JP4534698B2 - Keyless entry device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a keyless entry device that mainly remotely controls locking / unlocking of a vehicle door by communication between an in-vehicle device and a plurality of portable devices.

  In recent years, keyless entry devices that automatically control door locking / unlocking remotely without using a mechanical key are often used.

  Such a conventional keyless entry device and its operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view of an essential part of a vehicle on which an in-vehicle device of a conventional keyless entry device is mounted. In FIG. 3, a plurality of in-vehicle antennas 11 to 15 are provided in the vicinity of the front of the feet such as a driver's seat and a passenger seat of the vehicle. An in-vehicle device (not shown) embedded, a momentary request switch 8A to 8C provided near each doorknob 7A to 7C of the vehicle and a drive unit (not shown) which is a controlled unit, connected to the in-vehicle device, A portable portable device 6A, 6B that communicates with the in-vehicle device constitutes a keyless entry device.

  In the above configuration, FIG. 5 is a communication operation diagram between the in-vehicle device and the portable device in the conventional keyless entry device. The setting conditions of the communication operation are defined and described with reference to FIG.

  First, the setting conditions are five in-vehicle antennas, and the five in-vehicle antennas are the first transmission antenna 11 for the driver side door, the second transmission antenna 12 for the passenger side door, and the third transmission for the rear side door. An antenna 13, a fourth transmission antenna 14 at the front of the vehicle, and a fifth transmission antenna 15 at the rear of the vehicle, each of the communication areas A1, A2, A3, A4 having a substantially radius of 1.5 m with respect to the inside and outside of the vehicle, respectively. , A5, and these communication areas form overlapping portions.

  Further, the number of the plurality of portable devices is two, the user A carrying the first portable device 6A drives the vehicle, and the user B who carries the second portable device 6B is picked up. In order to open the locked passenger seat side door, the request switch 8B disposed near the door knob 7B on the passenger seat side is turned on.

  That is, the description will be made assuming that the first portable device 6A is in the driver's seat inside the vehicle and the second portable device 6B is in the vicinity of the passenger side door outside the vehicle.

  Under the above setting conditions, first, when the user B turns on the request switch 8B to open the passenger seat side door, the in-vehicle device recognizes that the request switch 8B is turned on (at the time St in FIG. 5). Then, the position confirmation operation of the portable device is performed.

  The position check operation of the in-vehicle device is performed when the request switch 8B on the passenger seat side is turned on. First, the in-vehicle device transmits a request signal 12a from the second transmitting antenna 12 of the passenger seat side door to the communication area A2, thereby carrying the mobile device. A standby state is entered in which a response signal from the machine waits for a certain time (waiting time tb in FIG. 5).

  The second portable device 6B in the communication area A2 transmits the response signal 6b when receiving the request signal 12a, and the first portable device 6A not in the communication area A2 transmits the response signal 6a because it cannot receive the request signal 12a. There is nothing.

  Next, the in-vehicle device confirms whether the second portable device 6B is inside or outside the communication area A2 after the standby time tb has elapsed because the response signal 6b of the second portable device 6B has been received. The request signal 14a is transmitted to the communication area A4 from the fourth transmission antenna 14 in front of the vehicle where the communication area A2 and the communication area overlap, and similarly enters a standby state.

  Here, since the second portable device 6B not in the communication area A4 cannot receive the request signal 14a, the second portable device 6B does not transmit the response signal 6b, and the first portable device 6A in the communication area A4 can receive the request signal 14a and responds. Signal 6a is transmitted.

  Further, the in-vehicle device can receive the response signal 16a of the first portable device 6A to confirm whether the first portable device 6A is located in the front or rear of the communication area A4 after the standby time tb has elapsed. The request signal 15a is transmitted to the communication area A5 from the fifth transmitting antenna 15 in the rear of the vehicle where the communication area A4 and the communication area overlap, and the standby state is similarly entered.

  The first portable device 6A that is not in the communication area A5 cannot receive the request signal 15a and therefore does not transmit the response signal 6a.

  As a result, the in-vehicle device has the second portable device 6B in the vicinity of the passenger side door outside the vehicle in the communication area A2, and the first portable device 6A is in front of the vehicle in the communication area A4 (driver's seat in the vehicle). And the communication with each portable device, which is the position confirmation operation of the portable device, is terminated.

  Then, the in-vehicle device controls the passenger seat door drive unit (not shown) after the position confirmation time tc with each portable device to unlock the passenger seat door, so that the user B opens and closes the passenger seat door. It is something that can be done.

  In other words, the user can open and close any door without unlocking the lock of each door using the mechanical key.

  In this way, in the conventional keyless entry device, the in-vehicle device drives the corresponding drive antenna corresponding to the user's operation (for example, operation of the request switch 8A or 8B), and the communication status with the portable device. The necessary antennas are sequentially selected and driven, and the communication with the portable device is repeated at regular intervals, the position of the portable device is recognized, and the drive unit corresponding to the position of the portable device is controlled (for example, a door Lock / unlock).

For example, Patent Document 1 is known as prior art document information related to the invention of this application.
JP 2001-248340 A

  However, in the conventional keyless entry device, when the user B turns on the request switch 8B of the vehicle, the in-vehicle device drives the corresponding in-vehicle antenna 12 in response to the operation to connect the portable devices 6A and 6B. It takes time to confirm the position of the portable device because communication is performed, and the necessary on-vehicle antennas 14 and 15 are sequentially selected and driven according to the communication status, and the communication with the portable devices 6A and 6B is repeated at regular intervals. There was a problem.

  For example, in FIG. 5, when the predetermined time ta + tb from one request signal of the in-vehicle device to the end of the response signal of each portable device is 50 ms, the position confirmation time in which the entire three in-vehicle antennas in this example are completed tc requires 150 ms, and this time tc becomes longer in proportion to the increase in the number of in-vehicle antennas and portable devices.

  In the above-described conventional technology, a plurality of portable devices are described as being in different communication areas. However, when a plurality of portable devices are in the same communication area, each portable device is associated with one request signal of the in-vehicle device. There is a problem that the machine transmits a response signal almost simultaneously (hereinafter referred to as a collision signal).

  As a countermeasure, when an in-vehicle device receives a collision signal, a device is proposed in which an identification code for each portable device pre-registered in the on-vehicle device is specified and a request signal is transmitted again to confirm the position for each portable device. However, since a complicated operation of transmitting the request signal again after receiving the collision signal is required, there is a problem that the time is further increased.

  The present invention solves such a conventional problem and provides a keyless entry device capable of shortening the communication time between the in-vehicle device and the portable device even when the in-vehicle antenna and the portable device increase. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, a keyless entry device of the present invention has the following configuration.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention includes an in-vehicle device equipped with a plurality of in-vehicle antennas and mounted in a vehicle, and a portable portable device that communicates with the in-vehicle device. A keyless entry device that continuously transmits request signals from a plurality of vehicle-mounted antennas and that transmits a response signal after the portable device completes transmission of the request signal, the request signal that the vehicle-mounted device continuously transmits. Has a unique information part for each of the plurality of vehicle-mounted antennas and an identification part for identifying the end of transmission based on the number of remaining request signals, and the portable device that has received the request signal receives the request signal from the received request signal. in response to transmission end signal of the identification unit, to generate a timing for transmitting a response signal to said vehicle device, which is configured to respond in response to the transmission order which is stored for each of the portable device By vehicle device continuously transmits a plurality of request signals, identification identifies with attained shorten the communication time between the vehicle device and the portable device, the request signal, the transmission is completed and the vehicle-mounted antennas specific information portion The keyless entry device that allows the portable device that has received the request signal to generate the timing for transmitting the response signal by the identification unit by itself, and enables the in-vehicle device to confirm the position of the portable device in a short time. It has the effect | action that can be obtained.
Further, since each of the plurality of portable devices has a response signal transmission order and responds in accordance with this transmission order, there is also an effect that no collision signal is generated.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an advantageous effect that it is possible to obtain a keyless entry device that can confirm the position of the portable device in a short time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the part of the structure same as the structure demonstrated in the term of the prior art, and detailed description is simplified.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an in-vehicle device side of a keyless entry device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the portable device side, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of an essential part of a vehicle equipped with the keyless entry device. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an in-vehicle device. The in-vehicle device 10 includes a control unit 21, an antenna driving unit 22 that sequentially switches driving of the plurality of in-vehicle antennas 11 to 15 under the control of the control unit 21, and the control unit 21. A storage unit 29 for storing information such as an identification unit to be added to each request signal according to the number of drive antennas determined by the drive order and a receiving antenna, and a reception antenna for receiving an external response signal and transmitting the information to the control unit 23, a receiving unit 24 and an output unit 28 are provided.

  The in-vehicle device 10 includes a driver door drive unit 19A provided with a request switch via the output unit 28, and a plurality of ignition knob drive units 19D that start the engine with a switch interlocked with the push mechanism when the ignition knob is pushed. The drive part which is a controlled part of the is controlled.

  The in-vehicle device 10 is embedded in the vicinity of the front of the feet such as the driver seat and the passenger seat of the vehicle shown in FIG. In addition, each communication area is formed, and each communication area is formed to have a portion overlapping each other.

  Next, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 30 denotes a portable device. The portable device 30 includes a control unit 31, a transmission unit 32 that transmits a predetermined response signal under the control of the control unit 31, and transmission of the response signal and the response signal. A storage unit 34 that stores information such as an order, and a reception unit 33 that receives a request signal from the in-vehicle device 10 and transmits the information to the control unit 31 are provided.

  The portable device 30 is registered in advance in the storage unit 29 of the in-vehicle device 10 and is configured to be able to communicate with the in-vehicle device 10.

  Further, the portable device 30 is provided with a battery as a power source (not shown), an operation switch for wirelessly instructing locking / unlocking of the door, display means for transmitting this operation to the operator, and the like.

  Thus, the keyless entry device is configured by the vehicle-mounted device 10 including the plurality of vehicle-mounted antennas 11 to 15, the plurality of drive units 19 </ b> A,..., 19 </ b> D connected to the vehicle-mounted device 10 and the portable device 30. .

  With the above configuration, the communication operation between the in-vehicle device and the portable device in the keyless entry device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 after defining the setting conditions of the communication operation.

  First, in FIG. 3, the setting condition is that a plurality of vehicle-mounted antennas are five, and the five vehicle-mounted antennas are the first transmission antenna 11 on the driver side door, the second transmission antenna 12 on the passenger side door, and the rear side door. The third transmission antenna 13, the fourth transmission antenna 14 in the front of the vehicle, and the fifth transmission antenna 15 in the rear of the vehicle are arranged in the communication areas A1 and A2 having a substantially radius of 1.5 m with respect to the inside and outside of the vehicle, respectively. , A3, A4, and A5, and each of these communication areas forms an overlapping portion.

  Further, the number of the plurality of portable devices is two, the user A carrying the first portable device 6A drives the vehicle, and the user B who carries the second portable device 6B is picked up. In order to open the passenger seat side door, the request switch 8B disposed in the vicinity of the door knob 7B on the passenger seat side is turned on.

  That is, the description will be made assuming that the first portable device 6A is in the driver's seat inside the vehicle and the second portable device 6B is in the vicinity of the passenger side door outside the vehicle.

  As described above, when the control unit 21 of the in-vehicle device 10 recognizes that the request switch 8B is turned on via the output unit 28 under the same setting conditions as the background art (at time St in FIG. 4), a plurality of in-vehicle antennas. The antennas to be driven, the number of the antennas and the driving order thereof are determined, and the position confirmation operation of the portable device is started.

  First, the control unit 21 recognizes which drive unit (passenger seat door drive unit in this example) is to be controlled from the user's operation (in this example, the request switch 8B is turned ON). The second transmission antenna 12 of the passenger side door, the fourth transmission antenna 14 in the front of the vehicle, and the fifth transmission in the rear of the vehicle are used as an antenna that includes the drive unit and includes the drive unit inside and outside the vehicle in the communication area. Three of the antennas 15 are selected.

  Next, the control unit 21 recognizes which drive unit is to be controlled based on the operation of the user by the operation of the user, and confirms the presence / absence of the portable device inside and outside the vehicle in which the drive unit is arranged. In this example, in this example, the fifth transmitting antenna 15, the fourth transmitting antenna 14, and the second transmitting antenna 12 outside the vehicle are determined with priority on the inside of the vehicle, and the number of antennas to be driven and the number thereof. And the driving order is transmitted to the storage unit 29.

  Then, the storage unit 29 determines the number of drive antennas n (in this case, 3) in this example based on the information from the control unit 21 and the fifth transmission antenna 15 with the highest drive order from the drive order, and the drive order. , The second transmission antenna 14 having the second driving order and the second transmission antenna 12 having the last driving order, generate an array of request signals for each antenna and transmit the information to the control unit 21.

  Here, this request signal is formed by a header signal indicating the start of the signal, a unique signal assigned to each vehicle-mounted antenna, and an information section such as a synchronization signal and an error correction signal.

  In addition, although the driving order of the antenna determined by the control unit 21 is set from the low probability of receiving the response signal from the portable device, the order is low, and the probability of receiving the response signal from the portable device is not limited to this. From the highest order.

  Next, the control unit 21 drives each antenna via the antenna driving unit 22 in accordance with the transmission arrangement of the request signals for each antenna generated by the storage unit 29 to send each request signal 15a, 14a, 12a every predetermined transmission time t1. Transmit continuously.

  Here, the time t5 between the request signals is a switching time required for the antenna driving unit 22 to switch the antennas.

  And the vehicle equipment 10 will wait for the predetermined time t2 for the response signal from the portable device 30, after transmitting each request signal 15a, 14a, 12a continuously to the predetermined communication areas A5, A4, A2. It will be in a standby state.

  This standby time t2 is stored in advance in the storage unit 29 so as to be a predetermined time determined according to the number of portable devices registered in the in-vehicle device 10 and the number thereof.

  Then, the portable device 30 receives the request signal when the signal suspension time t4 is longer than the switching time t5 between the request signals due to the signal suspension time t4 at which the request signal is not received from the vehicle-mounted device 10 at the leading Vt of the standby time t2. The transmission of the response signal is started upon recognizing that the transmission of has been completed.

  First, the first portable device 30A in the communication area A4 can receive the request signal 14a, and the second portable device 30B in the communication area A2 can receive the request signal 12a, and each in-vehicle antenna in the received request signal. Response signals 30a and 30b, each of which identifies the vehicle-mounted antenna (in this case, the unique signal allocated to the vehicle-mounted antenna), are transmitted from the unique signal assigned to.

  As a result, the in-vehicle device 10 confirms that the first portable device 30A is in the front driver's seat in the communication area A4 and the second portable device 30B is outside the passenger seat door in the communication area A2, and After the communication end time t3 has elapsed, the passenger seat door drive unit (not shown) is controlled to unlock the passenger seat door, and the user B can open and close the passenger seat door.

  The request signal is formed by an information part such as a header signal indicating the start of the signal, a unique signal assigned to each in-vehicle antenna, and the like and an identification part for identifying the end of transmission, and a plurality of portable devices are connected to the first signal. The case where the transmission order of the response signals of the portable device 30A is the first and the transmission order of the response signals of the second portable device 30B is the second transmission order will be described with reference to FIG.

  In this example, the storage unit 29 determines the identification unit from the number of drive antennas n = 3, as shown in FIG. 4, the fifth transmission antenna 15 having the first driving order is 1, the fourth transmitting antenna 14 having the second driving order is 1, The second transmitting antenna 12 at the end of the driving order generates 0, and the storage unit 29 transmits the request signals 15a, 14a, and 12a to the control unit 21.

  Here, the identification unit represents the number of remaining request signals. For example, when the portable device receives the request signal from the identification unit 2, the portable device recognizes the remaining request signals as two more response signals. It generates the timing to transmit

  That is, this identification unit is not like an ID that is fixedly assigned to each of the plurality of in-vehicle antennas, but is assigned each time from the number of driving antennas n and their driving order.

  Next, when the control unit 21 finishes continuously transmitting these request signals, the in-vehicle device 10 enters a standby state in which a response signal from the portable device 30 is waited for a predetermined time t2.

  Each portable device 30 receives the request signal during continuous transmission of the request signal. For example, when the first portable device 30A receives the request signal 14a, the identification unit of the request signal 14a is 1. It recognizes that there is one remaining request signal from and continues the state of receiving the remaining request signal (time t1 × 1).

  Similarly, when receiving the request signal 12a, the second portable device 30B recognizes that the request signal is over because the identification part of the request signal 12a is 0.

  Then, at the reception state end time Vt of the portable device shown in FIG. 4, the first and second portable devices 30 </ b> A and 30 </ b> B each transmit the response signal generated from the identification unit received by each portable device 30 and Each response signal is transmitted in accordance with the transmission order stored in the storage unit 34 of the machine 30.

  In this example, the first portable device 30A first transmits the response signal 30a, and then the second portable device 30B transmits the response signal 30b after the response time of the first portable device 30A has elapsed.

  As a result, the vehicle-mounted device 10 recognizes that the second portable device 30B is located outside the passenger seat door in the communication area A2, and the first portable device 30A is located in the front driver's seat in the communication area A4. After the position confirmation time t3 has elapsed, the passenger seat door drive unit (not shown) is controlled to unlock the passenger seat door, and the user B can open and close the passenger seat door.

  The position confirmation time t3 is determined by the product of the required signal time t1 of each vehicle-mounted antenna and the number of driving antennas n, and the sum of this product and the predetermined time t2 depending on the number of portable devices 30.

  For example, in FIG. 4, the position confirmation time t3 of the portable device 10 in the present invention is the same as the request signal time t1 (= ta) of 20 ms as in the conventional example, and the predetermined time t2 (= tb) by two portable devices. Assuming 30 ms, t3 = 90 ms, and the position confirmation time of the portable device can be reduced by approximately 40% from 150 ms to 90 ms as compared with the conventional example.

  Here, the shorter the position confirmation time of this portable device, the better. As is apparent from the above, the keyless entry device requires a series of portable device position confirmation times t3 within the time T from when the user turns on the request switch to when the door knob is pulled and the door is opened. This is because it is necessary to complete the control operation of the drive unit.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the in-vehicle device 10 continuously transmits a plurality of request signals 15a, 14a, and 12a, and the portable device 30 recognizes the end of the request signal by the signal pause time t4 and transmits a response signal. Therefore, the communication time between the in-vehicle device 10 and the portable device 30 can be shortened.

  Further, by providing an identification unit for identifying the end of transmission in the request signal, the signal pause time t4 can be made unnecessary, and the communication time between the in-vehicle device 10 and the portable device 30 can be further shortened.

  Furthermore, the portable device 30 can generate a response signal transmission timing by transmitting a response signal corresponding to the identification unit of the received request signal.

  Furthermore, since the first and second portable devices 30A and 30B transmit response signals in accordance with the transmission order stored in each portable device 30, the response signals do not collide with each other.

  In the above embodiment, the door on the passenger seat side is opened and closed. However, the present invention is not limited to this and may be used for starting the engine.

  For example, after the setting conditions of the present embodiment, the user B carrying the second portable device 30B gets into the car, and the user A carrying the first portable device 30A moves near the engine key unit for starting the engine. When the provided ignition knob is pushed, a switch interlocked with the push mechanism is turned on, and the vehicle-mounted device 10 starts the position confirmation operation of the first and second portable devices 30A and 30B as in the present embodiment.

  In this case, the control unit 21 recognizes that the operation of the ignition knob is performed via the output unit 28, confirms that the portable device 30 is in the vehicle, confirms that the antenna to be driven and the number of antennas to be driven The driving order is determined as the fifth transmitting antenna 15 and the fourth transmitting antenna 14.

  In the identification part of each request signal in this example, the request signal 15a of the fifth transmission antenna 15 is 1, and the request signal 14a of the fourth transmission antenna 14 is 0.

  The in-vehicle device 10 operates in the same manner as in the above embodiment, confirms that the first and second portable devices 30A and 30B are in the vehicle, controls the solenoid of the ignition knob drive unit 19D, etc. A can start the engine.

  This is because only the user can start the engine, and even if a third person who does not carry the portable device enters the vehicle by any method, the engine cannot be started, so that the vehicle can be prevented from being stolen. it can.

  Although it has been described that the user B turns on the request switch 8B disposed in the vicinity of the door knob 7B on the passenger seat side in order to open the door on the passenger seat side, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be implemented even when the door is locked / unlocked automatically when approaching the vicinity of the seat side door (within the communication area of the second transmission antenna 12 of the passenger side door).

  The keyless entry device according to the present invention has an effect that the position of the portable device can be confirmed in a short time, and is useful for remote control such as locking / unlocking of a door.

1 is a block diagram of an in-vehicle device side of a skiless entry device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Mobile device side block diagram Top view of the main part of the vehicle Operation explanation diagram Operation explanatory diagram of a conventional keyless entry device

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 In-vehicle device 11-15 In-vehicle antenna 12a, 14a, 15a Request signal 21 Control part 22 Antenna drive part 23 Reception antenna 24 Reception part 28 Output part 29 Storage part 30 Portable machine 30a, 30b Response signal 31 Control part 32 Transmission part 33 Reception Unit 34 Storage unit t1 Request signal transmission time t2 Response signal transmission time t3 Position confirmation time

Claims (1)

An in-vehicle device equipped with a plurality of in-vehicle antennas and mounted on a vehicle, and a portable portable device that communicates with the in-vehicle device, and the in-vehicle device continuously transmits request signals from the plurality of in-vehicle antennas. In addition, the portable device is a keyless entry device that transmits a response signal after the transmission of the request signal is completed, and the request signal continuously transmitted by the vehicle-mounted device has a unique characteristic of each of the plurality of vehicle-mounted antennas. An identification unit that identifies the end of transmission by the number of information units and the remaining request signals, and the portable device that has received the request signal corresponds to the transmission end signal of the identification unit of the received request signal, A keyless entry device that generates a timing for transmitting a response signal to an in-vehicle device and responds in accordance with a transmission order stored for each portable device .

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