Vehicle integration of BLE nodes to enable passive entry and passive start features

A method for determining whether a vehicle FOB is located within the vehicle or outside of the vehicle, said method comprising:

• providing a primary Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device in a driver side door of the vehicle;
• interrogating the FOB using a signal transmitted by the primary BLE device to determine whether the FOB is in a predetermined vicinity of the vehicle;
• receiving a Bluetooth signal at the primary BLE device that is transmitted by the FOB if the FOB is in the vicinity of the vehicle;
• determining a transmit power of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the FOB in the primary BLE device;
• determining a receive power of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the FOB and received by the BLE device in the primary BLE device;
• providing a difference between the receive power and the transmit power in the primary BLE device;
• comparing the difference between the receive power and the transmit power in the primary BLE device to a predetermined threshold value;
• determining that the FOB is outside of the vehicle if the difference is greater than the threshold;
• and
• determining that the FOB is inside the vehicle if the difference is greater less the threshold.

A method for determining whether a vehicle FOB is located within the vehicle or outside of the vehicle, said method comprising:

• providing a primary Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device in a driver side door of the vehicle;
• providing a secondary BLE device on the vehicle;
• interrogating the FOB using a signal transmitted by the primary BLE device to determine whether the FOB is in a predetermined vicinity of the vehicle;
• receiving a Bluetooth signal at the primary BLE device that is transmitted by the FOB if the FOB is in the vicinity of the vehicle;
• receiving a Bluetooth signal at the primary BLE device that is transmitted by the secondary BLE device;
• determining a transmit power of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the FOB;
• determining a transmit power of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the secondary BLE device;
• determining a receive power of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the FOB and received by the primary BLE device;
• determining a receive power of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the secondary BLE device and received by the primary BLE device;
• providing a first difference between the receive power and the transmit power of the Bluetooth signal from the FOB;
• providing a second difference between the receive power and the transmit power of the Bluetooth signal from the secondary BLE device;
• comparing the first difference and the second difference;
• determining that the FOB is outside of the vehicle if the first difference is greater than the second difference;
• and
• determining that the FOB is inside the vehicle if the first difference is less than the second difference.