WO1993025786A1

WO1993025786A1 - Central locking system for motor vehicles

Info

Publication number: WO1993025786A1
Application number: PCT/EP1993/001049
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ulrich Dochtermann; Peter Fein; Robert Klinar; Werner Philipps
Original assignee: Itt Automotive Europe Gmbh
Priority date: 1992-06-12
Filing date: 1993-04-30
Publication date: 1993-12-23
Also published as: DE59303270D1; EP0644975B1; ES2089818T3; JPH08501357A; DE4219212A1; EP0644975A1

Abstract

Each of a number of actuators (1-4) has a signal generator unit (12a-12d) which, depending on the existing status parameters of an opening in the motor vehicle monitored by it or on command signals fed in from outside, transmits data signals to a control unit which derives control signals therefrom by means of which control components (22, 23) of the central locking system are controlled which lock and unlock the openings in the motor vehicle. According to the invention, each actuator (1-4) of the central locking system has its own control unit (20a-20d) to which the data signals from the signal generator unit (12a; 12b; 12c; 12d) of said actuator and selected data signals from the signal generator units (12b-12d; 12a, 12c, 12d; 12a, 12b, 12d; 12b-12d) of the other actuators (2-4; 1, 3, 4; 2-4) of the central locking system are sent.

Description

Central locking system for motor vehicles

The invention relates to a central locking system for motor vehicles, with a number of actuators, each of which has a signal unit which, depending on current state parameters, of an opening and / or an operating element of the motor vehicle monitored by it or as a function of external input ¬ the specified command signals forwards data signals to a control unit, which generates control signals from these data signals, with which control elements of the central locking system are actuated, which effect the locking and unlocking of the openings of the motor vehicle.

Such a central locking system is known from DE-OS 36 28 706. Each actuator of the central locking system is connected via a bus system to a central processor which evaluates the status parameters of the doors of the motor vehicle registered by the signal transmitter units of the individual actuators. The data signals supplied by the signal transmitters are then converted into control signals for the control elements of the central locking in accordance with a program stored in the central processor. This will then be fed to the control elements in turn via the bus system. A disadvantage of the known central locking system is the extremely complex signal flow: the signals must first be routed from each actuator to the central processor and the control signals calculated therein must then be routed to the actuating elements of the central locking system. This bidirectional signal flow between actuators or adjusting elements and the central processor disadvantageously requires complex bus management.

A central locking system for a plurality of active functional units and / or passive components of a motor vehicle is known from DE-OS 38 36 026. This has a signal input device which responds to an externally input input signal and which controls the locking and unlocking of the functional units coupled to it or the passive components. It is provided here that the signal input device contains a data processing device which converts the input signals supplied by an external signal generator of the signal input device into control signals for the functional unit, which leads via a serial interface and a bus line to the function units of the central locking system become. With this central locking system, it is therefore only possible in a disadvantageous manner that input signals can be registered and control commands can be issued only at a single point in the central locking system, which then lead to the control elements of the functional units being locked or unlocked. To avoid these disadvantages, the task of the invention is to develop a central locking system of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that the signal flow required for operating the central locking system is simplified.

This object is achieved in that each actuator of the central locking system has its own control unit, to which the data signals of the signal transmitter unit of its actuator and selected data signals of the signal transmitter units of the other actuators of the central locking system are fed.

Due to the decentralized control used in the central locking system according to the invention, a drastic reduction of the signal information to be transmitted is achieved in a particularly advantageous manner: whereas in conventional systems each data signal from each signal transmitter unit of each actuator of the central locking system to the central processor If the processor is guided and the control signals calculated therefrom have to be transferred back to the actuating elements, the central locking system according to the invention enables the same functions to be carried out with a considerably smaller number of transmitted data. Because in the central locking system according to the invention, it is only necessary in a particularly advantageous manner that the data signals occurring in one actuator are sent to the other actuators transmitted, which are relevant for the overall function of the central locking system. The transmission of control signals outside an actuator is advantageously completely eliminated. In addition, the decentralized control makes it particularly easy to provide comfort functions for the central locking system for each door.

Advantageous developments of the invention result from the subclaims. Further details of the invention are described in the following exemplary embodiment, which is described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. Show it:

1 shows a functional diagram of a first exemplary embodiment;

2 shows a functional diagram of a second exemplary embodiment.

The first exemplary embodiment of a central locking system for a motor vehicle, shown schematically in FIG. 1, has four actuators 1-4. Here - without restricting the generality of the following considerations - it is assumed that the actuator 1 or 2 serves to lock and secure theft of a right or left front door and the actuator 3 or 4 serves the same purpose for a rear door of a four-door motor vehicle. Each actuator 1-4 is connected via a pair of supply lines 10a, 10b to a voltage Supply 11 of the motor vehicle connected. The number of four actuators shown in FIG. 1 was chosen only for the sake of example. The person skilled in the art can easily see from the following explanations how he can adapt the described arrangement for a central locking system containing more than four actuators.

Each actuator 1-4 has a signal transmitter unit 12a-12d consisting of at least one signal transmitter. A first signal transmitter 13a of the signal transmitter unit sends a data signal which indicates whether the door to be monitored is opened or pre-latched or closed. A second signal transmitter 13b indicates that the door is completely closed. The third to fifth signal transmitters 13c-13e serve to control the central locking system by the user of the motor vehicle: the third signal transmitter 13c registers via an external input signal, for example a specific position of the car key in the door lock, that the user has one with the central locking device would like to activate interlocking theft protection. In an analogous manner, the fourth and fifth signal transmitters 13d and 13e register that the user is opening or closing the motor vehicle. want to lock, ie that the control elements of the central locking system should be locked or unlocked. Since no locks are usually attached to the rear doors in motor vehicles, the actuators 3, 4 assigned to these doors - as can be seen from FIG. 1 - have no third to fifth signal transmitters 13c-13e. The sixth and seventh signal transmitters 13f-13g serve for monitoring the position or the function of the control elements of the anti-theft device and the central locking or of functional parts thereof.

A number of possibilities are known to the person skilled in the art of how to design these signal transmitters so that they fulfill the functional purpose assigned to them. However, it is particularly advantageous to design the signal transmitters 13a-13g as Hall sensors, since the data signals supplied by the latter can be processed without further conversion. In addition, the use of non-contact Hall sensors has the advantage that the signal transmitters have a longer service life because they are not subject to mechanical wear.

It is particularly important that each actuator 1-4 of the central locking system has its own control unit 20a-20d, to which the data signals generated by the signal transmitters 13a-13g are fed.

Each control unit 20a-20d of an actuator 1-4 queries the signal information of the individual signal transmitters 13a-13g of the signal transmitter unit 12a-12d and uses these data signals and selected data signals from the other actuators to calculate control signals for motor drivers 21 and 22, which control commands for them Generate control elements of the central locking and the anti-theft device, which are assigned to the respective actuator. It should be noted here that the functional units 1, the motor drivers 21 and 22 are only shown schematically, since the person skilled in the art is familiar with the structure of the other functional units of a central locking system and an anti-theft system.

To transmit the selected data signals, i.e. Those data signals which are relevant for all actuators 1-4 of the central locking system are provided with a bus system 30 which is transmitted in time-division multiplex to the messages sent by the actuators 1-4. This bus system 30 is advantageously designed as a multi-master bus system, so that each actuator 1-4 can request the bus system 30 via an interface logic integrated in the control unit 20a-20d. The bus system 30 can be managed by a known bus arbitration method.

To exchange the relevant signal information between the four actuators 1-4 of the central locking system via the bus system 30, it is provided that each message from an actuator consists of a bit block that has a standardized structure. The first bit of the bit block is a start bit, which indicates the start of the transmission of the bit block. It is important here that the value of the start bit corresponds to the value of the dominant level on the bus system 30, so that each actuator 1-4 of the central locking system corresponds to the value of the dominant level on the bus system 30 by transmitting the start bit , so that each actuator 1-4 of the central locking system can pull the bus system 30 towards itself by sending out the start bit. In the following, it is assumed without restriction of generality that the actuators 1-4 are connected to the bus system 30 via their interface logic by means of open collector outputs, so that as a result of the "wired-AND" connection formed thereby the dominant level of the bus stem 30 has the value "0". The start bit is now followed by several message bits: a first message bit indicates the position of the door assigned to the respective actuator: the value "1" of the first message bit means that this door is completely closed. The first message bit is followed by a second message bit, which is used to switch on an interior light 5 of the motor vehicle: the value "1" or "0" of the second message bit indicates that this door is closed or preparatory is steady or open. The second message bit is followed by a bit group consisting of the third and fourth message bits, which contain, in coded form, the external command signals registered by the third to fifth signal transmitters 13c-13e of an actuator (for example actuator 1): the two message bits of this bit group indicate simultaneously the value "0", the remaining actuators 2-4 of the central locking system are informed that the user of the motor vehicle wants to unlock the central locking and switch off the anti-theft device. The pair of values "0, 1" or "1, 0" of this bit group means that the vehicle is locked or the anti-theft device is to be armed. Assign the third and fourth message bit both have the value "1", this means that no action is to be carried out. The sequence and number of message bits described here and the meaning assigned to them represent only one of many possible variants. It is also possible that parity or control bits are contained in at least one status message. On the basis of the above description, the person skilled in the art can easily see how he should proceed if more or different information is to be transmitted from one actuator via the bus system 30 to the other actuators of the central locking system. This is because it is particularly easy to do this by simply increasing the message bits.

The decentralized control of the central locking system described here has the advantage over the conventional systems with a central control that it enables a drastic reduction in the signal information to be transmitted: with conventional central locking systems, all information of each signal generator of each actuator must be available Central electronics are transferred and the control signals calculated therefrom by the central electronics are brought back to the control elements of the central locking and the anti-theft device arranged on the doors of the motor vehicle and interacting with the respective actuator. In the case of a central locking system with decentralized control, however, it is only necessary to provide only that information from the signal transmitters 13a-13g from one actuator to the other actuators 1-4 to be transmitted, which can influence the function of these actuators: a transmission of control signals for the movement of the actuating elements of each actuator, for example, is not relevant for the other actuators, since each actuator 1-4 independently determines these for the actuating elements assigned to it : Such a signal transmission between the individual actuators can therefore be completely omitted in a particularly advantageous manner. The signal flow required for the function of the central locking system is therefore drastically reduced. In addition, the decentralized control of the central locking system makes it particularly easy to integrate the so-called comfort functions of a central locking system - such as an individual locking and unlocking of a specific door of the motor vehicle.

In a particularly advantageous manner, all signal information required for the central locking and anti-theft functions and for the interior light control is available for all other actuators with a single message from an actuator of the actuators 1-4, since the information that

a) a door is only latched or opened and therefore the interior light must be switched on,

b) at least one door is not completely closed and therefore the anti-theft device must not be activated and c) the external commands of the user of the motor vehicle to lock or unlock the central locking and to switch the anti-theft device on or off,

with the dominant level "0" is output to the bus system 30 with every message.

The decentralized control used in the described central locking system requires that - since a central processor is not provided - the control units 20a-20d of each actuator 1-4 themselves generate the system cycle required for their data processing. The signals on the bus system 30 are then sampled with the system clock specific to the respective control unit 20a-20d. For correct data transmission via the bus system 30, it is therefore necessary for there to be a correlation between the system clocks of the individual actuators 1-4. On the one hand, this can be done in a known manner in that each actuator 1-4 has a highly precise oscillating quartz, so that the individual system clocks are sufficiently precise in period. The synchronization of the individual actuator cycles can also take place in that an actuator is designed as a clock master. The distribution then takes place on the bus in message format. It is also particularly advantageous to proceed as follows:

There is an additional one between the start bit and the first message bit of each bit block of a message Start bit end bit inserted which has a value complementary to the value of the start bit. Due to this defined bit structure - here: the start bit with the value "0" and the start bit end bit with the value "1" - at the start of each message block, the receiving actuators of the central locking system are able to set the system clock of the to recognize this message block emitting actuator: while the start bit is being transmitted on the bus system 30, a reference counter runs in the control unit 20a-20d of each of the receiving actuators, which reference counter determines the number of its own system clocks which occurred during the The duration of the start bit expires. The receiving actuator thus knows the length of a bit of the sending actuator in units of its own system clock and can therefore temporally resolve the incoming signal data accordingly. This particularly simple solution to the synchronization problem which occurs in a central locking system with decentralized control allows a less precise and therefore cheaper oscillator - such as an RC oscillator - to be used to generate the system clock, thereby reducing the manufacturing costs of the control unit of everyone Actuator be reduced. It is also advantageous that such a correlation determination has a high error tolerance with respect to deviations in the different system clocks of the actuators, which can then be in a range of 30-200%.

As can also be seen in Fig. 1, it can be provided that the control of functional components of the Motor vehicle, the activation of which depends on the closed position of one of the doors and which perform a function that is independent of the actual central locking and / or theft protection, such as the interior light 5, taken over by a single actuator 2 of the central locking system becomes. This is particularly easily possible in the exemplary embodiment described, since each actuator 1-4 of the central locking system has all the relevant information that is obtained from the other actuators. This measure simplifies the design effort for the control unit of the other actuators 1, 3, 4.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 corresponds essentially to that of FIG. 1, so that the same parts are provided with the same reference numerals. The main difference between these two embodiments is that, instead of the bus system 30, four parallel lines 30a-30d are used for data transmission, on which the state of each bit is statically or dynamically transmitted in parallel between the actuators. The number of lines required is determined by the number of bits of a status message to be transmitted. This has the advantage that the multiplex format signals required in the time-division multiplex method can be omitted in the case of such a signal transmission, which further simplifies the control electronics.

On the other hand - as from those used in Fig. 2 Switch symbols can be seen - conventional switches 13a-13g are used as signal transmitters 13a-13g instead of the Hall sensors. However, Hall sensors can also be used here.

The mode of operation of the second exemplary embodiment is readily apparent to the person skilled in the art, taking into account the description of the first exemplary embodiment, from FIG. 2, so that further explanations are unnecessary at this point.

Claims

1. Central locking system for motor vehicles, with a number of actuators (1-4), each having a signal transmitter unit (12a-12d), which, depending on current status parameters, of an opening monitored by it and / or an operating element of the motor vehicle or, as a function of externally input command signals, forwards data signals to a control unit, which generates control signals from these data signals, with which control elements (22, 23) of the central locking system are actuated, which effect the locking and unlocking of the openings in the motor vehicle , characterized in that each actuator (1-4) of the central locking system has its own control unit (20a-20d), which controls the data signals of the signal transmitter unit (12a; 12b; 12c; 12d) of its actuator (1; 2; 3 ; 4) and selected data signals of the signal generator units (12b-12d; 12a, 12c, 12d; 12a, 12b, 12d; 12b-12d) of the other actuators goals (2-4; 1, 3, 4; 2-4) of the central locking system.

2. Central locking system according to claim 1, characterized in that the data transmission The time between the actuators (1-4) of the central locking system is multiplexed via a bus system (30) designed as a multi-master system.

3. Central locking system according to claim 1, characterized in that the data transmission between the actuators (1-4) of the central locking system via parallel lines (30a-30d), wherein the number of lines (30a-30d) the number of for transmitted bits corresponds to a status message from the central locking system.

4. Central locking system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the actuators (1-4) of the central locking system each have an interface logic which connects the control unit (20a-20d) of each actuator (1-4 ) with the bus system (30).

5. Central locking system according to claim 4, characterized in that the interface logic of each actuator (1-4) via an output, in particular an open collector output, is connected to the Bussy¬ system (30) generated at this one dominant level.

6. Central locking system according to one of claims 1-5, characterized in that each of the control unit (20a-20d) of the actuator (1-4) via the interface logic to the bus system (30) has a standardized structure such that each status message is transmitted in the form of a bit block with a defined length to the bus system (30) and that each bit block consists of a start bit and then one or more message bits.

7. Central locking system according to claim 6, characterized in that each bit block has a start bit end bit, which is transmitted after the start bit and before the first message bit, the start bit and the start bit end bit complementary Have values.

8. Central locking system according to one of claims 1-6 or 7, characterized in that the message bits are parity bits or control bits or data signals from signal transmitters (13a-13g; 13a'-13g ") of the signaling units (12a-12d) generated, represent.

9. Central locking system according to claim 8, characterized in that at least one signal transmitter (13c; 13c ") of a signal transmitter unit (12a, 12b) at least one actuator (1-4) of the central locking system responds to an external input signal which responds by the user of the motor vehicle to activate or deactivate one with the Central locking cooperating anti-theft device is delivered.

10. Central locking system according to claim 8, characterized in that at least one signal transmitter (13d 13e; 13d ", 13e ^' ) of a Signalgeber¬ unit (12a, 12b) at least one actuator (1-4) of the central locking system responds to an external input signal that is given by the user of the motor vehicle for activating or deactivating a central locking system.

11. Central locking system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the signal transmitters of the signal transmitter units (12a-12d) as Hall sensors (13a-13g) and / or as conventional switches (13a "-13g ') are trained.

12. Central locking system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that only one actuator (2) of the actuators of the central locking system for actuating functional components (5) of the vehicle, their activation of the state parameters of the openings to be monitored depends and which serves a function independent of the actual central locking and / or theft protection.

13. Central locking system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized - net that each actuator (1-4) of the central locking system contains at least one driver (22, 23) which generates control signals for the control elements of the central locking and / or theft protection.