# US 11,746,569 B2 · Vehicle including a water droplet detector > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,746,569 B2 - Document ID: US11746569B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/802,355 - Filed: 2020-02-26 - Published: 2020-10-08 - Granted: 2023-09-05 - Earliest claimed: 2019-04-03 - Assignees: Subaru Corporation - Applicants: Subaru Corporation - Inventors: Takahiro Ueki - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11746569B2 ## CPC - B60L 3/0023: {Detecting, eliminating, remedying or compensating for drive train abnormalities, e.g. failures within the drive train} - E05B 77/54: Automatic securing or unlocking of bolts triggered by certain vehicle parameters, e.g. exceeding a speed threshold (triggered by vehicle collision E05B77/12) - B60L 50/00: Electric propulsion with power supplied within the vehicle (with power supply from force of nature, e.g. sun or wind, B60L8/00; for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00) - B60R 16/023: for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems - E05B 77/34: Protection against weather or dirt, e.g. against water ingress (closures or guards for keyholes E05B17/14) - E05B 81/64: Monitoring or sensing, e.g. by using switches or sensors - E05B 83/34: for fuel inlet covers essentially flush with the vehicle surface - G07C 5/08: Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time - G07C 9/00182: {operated with unidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks} - G07C 2009/00269: {opening and locking of all locks at the same time} - G07C 2009/00277: {opening of different locks separately} - Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries - Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors - Y02T 90/14: Plug-in electric vehicles - Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - E05B: LOCKS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR; HANDCUFFS - B60R: VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract A vehicle includes a charging lid, a water droplet detector, and a controller. The charging lid is configured to cover a charging port of an inlet in an openable and closable manner. The water droplet detector is configured to detect water droplets on the vehicle. The controller is configured to release a lock of the charging lid when an access key configured to wirelessly communicate with the vehicle and provide an instruction to lock or unlock a door of the vehicle is present near the vehicle or when an unlock condition for keeping the door unlocked is satisfied. The controller is configured to, in response to the water droplet detector detecting water droplets, lock the charging lid in a closed state, regardless of whether the unlock condition is satisfied. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle comprising: a charging lid configured to cover a charging port of an inlet in an openable and closable manner; a droplet detector configured to detect droplets including water or foam on a glass surface of the vehicle, the droplet detector comprising an image capturing device; and a controller configured to release a lock of the charging lid when an access key configured to wirelessly communicate with the vehicle and provide an instruction to lock or unlock a door of the vehicle is present near the vehicle or when an unlock condition for keeping the door unlocked is satisfied, wherein the droplet detector is configured to: obtain images in which the droplets are captured at different times with the image capturing device; and identify one or more directions in which the droplets on the glass surface run based on the captured images, and wherein the controller is configured to, based on the one or more directions in which the droplets on the glass surface run, lock the charging lid in a closed state, regardless of whether the unlock condition is satisfied, and wherein the controller is configured to: release the lock of the charging lid when the droplet detector determines that the droplets run upward substantially vertically; and lock the charging lid in the closed state when the droplet detector determines that the droplets run down substantially vertically. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to release the lock of the charging lid when the access key is present near the vehicle and a door unlock signal is received from the access key to provide an instruction to unlock the door while the charging lid remains locked on a basis of detection of the droplets. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to obtain position information indicating a position of the vehicle and to enable the droplet detector to detect the droplets when the vehicle is at a position at which washing is to take place. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to obtain position information indicating a position of the vehicle and to enable the droplet detector to detect the droplets when the vehicle is at a position at which washing is to take place. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the charging port is sealed from the water droplets while in the closed state. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the charging lid is configured to be opened and closed via a normal opening force applied from an outside to the charging lid, wherein, in response to the droplet detector detecting the droplets, the closed state is maintained even when the normal opening force is applied to the charging lid from outside. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the droplet detector detects the droplets contacting a separate part of the vehicle than the charging lid. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the droplet detector consists of a single image capturing device that obtains the images, and wherein the droplet detector includes an external environment recognition device configured to recognize the droplets on the glass surface of the vehicle on a basis of a plurality of brightness images captured at the different times, which are generated by the image capturing device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: obtain position information indicating a current position of the vehicle; and cause the droplet detector to begin to detect the droplets, based on determining that the vehicle is at a position at which washing is allowed to take place based on the position information. ### Claim 10 A vehicle comprising: a charging lid configured to cover a charging port of an inlet in an openable and closable manner; a detector configured to detect droplets including water or foam on a glass surface of the vehicle, the droplet detector comprising an image capturing device; and circuitry configured to release a lock of the charging lid when an access key configured to wirelessly communicate with the vehicle and provide an instruction to lock or unlock a door of the vehicle is present near the vehicle or when an unlock condition for keeping the door unlocked is satisfied, wherein the detector is configured to: obtain images captured at different times with the image capturing device; and identify one or more directions in which the droplets on the glass surface run based on the captured images, and wherein the circuitry is configured to, based on the one or more directions in which the droplets on the glass surface run, lock the charging lid in a closed state, regardless of whether the unlock condition is satisfied, and wherein the circuitry is configured to: release the lock of the charging lid when the detector determines that the droplets run upward substantially vertically, and lock the charging lid in the closed state when the detector determines that the droplets run down substantially vertically. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the droplet detector consists of a single image capturing device that obtains the images, and wherein the droplet detector includes an external environment recognition device configured to recognize the droplets on the glass surface of the vehicle on a basis of a plurality of brightness images captured at the different times, which are generated by the image capturing device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is configured to: obtain position information indicating a current position of the vehicle; and cause the droplet detector to begin to detect the droplets, based on determining that the vehicle is at a position at which washing is allowed to take place based on the position information.