Vehicle contents inventory system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9633496-B2
Application number	US-201414151365-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2014
Priority date	Jan 9, 2014
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle may include a passive entry system having a controller and at least one antenna within the vehicle. The controller is operably arranged with the at least one antenna, and configured to cause, in response to a trigger event, the at least one antenna to transmit at least one challenge, receive a response to the challenge indicative of a tag in a vicinity of the vehicle, and identify an item based on the tag.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a passive entry system configured to unlock the vehicle upon authenticating a fob in a vicinity of the vehicle,
at least one antenna within the vehicle; and
a controller operably arranged with the at least one antenna and configured to cause, concurrent with a listening period for authenticating the fob of the passive entry system, the at least one antenna to transmit a challenge at a frequency less than 150 kHz,
receive a response to the challenge from a tag indicative of the tag in the vicinity of the vehicle, the response having a frequency of at least 200 MHz, and
identify an item associated with the tag in the vehicle based on the response of the tag.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the at least one antenna to transmit the challenge in response to a trigger event.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the challenge is transmitted at a frequency of approximately 125 kHz.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising another antenna attached with a roof of the vehicle and configured to receive responses having frequencies of at least 200 MHz.

5. A vehicle comprising:
a passive entry system configured to unlock the vehicle upon authenticating a fob in a vicinity of the vehicle and including a first antenna configured to transmit challenges at a frequency less than 150 kHz;
a second antenna configured to receive responses at a frequency greater than 200 MHz; and
a controller operably arranged with the first and second antennas and configured to cause the first antenna to transmit a challenge during a listening period for authenticating the fob of the passive entry system, to receive, after the listening period, a response to the challenge from a tag having a frequency of at least 200 MHz indicative of the tag in the vicinity of a vehicle, and to identify an item associated with the tag in the vehicle based on the response of the tag.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the first antenna to transmit the challenge in response to a trigger event.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the trigger event includes a keyless entry action recognized by the passive entry system.

8. A vehicle comprising:
a passive entry system configured to
concurrently receive an authentication signal from a key fob to unlock the vehicle upon authenticating the key fob in a vicinity of the vehicle and transmit a challenge signal having a frequency less than 150 kHz,
identify an item associated with the tag in the vehicle using a response signal having a frequency if at least 200 MHz received from the tag responsive to the challenge signal.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the passive entry system is further configured to transmit the challenge signal in response to a trigger event.

10. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the passive entry system includes at least one antenna attached with a roof of the vehicle and configured to receive response signals having a frequency greater than 200 MHz.

11. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the trigger event includes detecting the key fob in the vicinity of the vehicle.

12. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the passive entry system is further configured to receive the response signal to the challenge signal in response to a conclusion of a tag challenge period during which the passive entry system is configured to transmit the challenge signal.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Van Wiemeersch John Robert
• Kaminski David Paul
• Kleve Robert Bruce
• Hille Kevin Thomas

Classifications

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title

• G07C2009/00793

  by Hertzian waves · CPC title

• B60R25/33 Primary

  of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates · CPC title

• B60R25/246

  characterised by the challenge triggering · CPC title

• G07C9/00174

  Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys (mechanical locks with electric permutation E05B49/00; arrangements for sensing or reading record carriers G06K7/00; electronic switching H03K17/00) · CPC title