Motor vehicle

• US 20050156468A1
• Filed: 12/20/2004
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brose Schließsysteme Gmbh & Co. Kg
• Original Assignee: Brose Schließsysteme Gmbh & Co. Kg
• Inventors: Langfermann, Michael, Groewe, Christian, Platzkoester, Andreas, Hentsch, Ingmar, Hegerfeld, Frank, Duenne, Klaus
• Granted Patent: US 7,589,431 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/10.100
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/04 Preventing unwanted lock actuation, e.g. unlatching, at the moment of collision
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/48 by electrical means
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 81/77 comprising sensors detecting the presence of the hand of a user

Abstract

A motor vehicle with a control means and an electrically connected sensor. The sensor is used especially to detect the actuation of a door handle for opening a motor vehicle lock. In order to ensure high failure safety, the sensor for transmission of sensor signals has at least two electrically independent outputs which are connected to the control means via electrical signal lines.

Claims

1. Motor vehicle, comprising:

a control means and

at least one sensor which is electrically connected to the control means,

wherein each sensor has two electrically independent outputs for transmission of sensor signals, and

wherein the outputs are connected to the control means via electrical signal lines.

2. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is adapted for detecting one of a state of a motor vehicle lock and actuation of a control element of the motor vehicle.

3. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor has exactly two electrically independent outputs for transmission of sensor signals.

4. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outputs of the sensor are connected to the control means via separate electrical signal lines.

5. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control means is adapted for delivering control signals to a consumer, and wherein the consumer is a drive of a motor vehicle lock.

6. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 5, wherein the consumer is an opening drive of a motor vehicle lock.

7. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor signals at the different outputs of the at least one sensor are identical to one another, wherein the at least one sensor has two electrically independent outputs for the same sensor signal and the outputs are connected to two separate inputs of the control means via two separate electrical signal lines.

8. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 7, wherein, when one signal line fails, the sensor signal is transmitted via the other signal line to the control means and evaluated by the control means.

9. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein, by the control means, a faulty sensor signal is detected by comparison of the sensor signals which have been transmitted over the signal lines.

10. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor has at least two electrically independent inputs for the outputs and the inputs are connected to a power supply via separate supply lines.

11. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is a switching sensor.

12. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor a multi-circuit switch.

13. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor, for producing the sensor signals, has at least two switching devices in parallel, at least one of the switching devices being made as a make contact switching device and another of the switching devices being made as a break contact switching device.

14. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 11, wherein the sensor is a microswitch with two independent switching lugs.

15. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is at least one of a capacitive, inductive, optical and piezoelectric sensor.

16. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor, for producing the sensor signals, has at least two sensor modules, and wherein the sensor modules each operate according to different sensor action principles.

17. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 16, wherein the sensor modules each work in at least one of a capacitive, inductive, optical and piezoelectric manner.

18. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein each sensor signal is resistor-coded and is subject to voltage division so that at least one of a line interruption and a short circuit of a current path of the sensor signal is detectable by the control means.

19. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor comprises at least two sensors, each of which has two electrically independent outputs for sensor signals which are connected to two separate inputs of the control means via two signal lines with at least one common line segment.

20. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 19, wherein the sensor signals of the sensors have at least one of different resistor-coding and different voltages so that the respective sensor signals can be detected independently of one another by the control means.

21. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the motor vehicle has a motor vehicle locking system to which the control means and the at least one sensor is assigned.

22. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 21, wherein the motor vehicle locking system has a motor vehicle lock to which the at least one sensor is assigned for detection of at least one of opening, unlocking and locking of the motor vehicle lock.

23. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 21, wherein the motor vehicle locking system has a control element to which the at least one sensor is assigned for detection of actuation of the control element for at least one of opening, unlocking and locking of the motor vehicle lock.

24. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 23, wherein that at least one sensor comprises two sensors, one of which is assigned to a control element which is actuatable from the interior of the motor vehicle and a second of which is assigned to a control element which is actuatable from outside of the motor vehicle.

25. Motor vehicle, comprising:

a control means and

at least one sensor which is electrically connected to the control means,

wherein the control means has at least a first evaluation unit and a second evaluation unit which is independent of the first evaluation unit,

wherein the control means is adapted for evaluating sensor signals produced by the at least one sensor essentially in parallel by the first and second evaluation units and for delivering a control signal to a consumer based on the evaluation.

26. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the at least one sensor is adapted for detecting one of the state of the motor vehicle lock and actuation of the control element of the motor vehicle.

27. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the control means is coupled to a consumer for triggering thereof and wherein the consumer is a drive of a motor vehicle lock.

28. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the drive is an opening drive of a motor vehicle lock.

29. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the at least one sensor has at least two electrically independent outputs for transmission of sensor signals and the outputs are connected to the control means via electrical signal lines.

30. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 29, wherein, when one of the signal lines fails, the sensor signal is transmitted via the other of the signal lines to the control means for evaluation by the control means.

31. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 29, wherein, by the control means, a faulty sensor signal is detectable by comparison of the sensor signals which have been transmitted over the signal lines.

32. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein each sensor signal is resistor-coded and is subject to voltage division so that at least one of a line interruption and a short circuit of a current path of the sensor signal is detectable by the control means.

33. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 29, wherein the outputs of the at least one sensor are each assigned to the two evaluation units for evaluation.

34. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 29, wherein one output of the at least one sensor is assigned to one evaluation unit and the other output of the sensor is assigned to the other evaluation unit for evaluation.

35. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the control means has at least one microcontroller on which control software is run, wherein the two evaluation units are implemented at least partially by software in the microcontroller of the control means, and wherein different storage areas of the microcontroller are assigned to the two evaluation units.

36. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 35, wherein the two evaluation units are equipped with an input module for connection of the at least one sensor and with an output module for connection of the consumer, different storage areas of the microcontroller being assigned to the input modules and the output modules of the evaluation units.

37. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the evaluation units are each implemented at least in part in separate hardware.

38. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein control signals for triggering the consumer are produced by means of the first evaluation unit based on the sensor signals, wherein, by means of the second evaluation unit based on the sensor signals, release signals are producible, and wherein the consumer is triggerable by the control signals of the first evaluation unit only when the second evaluation unit produces a corresponding release signal.

39. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 38, wherein the consumer has a driving motor which is wired via a bridge circuit, wherein the control means for triggering the consumer is coupled to the bridge circuit and wherein the second evaluation unit is coupled to a switch which is connected to the current path which is decisive for activation of the consumer.

40. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the two evaluation units are made essentially identical, wherein by means of the two evaluation units, based on the sensor signals, control signals are producible to one another, and wherein the consumer can only be triggered by these control signals when the two evaluation units produce identical or compatible control signals.

41. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 40, wherein the control means has a logic module and wherein the logic module has an AND gate between the control signal outputs of the evaluation units.

42. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the control means has a monitoring module, and wherein the monitoring module is coupled to the evaluation units and monitors the respective operating states of the evaluation units.

43. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the motor vehicle has a motor vehicle locking system to which the control means and the at least one sensor is assigned.

44. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 43, wherein the motor vehicle locking system has a motor vehicle lock to which the at least one sensor is assigned for detection of at least one of opening, unlocking and locking of the motor vehicle lock.

45. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 43, wherein the motor vehicle locking system has a control element to which the sensor is assigned for detection of actuation of the control element for at least one of opening, unlocking and locking of the motor vehicle lock.

46. Motor vehicle as claimed in claim 45, wherein said at least one sensor comprises two sensors assigned to a control element, one of which is actuatable from the interior of the motor vehicle and a second of which is assigned to a control element which is actuatable from outside of the motor vehicle.

47. Motor vehicle locking system of a motor vehicle, comprising:

at least one motor vehicle lock,

a control means and

at least one sensor which is electrically connected to the control means for detection of one of a state of the motor vehicle lock and actuation of a control element,

wherein the sensor has at least two electrically independent outputs for transmission of sensor signals and wherein the outputs are connected to the control means via electrical signal lines.

48. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 47, wherein the at least one sensor has two electrically independent outputs and the outputs are connected to two separate inputs of the control means via two separate electrical signal lines.

49. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 47, wherein the sensor, for producing sensor signals, has at least two switching devices in parallel, at least one of the switching devices being a make contact switch and another of the switching devices being a break contact switch.

50. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 47, wherein the sensor, for producing sensor signals, has at least two sensor modules and wherein the sensor modules each operate according to different sensor action principles.

51. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 47, wherein each sensor signal is resistor-coded and is subject to voltage division so that at least one a line interruption and a short circuit of a current path of the sensor signal is detectable by the control means.

52. Motor vehicle locking system of a motor vehicle,

comprising at least one motor vehicle lock,

a control means and

at least one sensor which is electrically connected to the control means for detection of one of a state of the motor vehicle lock and actuation of a control element,

wherein the control means has at least a first evaluation unit and a second evaluation unit which is independent of the first evaluation unit, wherein the control means is adapted for evaluation of the sensor signals produced by the sensor essentially in parallel by the evaluation units, and based on the results of the evaluation, delivers control signals to a consumer.

53. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 52, wherein control signals for triggering the consumer are producible by means of the first evaluation unit based on the sensor signals, wherein release signals are producible by means of the second evaluation unit based on the sensor signals, and wherein the consumer is triggerable by the control signals of the first evaluation unit only when the second evaluation unit produces a corresponding release signal.

54. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 52, wherein the evaluation units are essentially identical, wherein by means of the evaluation units, based on the sensor signals, control signals are producible parallel to one another, and wherein a consumer is triggerable by the control signals only when the two evaluation units produce identical or compatible control signals.

55. Motor vehicle locking system as claimed in claim 52, wherein the control means has a monitoring module, wherein the monitoring module is coupled to the evaluation units and monitors the respective operating states of the evaluation units.