Tail gate sensor
OwnerEvian Ankoinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system for preventing a vehicular lift gate from encountering an overhead obstruction includes a short-range RF transmitter key fob for actuating sensors to enable the sensors to modulate and demodulate radio frequencies. The fob is in communication with a vehicle BCM which in turn communicates with at least one ultrasonic sensor, which may be mounted in the rear bumper of a vehicle or on the lift gate, itself, for sensing the proximity of the lift gate to an overhead obstruction. The sensor detects the absence or presence of the obstruction and sends a signal of such status back to the BCM which, in turn, enables or precludes or interrupts the path of travel of the lift gate. The BCM includes a modified open source software for enabling detection of an overhead obstruction.
Claims3
A system for preventing a vehicular lift gate from contacting an overhead object when the lifting of the lift gate is initiated by a remote control key fob comprising:
- (a) a key fob for transmitting a data stream to open a lift gate;
- (b) a vehicular body control module for receiving the data stream to determine the proximity of a lift gate to an overhead obstruction, the module including (1) means for sending a signal to a proximity sensor mounted on a vehicle for determining the proximity of a lift gate to a pre-set distance to an overhead obstruction (2) means for receiving a responsive signal from the sensor and (3) means for actuating an alarm if an overhead obstruction is within the pre-set distance from the lift gate;
- (c) a proximity sensor on the vehicle for receiving the signal from the body control module and which sends a return signal to the body control module indicating the lift gate proximity to an obstruction to determine whether or not to open the lift gate and
- wherein, the body control module controls lifting of the lift gate, prevents lifting and interrupts the path of travel of the lift gate responsive to the signal from the sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.