Enhanced automotive passive entry

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11627433-B2
Application number	US-202117558334-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2021
Priority date	Feb 10, 2017
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided for allowing a mobile device (e.g., a key fob or a consumer electronic device, such as a mobile phone, watch, or other wearable device) to interact with a vehicle such that a location of the mobile device can be determined by the vehicle, thereby enabling certain functionality of the vehicle. A device may include both RF antenna(s) and magnetic antenna(s) for determining a location of a mobile device relative to the vehicle. Such a hybrid approach can provide various advantages. Existing magnetic coils on a mobile device (e.g., for charging or communication) may be re-used for distance measurements that are supplemented by the RF measurements. Any device antenna may provide measurements to a machine learning model that determines a region in which the mobile device resides, based on training measurements in the regions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a mobile device, the method comprising:
receiving a first set of signal values measured using one or more first radiofrequency (RF) antennas of the mobile device, the first set of signal values providing one or more first signal properties of signals in a first frequency range emitted from one or more second RF antennas of a control unit connected to a door, wherein the one or more first signal properties of a signal change with respect to a distance between a first RF antenna that received the signal and a second RF antenna that emitted the signal;
receiving a second set of signal values measured using one or more first magnetic antennas of the mobile device, the second set of signal values providing one or more second signal properties of signals in a second frequency range lower than the first frequency range emitted from one or more second magnetic antennas of the control unit, wherein the one or more second signal properties of a signal change with respect to a distance between a first magnetic antenna that received the signal and a second magnetic antenna that emitted the signal;
determining a location of the mobile device relative to the control unit using the one or more first signal properties of the first set of signal values and the one or more second signal properties of the second set of signal values that change with respect to a relative distance between the mobile device and the control unit; and
providing the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit, thereby enabling the control unit to perform a prescribed operation for the door based on the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an orientation measured using a sensor of the mobile device; and
using the orientation to determine a correspondence of distance between a respective first magnetic antenna and a respective second magnetic antenna.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location of the mobile device is determined using the first set of signal values measured using the one or more first RF antennas at a first time when the mobile device is outside a predefined distance of the control unit, and wherein the location of the mobile device is determined using the second set of signal values measured using the one or more first magnetic antennas at a second time when the mobile device is inside the predefined distance of the control unit.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit includes:
storing a model that determines the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit based on the one or more first signal properties and the one or more second signal properties; and
providing the first set of signal values and the second set of signal values to the model to obtain the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the model is a machine learning model that classifies a location of the mobile device relative to the control unit as being within a region of a set of pre-defined regions based on the one or more first signal properties and the one or more second signal properties, the set of pre-defined regions including a first subset of one or more regions outside a predefined distance of the control unit and a second subset of one or more regions outside the predefined distance of the control unit, the machine learning model being trained using various sets of signal values measured at locations across the set of pre-defined regions; and
wherein the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit corresponds to a current classification of a particular region within which the mobile device is currently located.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first RF antennas operate within a range of 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz, and wherein the one or more first magnetic antennas operate within a range of 100 kHz to 900 kHz.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a mobile device, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a first set of signal values measured using one or more first radiofrequency (RF) antennas of the mobile device, the first set of signal values providing one or more first signal properties of signals in a first frequency range emitted from one or more second RF antennas of a control unit connected to a door, wherein the one or more first signal properties of a signal change with respect to a distance between a first RF antenna that received the signal and a second RF antenna that emitted the signal;
receiving a second set of signal values measured using one or more first magnetic antennas of the mobile device, the second set of signal values providing one or more second signal properties of signals in a second frequency range lower than the first frequency range emitted from one or more second magnetic antennas of the control unit, wherein the one or more second signal properties of a signal change with respect to a distance between a first magnetic antenna that received the signal and a second magnetic antenna that emitted the signal;
determining a location of the mobile device relative to the control unit using the one or more first signal properties of the first set of signal values and the one or more second signal properties of the second set of signal values that change with respect to a relative distance between the mobile device and the control unit; and
providing the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit, thereby enabling the control unit to perform a prescribed operation for the door based on the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, cause the one or more processors to further perform operations comprising:
receiving an orientation measured using a sensor of the mobile device; and
using the orientation to determine a correspondence of distance between a respective first magnetic antenna and a respective second magnetic antenna.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the location of the mobile device is determined using the first set of signal values measured using the one or more first RF antennas at a first time when the mobile device is outside a predefined distance of the control unit, and wherein the location of the mobile device is determined using the second set of signal values measured using the one or more first magnetic antennas at a second time when the mobile device is inside the predefined distance of the control unit.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein determining the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit includes:
storing a model that determines the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit based on the one or more first signal properties and the one or more second signal properties; and
providing the first set of signal values and the second set of signal values to the model to obtain the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the model is a machine learning model that classifies a location of the mobile device relative to the control unit as being within a region of a set of pre-defined regions based on the one or more first signal properties and the one or more second signal propertie

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ledvina Brent M
• Brumley Robert W
• Mayor Robert William
• Bencze William J
• Marquez Alejandro J
• Yang Shang-Te
• Chen Xu
• Sen Indranil S
• Narang Mohit

Classifications

• G01S5/0263

  by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems · CPC title

• G01S2205/01

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01S5/0284

  Relative positioning · CPC title

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• B60R2325/205

  Mobile phones · CPC title