Communications: electrical – Selective – Intelligence comparison for controlling
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-10
2001-04-17
Horabik, Michael (Department: 2735)
Communications: electrical
Selective
Intelligence comparison for controlling
C340S005100, C340S005300, C340S870030, C340S870030, C340S010100, C340S010200, C340S010300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06218929
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application relates to and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 09-171009, filed on Jun. 12, 1997.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door entry control by wireless communication that can be used for vehicles or the like having an automatic door locking and unlocking mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
There are proposed recently various automatic door entry control systems such as vehicle door control systems that unlock vehicle doors without use of a door key. Those systems are disclosed in JP-A-62-86278 or JP-U-63-129643. In one system, a signal transmitter held by a vehicle driver (user) transmits a specific code signal upon a driver's manual switch operation and a signal receiver mounted in a vehicle receives this code signal, so that the vehicle door may be locked and unlocked when the received code signal coincides with a certifying code. In another system, a signal transmitter/receiver mounted in a vehicle transmits a signal upon a driver's manual operation of a switch mounted in a vehicle door knob or the like, and a signal transmitter held by the driver transmits in return a code signal to the transmitter/receiver. Those systems require drivers to operate a switch manually, causing inconvenience when the driver has to carry many baggage or the like.
It is therefore proposed in JP-A-5-44367 to eliminate a driver's manual switch operation at the time of unlocking a vehicle door. In this system, a signal transmitter held by a driver continues to transmit a code signal for a certain time period after the turn-on of its door unlocking switch so that the door may be unlocked when the driver approaches to a signal receiver mounted in a vehicle after manually operating the door unlocking switch. Thus, this system also requires the driver to operate the door unlocking switch before approaching to the vehicle, shortening life of a battery in the transmitter.
It is also proposed in JP-A-5-156851 that a signal receiver mounted in a vehicle transmits a radio signal for searching an associated signal transmitter and the signal transmitter held by a driver transmits in return a coded radio signal to the receiver upon receiving the searching radio signal from the receiver. This system enables a vehicle door to be unlocked automatically without drive's manual switch operation for door unlocking. In this system, the vehicle door is locked and unlocked automatically whether the receiver is inside or outside of the radio signal receiving area. As a result, the vehicle door is locked if the driver leaves to an outside of a radio signal receiving area, even if the vehicle door is locked manually by the driver. Although it is possible to disable the transmitter to transmit the radio signal if the vehicle door has been locked manually, this requires the driver to change the mode of the transmitter from a door unlocking-disabling mode to a door unlocking mode without fail before the next use of the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the conventional door entry control for vehicles or the like by a wireless communication.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a door entry control which enables manual door locking without requiring a user's additional manual operation for an automatic door unlocking.
According to the present invention, a signal transmitter held by a user modulates, in accordance with a code signal assigned specifically to each user, a signal received from a signal transmitter/receiver to transmit the modulated signal in return. When the user holding the transmitter enters from the outside of a signal demodulating area into the inside of the signal demodulating area, a door is switched automatically from the locked condition to the unlocked condition. After a manual door locking, the signal transmitter/receiver disables an automatic door unlocking as long as the modulated code signal is demodulated properly. Thus, the automatic door unlocking is enabled and disabled as long as the user is in the outside of the signal demodulating area and in the inside of the signal demodulating area, respectively. This requires no additional manual operation on the part of the user for switching between the automatic mode and the manual mode.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4763121 (1988-08-01), Tomoda et al.
patent: 4794268 (1988-12-01), Nakano et al.
patent: 5309144 (1994-05-01), Lacombe et al.
patent: 5379033 (1995-01-01), Fujii et al.
patent: 5627529 (1997-05-01), Duckworth et al.
patent: 5723911 (1998-03-01), Glehr
patent: 5973611 (1999-10-01), Kulha et al.
patent: 59-080872 (1984-05-01), None
patent: 62-086278 (1987-04-01), None
patent: 63-129643 (1988-08-01), None
patent: 5-017055 (1993-03-01), None
patent: 5-156851 (1993-06-01), None
patent: 9-125776 (1997-05-01), None
Asakura Fumio
Furuta Noritoshi
Kato Yuji
Ohtsuka Mitsugi
Uesaka Hiroto
Bangachon William L.
Horabik Michael
Nippon Soken Inc.
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
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