Enhanced automotive passive entry

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12200567-B2
Application number	US-202318129482-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2023
Priority date	Feb 10, 2017
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

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, from a control unit connected to a door, an advertising signal using a first wireless protocol;
transmitting, using a second wireless protocol, a first ranging signal upon receipt of the advertising signal;
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 one or more second ranging signals emitted from one or more second RF antennas of the control unit upon receipt of the first ranging signal, wherein the one or more first signal properties of the one or more second ranging signals change with respect to a distance between a first RF antenna that received the one or more second ranging signals and a second RF antenna that emitted the one or more second ranging signals;
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 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 control unit associated with the door based on the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising authenticating the control unit using stored keys managed by a secure element.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the authenticating comprises varying a width of pulses in the first wireless protocol.

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; and
providing the first 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 1 , wherein the first wireless protocol is Bluetooth and the second wireless protocol is ultra-wideband (UWB).

6. 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, from a control unit connected to a door, an advertisement signal using a first wireless protocol;
transmitting, using a second wireless protocol, a first ranging signal upon receipt of the first advertisement signal;
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 one or more second ranging signals emitted from one or more second RF antennas of the control unit upon receipt of the first ranging signal, wherein one or more first signal properties of the one or more second ranging signals change with respect to a distance between a first RF antenna that received the signal and a second RF antenna that emitted the one or more second ranging signals;
determining a location of the mobile device relative to the control unit using one or more first signal properties of the first 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 control unit associated with the door based on the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprising authenticating the control unit using stored keys managed by a secure element.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the authenticating comprises varying a width of pulses in the first wireless protocol.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , 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; and
providing the first set of signal values to the model to obtain the location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the first wireless protocol is Bluetooth and the second wireless protocol is ultra-wideband (UWB).

11. A mobile device comprising:
a first radiofrequency (RF) reception antenna configured to receive advertising signal using a first wireless protocol;
a second radiofrequency reception antenna, using a second wireless protocol, configured to transmit a first ranging signal upon receipt from the advertising signal, and to receive one or more ranging signals emitted from one or more second radiofrequency (RF) antennas of a control unit connected to a door;
an RF ranging circuit coupled with the second radiofrequency reception antennas, the RF ranging circuit configured to:
analyze the one or more ranging signals in a first frequency range from the second radiofrequency reception antenna; and
provide one or more first signal values related to a distance or an orientation of the mobile device relative to one or more RF source antennas associated with a control unit connected to a door.

12. The mobile device of claim 11 , further comprising:
collection circuitry configured to provide the one or more first signal values and the one or more first signal values to a location circuitry for determining a location of the mobile device relative to the control unit.

13. The mobile device of claim 12 , wherein the location circuitry is located in a device external to the mobile device.

14. The mobile device of claim 13 , wherein the external device is in the control unit.

15. The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the location circuitry is configured to:
store 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 values, wherein the set of pre-defined regions including a first subset of one or more regions outside the a predefined distance from the control unit and a second subset of one or more regions outside the predefined distance from 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
provide the set of signal values to the machine learning model to obtain a current classification of a particular region within which the mobile device is currently located.

16. The mobile device of claim 15 , further comprising:
data communication circuitry configured to provide the particular region to the control unit, thereby enabling the control unit to perform a prescribed operation associated with the door.

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

• G07C9/29

  the pass containing active electronic elements, e.g. smartcards · CPC title

• B60R2325/205

  Mobile phones · CPC title