WO2021218993A1 - Système de verrou/serrure de véhicule doté d'accéléromètre - Google Patents

Système de verrou/serrure de véhicule doté d'accéléromètre Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2021218993A1
WO2021218993A1 PCT/CN2021/090503 CN2021090503W WO2021218993A1 WO 2021218993 A1 WO2021218993 A1 WO 2021218993A1 CN 2021090503 W CN2021090503 W CN 2021090503W WO 2021218993 A1 WO2021218993 A1 WO 2021218993A1
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Prior art keywords
dcm
vehicle door
accelerometer
vehicle
acceleration
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PCT/CN2021/090503
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English (en)
Inventor
Mark Johnson
Shawn Slovesko
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Byton Limited
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Publication of WO2021218993A1 publication Critical patent/WO2021218993A1/fr

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    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E05—LOCKS; KEYS; WINDOW OR DOOR FITTINGS; SAFES
    • E05B—LOCKS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR; HANDCUFFS
    • E05B77/00—Vehicle locks characterised by special functions or purposes
    • E05B77/02—Vehicle locks characterised by special functions or purposes for accident situations
    • E05B77/04—Preventing unwanted lock actuation, e.g. unlatching, at the moment of collision
    • E05B77/06—Preventing unwanted lock actuation, e.g. unlatching, at the moment of collision by means of inertial forces
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E05—LOCKS; KEYS; WINDOW OR DOOR FITTINGS; SAFES
    • E05B—LOCKS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR; HANDCUFFS
    • E05B81/00—Power-actuated vehicle locks
    • E05B81/54—Electrical circuits
    • E05B81/64—Monitoring or sensing, e.g. by using switches or sensors
    • E05B81/76—Detection of handle operation; Detection of a user approaching a handle; Electrical switching actions performed by door handles

Definitions

  • the disclosed embodiments relate generally to vehicles and in particular, but not exclusively, to vehicles having a latch/lock system including an all-electric exterior handle and an accelerometer.
  • Some aspects of a vehicle’s door design can cause unintended door opening during a crash or other violent positive or negative acceleration.
  • door handles used to unlatch a vehicle door are designed to be moved between a closed position, in which the door is latched, and an open position in which the door in unlatched.
  • door handles can move the handles toward their open position, causing the doors to unlatch and allowing them to open.
  • Fig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a vehicle including accelerometers positioned in at least one door.
  • Fig. 2A–2B are side views of an embodiment of a vehicle door including an accelerometer positioned in the door.
  • Figs. 3A–3D are block diagrams of embodiments of a vehicle door latch/lock system including an accelerometer.
  • Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for operating the embodiment of a latch/lock system shown in Fig. 3.
  • Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a pro-cess for operating the embodiment of a latch/lock system shown in Fig. 3.
  • Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a pro-cess for operating the embodiment of a latch/lock system shown in Fig. 3.
  • Embodiments are disclosed of a vehicle latch/lock apparatus and system including an accelerometer.
  • the apparatus includes a door control module (DCM) positioned in a vehicle door.
  • DCM door control module
  • a microswitch is coupled to the DCM, and the microswitch is positioned in the vehicle door and coupled to a vehicle door handle so that the microswitch is activated by movement of the vehicle door handle.
  • An accelerometer is coupled in series between the micro-switch and the DCM, the accelerometer being positioned within the vehicle door and rigidly mounted to either the door handle assembly or the door struc-ture itself. Under the right acceleration conditions, the accelerometer inhibits unlatching and/or unlocking of the door in response to activation of the micro-switch.
  • Embodiments are disclosed of a system including a vehicle having at least one vehicle door with a door handle.
  • a door control module (DCM) is positioned in a vehicle door.
  • a microswitch coupled to the DCM and is positioned in the vehicle door and coupled to the vehicle door handle so that the microswitch is activated by movement of the vehicle door handle.
  • An ac-celerometer is coupled in series between the microswitch and the DCM, the accelerometer being positioned within the vehicle door and rigidly mounted to either the door handle assembly or the door structure itself.
  • Embodiments are disclosed of an apparatus including a door control module (DCM) positioned in a vehicle door.
  • DCM door control module
  • a microswitch is coupled to the DCM, the microswitch being positioned in the vehicle door and coupled to a vehicle door handle so that the microswitch is activated by movement of the vehicle door handle.
  • An accelerometer is coupled in series between the mi-croswitch and the DCM, the accelerometer being positioned within the vehicle door and rigidly mounted to either the door handle assembly or the door struc-ture itself.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a vehicle 100 with at least one door that includes an accelerometer.
  • vehicle 100 is a four-door sedan, but in other embodiments of vehicle 100 can have a different number of doors than shown and can be a different type of vehicle than shown.
  • another embodiment of vehicle 100 could be a van, minivan, sport utility vehicle (SUV) , pickup truck, or commercial truck.
  • SUV sport utility vehicle
  • Vehicle 100 includes a vehicle control unit (VCU) 102.
  • VCU 102 is one of the vehicle’s primary computers and can be communicatively coupled to various other components in the vehicle.
  • VCU 102 is a single unit, but in other embodiments it can be made up of multiple units.
  • VCU 102 can be communicatively coupled to other compo-nents within the vehicle, including for instance sensors and other computers.
  • VCU 102 is coupled to door control module 104 positioned in the vehicle door.
  • every passenger door in the vehicle has a door control module (DCM) 104: the driver’s door has a DCM 104a, the front passenger door has a DCM 104b, and so on.
  • DCMs 104 could be omitted and all their functions carried out directly by VCU 102.
  • Each DCM 104 is communicatively coupled to VCU 102, for instance using the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) ; when two or more elements are “coupled” or “communicatively coupled” it means that the ele-ments can exchange signals and data with each other, directly or indirectly (i.e., there can be intervening elements between the two that are communicatively coupled) , and the exchange of signals and data can occur in one direction or both directions.
  • CAN controller area network
  • Each DCM 104a–104d is in turn coupled to a corresponding accelerometer 106, and each accelerometer 106 is in turn coupled in series to a corresponding microswitch 108: in the illustrated embodiment DCM 104a is coupled to accelerometer 106a and microswitch 108a, DCM 104b is coupled to accelerometer 106b and microswitch 108b, and so on. In this way accelerom-eters 106 and microswitches 108 are indirectly coupled or communicatively coupled to VCU 102 in the illustrated embodiment. In the illustrated embodi-ment every passenger door of vehicle 100 has all these components-DCM 104, accelerometer 106, and microswitch 108-but in other embodiments fewer than all passenger doors can include these components.
  • a hood, tailgate, or trunk lid can have their own DCM as well as accelerometers and microswitches.
  • An embodiment of a system includes a DCM 104, accelerometer 106, and microswitch 108 is described below in connection with Fig. 3.
  • VCU 102 can also be coupled to other sensors within vehicle 100.
  • VCU 102 can be coupled to driver airbag 109a, passenger airbag 109b, and rear-passenger airbags if the vehicle is so equipped.
  • Pressure sensors 110a–110d are positioned in each door of the vehicle.
  • One or more crash sensors 112 can also be positioned in the vehicle; the illustrated embodi-ment shows a single crash sensor at or near the front of the vehicle, but other embodiments can include multiple crash sensors could be positioned at various locations in the vehicle. These other sensors can be used together with accel-erometer 106 in various ways.
  • crash sensor 112 one or more of pressure sensors 110a–110d, and airbags 109a–109b can be used to detect involvement in a crash This crash and airbag deployment data can then be used to confirm or validate the output of accelerometers 106 (see, e.g., Fig. 4) .
  • Fig. 2A illustrates an embodiment of a vehicle door 200.
  • Vehi-cle door 200 has a hollow or mostly hollow interior bounded on the exterior of the vehicle by exterior panel 202.
  • DCM 104 Within the hollow interior of door 200 are positioned DCM 104, accelerometer 106, and microswitch 108; these compo-nents are shown in the figure in dashed lines to indicate that they are not visible from outside the door.
  • Microswitch 108 is coupled in series with accelerometer 106, which in turn is coupled to DCM 104.
  • DCM 104 can be coupled to VCU 102 by the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) , local interconnect network (LIN) , ethernet, optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices (not shown in this figure, but see Figs. 1 and 3A) .
  • CAN controller area network
  • LIN local interconnect network
  • ethernet optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices (not shown in this figure, but see Figs. 1 and 3A) .
  • Microswitch 108 can be mechanically coupled to door handle 206 so that motion of door handle 206 either opens microswitch 108, thus in-terrupting a complete circuit, or closes microswitch 108, thus creating a com-plete circuit.
  • microswitch 108 can be a mechanical switch, but in other embodiments it can be a different type of switch such as a Hall sensor, capacitive sensor, inductive sensor, or optical sensor.
  • Accelerometer 106 is coupled in series to microswitch 108 and is mounted in the hollow interior of door 200. Some embodiments of a series configuration of microswitch 108 and accelerometer 106 can require additional circuitry to open or close the circuit. This circuitry, including accelerometer 106, could be fabricated on a PCB and over molded in plastic or it could be fully integrated as a system on a chip. Generally, accelerometer 106 is rigidly mounted to vehicle door 206 so that acceleration of the vehicle is immediately and accurately transmitted to the accelerometer.
  • accel-erometer 106 can be positioned in the hollow interior of door 200 but rigidly mounted to exterior panel 202, so that in addition to vehicle accelerations the accelerometer can accurately receive vibrations or other mechanical perturba-tions from all or parts of exterior panel 202.
  • ac-celerometer 106 is positioned near door handle 206 and microswitch 108, so that in addition to vehicle accelerations the accelerometer can accurately detect perturbations of exterior panel 202 originating in the area at and surrounding door handle 206.
  • accelerometer 106 is po-sitioned so that it can detect perturbations originating anywhere within a 3-inch, 6-inch, 9-inch, or 12-inch radius of door handle 206.
  • the radius within which accelerometer 106 can detect perturbations can of course be larger or smaller than the radii just listed. In still other embodiments, however, accel-erometer 106 need not be positioned near door handle 206 but can instead be positioned elsewhere in the door.
  • a latch/lock mechanism 204 is also coupled to DCM 104 and is positioned in the interior of the door and along the door’s rear edge.
  • the door frame that accommodates vehicle door 200 typically includes a latch striker (not shown) on one side of the door.
  • Latch/lock mechanism 204 is positioned within the hollow interior of door 200 along the edge of the door that will allow the latch/lock mechanism to engage the latch striker on the door frame to keep the door closed, locked, or both closed and locked.
  • latch/lock mechanism 204 is positioned along the rear edge of door 200, but in other embodiments latch/lock mechanism 204 can be positioned along a different door edge than shown.
  • latch/lock mechanism 204 is electrically operated by control signals from DCM 104 in response to the activation of door handle 206, microswitch 108, and accelerom-eter 106 (see, e.g., Fig. 4) .
  • latch/lock mechanism 204 can include a mechanical override that allows the latch/lock mechanism to be me-chanically locked, unlocked, and unlatched, for instance if a battery failure pre-vents electrical power from being delivered to it.
  • Fig. 2B illustrates an embodiment of a vehicle door 250.
  • Vehi-cle door 250 is in most respects similar to vehicle door 200: it has a hollow or mostly hollow interior bounded on the exterior of the vehicle by exterior panel 202.
  • DCM 104 Within the hollow interior of door 200 are positioned DCM 104, accel-erometer 106, and microswitch 108; these components are shown in the figure in dashed lines to indicate that they are not visible from outside the door.
  • the primary difference between vehicle doors 200 and 250 is that in vehicle door 250 microswitch 108 and accelerometer 106 are coupled in parallel to DCM 104, either directly or via other components (see Fig. 3B) .
  • DCM 104 can be coupled to VCU 102 by the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) , local in-terconnect network (LIN) , ethernet, optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices (not shown in this fig-ure, but see Figs. 1 and 3B) .
  • CAN controller area network
  • LIN local in-terconnect network
  • ethernet optical, wireless
  • Fig. 3A illustrates, in block diagram form, an embodiment of a vehicle door latching/locking system 300 including an accelerometer.
  • System 300 includes door control module (DCM) 104, which has a supply voltage V, which in one embodiment can be a 12-volt supply voltage but in other embod-iments can be a different supply voltage.
  • DCM 104 also has one or more ground connections.
  • DCM 104 is also communicatively coupled to the vehicle’s con-troller area network (CAN) , local interconnect network (LIN) , ethernet, optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices., through which the DCM can exchange signals and data with com-puters, sensors, or other components in the vehicle (see, e.g., Fig. 1) .
  • CAN con-troller area network
  • LIN local interconnect network
  • ethernet ethernet
  • optical, wireless or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices.
  • Accelerometer 106, microswitch 108, and door latch 204 are coupled to DCM 104.
  • accelerometer 106 is a multi-axis micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) accelerometer capable of detecting linear accelerations along two or more axes; as used herein, detection by accelerom-eter 106 includes both determination of an acceleration’s existence and meas-urement of its magnitude.
  • MEMS micro-electro-mechanical
  • accelerometer 106 can detect accelerations a x , a y , and a z along three orthogonal axes x, y, and z.
  • Other embodiments of accelerometer 106 can also detect angular accelerations instead of or in addition to linear ones.
  • accelerom-eter 106 can measure linear and/or rotational accelerations along and about a single axis.
  • accelerometer 106 can include on-board or integrated hardware and/or software that allow it to execute processing func-tions such as applying a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to detected accelerations before outputting a signal to another component such as DCM 104.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • Accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 are coupled to each other in series and together are coupled to one set of inputs/outputs of DCM 104. Coupling accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 in series creates an ef-fect analogous to an AND gate: if both accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 are activated, there is an input to DCM 104. But if only one of accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 is activated, or if neither is activated, then there is no input to DCM 104. In this way the accelerometer blocks or inhibits the output of microswitch 108.
  • a data path also exists between accelerometer 106 and DCM 104 through which accelerometer 106 can exchange raw, partially processed, or fully processed data with DCM 104; in some embodiments the data can be raw, partially processed, or fully processed acceleration data, but in other em-bodiments the data can be something other than acceleration.
  • the data path between accelerometer 106 and DCM 104 can be a different physical connection than the connection by which accelerometer 106 and mi-croswitch 108 are coupled to DCM 104, but in other embodiments the data path can be through the connection between the DCM, the accelerometer, and the microswitch.
  • the data path is independent of the signal path of the microswitch and accelerometer, so that acceleration data can be ex-changed between accelerometer 106 and DCM 104 even if both accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 are not activated in a way that causes an input to the DCM from the series-coupled accelerometer/microswitch combination.
  • Door handle 206 is coupled to microswitch 108 so that the door handle can activate the microswitch (i.e., close the circuit) or deactivate the microswitch (i.e., open the circuit) .
  • door handle 206 rotates about pivot 302 and has one end coupled to a rod 304.
  • Rod 304 couples the end of door handle 206 to microswitch 108.
  • a rod 304 activates the microswitch (i.e., closes the circuit) and when door handle 206 is rotated about pivot 302 in direction B rod 304 deactivates the microswitch (i.e., opens the circuit) .
  • this arrangement could be differ-ent.
  • direction A would deactivate the mi-croswitch (i.e., open the circuit) while direction B would activate the micro-switch (i.e., close the circuit) .
  • Other embodiments can have door handles that function differently than the one shown-door handles that don’t revolve around a pivot, for instance.
  • Door latch/lock mechanism 204 is also coupled to DCM 104 so that the two can exchange signals and data.
  • Door latch/lock mechanism 204 can, for instance, signal its status (locked, unlocked, open, closed, etc. ) to DCM 104.
  • DCM 104 can in turn collect data from door latch/lock mechanism 204 and send commands and data to latch/lock mechanism 204.
  • activation of door handle 206 under specified acceleration condi-tions, can cause DCM 104 to command door latch/lock mechanism 204 to lock/unlock the vehicle door, latch/unlatch the vehicle door, or both (see, e.g., Fig. 4) .
  • Fig. 3B illustrates, in block diagram form, an embodiment of a vehicle door latching/locking system 325 including an accelerometer.
  • System 325 is in most respects similar to system 300: it includes door control module (DCM) 104 communicatively coupled to the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) , local interconnect network (LIN) , ethernet, optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices, through which the DCM can exchange signals and data with computers, sen-sors, or other components in the vehicle (see, e.g., Fig. 1) .
  • Accelerometer 106, microswitch 108, and door latch 204 are coupled to DCM 104.
  • accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 are coupled in a parallel configuration and together are coupled via AND gate 326 to one set of in-puts/outputs of DCM 104.
  • AND gate 326 With AND gate 326 in place if both accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 are activated, there is an input to DCM 104. But if only one of accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 is activated, or if neither is activated, then there is no input to DCM 104.
  • Fig. 3C illustrates, in block diagram form, an embodiment of a vehicle door latching/locking system 350 including an accelerometer.
  • System 350 is in most respects similar to system 325: it includes door control module (DCM) 104 communicatively coupled to the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) , local interconnect network (LIN) , ethernet, optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices, through which the DCM can exchange signals and data with computers, sen-sors, or other components in the vehicle (see, e.g., Fig. 1) .
  • Accelerometer 106, microswitch 108, and door latch 204 are coupled to DCM 104.
  • system 350 accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 are coupled in parallel, but each with its own input to DCM 104.
  • AND gate 352 can be a hardware element within DCM 104 or, alternatively, the function of AND gate 352 can be performed by software executed by DCM 104.
  • Another difference between systems 350 and 375 is that in system 375 omits rod 304. Instead, handle 206 activates microswitch 108 by direct contact between the handle and the microswitch as the handle rotates around pivot 302.
  • Fig. 3D illustrates, in block diagram form, an embodiment of a vehicle door latching/locking system 350 including an accelerometer.
  • System 350 is in most respects similar to system 325: it includes door control module (DCM) 104 communicatively coupled to the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) , local interconnect network (LIN) , ethernet, optical, wireless, or any other network or means of transferring data between modules or devices, through which the DCM can exchange signals and data with computers, sen-sors, or other components in the vehicle (see, e.g., Fig. 1) .
  • Accelerometer 106, microswitch 108, and door latch 204 are coupled to DCM 104.
  • accelerometer 106 is directly integrated into DCM 104.
  • accelerometer 106 and microswitch 108 can be coupled in the series configu-ration of system 300 or either of the parallel configurations of system 325 or 350.
  • Fig. 4 illustrates and embodiment of a process 400 for operating a door latching system.
  • the process is described below in connection with the embodiments of systems 200 and 300 shown in Figs. 2–3, but the same or a similar process could be used with other embodiments of systems 200 and 300.
  • the process starts at block 402.
  • the process checks whether the vehicle door is closed and latched. In some embodiments it might only be pos-sible to determine that the door is “latched, ” from which it can often implied that latched equals closed. But it is possible to have a latched door that is open. Some embodiments can include an additional switch for the purpose of deter-mining a door’s open/closed status. If at block 404 the process detects that the door is open (i.e., not closed and hence not latched) , then the process stops at block 405, since the process cannot prevent unlatching after it has already hap-pened.
  • the process listens for an activation of micro-switch 108. If at block 408 no activation of microswitch 108 is detected, then the process returns to block 406 to continue listening for a microswitch activa-tion. But if a microswitch activation is sensed at block 408, the process moves to block 410 where it checks whether, in addition to a microswitch activation, there has also been an accelerometer activation-that is, whether the accel-erometer has detected a non-zero or non-negligible acceleration.
  • the process moves to block 422 where it unlatches the door in response to activa-tion of microswitch 108-i.e., it sends a signal to the latch/lock mechanism 204 (see Figs. 2–3) to unlatch.
  • the process moves to block 412, where it checks whether the de-tected acceleration is within a permissible acceleration range.
  • the permissible range for an acceleration a can be -1.5g ⁇ a ⁇ +1.5g, where g represents acceleration due to gravity.
  • the per-missible acceleration range can be greater (e.g., -2.5g ⁇ a ⁇ +2.5g) or smaller (e.g., -1g ⁇ a ⁇ +1g) , and in still other embodiments the permissible accelera-tion range need not be symmetrical about 0; for instance, in one embodiment the permissible acceleration range can be -1g ⁇ a ⁇ +2.5g.
  • acceleration a used to determine whether the vehicle is in the permissible acceleration range can be determined in various ways.
  • acceleration a can be the magnitude of the resultant of acceleration vectors in multiple directions. For instance, with a three-axis accelerometer that detects accelerations with mag-nitudes a x , a y , and a z along three orthogonal axes x, y, and z:
  • acceleration a can be the maximum acceleration from the multiple directions. For instance, with a three-axis accelerometer that detects accelerations a x , a y , and a z along three orthogonal axes x, y, and z:
  • a max (a x , a y , a z )
  • acceleration a can be determined by some other method not shown here.
  • the process determines that the acceleration is within the permissible range, then the process moves to block 422 where it unlatches the door-i.e., DCM 104 sends a signal to latch/lock mechanism 204 (see Figs. 2–3) to unlatch. The process then moves to block 424, where it stops. But if at block 412 the measured acceleration is outside the permissible range, then in one embodiment the process moves to block 418, where it does not unlatch the door despite an activation of microswitch 108 at block 408 due to movement of door handle 206 (see Figs. 2–3) .
  • the process can move to block 414, where it cross-checks the de-tected acceleration against other sensors in the vehicle to provide verification that the detected acceleration is a real acceleration event and not erroneous or a false positive. For instance, in one embodiment the process can check whether the acceleration is consistent with the acceleration measured by accelerometers in other vehicle doors or elsewhere in the vehicle. In another embodiment the process can check with other types of sensors besides accelerometers. For in-stance, if an airbag deployment signal indicates that one or more airbags in the vehicle have deployed or are deploying at substantially the same time as an out-of-permissible-range accelerometer measurement is detected, then that can be taken as an indication that the vehicle is involved in a crash or other sudden acceleration/deceleration event. Similarly, if signals are received from a crash detector or door pressure sensor (see Fig. 1) that can be taken as an indication that the vehicle is involved in a crash or other sudden acceleration/deceleration event.
  • the process checks whether, as a result of cross-checking at block 414, the accelerometer measurement is consistent with the input from other sensors. If at block 416 the acceleration is not consistent with input from other sensors-and thus could be erroneous or a false positive-then the process moves to block 422, where DCM 104 sends a signal to latch/lock mechanism 204 (see Figs. 2–3) to unlatch, and then moves to block 424, where the process stops. But if at block 416 the detected acceleration is consistent with input from other sensors, then the process moves to block 418, where it refuses to unlatch the door despite the fact that at block 408 micro-switch 108 has been activated by movement of door handle 206 (see Figs. 2–3) . The process then moves to block 420, where it stops.
  • Fig. 5 illustrates another embodiment of a process 500 for op-erating a door latching system.
  • the process is described below in connection with the embodiments of systems 200 and 300 shown in Figs. 2–3, but the same or a similar process could be used with other embodiments of systems 200 or 300.
  • Process 500 can be used by itself or in addition to processes 400 and/or 600.
  • the illustrated process can be used as a keyless way of unlocking and/or unlatching a vehicle door using a vibrating mechanism such as a mobile phone with vibration capabilities.
  • the process starts at block 502.
  • the process checks whether the vehicle door is closed and latched. If at block 504 the ve-hicle door is not closed or not latched, meaning that the vehicle door is un-locked, open, or both unlocked and open, then the process stops at block 506. But if at block 504 the process determines that the door is locked, then in moves to block 508.
  • the process listens for output from the accelerom-eter.
  • the accelerometer output can originate from a vibrat-ing mechanism, such as a mobile phone, that can be set to vibrate at a known frequency.
  • the vibrating mechanism can be placed against outside panel 202 of the door near accelerometer 106-that is, close enough to accelerometer 106 that the accelerometer can accurately detect the perturbations in exterior panel 202 created by the vibrating mechanism.
  • accelerometer 106 can detect perturbations originating anywhere within a 3-inch, 6-inch, 9-inch, or 12-inch radius of door handle 206, but the radius within which accel-erometer 106 can detect perturbations can of course be larger or smaller than the radii just listed.
  • the process receives no output from the accel-erometer then it returns to block 508, where it continues to listen for accelerom-eter output. But if at block 510 the process detects accelerometer output then it moves to block 512, where it analyzes the accelerometer output.
  • analysis of the accelerometer input at block 512 can be done by applying a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to the accelerometer signal, transforming it from a time-domain signal to a frequency-domain signal.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • the FFT can be applied directly by the accelerometer chip, with the transformed signal being transmitted to DCM 104. In the frequency domain, the trans-formed accelerometer signal would show a peak at the frequency detected by the accelerometer.
  • the vibration mecha-nism could be set to vibrates in a sequence of different frequencies; in such an embodiment the result of applying the FFT would be peaks at multiple frequen-cies.
  • the FFT can be applied to the accelerometer output using software em-bedded in the accelerometer itself, software in the DCM, or by some other com-ponent. In other embodiments the FFT can be implemented in hardware instead of software.
  • the process retrieves stored accelerometer char-acteristics. For instance, if DCM 104 is set to unlatch/unlock the vehicle door in response to a 575 Hz vibration, then that information is retrieved at block 514.
  • the frequency resulting from the analysis at block 512 is compared to the frequency retrieved at block 514 to see if they match within a set tolerance.
  • the tolerance can be 25 Hz, so that in the above example a detected frequency of 575 ⁇ 25 Hz would be considered a match. In other embodiments the tolerance can of course be different (larger or smaller) than 25 Hz.
  • the process moves to block 518, where it unlocks and/or un-latches the vehicle door, and then to block 520 where it stops. But if at block 516 the detected frequency does not match the stored frequency, the process moves to block 522, where it does not unlock and/or unlatch the vehicle door. The process can then move to block 524, which is optional as indicated by its dashed outline, where it can notify the vehicle owner of an unsuccessful entry attempt, and then returns to block 508, where it resumes listening for accel-erometer output.
  • Fig. 6 illustrates another embodiment of a process 600 for op-erating a door latching/locking system.
  • the process is described below in con-nection with the embodiment of systems 200 and 300 shown in Figs. 2–3, but the same or a similar process could be used with other embodiments of systems 200 or 300.
  • Process 600 can be used by itself or in addition to processes 400 and 500.
  • the illustrated process can be used as a keyless way of unlocking and/or unlatching a vehicle door using a pattern of tapping or knocking on exterior panel 202 near accelerometer 106 (see Fig. 2) .
  • the process starts at block 602.
  • the process checks whether the vehicle door is closed and latched. If at block 604 the ve-hicle door is not closed or not latched, meaning that the vehicle door is un-locked, open, or both unlocked and open, then the process stops at block 606. But if at block 604 the process determines that the door is latched and locked, then in moves to block 608.
  • the process listens for output from accelerometer 106.
  • the accelerometer output can originate from tapping or knocking in a particular pattern near accelerometer 106 on the exte-rior panel 202 of the vehicle door-that is, close enough to accelerometer 106 that the accelerometer can accurately detect the tapping or knocking.
  • accelerometer 106 can detect perturbations of exterior panel 202 from tapping or knocking originating anywhere within a 3-inch, 6-inch, 9-inch, or 12-inch radius of door handle 206, but the radius within which accelerometer 106 can detect perturbations can of course be larger or smaller than the radii just listed.
  • the process receives no output from the accel-erometer then it returns to block 608, where it continues to listen for accelerom-eter output. But if at block 610 the process detects accelerometer output then it moves to block 612, where it analyzes the accelerometer output. In such an embodiment, analysis of the accelerometer output at block 612 can be done by applying digital filtering to generate a digital accelerometer signal. The digital signal is transmitted to DCM 104, where the signal is received and scrutinized for periodicity and sequence. Other methods of analyzing the accelerometer output are of course possible in other embodiments.
  • the process retrieves stored tapping or knocking periodicity and sequence characteristics. For instance, if the door is set to un-lock in response to particular periodicity and sequence of tapping on exterior panel 202, then that information is retrieved at block 614.
  • the periodicity and sequence resulting from the analysis at block 612 is compared to the periodicity and sequence retrieved at block 614 to see if they match within a set tolerance. If at block 616 the detected characteristics match the retrieved characteristics, then the process moves to block 618, where it unlocks and/or unlatches the vehicle door, and then to block 620 where it stops.
  • the process moves to block 622, where it does not unlock and/or unlatch the vehicle door.
  • the process can then move to optional 624, which is optional as indicated by its dashed outline, where it can notify the vehicle owner of an unsuccessful entry attempt, and then returns to block 608, where it resumes listening for accelerometer output.

Landscapes

  • Lock And Its Accessories (AREA)

Abstract

Des modes de réalisation de l'invention concernent un appareil comprenant un module de commande de porte (DCM) positionné dans une porte de véhicule. L'invention concerne également un microcontact qui est couplé au DCM, et est positionné dans la portière de véhicule et accouplé à une poignée de portière de véhicule de telle sorte qu'il puisse être activé par le mouvement de la poignée de portière de véhicule. L'invention concerne en outre un accéléromètre qui est couplé au DCM dans une configuration en série ou en parallèle avec le microcontact, et est positionné à l'intérieur de la portière de véhicule et monté de manière rigide sur la poignée de portière de véhicule ou monté de manière fixe sur une structure à l'intérieur de la portière.
PCT/CN2021/090503 2020-04-28 2021-04-28 Système de verrou/serrure de véhicule doté d'accéléromètre WO2021218993A1 (fr)

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Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0027747A2 (fr) * 1979-10-23 1981-04-29 Regie Nationale Des Usines Renault Système de détection de collisions et de commande de dispositif de sécurité
GB2292126B (en) * 1994-08-11 1997-12-17 Rover Group A motor vehicle
CN103670066A (zh) * 2012-09-18 2014-03-26 霍弗·霍斯贝克及弗斯特两合公司 具有事故识别传感器的安全系统
WO2014102279A1 (fr) * 2012-12-24 2014-07-03 Magna Closures S.P.A. Système et procédé de gestion de collision d'un verrou électronique de dispositif de fermeture de véhicule à moteur
US20190078357A1 (en) * 2017-09-09 2019-03-14 Huf Huelsbeck & Fuerst Gmbh & Co. Kg Central locking device for a door lock with accident detection device

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0027747A2 (fr) * 1979-10-23 1981-04-29 Regie Nationale Des Usines Renault Système de détection de collisions et de commande de dispositif de sécurité
GB2292126B (en) * 1994-08-11 1997-12-17 Rover Group A motor vehicle
CN103670066A (zh) * 2012-09-18 2014-03-26 霍弗·霍斯贝克及弗斯特两合公司 具有事故识别传感器的安全系统
WO2014102279A1 (fr) * 2012-12-24 2014-07-03 Magna Closures S.P.A. Système et procédé de gestion de collision d'un verrou électronique de dispositif de fermeture de véhicule à moteur
US20190078357A1 (en) * 2017-09-09 2019-03-14 Huf Huelsbeck & Fuerst Gmbh & Co. Kg Central locking device for a door lock with accident detection device

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