Antitheft system for motor vehicles

• US 5,661,451 A
• Filed: 09/23/1994
• Issued: 08/26/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: Pollag, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel J.
• Application Number:
  US08/310,752
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 340/426, 340/428, 340/430, 340/825.3, 340/825.31, 340/825.32, 340/825.33, 340/825.34, 307/10.2, 307/10.3, 307/10.4, 307/10.5, 307/10.6, 180/287, 382/124, 382/125, 382/126, 382/127, 356/71, 235/380, 235/382, 235/382.5, 235/384, 380/23, 380/25, 380/4
• US Class Current: 340/426.36
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/252 Fingerprint recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00563 using personal physical data of the operator, e.g. finger prints, retinal images, voicepatterns

Abstract

In the case of an antitheft system for motor vehicles comprising several control apparatuses for vehicle components, which can be cleared when a fed testing information corresponds to a predetermined reference information, the testing and the reference data differ from one another for at least two control apparatuses.

Claims

1. An antitheft apparatus for a motor vehicle having a plurality of systems for operating said vehicle, each system having a control unit associated therewith, said apparatus comprising:

a plurality of comparison devices, each of said comparison devices being associated with a different one of said respective control units;

each of said comparison devices having stored therein a predetermined reference data set, and being actuatable in response to receipt of a testing data signal which includes a data set that corresponds to said predetermined reference data set, to cause the control unit associated with said comparison device to enable operation of the vehicle system associated with said control unit;

wherein reference data sets for each of at least two of said comparison devices differ from one another.

2. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data sets corresponding to each of said predetermined reference data sets are included in a single testing data signal.

3. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said single testing data signal comprises an image data signal.

4. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said image data signal corresponds to a user'"'"'s fingerprint.

5. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 1, wherein upon actuation, each of said comparison devices transmits an acknowledgement signal to other comparison devices of said plurality of comparison devices.

6. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said comparison devices actuates the control unit associated therewith only upon receipt of acknowledgement signals from all of said comparison devices.

7. An antitheft apparatus for a motor vehicle having a plurality of systems for operating said vehicle, each system having a control unit associated therewith, said apparatus comprising:

means for storing a unique predetermined reference data set in each of said control units, a unique data set stored in each respective control unit differing from unique predetermined reference data sets stored in others of said control units of said systems;

a plurality of comparison means, each one of said comparison means being associated with a control unit of a different respective system of said plurality of systems, each one of said comparison means comparing a testing data signal input thereto with one predetermined reference data set stored in a control unit with which said one of said comparison means is associated, and transmitting an acknowledgement signal to all others of said comparison means when said testing data signal contains data which correspond to said one reference data set, each one of said comparison means being further adapted to supply an actuating signal to the control unit associated therewith to cause the control unit associated with said comparison device to enable operation of the vehicle system associated with said control unit, when said testing data signal contains data which corresponds to said one reference data set, and said one of said comparison means receives acknowledgement signals from all of said comparison means;

wherein reference data sets stored in each of at least two of said comparison means differ from one another.

8. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each of said comparison means emits an acknowledgement signal which differs from that of all others of said comparison means.

9. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a sensor coupled to provide a single testing data signal to all of said comparison means.

10. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said single testing data signal comprises an image data signal.

11. An antitheft apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said image data signal corresponds to a user'"'"'s fingerprint.