Locking system, in particular for a motor vehicle

• US 20060028353A1
• Filed: 08/17/2005
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marquardt GmbH (J U J Marquardt KG)
• Original Assignee: Marquardt GmbH (J U J Marquardt KG)
• Inventors: Mueller, Karl, Geber, Michael, Weisser, Dietmar, Mattes, Johannes, Pohlmann, Andreas, Reinhardt, Matthias, Hipp, Uwe, Ruther, Markus
• Granted Patent: US 7,667,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.690
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/24 using electronic identifiers containing a code not memorised by the user

Abstract

The invention relates to a locking system, for providing authorization to access and drive a motor vehicle. The locking system has a first device, which is a control device for unlocking and locking the car doors, the ignition lock, the steering wheel lock, etc. Additionally, the locking system has a second device, which is an electronic key or an identifier. The two devices have transmission means and/or receiving means for electromagnetic signals with frequencies ν lying in a frequency band between two cut-off frequencies νa, νb. At least one of the signals, transmitted between the devices, is a coded operating signal for authenticating the second device. The actual frequency νi with which the transmission means of the second device is operated is stored in a storage means of the first device.

Claims

1. A keyless locking system comprising:

a first control device having at least two states; and

a second device remote from the first control device,

wherein the two devices have at least one of transmission means and receiving means for electromagnetic signals having frequencies ν

lying in a frequency band between two cut-off frequencies ν

a, ν

b, and wherein at least one of the signals transmitted between the second device and the first control device is a coded operating signal for authenticating the second device so that after positive evaluation of the transmitted operating signal when the second device has been authenticated, a change can be brought about in the state of the first control device, and an actual frequency ν

i with which the transmission means of the second device is operated is stored in a storage means of the first control device.

2. The locking system of claim 1, wherein the actual frequency ν

i of the transmission means is determined and stored in the second device when the locking system is initialized.

3. The locking system of claim 1, wherein the actual frequency of the transmission means is newly determined in the second device at periodic intervals, and the newly determined actual frequency ν

i′

is stored in the storage means of the first control device instead of the previous actual frequency ν

i.

4. The locking system of claim 1, comprising a plurality of second devices associated with each first control device, wherein respective actual frequencies ν

i of the associated second devices are stored in the storage means of the first control device.

5. The locking system of claim 4, wherein at the start of the transmission of signals from the second device to the first control device, the stored actual frequencies ν

i for the transmission means of the associated second devices are firstly set in succession in the receiving means of the first control device, and if an associated second device is detected, the transmission of signals is continued with the actual frequency ν

i which will then have been set in the receiving means of the first control device, and if no associated second device is detected, the entire frequency band is subsequently searched for an associated second device.

6. The locking system of claim 1, wherein the storage means for storing the actual frequency ν

i is a non-volatile memory.

7. The locking system of claim 1 embodied in a motor vehicle to allow access to and use of the motor vehicle.

8. The locking system of claim 7, wherein the first control device is a control device resident on the motor vehicle for performing at least one function selected from the group consisting of:

actuating the door locks, actuating the ignition lock, actuating the steering wheel lock, actuating the immobilizer and actuating an engine control device.

9. The locking system of claim 7, wherein the second device is in the form of one of an electronic key, an identifier and a chip card.

10. The locking system of claim 2, wherein the actual frequency ν

i of the transmission means is determined and stored in the second device when the second device is first authenticated.

11. The locking system of claim 4, wherein the actual frequencies ν

i of the associated second devices are stored in the storage means of the first control device in the form of a table.