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AssigneesDenso Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKazuhiro Nakashima, Arinobu Kimura, Hiroki Okada, Hiroko Murakami
Estimating the term…
In an in-vehicle device control system, a vehicle-side unit mounted in a vehicle controls an in-vehicle device in accordance with a result of checkup about a portable device performed by mutual communications, in which the portable device returns a response signal in response to a request signal transmitted from the vehicle-side unit. An ECU of the vehicle-side unit checks whether it is a regular checkup timing, and performs an exterior checkup if it is determined to be the regular checkup timing. The ECU sets in this case a communication frequency, which is higher in priority order, as a communication frequency to be designated to the portable device.
An in-vehicle device control system comprising:
An in-vehicle device control system comprising:
An in-vehicle device control system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Means to switch the anti-theft system on or off: using electronic identifiers containing a code not memorised by the user
Vehicle fittings and parts
About 3 years 5 months of term left · ends 25 Mar 2030 (estimated)
This application is a 371 U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/JP2010/000349, filed Jan. 22, 2010. This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-013456, filed Jan. 23, 2009. The disclosures of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle device control system.
As one exemplary conventional in-vehicle device control system, a vehicular electronic key system (verification system) is disclosed in the following patent document 1. In this vehicular electronic key system, a control apparatus mounted in a vehicle performs checkup about a portable device carried by a user of the control apparatus by mutual radio communication, and controls the in-vehicle device based on a result of the checkup. This vehicular electronic key system includes a smart security control apparatus mounted in a vehicle and a portable device carried by a user of the control apparatus. The smart security control apparatus transmits to the portable device a designation request signal, which designates a response frequency. When no radio signal is received within a predetermined allowable time period after transmission of the designation request signal, the smart security control apparatus transmits a designation request signal by changing the response frequency to a different frequency. The portable device selects the response frequency designated by the designation request signal and transmits to the smart security control apparatus a reception response signal of the selected response frequency. It is prevented that the response signal is not received because of jamming of the response signal. By thus making the radio communication to be less susceptible to influence of factors such as jamming, which disturb radio communication, a control object can be operated normally.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an in-vehicle device control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the in-vehicle device control system according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a time chart showing transmission timing of a request signal transmitted in the in-vehicle device control system according to the embodiment of the present invention.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, an in-vehicle device control system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a vehicle-side unit 100 and a portable device 200. The in-vehicle device control system performs checkup about the portable device 200 by way of mutual communication (radio communication), in which the portable device 200 transmits a response signal in return to a request signal transmitted from the vehicle-side unit 100 mounted in a vehicle. The in-vehicle device control system controls an in-vehicle device (for example, a door lock mechanism, an engine start mechanism) based on a checkup result of the checkup operation. The in-vehicle device control system performs the checkup again by switching a communication frequency of the mutual communication in case the checkup result indicates an unsuccessful checkup.
The vehicle-side unit 100 is mounted in the vehicle. The vehicle-side unit 100 is provided to control functions of the vehicle-side unit 100 and includes an ECU (electronic control unit) 110, which is equipped with a CPU 111, a memory 112 and the like. In the vehicle-side unit 100, the ECU 110 is connected to a transmitter 120 (vehicle-side communication section), a receiver 130 (vehicle-side communication section), a door lock sensor (detection section), a door lock controller 150 and an engine controller 160. The transmitter 120 is for transmitting a request signal (including frequency information) toward a predetermined detection area outside the vehicle. The receiver 130 is a tuner for receiving a response signal radio-transmitted from the portable device 200. The door lock controller 150 is for controlling and driving a door lock motor, which locks and unlocks a vehicle door. The engine controller 160 is for controlling starting of an engine mounted in the vehicle. The door lock sensor 140 may be a switch or a touch sensor, which is provided on or near an exterior handle of the vehicle door.