Vehicle door locking system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9945160-B2
Application number	US-201615297667-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2016
Priority date	Nov 27, 2015
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle door locking system includes: a sensor device that is mounted in a door handle or a vehicle door of a vehicle, detects presence or absence of an object approaching or being in contact with the sensor device, and outputs a signal for locking or unlocking the vehicle door; and a sensor controller that controls the sensor device, wherein the sensor controller changes a control state of the sensor device or changes a processing state of the signal output from the sensor device on the basis of new information which includes at least one of information output from the sensor device and information output from a device other than the sensor device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle door locking system comprising:
a sensor device that is mounted in a door handle or a vehicle door of a vehicle, detects presence or absence of an object approaching or being in contact with the sensor device, and outputs a signal for locking or unlocking the vehicle door; and
a sensor controller that controls the sensor device,
wherein the sensor controller changes a control state of the sensor device or changes a processing state of the signal output from the sensor device on the basis of new information which includes at least one of information output from the sensor device and information output from a device other than the sensor device;
a portable device that stores unique information and can be carried by a person;
a communication device that communicates with the portable device; and
wherein the new information is position information of the portable device, and
when the portable device is detected inside the vehicle, the sensor controller sets the period of the sampling executed by the sensor device to be longer than that in a case where the portable device is detected outside the vehicle.

2. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein when the new information is a driving time of an antenna of the communication device, and the sensor controller sets a period of sampling executed by the sensor device to be short when the driving time of the antenna is long.

3. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein when the new information is a driving stoppage time of the antenna of the communication device, and the sensor controller sets the period of the sampling executed by the sensor device to be long when the driving stoppage time of the antenna is longer than a set stoppage time.

4. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein when the new information is detection information of the portable device, and the sensor controller sets the period of the sampling executed by the sensor device to be short when the portable device is detected.

5. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein when the new information is an elapsed time from when parking of the vehicle is started, and the sensor controller sets the period of the sampling executed by the sensor device to be long according to a length of the elapsed time.

6. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein when the new information is an open and closed state of the vehicle door when the vehicle is in a parked state, and the sensor controller sets the period of the sampling executed by the sensor device to be short when the vehicle door is closed.

7. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein the new information is a locked and unlocked state of the vehicle door when the vehicle is in a parked state, and the sensor controller determines presence or absence of a locking operation on the basis of an output from the sensor device when all of the vehicle doors are in an unlocked state, and determines presence or absence of an unlocking operation on the basis of the output from the sensor device when not all of the vehicle doors are in the unlocked state.

8. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the sensor device is configured as a capacitance sensor which detects approaching of an object or contact with an object as a change in capacitance,
the new information is information related to noise in detection of the amount of change in capacitance,
the sensor device executes high-resolution control in which approaching of an object or contact with an object is detected with a high resolution which is higher than a reference resolution and executes low-resolution control in which approaching of an object or contact with an object is detected with a low resolution which is lower than the reference resolution, and
the sensor controller switches the control state of the sensor device between the high-resolution control, the low-resolution control, and a combination of the high-resolution control and the low-resolution control, on the basis of presence or absence of the new information.

9. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 8 ,
wherein the new information is rainfall information output from an information terminal, water detection of the sensor device, or electromagnetic wave information, and
the sensor controller operates the sensor device using the low-resolution control when at least one of the rainfall information, the water detection of the sensor device, or the electromagnetic wave information is present.

10. The vehicle door locking system according to claim 1 , wherein when the new information is an unlocked state of the vehicle door, and the sensor controller operates the sensor device such that the sensor device functions as an obstacle detecting sensor when the vehicle door is in the unlocked state.

Assignees

• Aisin Seiki

Inventors

• Koizumi Takaaki
• Tabata Takehiro

Classifications

• B60R25/20

  Means to switch the anti-theft system on or off · CPC title

• B60R25/31

  of human presence inside or outside the vehicle · 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

• B60R25/245

  where the antenna reception area plays a role · CPC title

• G07C2209/64

  using a proximity sensor · CPC title