Vehicle door open/close operation apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9458649-B2
Application number	US-201314373943-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2013
Priority date	Jan 24, 2012
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

A vehicle door open/close operation apparatus is provided in which a design cover can be opened by a manual operation and can close at least part of an opening provided in a door, and a latch release is operated by a latch device due to the operation of an operating member in a state in which the design cover is open, wherein displacement of the design cover from a closed position toward an open position is detected by a detection switch, and a control unit carries out the user authentication in response to detection of displacement of the design cover by the detection switch. This enables the necessity for carrying out an operation of the operating member again to be avoided even if the operating member is operated quickly, thus enabling the door to be opened smoothly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle door open/close operation apparatus comprising a design cover that can be opened by a manual operation and that can close at least part of an opening provided in a door, an operating member that is movable separately from the design cover and can be manually operated at a position inside the door in a state in which the design cover is open, a latch device that can switch between an unlocked state in which latch release of the door is enabled and a locked state in which latch release of the door is disabled and that has an electric actuator for latch release for releasing the latched state of the door in response to an operation in the unlocked state, and a control unit that can carry out user authentication for confirming whether or not a person operating the operating member is a legitimate vehicle user and that controls operation of the electric actuator for latch release so as to operate the electric actuator for latch release so as to release the latched state in response to operation of the operating member in a state in which being a legitimate vehicle user has been authenticated, wherein the apparatus comprises a detection switch for detecting displacement of the design cover from a closed position toward an open position, and the control unit carries out the user authentication in response to detection of displacement of the design cover by the detection switch.

2. The vehicle door open/close operation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the latch device comprises an electric actuator for lock/unlock switching that can switch between the unlocked state and the locked state, and the control unit controlling operation of the electric actuator for lock/unlock switching operates the electric actuator for lock/unlock switching so as to switch the latch device from the locked state to the unlocked state in response to the detection switch detecting displacement of the design cover from the closed position toward the open position.

3. The vehicle door open/close operation apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit operates the electric actuator for lock/unlock switching so as to switch the latch device from the unlocked state to the locked state in response to the detection switch detecting a displacement of the design cover from the closed position toward the open position in a state in which the latch device is unlocked.

Assignees

• Honda Lock Kk

Inventors

• Fujiwara Hiroto
• Kouzuma Hiroyuki
• Kuriyama Kazuyuki

Classifications

• Y10T70/625

  Operation and control · CPC title

• E05B81/90

  Manual override in case of power failure · CPC title

• E05B39/00

  Locks giving indication of {authorised} or unauthorised unlocking {(with key identification means E05B35/001; alarm locks E05B45/00)} · CPC title

• Y10T70/7102

  And details of blocking system [e.g., linkage, latch, pawl, spring] · CPC title

• E05B81/16

  operating on locking elements for locking or unlocking action · CPC title