Key fob with RSSI

• US 10,096,184 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Hanson, Ryan Edwin, Wieland, Stephen Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Terrell, Emily C
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLACK-CHILDRESS, RAJSHEED O
• Application Number:
  US15/180,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20170358159A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00507 keyless data carrier having more than one function
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00587 by battery
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00984 fob
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/63 Comprising locating means for detecting the position of the data carrier, i.e. within the vehicle or within a certain distance from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A key fob includes: communicator(s), a battery, memory, and processor(s) configured to: find signal strengths of received polls; determine, based on the signal strengths, that the received polls have: (a) increased, (b) decreased, (c) leveled off; and if (a), issue a poll response; if (c), not issue the poll response.

Claims

1. A key fob comprising:

communicator(s) to receive received polls from and issue a poll response to a vehicle;

one or more batteries; and

processor(s) configured to;

identify signal strengths of the received polls;

compute applied upper and lower boundaries based on the received polls;

determine whether the received polls have increased, decreased, or leveled off by comparing the signal strengths to the applied upper and lower boundaries;

if the received polls have increased above the applied upper boundary, issue the poll response to the vehicle via the communicator(s);

if the received polls have decreased below the applied lower boundary or leveled off between the applied lower and upper boundaries, not issue the poll response to conserve the one or more batteries;

discard the applied upper and lower boundaries when a predetermined recalculation number of the received polls falls outside of the applied upper and lower boundaries; and

recompute the applied upper and lower boundaries based on a running average of the received polls, the running average including only the received polls falling within the applied upper and lower boundaries.

2. The key fob of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

adjust the applied upper and lower boundaries based on new received polls falling within the upper and lower boundaries.

3. The key fob of claim 1, wherein processor(s) are configured to approximate locations of the key fob based on the received polls.

4. The key fob of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

group the received polls into increasing segments, decreasing segments, and leveling off segments.

5. The key fob of claim 1, wherein, if the received polls have increased above the applied upper boundary, the communicator causes the vehicle to activate a first event when the key fob is at a first position approximate to the vehicle, a second event when the key fob is at a second position approximate to the vehicle, and a third event when the key fob is at a third position approximate to the vehicle.

6. The key fob of claim 5, wherein the first event is activation of welcome lights, the second event is an unlocking of doors, and the third event is activation of a vehicle start button.

7. The key fob of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to determine that the received polls have leveled off between the applied upper and lower boundaries upon determining a predetermined evaluation number of the received polls has fallen within the applied upper and lower boundaries.

8. A method of wireless communication with a key fob including:

receiving, via a communicator of a key fob, received polls from a vehicle;

identifying, via a processor of the key fob, signal strengths of the received polls;

computing applied upper and lower boundaries based on the received polls;

determining, via the processor, whether the received polls have increased, decreased, or leveled off by comparing the signal strengths to the applied upper and lower boundaries;

approximating locations of the key fob based on the received polls;

issuing, if the received polls have increased above the applied upper boundary, a poll response to the vehicle via the communicator;

issuing the poll response via the communicator if the received polls have decreased below the applied lower boundary and the key fob is at a first location;

not issuing the poll response if the received polls have decreased below the applied lower boundary and the key fob is at a second location that is farther from the vehicle than the first location to conserve energy of a battery of the key fob;

not issuing, if the received polls have leveled off between the applied upper and lower boundaries, the poll response to conserve energy of a battery of the key fob;

discarding the applied upper and lower boundaries when a predetermined recalculation number of the received polls falls outside of the applied upper and lower boundaries; and

recomputing the applied upper and lower boundaries based on a running average of the received polls, wherein the running average of the received polls only includes received polls falling within the applied upper and lower boundaries.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

grouping the received polls into increasing segments, decreasing segments, and leveling off segments; and

performing an operation based on a present grouping.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising, in response to determining that the received polls have increased, causing the vehicle to:

activate a first vehicle event upon determining that the key fob is spaced apart from the vehicle by a first distance;

activate a second vehicle event upon determining that the key fob is spaced apart from the vehicle by a second distance greater than the first distance; and

activate a second vehicle event upon determining that the key fob is spaced apart from the vehicle by a third distance greater than the second distance.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining that the received polls have leveled off responsive to determining a predetermined evaluation number of the received polls has fallen within the applied upper and lower boundaries.

12. A key fob comprising:

a communicator;

a processor to;

identify signal strengths of polls received from a vehicle via the communicator;

issue a poll response via the communicator if the signal strengths increased above an upper boundary; and

not issue the poll response if the signal strengths decreased below a lower boundary or leveled off between the boundaries; and

discard the boundaries when a predetermined number of the polls falls outside of the boundaries.

13. The key fob of claim 12, wherein the processor is to compute the boundaries based on the received polls.

14. The key fob of claim 12, wherein the processor is to recompute the boundaries based on a running average of the polls, the running average including only the polls falling within the boundaries.