The invention pertains to an arrangement of the type indicated in the introductory clause of claim 1. The sensor of the arrangement responds to approach or to contact.
To provide increased operating convenience, it is known (DE 196 17 938 C2) that a capacitive sensor which responds only when an authorized person approaches it, can be provided in a closing device of a vehicle, this sensor being integrated into the grip of the external door handle. As a function of an authorization check, this capacitive sensor serves to actuate the closing device and to grant access to the vehicle. In this known arrangement, the authorized person carries an identification transmitter (ID transmitter). When his or her hand approaches the handle, the capacitance of the capacitive sensor changes, and a signal is sent to the electronic control system in the vehicle. The control system uses a sending and receiving arrangement to initiate the search procedure for the ID transmitter, and data communications begin between the ID transmitter and the electronic control system. The ID transmitter transmits an identification code, and if the person in question is authorized, the electronic control system arrives at a positive code comparison, and the closing device allows access to the vehicle. The actuation function of the closing device is switched to an active state even before the handle of the closing device is in fact actuated by the authorized person. The person who actuates the handle notices nothing of these communications or of this data comparison. The door or hatch is opened and closed without any delay.
So that no unnecessary, energy-consuming communication takes place, a sensor should not respond to the approach of, or to contact by, any object at all, but rather only to the approach of, or to contact by, a human hand. It is undesirable for any random external influence such as rain, snow, ice, or leaves to result in the actuation of the device. For this reason, the speed at which the capacitance changes when an object approaches or makes contact is also determined in another known closing device with a capacitive sensor (DE 19620059 Al). In this known device, use is made of the circumstance that the change in capacitance per unit time is greater upon the approach of a human hand to the sensor than upon the approach of foreign objects. When the change in capacitance per unit time is measured, the actuation function of the closing device is switched to an active state only if the change in capacitance over time exceeds a certain limit value. This method cannot be used in all cases, however.
The invention is based on the task of developing a reliable arrangement of the type indicated in the introductory clause of claim 1, which differentiates clearly between actuation of the sensor by a human hand and actuation by foreign objects and which accordingly renders the actuation function of the closing device either active or inactive. This is achieved according to the invention by the measures cited in claim 1, to which the following special meaning attaches.
When the handle is actuated, not only a main sensor but also an auxiliary sensor, which consists of a permanent magnet and a Hall element, responds to this contact. One of these two elements is located in the movable handle, the other in the adjacent, stationary bracket. Although the two sensors transmit separate signals when actuation occurs, the two signals are evaluated jointly. The auxiliary sensor transmits a signal because the actuation of the handle causes a vertical and/or horizontal relative movement between the Hall element and the permanent magnet. This produces signals in the Hall sensor. If the evaluation is successful, the lock is switched to its locked position if had previously been in its unlocked position. In the locked position, actuating the handle has no effect; the door or hatch cannot be opened. These measures can be used in two different ways.
Because both signals are necessary for a successful evaluation, there is no danger that the closing device could be actuated mistakenly in the invention in the manner described above. It is not enough for the main sensor to detect the approach of an object and to transmit a signal. It is also necessary for a relative movement of the Hall element versus the permanent magnet to occur simultaneously or at least within a certain time window, so that the auxiliary sensor also transmits a signal. After the two signals have been evaluated, a common output signal is generated and sent to a control unit in the vehicle. If the output signal is based on a successful evaluation of the two signals, the control unit switches the lock, several of the locks, or all of the locks in the vehicle.
According to the invention, not only the main sensor but also the auxiliary sensor operates dynamically. Thus the duration of the contact or of the approach can be detected and evaluated by both sensors. The common output signal resulting from the evaluation of the two signals can then be used not only for the previously described switching of the lock but also for initiating one or-more other functions in the vehicle. Whether such functions are initiated and the nature of those functions depend on the duration of the contact. These additional functions can involve the actuation of movable parts associated with convenience. As a result, opened windows of the vehicle can be closed, an alarm system can be turned on, a roof panel in the vehicle can be closed, and/or side mirrors can be retracted.
Additional measures and advantages of the invention can be derived from the subclaims, from the following description, and from the drawings. The drawings illustrate the invention schematically on the basis of an exemplary embodiment:
The closing device 10 used in the inventive arrangement comprises a bracket 11, which is mounted in the interior of a door 12 of a vehicle (not shown). Only the exterior panel 13 of the door 12 is shown in dash-dot line.
The closing device 10 also includes a handle 20. One end 21 of the handle 20 is supported pivotably in the bracket 11. The axis 14 of the pivot bearing is essentially vertical with respect to the door 12, for which reason the handle 20 is a so-called “pull-handle”. The other end 22 of the handle 20 has an extension with a hook at the end. The extension passes through an opening 15 in the exterior door panel 13 and in the bracket 11. The hooked end of the extension grips a mechanical input element 31 on a lock 30 installed in the door 12.
The lock 30 normally holds the door 12 in its closed position. The lock 30 can be in either one of two different operating positions, as desired, namely, a locked position and an unlocked position. When the handle 20 is pivoted in the direction of the arrow 23 in
In an emergency, the lock 30 can be switched from one state to another mechanically, e.g., by the use of a lock cylinder. Although this is not shown in detail, another opening 16 in the bracket 11 and in the exterior door panel 13 can be seen, in which a lock cylinder of this type could be installed. The lock cylinder can be actuated by an emergency key. The front end of the lock cylinder, where the key can be inserted and removed, can be integrated into a cover piece 17, which is attached to the bracket 11 and which is designed so that it is flush with the handle 20.
In the normal case, the lock 30 is switched between the unlocked position and the locked position by electrical means. For this purpose, the lock 30 has an electrical input 32. The three sensors 40, 45, and 50, which have various functions to be described in greater detail later, are the initiators of this electrical switching of the lock 30. Electronic components 42, which are used for operations, for control, and/or for evaluating and combining the signals coming from the three sensors 40, 45, 50, are also installed in the interior 24 of the handle.
Two of these sensors 40, 45 in the present case act on the basis of capacitance. The electrodes 41, 46 of these sensors are indicated in the figures by different types of shading. The electrodes 41, 46 cooperate with the body of the vehicle and/or the environment to build up an electrical field. A field 47 of the capacitive sensor 40 is suggested in
If the evaluation is successful, the associated components 42 transmit an output signal, illustrated by an arrow 43 in
The two capacitive sensors 40, 45 act independently of each other and work in ways which differ from each other. One capacitive sensor 45 is set to a very high sensitivity and acts in the known manner upon the approach of an object, especially of an authorized person. This sensor 45 is used to release a locked lock 30 and thus, as previously described, to make it possible to actuate 23 the handle 20 successfully. This takes place, however, only if the following additional condition is satisfied:
One such additional condition for the switching of the lock 30 is derived from the circumstance that access to the vehicle is to be granted only to authorized persons, not to someone without such proper authorization. The authorized person carries an identification transmitter, referred to in the following in brief as an “ID transmitter”, for which a corresponding identification receiver, called in a similar manner the “ID receiver”, is provided in the vehicle. Normally, an ID transmitter of this type is passive. It works when the authorized person simply approaches the vehicle. There is no need for the person to perform any action on the ID transmitter or with the ID transmitter. It is also conceivable, however, that an active ID transmitter could be used, such as an electronic remote-control key, which, in order to become active, must be activated by a button.
In both cases, one-way or two-way communication takes place with the ID receiver. If these communications are successful, the successful outcome is reported to the control unit 25, which also receives the additional condition required for switching. By way of the previously mentioned electrical or mechanical connection 26, the control unit then switches the lock 30 to its previously mentioned unlocked position. When then the handle 20 is now actually moved in the direction of the arrow 23 in
The previously mentioned first capacitive sensor 40 is made less sensitive than the opening sensor and is to be referred to in the following as the “main sensor”. The main sensor 40 acts only in coordination with the previously mentioned third sensor 50, which is to be called the “auxiliary sensor”. This auxiliary sensor 50 has a two-part design and consists of a Hall element 51 and a permanent magnet 52. The permanent magnet generates a magnetic field 53, illustrated in the figures by field lines, in the area where the Hall element 51 is located. Whereas the Hall element 51 is located close to the end wall of the interior space 24 of the handle 20, the permanent magnet 52 is located on the inside surface of the adjacent wall of the previously mentioned cover piece 17.
When the previously mentioned human hand 27 touches, for example, the contact area designated 28 in
Because of its long-distance capacitive sensitivity, the main sensor 40 becomes active upon the mere approach of the finger, but certainly no later than the time at which the finger makes actual contact with the actuating point 28 in
Both the main sensor and the auxiliary sensor operate dynamically. Thus the duration of the contact or approach can be detected and evaluated by both sensors. The duration of the contact is determined by the auxiliary sensor and results in a correspondingly modified output signal 43. As a function of the contact duration, it is then possible, in addition to the previously mentioned switching of the lock 30, for one or more other functions in the vehicle to be initiated. The initiation of so-called “convenience” functions by which certain movable parts in the vehicle are moved is especially advantageous. The types of convenience functions which can be initiated have already been mentioned by way of example above.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2004 026 442.2 | May 2004 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP05/05540 | 5/21/2005 | WO | 11/28/2006 |