioning signals cannot be received.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and is intended to solve the problem of a vehicle door being illegally unlocked even when a positioning signal from a positioning satellite cannot be received, or a vehicle engine being turned off. To provide a technology capable of preventing at least one of illegal starting.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the portable device or communication control method of the present invention measures the current position based on the positioning signal from the positioning satellite and detects the acceleration applied to the portable device . Then, based on the detected acceleration, the movement distance of the portable device is estimated without considering the movement direction of the portable device, thereby estimating the movement distance of the portable device from the time when the positioning result was obtained. . When the interrogation signal from the vehicle is received while the positioning signal cannot be received temporarily, the positioning result obtained before the positioning signal cannot be received and the interrogation signal The distance between the reception position of the inquiry signal and the locking position where the door of the vehicle is locked, without considering the movement direction of the portable device, based on the movement distance (or movement position) at the time of receiving The distance is estimated, and based on the estimated separation distance, it is determined whether or not to send back a response signal to the inquiry signal.

In this way, even if the interrogation signal from the vehicle is received in a state where the positioning signal cannot be received temporarily , the positioning result obtained before the positioning signal cannot be received and the interrogation result can be obtained. The position at which the interrogation signal is received can be estimated based on the moving distance (or moving position) at the time the signal is received. Then, if the reception position can be estimated, the distance between the reception position of the inquiry signal and the locking position of the vehicle door is calculated in the same way as when the inquiry signal is received while the positioning signal is being received. By calculating , it is possible to determine whether or not to send back a response signal to the inquiry signal. Therefore, even if positioning signals from positioning satellites cannot be received temporarily , it is possible to prevent situations such as unauthorized unlocking of the vehicle doors or unauthorized starting of the vehicle engine. becomes.

Alternatively , in the vehicle system of the present invention, upon receiving an inquiry signal from the vehicle, the distance between the reception position and the locking position is calculated, and the distance is returned together with a response signal to the inquiry signal. good too. Then, when the interrogation signal from the vehicle is received while the positioning signal cannot be received temporarily, the distance may be estimated. The separation distance is calculated based on the positioning results obtained before the positioning signal could not be received and the distance traveled from the time when the positioning result was obtained to the time when the interrogation signal was received . It can be estimated without considering the movement direction . Then, the distance estimated without considering the moving direction of the portable device may be returned together with the response signal. Based on the distance returned from the portable device along with the response signal, the in-vehicle control device determines whether or not to authenticate the portable device, unlock the door of the vehicle, or start the engine of the vehicle. At least one of whether to do or not may be determined.

In this way, the vehicle can receive the separation distance together with the response signal to the inquiry signal. If the separation distance is greater than the distance that radio waves can reach, if the mobile device is not authenticated or the vehicle door is not unlocked, the vehicle door can be unlocked illegally. can be prevented.
Also, if the distance received from the portable device is greater than the distance that radio waves can reach (or a shorter predetermined distance), the portable device should not be authenticated or the vehicle engine should not be started. , it is possible to prevent a situation in which the engine of the vehicle is illegally started.

Alternatively , in the vehicle system of the present invention, when the portable device receives a locking signal from the vehicle, it transmits the locking position to the vehicle. The reception position of the inquiry signal may be returned together with the response signal . Here , when the interrogation signal from the vehicle is received in a state where the positioning signal cannot be received temporarily, instead of the reception position of the interrogation signal, the and the moving distance obtained by estimating the moving distance from the time when the positioning result is obtained to the time when the inquiry signal is received without considering the moving direction of the portable device , You may make it reply with a response signal. Then, when the in-vehicle control device receives the reception position and the movement distance together with the response signal from the portable device, the portable device is authenticated based on the separation distance estimated using the locking position, the reception position, and the movement distance. At least one of whether to unlock the doors of the vehicle, or whether to start the engine of the vehicle may be determined.

In this way, the vehicle stores the locking position, and when it receives a response signal to the inquiry signal, it authenticates the portable device based on the separation distance between the reception position returned with the response signal and the locking position. It is possible to determine whether or not to unlock the doors of the vehicle, or whether or not to enable the engine of the vehicle to be started. In addition, even if the positioning signal cannot be received temporarily when the portable device receives the interrogation signal from the vehicle, the positioning The positioning result obtained before the signal could not be received and the movement distance at the time when the inquiry signal was received are returned. Then, if such information is known, the separation distance can be estimated. As a result, it becomes possible to determine whether or not to authenticate the portable device, whether or not to unlock the doors of the vehicle, or whether or not to start the engine of the vehicle. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the door of the vehicle is illegally unlocked and a situation in which the engine is illegally started.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which the vehicle 1 wirelessly communicates with a portable device 100 carried by a user to set the door of the vehicle 1 to an unlockable state. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of the portable device 100 of this embodiment; 4 is a flowchart of the first half of communication control processing performed by the portable device 100 of the embodiment; 9 is a flowchart of the second half of communication control processing; 4 is a flowchart of movement distance estimation processing executed by the portable device 100 of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 100 of the embodiment detects walking; FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 100 of the present embodiment determines whether or not to reply to an inquiry from the vehicle 1 when a positioning signal cannot be received; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of a portable device 150 of a first modified example; FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the second half of communication control processing performed by the portable device 150 of the first modified example; FIG. 10 is a flowchart of movement position estimation processing executed by the portable device 150 of the first modified example. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 150 of the first modified example determines whether or not to reply to an inquiry from the vehicle 1 when no positioning result is obtained. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a portable device 160 of a second modified example; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a portable device 170 of a third modified example; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a portable device 180 of a fourth modified example;

In the following, examples will be described in order to clarify the content of the present invention described above.
A. Example:
A-1. Device configuration of this embodiment:
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 100 of the present embodiment sets the door of the vehicle 1 to be unlockable by communicating with the vehicle 1. As shown in FIG. As illustrated, the vehicle 1 is provided with an in-vehicle control device 10, an unlocking device 2, and the like. The in-vehicle control device 10 is connected to an antenna (not shown) and can wirelessly communicate with a portable device 100 carried by the user of the vehicle 1 . Further, the unlocking device 2 is provided for each door (not shown) of the vehicle 1 and can lock and unlock the door of the vehicle 1 under the control of the on-vehicle control device 10 .

The in-vehicle control device 10 detects the portable device 100 carried by the user of the vehicle 1 by transmitting radio waves around the vehicle 1 . However, since the intensity of the radio waves transmitted from the vehicle 1 is suppressed, the range in which the radio waves reach is the region R around the vehicle 1 . Therefore, when the user carrying the portable device 100 is far away from the vehicle 1, radio waves from the in-vehicle control device 10 do not reach the portable device 100. Once inside R, the portable device 100 can receive radio waves from the in-vehicle control device 10 .

Then, when the mobile device 100 responds to the received radio wave, the in-vehicle control device 10 receives the radio wave, recognizes that the mobile device 100 exists within the area R, and communicates with the mobile device 100 . to authenticate the portable device 100 . Then, when the portable device 100 is the authorized portable device 100 as a result of the authentication, the in-vehicle control device 10 determines that the door of the vehicle 1 can be unlocked. Then, when it is determined that the door can be unlocked, the door of the vehicle 1 is unlocked by controlling the unlocking device 2 when contact with the handle 3 of the door is detected. Therefore, when the user of the vehicle 1 approaches the vehicle 1 carrying the portable device 100 and touches the handle 3 of the door, the door is automatically unlocked. It is possible to get into the vehicle 1 without locking it.
Further, after getting into the vehicle 1, the in-vehicle control device 10 authenticates the portable device 100 in the vehicle interior, confirms that the portable device 100 is a regular portable device 100, and presses a start button (not shown). It is also possible to start an engine (not shown) mounted on the vehicle 1 by detecting this. In order to avoid complicating the description, in this embodiment, the description of authenticating the portable device 100 and starting the engine will be omitted.

Further, when the user carrying the portable device 100 touches the handle 3 of the door from outside the vehicle 1, the in-vehicle control device 10 detects the contact with the handle 3 and controls the unlocking device 2. to lock the door. Further, when the user moves away from the vehicle 1 carrying the portable device 100 and goes out of the area R where radio waves reach, the in-vehicle control device 10 cannot recognize the portable device 100 . Therefore, in such a case, the in-vehicle control device 10 determines whether or not the door of the vehicle 1 is locked, and locks the door if it is unlocked. After the door is locked, the portable device 100 is out of the radio wave range of the in-vehicle control device 10, so the in-vehicle control device 10 cannot authenticate the portable device 100. Even if the handle 3 of the door is touched, the door will not be unlocked.

However, even if the user carrying the portable device 100 is far away, if radio waves are relayed between the in-vehicle control device 10 of the vehicle 1 and the portable device 100, the in-vehicle control device 10 can reach the portable device far away. 100 may be authenticated. For example, it is assumed that the user of the vehicle 1 comes home with the portable device 100 as indicated by the thin dashed line in FIG. In this case, if the portable device 100 is outside the area R where radio waves from the vehicle 1 reach, the on-vehicle control device 10 would not normally authenticate the portable device 100 .

However, the fraudulent person A has the radio wave repeater 9a and stands by in front of the user's house, and the fraudulent person B has the radio wave repeater 9b and waits near the vehicle 1, and the radio wave from the vehicle 1 is blocked. The radio waves are transferred to the portable device 100 via the radio wave repeaters 9a and 9b, and the radio waves from the portable device 100 are transferred to the in-vehicle control device 10 via the radio wave repeaters 9a and 9b. If this is done, there is a risk that the on-vehicle control device 10 will authenticate the portable device 100 that exists where radio waves from the vehicle 1 do not reach, and the doors of the vehicle 1 will be unlocked illegally. Therefore, in order to prevent such a risk, the portable device 100 of this embodiment employs the following internal structure.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of the portable device 100 of this embodiment. As illustrated, the portable device 100 of this embodiment includes a positioning unit 101, a locking position storage unit 102, a lock detection unit 103, an inquiry signal reception unit 104, a reply determination unit 105, and a response signal reply unit. A section 106 , an authentication information storage section 107 , an acceleration detection section 108 , and a movement distance estimation section 109 .
These "parts" classify various functions provided in the portable device 100 of the present embodiment for the purpose of preventing the possibility of unauthorized unlocking of the door of the vehicle 1 for convenience. . Therefore, it does not mean that the inside of the portable device 100 is physically divided into these "sections". These "units" can be implemented in hardware using LSI or the like, in software using a computer program, or in combination with hardware and software. can also

The portable device 100 also includes an LF antenna 100a capable of transmitting/receiving radio waves called LF waves, and an RF antenna 100b capable of transmitting/receiving radio waves called RF waves.
The in-vehicle control device 10 uses the in-vehicle LF antenna 10a to transmit LF radio waves, and the portable device 100 uses the LF antenna 100a to receive the radio waves. Further, the portable device 100 uses the RF antenna 100b to transmit RF radio waves to the in-vehicle control device 10, and the in-vehicle control device 10 receives the radio waves using the in-vehicle RF antenna 10b.

The positioning unit 101 measures the position of the portable device 100 on the ground by receiving positioning signals from so-called positioning satellites. Further, when position information is obtained by positioning, the positioning unit 101 also obtains the time of positioning (hereinafter referred to as positioning time).
The lock detection unit 103 detects that the doors of the vehicle 1 are locked. That is, upon detecting that the door has been locked by the unlocking device 2, the in-vehicle controller 10 of the vehicle 1 transmits a locking signal from the in-vehicle LF antenna 10a. Therefore, the lock detection unit 103 detects that the door of the vehicle 1 is locked by detecting the lock signal from the radio wave received by the LF antenna 100a. Then, upon detecting that the door is locked, the lock detection unit 103 outputs that effect to the lock position storage unit 102 .

When the locking position storage unit 102 receives information indicating that the door of the vehicle 1 is locked, the locking position storage unit 102 acquires the position information obtained at that time from the positioning unit 101 and stores it in memory (not shown) as the locking position. Remember. When storing the locking position, the positioning time at which the position information was obtained is also stored. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the locking position stored in the locking position storage unit 102 is the position information received from the positioning unit 101, but the position information transmitted from the vehicle 1 may be stored. . That is, when the in-vehicle control device 10 detects that the door is locked, it transmits the positioning result obtained using the positioning function installed in the vehicle 1 to the portable device 100 together with the locking signal. Then, the locking position storage unit 102 of the portable device 100 may store the position information received together with the locking signal as the locking position.

The inquiry signal receiving unit 104 receives an inquiry signal transmitted from the vehicle 1 . That is, the vehicle-mounted controller 10 of the vehicle 1 makes various inquiries to the portable device 100 by transmitting radio waves using the vehicle-mounted LF antenna 10a. For example, an inquiry is made as to whether or not the portable device 100 exists within the region R that radio waves reach, or if the portable device 100 exists within the region R, authentication information for authenticating the portable device 100 is sent. make inquiries. Therefore, upon receiving an inquiry signal using the LF antenna 100 a , the inquiry signal receiving section 104 outputs the received inquiry signal to the reply determination section 105 .

Reply decision section 105, upon receiving the inquiry signal, decides whether or not to reply to the inquiry signal. In making the determination, the locked position stored in the locked position storage unit 102 is obtained, and the position information of the current position (hereinafter referred to as the received position) measured by the positioning unit 101 when the inquiry signal was received is obtained. Then, the distance between the locking position and the reception position (hereinafter referred to as the separation distance) is compared with a predetermined threshold distance Lth. Here, the threshold distance Lth is set to a distance at which it is unlikely that radio waves from the vehicle-mounted LF antenna 10a mounted on the vehicle 1 will reach. In addition, the “distance where radio waves are unlikely to reach” is a distance where radio waves may reach under normal conditions but do not reach there under normal conditions. Of course, the distance may be such that radio waves do not reach regardless of the conditions. Then, if the distance between the receiving position of the inquiry signal and the locking position is equal to or less than the threshold distance Lth, it is determined that the inquiry signal is to be replied, and that fact is output to the response signal replying section 106 .

The response signal replying unit 106 uses the RF antenna 100b to send back a response signal to the inquiry signal when receiving the determination result indicating that the inquiry signal is to be answered. If the content of the inquiry signal is content to inquire about the existence of the portable device 100, the response signal replying unit 106 returns a response signal that simply responds to the inquiry. On the other hand, if the content of the inquiry signal is content requesting authentication information for authenticating the portable device 100, the authentication information stored in advance in the authentication information storage unit 107 is read out, Send back a response signal containing authentication information.

On the other hand, if the distance between the reception position of the inquiry signal and the locking position is greater than the threshold distance Lth, it is unlikely that the radio waves transmitted from the vehicle-mounted LF antenna 10a of the vehicle 1 were directly received. That is, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, it is considered that the radio waves from the vehicle 1 are transferred via the radio repeaters 9a and 9b. Therefore, the reply determination unit 105 determines not to reply to the inquiry signal when the separation distance is greater than the threshold distance Lth. When the reply determination unit 105 makes such a determination, the response signal reply unit 106 does not reply with a response signal.
In this manner, the positioning unit 101 is mounted on the portable device 100, and the locking position at which the door of the vehicle 1 is locked is stored, and the distance between the reception position of the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 and the locking position is calculated. is obtained, it is possible to prevent the door of the vehicle 1 from being unlocked by an illegal method using a repeater.

However, in order for the positioning unit 101 to measure the current position, it is necessary to receive positioning signals from positioning satellites, but the positioning signals are not always receivable. In some cases, positioning signals cannot be received temporarily. If the positioning signal cannot be received, the current position (that is, the correct reception position) of the portable device 100 at the time of receiving the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 cannot be obtained. It becomes impossible to judge whether it is good or not.
Therefore, the portable device 100 of this embodiment includes an acceleration detector 108 and a movement distance estimator 109, as shown in FIG.

Acceleration detection unit 108 is implemented by an acceleration sensor and a detection circuit for generating an output from the acceleration sensor or detecting the generated output, and detects acceleration applied to portable device 100 . It is desirable to detect acceleration in so-called three-axis directions.
Movement distance estimation section 109 estimates the movement distance of portable device 100 based on the acceleration detected by acceleration detection section 108 . For example, by detecting the walking of the user carrying the portable device 100 based on the change in the acceleration of the portable device 100, and assuming that the detected number of steps is a preset stride, Distance can be estimated. Alternatively, the moving speed may be calculated by integrating the acceleration, and the moving distance may be calculated by integrating the moving speed. Further, when the positioning result is obtained by the positioning unit 101, the moving distance estimating unit 109 initializes the previously estimated moving distance. Therefore, the moving distance estimating unit 109 estimates the moving distance of the portable device 100 after the positioning result is obtained by the positioning unit 101 .

Then, upon receiving the inquiry signal, the reply determination unit 105 of the present embodiment acquires the position information measured by the positioning unit 101 and the positioning time at which the position information was obtained. Since positioning signals are transmitted at predetermined time intervals, if the positioning unit 101 receives the latest positioning signals and has successfully performed positioning, the time difference between the positioning time and the current time is the same as when the positioning signals were transmitted. should be smaller than the time interval Conversely, if the time difference between the positioning time acquired from the positioning unit 101 and the current time is greater than the time interval at which the positioning signal is transmitted, when the inquiry signal from the vehicle is received, the positioning It is considered that the unit 101 was temporarily unable to receive the positioning signal. Therefore, the position information obtained from the positioning unit 101 is considered to be the last position information obtained before the positioning signal cannot be received .

Therefore, in such a case (that is, when it is considered that the positioning using the latest positioning signal immediately before receiving the inquiry signal could not be performed), the reply determination unit 105 of the present embodiment receives from the positioning unit 101 The acquired position information (that is, the position information at the time of the last positioning) and the estimated value of the movement distance that is acquired from the movement distance estimating unit 109 (that is, the estimated value of the movement distance of the portable device 100 from the last position that was positioned). ) are acquired, the separation distance is estimated using these pieces of information, and based on the estimated separation distance , it is determined whether or not it is permissible to reply to the inquiry signal.

For example, when the portable device 100 is located near the locking position at the time of the last positioning and the moving distance of the portable device 100 is sufficiently short, the portable device 100 directly receives the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1. Since it is considered that it has been received, it is determined to reply to the inquiry signal. On the other hand, if the distance traveled by the portable device 100 from the last positioning position is estimated to be longer than the distance at which the radio waves from the vehicle 1 can be received, the portable device 100 receives the radio waves from the vehicle 1. There is a high possibility that it exists in an inaccessible position. If the interrogation signal is received in such a case, it is assumed that the radio waves have been transferred by an illegal method such as using a repeater, so no reply is made to the interrogation signal. I judge.

In this way, even if an inquiry signal is received from the vehicle 1 while the positioning signal cannot be received, it is possible to determine whether or not to reply to the inquiry signal. It is possible to prevent a situation in which door No. 1 is unlocked. In the following, specific processing performed inside the portable device 100 of the present embodiment for realizing the above will be described in detail.

A-2. Communication control processing of this embodiment:
3 and 4 are flow charts of communication control processing executed by the portable device 100 of the present embodiment to communicate with the vehicle 1. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, in the communication control process, first, it is determined whether or not the positioning signal from the positioning satellite has been received (S100). Since the positioning satellites transmit the positioning signals at predetermined time intervals, if the reception environment on the portable device 100 side is good, the positioning signals can be received each time the predetermined time elapses.

As a result, when the positioning signal is received (S100: yes), the current position is positioned based on the positioning signal, and the obtained position information is stored together with the positioning time (S101). Then, after outputting the fact that the positioning result has been obtained to the moving distance estimation process described later (S102), it is determined whether or not a locking signal has been received from the vehicle 1 (S103). As described above, the locking signal is a signal that the in-vehicle controller 10 transmits to the outside of the vehicle using the in-vehicle LF antenna 10a when the door of the vehicle 1 is locked.

Then, when the locking signal has been received (S103: yes), after outputting the fact that the locking signal has been received to the movement distance estimation process described later (S104), the signal is stored in S101. The positioning result of the current position is read out (S105), and the current position is stored as the position where the doors of the vehicle 1 are locked (that is, the locked position) (S106).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not an inquiry signal has been received from the vehicle 1 (S107). Here, the inquiry signal is a signal that the in-vehicle control device 10 mounted on the vehicle 1 transmits to the portable device 100 that exists outside the vehicle 1 in order to make various inquiries. For example, an inquiry signal is transmitted to inquire whether or not the portable device 100 exists within the area R that radio waves reach, or to inquire about the authentication information of the portable device 100 existing within the region R. .

As a result, if the inquiry signal has not been received (S107: no), the process returns to the beginning of the process to determine again whether or not the positioning signal has been received (S100). : yes), the current position is measured and stored together with the positioning time (S101), and a message indicating that the positioning result has been obtained is output (S102). Of course, when no positioning signal is received (S100: no), the operations of S101 and S102 are not performed. Further, it is determined whether or not a locking signal has been received (S103), and if a locking signal has been received (S103: yes), the fact that the locking signal has been received is output (S104) and stored first. The positioning result of the current position stored is stored as the locking position (S105, S106). Of course, when the lock signal is not received (S103: no), the operations of S104, S105 and S106 are not performed. Then, it is determined again whether or not an inquiry signal has been received from the vehicle 1 (S107).

In this way, the portable device 100 of this embodiment repeats the operation of positioning the current position based on the positioning signal and storing it together with the positioning time until it receives the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 . In addition, when the lock signal is received while repeating, the lock position is stored.
And if the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 is received (S107:yes), the time which received the inquiry signal (henceforth, reception time) is memorize|stored (S108). After that, the position information stored in S101 and the positioning time at which the position information was measured are read (S109), and the position indicated by the read position information is set as the reception position of the inquiry signal (S110). ), and the distance between the receiving position and the locking position is calculated (S111 in FIG. 4).

If the portable device 100 receives the positioning signal every time the positioning signal is transmitted from the positioning satellite and measures the current position, it can be considered that the correct reception position is set in S110. It can be considered that the correct clearance is calculated in S111 as well. Therefore, by comparing the calculated separation distance with the distance that radio waves reach from the vehicle 1, it can be determined whether the inquiry signal has been directly transmitted from the vehicle 1 or transferred by some illegal method. can do.
However, the portable device 100 cannot receive the positioning signal depending on the reception environment. In such a case, the receiving position set in S110 is not necessarily the correct receiving position. Therefore, even if the separation distance calculated in S111 is compared with the distance that radio waves reach from the vehicle 1, it is difficult to make a correct judgment.

Therefore, the portable device 100 of this embodiment calculates the time difference between the positioning time and the reception time in order to determine whether or not the positioning signal has been received (S112). Then, it is determined whether or not the obtained time difference is equal to or less than a predetermined allowable time (S113).
Here, the permissible time in this embodiment is set to the time interval at which the positioning satellite transmits the positioning signal. Therefore, every time a positioning signal is transmitted from a positioning satellite, if the portable device 100 can receive the positioning signal, the time difference between the positioning time when the current position is measured based on the positioning signal and the reception time is allowed. It shouldn't be bigger than time. Conversely, if the time difference is greater than the allowable time, it is considered that at least the last transmitted positioning signal could not be received. In this case, the position information read in S109 may not represent the reception position at which the inquiry signal was received.
In this embodiment, since the time interval at which the positioning satellite transmits the positioning signal is set to a relatively long interval, the portable device 100 attempts to position the current position each time the positioning signal is transmitted from the positioning satellite. It was explained as However, when the positioning satellites transmit the positioning signals at relatively short time intervals, the time interval at which the positioning signals are received by the portable device 100 is set to avoid battery consumption due to the portable device 100 performing positioning with high frequency. (hereinafter referred to as reception interval) may be set. In such a case, the allowable time used in the determination of S133 is set to the reception interval of the portable device 100. FIG.

Therefore, it is determined whether or not the time difference between the positioning time and the reception time is equal to or less than the allowable time (S113), and if the time difference is equal to or less than the allowable time (S113: yes), the positioning signal can be received. it is conceivable that. In this case, the position information read in S109 can be considered to represent the reception position of the inquiry signal, and the separation distance calculated in S110 can be considered to correspond to the distance between the locking position and the reception position.

On the other hand, if the time difference between the positioning time and the reception time is greater than the allowable time (S113: no), it indicates that at least the last transmitted positioning signal could not be received. Therefore, the position information read in S109 is the position information obtained by positioning using the last received positioning signal before the positioning signal cannot be received.
Therefore, in this case (S113: no), the estimated value of the movement distance of the portable device 100 estimated in the movement distance estimation process described later is obtained (S114). Although details will be described later, in the movement distance estimation process, each time the positioning signal is received and the current position is measured, the movement distance from that time is estimated. Therefore, when the positioning signal could not be received (S113: no), in the movement distance estimation process, the movement distance after the last reception of the positioning signal is estimated.

Subsequently, the estimated value of the movement distance obtained in S114 is added to the distance previously calculated in S111 (S115). Then, the obtained added value is set as a new separation distance (S116). In other words, if the positioning signal could not be received, the separation distance calculated in S111 is not the distance between the position where the interrogation signal was received and the locking position, but the position where positioning was possible last before the interrogation signal was received. It is thought that it represents the distance from the locking position. Therefore, a value obtained by adding the movement distance to this distance is set as a new separation distance.

It is determined whether or not the distance thus obtained is smaller than a predetermined threshold distance Lth (S117). For example, if the positioning signal can be received, that is, if it is determined that the time difference between the positioning time and the reception time is equal to or less than the allowable time (S113: yes), the separation distance calculated in S110 of FIG. It compares with the threshold distance Lth. Further, if the positioning signal could not be received, that is, if it is determined that the time difference between the positioning time and the reception time is greater than the allowable time (S113: no), the movement distance is added to the separation distance calculated in S110. The new separation distance obtained by doing so is compared with a predetermined threshold distance Lth. Further, as described above, the threshold distance Lth in this embodiment is set to a distance at which it is unlikely that radio waves from the vehicle-mounted LF antenna 10a mounted on the vehicle 1 will reach.

As a result, when the separation distance is smaller than the threshold distance Lth (S117: yes), it is considered that the portable device 100 exists within the region R in which radio waves from the vehicle 1 can be received. (S118). If the content of the inquiry signal is content to inquire about the authentication information, the pre-stored authentication information is read and a response signal including the authentication information is transmitted. As a result, if the authentication passes, the door will be unlocked when the handle 3 of the door of the vehicle 1 is touched.

On the other hand, if the separation distance is greater than the threshold distance Lth (S117: no), there is a possibility that the portable device 100 is at a position where radio waves from the vehicle 1 cannot be received. If it exists in a position where radio waves cannot be received, the interrogation signal received in S107 of FIG. Therefore, in this case, without returning a response signal to the inquiry signal, the process returns to the beginning of the process to determine again whether or not the positioning signal has been received (S100 in FIG. 3).

In this way, a response signal will not be returned to an inquiry signal that may have been transferred by an illegal method. You can avoid being locked.
Of course, when the positioning signal cannot be received, the moving distance from the position where the positioning signal was last received is an estimated value, so it does not have sufficient accuracy. Therefore, although the portable device 100 is actually at a position where radio waves can be received from the vehicle 1, it is determined that the portable device 100 exists at a position where radio waves cannot be received, and no response signal is returned to the inquiry signal. case can happen. However, even in such a case, if the reception environment is improved and the positioning signal can be received (S100 in FIG. 3: yes), the current position can be measured (S101), so the locking position and the reception position of the inquiry signal (S110), it is possible to correctly determine whether or not the portable device 100 is in a position where it can receive radio waves from the vehicle 1 (S117 in FIG. 4).

Further, the act of illegally unlocking the door of the vehicle 1 using a repeater or the like may be performed on the portable device 100 placed on a shelf at home after the user of the vehicle 1 has returned home. In such cases, however, the estimated distance traveled is zero. Therefore, once the positioning signal is received and the current position can be determined while the portable device 100 is placed on a shelf, the door of the vehicle 1 may be unlocked by an unauthorized method thereafter. does not occur.

A-3. Movement distance estimation processing of this embodiment:
FIG. 5 is a flow chart of movement distance estimation processing for estimating the movement distance after the portable device 100 of this embodiment receives the positioning signal. This processing is processing executed in parallel with the communication control processing described above with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, in the moving distance estimation process, first, it is determined whether or not a locking signal has been received (S200). As described above with reference to FIG. 3, in the communication control process, when the locking signal is received from the vehicle 1 (S103 in FIG. 3: yes), this is output to the movement distance estimation process (S104). . Therefore, when the portable device 100 receives the locking signal from the vehicle 1, the moving distance estimation process can immediately detect it.

As a result, if the locking signal has not been received (S200: no), it is determined that there is no need to estimate the movement distance, and the device waits until the locking signal is received. On the other hand, if it is determined that the lock signal has been received (S200: yes), the estimated value of the moving distance is first initialized to estimate the moving distance (S201).
Subsequently, an acceleration sensor (not shown) mounted on the portable device 100 is used to detect the acceleration applied to the portable device 100 (S202). The portable device 100 of this embodiment is equipped with a so-called triaxial acceleration sensor, and can detect acceleration in triaxial directions.

After that, it is determined whether or not the amount of change in acceleration is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (S203). The amount of change in acceleration at this time can be obtained by synthesizing the acceleration in the three axial directions and using the synthesized amount of change in acceleration. Alternatively, as a simple method, the amount of change in acceleration, which has the largest amount of change among the accelerations in the three axial directions, may be used.
If the amount of change in acceleration is greater than or equal to the predetermined value (S203: yes), it is determined that walking of the user carrying the portable device 100 has been detected, and the estimated value of the movement distance is set in advance. The user's step length is added (S204).

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 100 of this embodiment detects walking. As shown in the figure, when the acceleration is detected at a predetermined cycle, the acceleration greatly changes in places. This is caused by walking of the user carrying the portable device 100, and the foot of the walker is on the ground at the timing when the acceleration changes significantly. Therefore, the number of steps can be obtained by counting the number of times the acceleration changes significantly. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 6, the number of steps is four.

In S203 of FIG. 5, if the amount of change in acceleration is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (S203: yes), it is considered that the user carrying the portable device 100 has taken a step. Update the distance traveled estimate by adding the stride length.
On the other hand, if the amount of change in acceleration is less than or equal to the predetermined value (S203: no), the stride is not added to the estimated value of the movement distance.

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the positioning result has been obtained (S205). As described above with reference to FIG. 3, in the communication control process, when the positioning signal is received and the current position is determined (S101 in FIG. 3), a notification indicating that the positioning result has been obtained is output to the movement distance estimation process. (S102). Therefore, when the positioning result is obtained, the moving distance estimation process can immediately detect it.

As a result, when the positioning result is not obtained (S205: no), the process returns to S202 and the acceleration is detected again. Then, when the amount of change in acceleration is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (S203: yes), the estimated value of the moving distance is updated by adding the preset stride to the estimated value of the moving distance. (S204), it is again determined whether or not the positioning result has been obtained (S205).
In this way, while the positioning result is not obtained (S205: no), every time the user walks (S203: yes), the distance corresponding to the stride is added to the estimated moving distance (S204).

However, when the positioning result is obtained (S205: yes), the estimated value of the moving distance is once initialized (S201). Thereafter, acceleration is detected (S202), and each time it is detected that the user has taken a step (S203: yes), the distance corresponding to the stride is added to the estimated value of the movement distance (S204).
Therefore, in the moving distance estimation process, every time the positioning signal is finally received and the positioning result is obtained in the communication control process shown in FIGS. It is supposed to be Then, in S114 of the communication control process shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, such an estimated value of the movement distance is obtained. It should be noted that here, the description has been made on the assumption that the movement distance is obtained by adding the stride each time the user takes a step, but the number of steps is counted, and the number of steps at the time when the movement distance is requested from the communication control process is calculated. The moving distance may be calculated by multiplying by the stride length.

In the portable device 100 of the present embodiment, since the movement distance is estimated in this way, even if the positioning signal from the positioning satellite cannot be received when the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 is received, that It is possible to appropriately determine whether or not to reply to the inquiry signal. This point will be supplementarily described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 100 of the present embodiment determines whether or not to reply to an inquiry from the vehicle 1 when the positioning signal cannot be received. A point pa shown in the drawing represents the locking position (the measured position obtained when the locking signal from the vehicle 1 was received). After that, the positioning signal is received when the portable device 100 moves to the point pb, and the positioning signal is received when the mobile device 100 moves to the point pc, but the reception environment deteriorates thereafter and the positioning signal cannot be received represents.

In such a case, when the portable device 100 receives an inquiry signal from the vehicle 1, it reads the position information (here, the position information of the point pc) that was positioned before the reception of the inquiry signal, and reads the locking position. (here, the point pa) is calculated (see S109 and S110 in FIG. 3). In addition, since it is considered that a period of time equal to or longer than the allowable time has elapsed from when the portable device 100 measures the position information at the point pc to when it receives the inquiry signal (S113 in FIG. 4: no), A distance estimate is obtained (see S114). The estimated value acquired at this time is the estimated value estimated in the movement distance estimation process of FIG. After that, the estimated value of the movement distance is added to the separation distance Ld, and it is determined whether or not the separation distance Ld after the addition is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold distance Lth (see S115 and S117).

Here, as described above, the movement distance estimation process estimates the movement distance from the position (the point pc in the example shown in FIG. 7) where the positioning signal was last received. Therefore, when the estimated value of the movement distance is large, there is a possibility that the portable device 100 has moved to a position far away from the position where the positioning signal was last received (here, point pc). Assuming that the portable device 100 moves straight away from the vehicle 1, it can move to a point Ep1 indicated by a black star in FIG. Since the point Ep1 is outside the area R where radio waves from the vehicle 1 reach, if an inquiry signal is received in such a situation, the inquiry signal that has been transferred by an illegal method using a repeater or the like will be detected. Think of it as a signal.

Of course, since the portable device 100 does not always move in a straight line away from the vehicle 1, it may exist closer to the vehicle 1 than the point Ep1 in FIG. may exist within the region R within which the . However, from the viewpoint of preventing the door of the vehicle 1 from being unlocked by an unauthorized method, it is better not to reply to the inquiry signal as long as the portable device 100 may exist outside the region R. desirable.

Further, even if the portable device 100 actually exists within the region R, if the reception environment improves and the positioning signal can be received, it is known that the portable device 100 exists within the region R. can be replied to. Therefore, even though the portable device 100 exists within the region R, the state in which it does not reply to the inquiry signal is only while the positioning signal cannot be received. Considering the situation where the vehicle 1 is unlocked and stolen, it can be said that there is a sufficient merit.

On the other hand, when the estimated value of the movement distance is small, even if the portable device 100 moves straight away from the vehicle 1, the distance from the vehicle 1 increases as indicated by the white star in FIG. is within the region R where the radio waves of In such a case, since the inquiry signal is considered to have been directly transmitted from the vehicle 1, it is sufficient to reply to the inquiry signal.

As described above, in the portable device 100 of the present embodiment, the door of the vehicle 1 is illegally opened by measuring the current position using positioning signals transmitted from positioning satellites at predetermined time intervals. It is possible to prevent the situation of being locked. Even if the positioning signal cannot be received due to deterioration of the reception environment, etc., the door of the vehicle 1 can be unlocked by an unauthorized method by estimating the moving distance of the portable device 100 from the position where the positioning signal was received. It is possible to prevent a situation where

B. Variant:
A plurality of modifications exist in this embodiment described above. These modifications will be briefly described below, focusing on the differences from the present embodiment.

B-1. First modification:
In the portable device 100 of this embodiment described above, it is assumed that the portable device 100 has moved straight away from the vehicle 1 from the position where the positioning signal was received last, and the inquiry signal is answered. determined whether or not However, the portable device 100 does not always move straight away from the vehicle 1 . Therefore, by detecting the moving direction of the portable device 100, it may be determined with higher accuracy whether or not the portable device 100 exists within the area R where radio waves from the vehicle 1 reach.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of such a portable device 150 of the first modified example. The portable device 150 of the first modified example differs greatly from the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above with reference to FIG. . In the following, differences from the portable device 100 of this embodiment will be described, and descriptions of the same parts as those of this embodiment will be omitted by assigning the same reference numerals.

As shown in the figure, the portable device 150 of the first modified example also has a positioning unit 101, a locking position storage unit 102, a locking detection unit 103, an inquiry signal, and the like, like the portable device 100 of the present embodiment. A reception unit 104 , a reply determination unit 105 , a response signal reply unit 106 , an authentication information storage unit 107 , an acceleration detection unit 108 , and a movement distance estimation unit 109 are provided. Among these "units", the positioning unit 101, the locking position storage unit 102, the lock detection unit 103, the inquiry signal reception unit 104, the response signal reply unit 106, the authentication information storage unit 107, the acceleration detection unit 108, the movement The distance estimating unit 109 is the same as the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 2, so description thereof will be omitted.

Moreover, the portable device 150 of the first modified example includes a movement direction detection unit 151 and a movement position estimation unit 152, which the portable device 100 of this embodiment does not have.
Here, the movement direction detection unit 151 is realized by a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and a detection circuit for generating an output from these sensors or detecting the generated output, and detects the movement direction of the portable device 150. To detect. For simplicity, the movement direction detector 151 can be realized by either a gyro sensor or a geomagnetic sensor and a detection circuit for causing the sensor to generate an output or detecting the generated output.
The moving position estimating unit 152 receives the estimated value of the moving distance from the moving distance estimating unit 109 and the moving direction from the moving direction detecting unit 151, thereby estimating in which direction and how much the portable device 150 has moved. do. Further, when the positioning result is obtained by the positioning unit 101, the moving position estimating unit 152 initializes the result obtained by estimation so far. Therefore, the moving position estimating unit 152 estimates the moving position of the portable device 150 based on the last position measured by the positioning unit 101 .

Further, the reply determination unit 105 of the first modified example also determines whether or not to reply to the inquiry signal, similarly to the reply determination unit 105 of the present embodiment described above. For determination, the reception position of the inquiry signal is acquired from the positioning unit 101, the locking position is acquired from the locking position storage unit 102, and based on the separation distance between the reception position and the locking position, Decide whether or not to reply.
However, the positioning signal may not be received depending on the reception environment. Therefore, in the portable device 150 of the first modified example, when the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 is received in a situation where the positioning signal cannot be received, the position information acquired from the positioning unit 101 (that is, the position at the time of the last positioning information) and the estimated value of the movement position obtained from the movement position estimation unit 152 (that is, the estimated position of the portable device 150 based on the position measured last time), and based on these information, the query is performed. It is determined whether or not it is permissible to reply to the matching signal.

In this way, when the interrogation signal is received from the vehicle 1 in a situation where the positioning signal cannot be received, the interrogation signal is generated based on the position to which the portable device 150 has moved, with reference to the last positioned position. You can decide whether you can reply to Therefore, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not it is permissible to reply than the portable device 100 of the present embodiment, which determines based on the movement distance. Various types of processing executed by the portable device 150 of the first modified example will be described below.

The portable device 150 of the first modified example executes a process very similar to the communication control process of the present embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. In particular, the first half of the communication control process is the same as the communication control process of this embodiment shown in FIG. Therefore, the first half of the communication control process of the first modified example will be described with reference to FIG. 3, and the second half of the communication control process of the first modified example will be described with reference to FIG. .

Also in the communication control process of the first modified example, first, it is determined whether or not the positioning signal from the positioning satellite has been received (corresponding to S100 in FIG. 3). Then, when the positioning signal is received (corresponding to S100: yes in FIG. 3), after storing the current position and the positioning time obtained by using the positioning signal, it is notified that the positioning result has been obtained. Output for position estimation processing (corresponding to S101 and S102).
Subsequently, it is determined whether or not a locking signal has been received from the vehicle 1 (corresponding to S103). If it has been received, the fact that the locking signal has been received is output to the later-described moving position estimation process (corresponding to S104), and then the positioning result of the current position is stored as the locking position (corresponding to S106). ).

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not an inquiry signal has been received from the vehicle 1 (corresponding to S107). If not, the process returns to the beginning of the process. is stored (corresponding to S108). Then, the previously stored position information and positioning time are read out, and the position of the read position information is set as the reception position (corresponding to S109 and S110).
As described above, the first half of the communication control process of the first modified example is the same as the communication control process of the present embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the second half of the communication control process of the first modified example. This processing is executed following the first half of the communication control processing shown in FIG. 3 (instead of the latter half of the communication control processing shown in FIG. 4).
As shown in FIG. 9, in the second half of the communication control process of the first modified example, the time difference between the positioning time and the reception time is calculated (S160). Here, the reception time is stored in the first half of the communication control processing of the first modified example (processing corresponding to S108 in FIG. 3). Also, the positioning time is read in the first half of the communication control process of the first modified example (the process corresponding to S109 in FIG. 3).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the obtained time difference is equal to or less than a predetermined allowable time (S161). As a result, if the time difference is equal to or less than the allowable time (S161: yes), it can be considered that the reception position represents the position at which the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 was received. Therefore, in this case, the distance between the reception position and the locking position is calculated (S162).
On the other hand, if the time difference is greater than the allowable time (S161: no), it is assumed that at least the positioning signal transmitted at the closest timing before receiving the inquiry signal could not be received. be done. In such a case, the receiving position does not always represent the position at which the interrogation signal from the vehicle 1 was received.

Therefore, in this case (S161: no), the movement position estimated by the movement position estimation process described later is acquired (S163). In the portable device 100 of this embodiment described above, the movement distance estimation processing is executed in parallel with the communication control processing. bottom. On the other hand, in the portable device 150 of the first modified example, movement position estimation processing is executed instead of movement distance estimation processing, and as will be described later, in the movement position estimation processing, the last positioned position is used as a reference. , the moving position of the portable device 150 is estimated. Therefore, in S163, the moving position of the portable device 150 estimated by the moving position estimation process is acquired. The movement position estimation processing will be described later in detail.

Then, the previously set reception position is corrected using the obtained movement position of the portable device 150 (S164). As described above, the movement position of the portable device 150 is the movement position based on the last measured position. Furthermore, here, the time difference between the positioning time (that is, the time at which the position information set as the reception position is measured) and the reception time (that is, the time at which the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 is received) is greater than the allowable time. Since the case (S161: no) is assumed, the previously set reception position corresponds to the "last positioned position". Therefore, by moving the reception position according to the movement position obtained from the movement position estimation process, it is possible to correct the reception position to a more correct reception position. After correcting the receiving position in this way, the distance between the corrected receiving position and the locking position is calculated (S165).

When the separation distance is obtained as described above (S162 or S165), it is determined whether or not the separation distance is smaller than a predetermined threshold distance Lth (S166). As described above, the threshold distance Lth is set to a distance at which it is unlikely that radio waves from the vehicle-mounted LF antenna 10a mounted on the vehicle 1 will reach.
As a result, when the separation distance is smaller than the threshold distance Lth (S166: yes), it is considered that the portable device 150 exists within the region R in which radio waves from the vehicle 1 can be received. (S167).

On the other hand, if the separation distance is greater than the threshold distance Lth (S166: no), it is considered that the portable device 150 exists at a position where radio waves from the vehicle 1 cannot be received. It is considered that the signal was transferred by an illegal method using a repeater or the like. Therefore, in this case, without returning a response signal to the inquiry signal, the process returns to the beginning of the process to determine again whether or not the positioning signal has been received (corresponding to S100 in FIG. 3).
In this way, no response signal is returned to the inquiry signal transferred by an illegal method, so that the door of the vehicle 1 is unlocked by an illegal method using the repeater. can be avoided.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of movement position estimation processing executed by the portable device 150 of the first modified example to estimate the position to which the portable device 150 has moved based on the last positioned position. This process is executed in parallel with the communication control process of the first modified example described above.

As shown in FIG. 10, in the movement position estimation process, as in the movement distance estimation process, first, it is determined whether or not the locking signal has been received (S250). As a result, when the locking signal has not been received (S250: no), it is determined that there is no need to estimate the movement position, and the device waits until the locking signal is received.
On the other hand, if it is determined that the locking signal has been received (S250: yes), then it is determined whether or not the positioning result has been obtained (S251). Also in the communication control process of the first modified example, when the positioning signal is received and the current position is determined (corresponding to S101 in FIG. 3), the fact that the positioning result is obtained is output to the moving position estimation process ( corresponding to S102). Therefore, in the movement position estimation process, it is possible to immediately detect that the positioning result has been obtained.

As a result, if the positioning result has not been obtained (S251: no), the same determination (S251) is repeated until the positioning result is obtained, thereby entering a standby state. Then, when the positioning result is obtained (S251: yes), prior to estimating the movement position of the portable device 150, the movement position is initialized in advance (S252).
Subsequently, in the same manner as the moving distance estimation process described above with reference to FIG. It judges (S254).

As a result, when the amount of change in acceleration is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (S254: yes), it can be determined that walking of the user carrying the portable device 150 has been detected. Then, when the walking of the user is detected (S254: yes), the moving direction of the portable device 150 is detected (S255). The direction of movement can be detected using a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor (not shown) mounted on portable device 150 .
Once the movement direction is obtained in this way, the movement vector is determined using the movement direction and the preset stride length (S256). Then, the movement position of the portable device 150 is changed using the movement vector (S257). Here, since the movement position has been initialized in S252, the position indicated by the movement vector with this position as the origin becomes the new movement position.

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not a new positioning result has been obtained (S258). If it is determined in S254 that the amount of change in acceleration does not exceed the predetermined value, that is, if the user's walking is not detected (S254: no), a series of procedures for changing the movement position (S255 to S257), it is determined whether or not a new positioning result has been obtained (S258).
As a result, when no new positioning result has been obtained (S258: no), the process returns to S253 to detect the acceleration again. If the amount of change in acceleration is greater than or equal to the predetermined value (S254: yes), the movement direction is detected (S255), and after obtaining the movement vector (S256), the movement of the portable device 150 is performed according to the movement vector. The movement position is changed (S257). After that, it is determined again whether or not a new positioning result has been obtained (S258). In this way, until a new positioning result is obtained (S258: no), each time the user walks (S254: yes), the movement vector is obtained (S255, S256), and the movement position of the portable device 150 is determined. is changed (S257).

However, when a new positioning result is obtained (S258: yes), the movement position is once initialized (S251). After that, the acceleration is detected (S252), and each time it is detected that the user has taken a step (S253: yes), the movement vector is obtained (S255, S256), and the movement position of the portable device 150 is changed. Go (S257).
Therefore, in the movement position estimation process, the position at which the positioning signal was last received and the positioning result was obtained in the above-described communication control process is used as a reference, and the position to which the portable device 150 has moved is estimated from that position. become.

In the second half of the communication control process of the first modified example shown in FIG. 9, when it is determined that the positioning signal could not be received by the portable device 150 (S161: no), such a movement position is acquired (S163). ). After correcting the reception position of the inquiry signal (S164), the separation distance between the corrected reception position and the locking position is compared with a predetermined threshold distance Lth (S165, S166).
Therefore, in the portable device 150 of the first modification, similarly to the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above, even if the positioning signal from the positioning satellite cannot be received at the time of receiving the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1, , it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not to reply to the inquiry signal. This point will be supplementarily described with reference to FIG. 11 .

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing how the portable device 150 of the first modified example determines whether or not to reply to an inquiry from the vehicle 1 when the positioning signal cannot be received. A point pa shown in the drawing represents the locking position (the measured position obtained when the locking signal from the vehicle 1 was received). After that, the positioning signal is received when the portable device 150 moves to the point pb, and the positioning signal is received when the mobile device 150 moves to the point pc, but the reception environment deteriorates thereafter and the positioning signal cannot be received represents.

In the portable device 150 of the first modified example, the movement position estimation process of FIG. 10 is executed in parallel with the communication control process. Therefore, when the positioning signal cannot be received after positioning the current position at the point pc, every time the user carrying the portable device 150 takes a step, the movement vector is obtained by detecting the moving direction, and the portable device 150 will estimate the position to which has moved. In FIG. 11, the dashed arrow extending from the point pc represents the movement vector. A black circle at the tip of the dashed arrow represents the movement position of the portable device 150 estimated using the movement vector.

Then, when the portable device 150 receives the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 without receiving the positioning signal, the estimated moving position of the portable device 150 is obtained (see S163 in FIG. 9). A point Ep indicated by an outline star in FIG. 11 represents the movement position of the portable device 150 that was estimated when the inquiry signal was received. In addition, the movement position is obtained in a format in which the origin is the position (here, point pc) where the positioning result was obtained last. Therefore, even if the portable device 150 cannot receive the positioning signal, the positioning signal reception position (here, point Ep) can be determined using the last positioning position (here, point pc) and the position moved from that position. can be estimated.

Therefore, if the separation distance between the estimated reception position and the locking position is obtained, and it is determined whether or not this separation distance is smaller than a predetermined threshold distance Lth, the portable device 150 receives radio waves from the vehicle 1. It is possible to determine whether or not the object exists within the region R. Further, in the portable device 150 of the first modified example, the movement position of the portable device 150 is estimated by considering not only the movement distance of the portable device 150 but also the movement direction. By comparison, whether or not the portable device 150 exists within the region R can be determined more correctly.

B-2. Second modification:
The portable device 100 of the present embodiment or the portable device 150 of the first modified example described above has a built-in function of measuring the current position based on the positioning signal. However, today, it is common to carry a mobile information terminal such as a so-called smartphone. It usually has a built-in function for wireless communication with the device. Therefore, on the premise that the user of the vehicle 1 carries a mobile information terminal along with the mobile device 100 or the mobile device 150, the mobile device 100 or the mobile device 150 does not measure the current position, but the mobile information terminal may obtain the result of positioning by communicating with the portable information terminal. In such a form, an electronic key carried by the user of the vehicle 1 and having a function of unlocking the door by communicating with the vehicle 1 and a portable information terminal carried by the user are combined into one mobile phone. It can be grasped as corresponding to the machine. Below, such a 2nd modification is demonstrated.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of the portable device 160 of the second modified example. As described above, the portable device 160 of the second modification includes the electronic key 160a capable of communicating with the vehicle 1, and the portable information terminal 160b carried by the user of the vehicle 1 together with the electronic key 160a.
The mobile information terminal 160b is a so-called smart phone, and includes a positioning unit 161 that receives positioning signals from positioning satellites and measures the current position, a communication unit 162 that wirelessly communicates with pre-registered external devices, and the like. I have.

Further, the electronic key 160a of the second modification differs from the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above with reference to FIG. The same is true for the point of
Communication unit 163 of electronic key 160a acquires position information obtained by positioning based on the positioning signal by positioning unit 161 of portable information terminal 160b and the positioning time by wirelessly communicating with communication unit 162 of portable information terminal 160b. can do.

Further, the electronic key 160a of the second modified example includes the LF antenna 100a, the RF antenna 100b, the locking position storage unit 102, the locking detection unit 103, and the inquiry key, similarly to the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above. A signal receiving unit 104, a reply determination unit 105, a response signal reply unit 106, an authentication information storage unit 107, an acceleration detection unit 108, a movement distance estimation unit 109, etc. are also provided. This is the same as the present embodiment described above.
That is, upon receiving the information indicating that the doors of the vehicle 1 are locked, the locked position storage unit 102 stores the position information and the positioning time acquired from the communication unit 163 in the memory. Further, when receiving the inquiry signal, the reply determination unit 105 acquires the current position (hereinafter referred to as the reception position) and the positioning time obtained by the communication unit 163, and returns a response signal to the inquiry signal. determine whether or not Furthermore, each time the communication unit 163 acquires a new positioning result, the moving distance estimating unit 109 initializes the previously estimated moving distance.

In the second modification as well, when the electronic key 160a receives the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1, even if the mobile information terminal 160b fails to receive the positioning signal, the electronic key 160a responds to the inquiry signal. You can decide whether you can reply to it. As a result, it is possible to prevent the door of the vehicle 1 from being unlocked by an illegal method.

B-3. Third modification:
In the present embodiment or various modifications described above, the door of the vehicle 1 is unlocked by a fraudulent method by judging whether or not the portable device carried by the user can reply to the inquiry signal. It was explained as a way to prevent a situation that would occur. However, when the portable device receives the inquiry signal, it may return the separation distance together with the response signal.
In this way, the vehicle side can determine whether or not to authenticate the portable device, or whether or not to enable the door of the vehicle 1 to be unlocked, based on the separation distance received from the portable device. It is possible to prevent the door of the vehicle 1 from being unlocked by an illegal method. A portable device 170 of such a third modification will be described below.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of the portable device 170 of the third modified example. The portable device 170 of the third modification differs greatly from the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above with reference to FIG.
That is, in the portable device 100 of the present embodiment described above, when an inquiry signal is received from the vehicle 1, the reply judgment unit 105 judges whether or not it is permissible to reply to the inquiry signal. The response signal returning unit 106 returns the response signal when it is determined that it is acceptable to do so. On the other hand, in the portable device 170 of the third modified example, when receiving the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1, the response signal reply section 171 returns a response signal. Then, the response signal replying unit 171 of the third modified example acquires the separation distance when replying the response signal, and returns it together with the response signal. The separation distance can be acquired in the same manner as the reply determination unit 105 of this embodiment shown in FIG.

In this way, the vehicle side determines whether or not to authenticate the portable device 170, or whether or not the doors of the vehicle 1 can be unlocked, based on the information about the distance returned together with the response signal. be able to. As a result, it is possible to prevent the door of the vehicle 1 from being unlocked by an illegal method.

B-4. Fourth modification:
In the present embodiment and various modified examples described above, it is assumed that the location of the portable device when the door of the vehicle 1 is locked (that is, the locked position) is stored in the portable device. However, the locking position may be stored on the vehicle side. When receiving a response signal to the inquiry signal, the mobile device is authenticated by receiving the reception position at the time when the mobile device received the inquiry signal and calculating the separation distance between the locking position and the reception position. Alternatively, it may be determined whether or not the door of the vehicle 1 can be unlocked. Below, the portable device 180 of such a fourth modification will be described.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of the portable device 180 of the fourth modified example. The portable device 180 of the fourth modified example differs greatly from the portable device 170 of the third modified example described above with reference to FIG. there is Further, since the locking position storage unit 102 is not provided, the function of the response signal replying unit 182 is partially different from that of the response signal replying unit 171 of the third modification.

That is, in the portable device 170 of the third modified example described above, when the locking signal from the vehicle 1 is detected, the locking position storage unit 102 stores the positioning result obtained from the positioning unit 101 as the locking position. On the other hand, in the portable device 180 of the fourth modification, when the locking signal from the vehicle 1 is detected, the locking position transmitting section 181 transmits the positioning result obtained from the positioning section 101 to the vehicle 1 as the locking position. Therefore, since the locking position can be stored on the vehicle side, there is no need to store the locking position in the portable device 180 .

Further, in the portable device 170 of the third modified example described above, when the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1 is received, the response signal replying section 171 returns the response signal. Also, at this time, the separation distance was calculated based on the reception position of the inquiry signal and the locking position stored in advance, and the obtained separation distance was sent back together with the response signal. On the other hand, in the portable device 180 of the fourth modified example, it is not always possible to calculate the separation distance because the locking position is not always stored. Therefore, when receiving the inquiry signal from the vehicle 1, the response signal returning unit 182 of the fourth modification acquires the reception position from the positioning unit 101 and returns it to the vehicle 1 together with the response signal. Further, when the positioning unit 101 fails to receive the positioning signal when the interrogation signal is received, instead of the reception position of the interrogation signal, the positioning result obtained before the reception of the interrogation signal is Acquired from the positioning unit 101 . Further, the moving distance estimating unit 109 acquires the moving distance from the time when the positioning result is obtained to the time when the inquiry signal is received. Then, instead of the reception position, this information is sent back with the response signal.

In this way, the vehicle side can determine whether or not to authenticate the portable device 180 or whether or not the door of the vehicle 1 can be unlocked based on the reception position returned together with the response signal. can. In addition, instead of the reception position, the positioning result obtained before the interrogation signal was received and the movement distance from the time when the positioning result was obtained to the time when the interrogation signal was received were returned. Even in such a case, it is possible to determine whether or not to authenticate the portable device 180, or whether or not the doors of the vehicle 1 can be unlocked, based on these pieces of information. As a result, it is possible to prevent the door of the vehicle 1 from being unlocked by an illegal method.

Although the present embodiment and various modifications have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and various modifications, and can be implemented in various manners without departing from the scope of the invention. can.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Vehicle, 2... Unlocking device, 3... Handle, 9a, b... Repeater,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Vehicle-mounted control apparatus, 100... Portable device, 101... Positioning part,
102... Locking position storage unit, 103... Lock detection unit, 104... Inquiry signal receiving unit,
105...Reply determination unit, 106...Response signal reply unit, 107...Authentication information storage unit,
108... Acceleration detector, 109... Moving distance estimator, 150... Portable device,
151...Movement direction detector, 152...Movement position estimator, 160...Portable device,
161...Positioning unit, 162...Communication unit, 163...Communication unit,
170... Portable device, 171... Response signal return unit.

Claims (6)

A portable device carried by a user of a vehicle (1) and having a function of unlocking a door of the vehicle or starting an engine of the vehicle by wireless communication with the vehicle. (100, 150, 160) and
a positioning unit (101, 161) for positioning a current position by receiving positioning signals transmitted at predetermined time intervals;
an acceleration detection unit (108) for detecting acceleration applied to the portable device;
When the positioning signal is received, the moving distance of the portable device from the time when the positioning result by the positioning signal is obtained is estimated based on the acceleration without considering the moving direction of the portable device. a distance estimation unit (109);
locking position storage for acquiring the positioning result obtained at the time when the locking is detected when detecting that the door of the vehicle is locked, and storing the obtained positioning result as a locking position; a part (102);
When the inquiry signal from the vehicle is received, the inquiry signal is calculated based on the separation distance between the reception position, which is the positioning result obtained at the time of receiving the inquiry signal, and the locking position. a reply judgment unit (105) for judging whether or not to reply to the signal;
A response signal replying unit (106) for replying a response signal to the inquiry signal when it is determined to reply,
The reply determination unit
Prior to determining whether or not to reply to the inquiry signal, it is determined whether the reception position can be adopted as the position of the portable device when the inquiry signal is received, and it is determined that it cannot be adopted. the moving direction of the portable device is considered based on the reception position determined to be unacceptable and the moving distance estimated by the moving distance estimator at the time of receiving the inquiry signal. estimating the separation distance without
A portable device that determines whether or not to reply based on the estimated separation distance. The portable device according to claim 1,
The portable device, wherein the moving distance estimating unit estimates the moving distance of the portable device by detecting walking of the user based on the acceleration. The portable device according to claim 2,
The portable device, wherein the moving distance estimating unit estimates the moving distance of the portable device based on the number of steps of the user and a preset stride length of the user. An on-vehicle controller mounted on a vehicle (1) and a portable device (170) carried by a user of the vehicle, wherein wireless communication is performed between the on-vehicle controller and the portable device. after authenticating a vehicle, at least one of unlocking a door of the vehicle and starting an engine of the vehicle, comprising:
The portable device
a positioning unit (101) for positioning a current position by receiving positioning signals transmitted at predetermined time intervals;
an acceleration detection unit (108) for detecting acceleration applied to the portable device;
When the positioning signal is received, the moving distance of the portable device from the time when the positioning result by the positioning signal is obtained is estimated based on the acceleration without considering the moving direction of the portable device. a distance estimation unit (109);
locking position storage for acquiring the positioning result obtained at the time when the locking is detected when detecting that the door of the vehicle is locked, and storing the obtained positioning result as a locking position; a part (102);
When receiving the inquiry signal from the vehicle, the distance between the reception position, which is the result of the positioning obtained at the time of receiving the inquiry signal, and the locking position is calculated, and the inquiry signal is calculated. a response signal return unit (171) that returns the separation distance together with a response signal to the mixed signal;
and
The in-vehicle control device determines whether or not to authenticate the portable device, whether to unlock the door of the vehicle, or whether or not to unlock the door of the vehicle, based on the separation distance returned from the portable device together with the response signal. determining at least one of whether or not to start the engine of the vehicle,
The response signal return unit is
Prior to returning the separation distance together with the response signal in response to the inquiry signal, it is determined whether or not the reception position can be adopted as the position of the portable device when the inquiry signal is received. If it is determined that the portable device is not adopted, the moving direction of the portable device is determined based on the reception position determined to be unacceptable and the moving distance estimated by the moving distance estimating unit at the time of receiving the inquiry signal. estimating the separation distance without considering
return the response signal with the estimated separation distance
A vehicle system characterized by: An on-board control device mounted on a vehicle (1) and a portable device ( 180 ) carried by a user of the vehicle, wherein wireless communication is performed between the on-board control device and the portable device. A vehicle system that executes at least one of unlocking a door of the vehicle or starting an engine of the vehicle after authenticating the portable device,
The portable device
a positioning unit (101) for positioning a current position by receiving positioning signals transmitted at predetermined time intervals;
an acceleration detection unit (108) for detecting acceleration applied to the portable device;
When the positioning signal is received, the moving distance of the portable device from the time when the positioning result by the positioning signal is obtained is estimated based on the acceleration without considering the moving direction of the portable device. a distance estimation unit (109);
a locking position transmission unit (181) that, upon detecting that the door of the vehicle is locked, acquires the positioning result obtained when the locking is detected, and transmits it to the vehicle as a locking position; ,
A response signal reply that, when receiving an inquiry signal from the vehicle, returns a reception position , which is a result of the positioning obtained at the time of receiving the inquiry signal, together with a response signal to the inquiry signal. a portion (171) and
The in-vehicle control device stores the locking position transmitted from the portable device, and when receiving the receiving position transmitted from the portable device together with the response signal, the locking position and the receiving position. at least one of whether or not to authenticate the portable device, or to unlock the door of the vehicle, or to start the engine of the vehicle, based on the separation distance calculated using is judging
The response signal return unit is
Prior to returning the reception position together with the response signal in response to the inquiry signal, it is determined whether or not the reception position can be adopted as the position of the portable device when the inquiry signal is received. and the moving distance estimated without considering the moving direction of the portable device by the moving distance estimating unit at the time of receiving the inquiry signal. is returned together with the response signal ,
When the in-vehicle control device receives the reception position and the movement distance together with the response signal from the portable device, the in-vehicle control device calculates the separation distance estimated using the locking position, the reception position, and the movement distance. to determine at least one of whether or not to authenticate the portable device, or to unlock the door of the vehicle, or to start the engine of the vehicle.
A vehicle system characterized by: It is applied to a portable device which is carried by a vehicle user and has a function of executing at least one of unlocking a door of the vehicle and starting an engine of the vehicle by wireless communication with the vehicle. A communication control method,
a step of receiving positioning signals transmitted at predetermined time intervals and positioning the current position (S101);
a step of detecting acceleration applied to the portable device (S202);
When the positioning signal is received, estimating the moving distance of the portable device from the time when the positioning result by the positioning signal is obtained based on the acceleration without considering the moving direction of the portable device. (S204);
When it is detected that the door of the vehicle is locked, a step of acquiring the positioning result obtained at the time when the locking is detected and storing the obtained positioning result as the locked position (S106). )and,
When the inquiry signal from the vehicle is received, the inquiry signal is calculated based on the separation distance between the reception position, which is the positioning result obtained at the time of receiving the inquiry signal, and the locking position. a step of determining whether to reply to the signal (S117);
a step (S118) of returning a response signal to the inquiry signal if it is determined to reply;
with
The step of determining whether to reply to the inquiry signal includes:
Prior to the determination, it is determined whether or not the reception position can be adopted as the position of the portable device when the inquiry signal is received. estimating the separation distance without considering the moving direction of the portable device based on the moving distance estimated at the time of receiving the inquiry signal;
Determining whether or not to reply based on the estimated separation distance
A communication control method characterized by:

Images