Central locking system for motor vehicles

• US 5,747,885 A
• Filed: 06/19/1995
• Issued: 05/05/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ITT Automotive Europe GmbH (Xylem, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ITT Automotive Europe GmbH (Xylem, Inc.)
• Inventors: Klinar, Robert, Fein, Peter, Dochtermann, Ulrich, Philipps, Werner
• Primary Examiner(s): Elms, Richard T.
• Application Number:
  US08/492,341
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• Field of Search: 307/9.1, 307/10.1, 307/10.2, 180/287, 180/289, 70/264, 370/85.9, 370/151, 364/424.05, 364/424.059, 364/424.045
• US Class Current: 307/10.2
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/48 by electrical means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/65 Central control

Abstract

A central locking system for a motor vehicle which has a number of actuators, each of which has a signal transmitter unit which sends data signals to a control unit as a function of current condition parameters of a monitored opening of the motor vehicle or as a function of externally input command signals, and the control unit generates control signals from these data signals, and final control elements of the central locking system, which bring about the locking and unlocking of the opening of the motor vehicle, are triggered by these control signals. According to the present invention, each actuator of the central locking system has a separate control unit to which the data signals of the signal transmitter unit of its actuator, as well as selected data signals of the signal transmitter units of the other actuators of the central locking system are sent.

Claims

1. Central locking system for motor vehicles, with a plurality of actuators, each of which has a signal transmitter unit, which sends data signals to a control unit as a function of current condition parameters of at least one of a monitored opening and an operating element of a motor element, or as a function of externally input command signals, the control unit generates control signals from said data signals which bring about the locking and unlocking of the openings of the motor vehicle, characterized in that each and every actuator of the central locking system has a separate control unit, to which the data signals of the signal transmitter unit of its actuator as well as selected data signals of the signal transmitter units of the other actuators of the central locking system are sent.

2. Central locking system in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that a data transmission among the actuators of the central locking system is performed in time-division multiplex via a bus system designed as a multi-master system.

3. Central locking system in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that a data transmission among said actuators of the central locking system takes place via parallel lines, and the number of lines corresponds to the number of bits of a condition message of the central locking system to be transmitted.

4. Central locking system in accordance with claim 3, characterized in that said actuators of the central locking system have an interface logic each, which establishes a connection between said control unit of each said actuator and a bus system.

5. Central locking system in accordance with claim 4, characterized in that the interface logic of each said actuator is connected to said bus system via an output, and said output generates a dominant level on the bus system.

6. Central locking system in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that each condition message transmitted from said control unit of said actuator via the interface logic to said bus system has a standardized structure, such that each condition message is transmitted to said bus system in the form of a bit block of defined length, and that each bit block consists of a start bit and one or more message bits following said start bit.

7. Central locking system in accordance with claim 6, characterized in that each bit block has a start bit end bit, which is transmitted after the start bit and before the first message bit, and the start bit and the start bit end bit have complementary values.

8. Central locking system in accordance with claim 7, characterized in that the message bits represent parity bits or control bits or data signals, which are generated by signal transmitters of said signal transmitter units.

9. Central locking system in accordance with claim 8, characterized in that at least one said signal transmitter of one said signal transmitter unit of at least one said actuator of the central locking system responds to an external command signal, which is sent by the user of the motor vehicle to activate or deactivate a theft protection system cooperating with the central locking system.

10. Central locking system in accordance with claim 8, characterized in that at least one said signal transmitter of at least one said actuator of the central locking system responds to an external command signal, which is sent by the user of the motor vehicle to activate or deactivate a central locking system.

11. Central locking system in accordance with claim 10, characterized in that the signal transmitters of said signal transmitter units are designed as at least one of Hall sensors and conventional switches.

12. Central locking system in accordance with claim 11, characterized in that only one said actuator of the actuators of the central locking system is used to trigger functional components of the vehicle, whose activation depends on the condition parameters of the openings to be monitored, and which assume a function independent from at least one of the actual central locking system and theft protection system.

13. Central locking system in accordance with claim 12, characterized in that each said actuator of the central locking system contains at least one drive, which generates adjusting signals for at least one of the central locking system and the theft protection system.

14. Central locking system in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that the output is an open collector output.

15. A central locking system for a motor vehicle comprising a plurality of actuators, each and every actuator having:

a signal transmitter unit which sends data signals representative of at least one of;

(a) current condition parameters of a monitored opening of the motor vehicle,

(b) current condition parameters of an operating element of a motor element, and

(c) external input command signals; and

a control unit;

(a) to which;

(1) said data signals from said signal transmitter unit of said actuator, and

(2) selected data signals of the signal transmitter units of the other actuators

are sent, and

(b) which generates control signals from said data signals for locking and unlocking of the openings of the motor vehicle.

16. A central locking system according to claim 15 further including a multi-master bus system for time-division multiplex data transmission between said actuators.

17. A central locking system according to claim 16 wherein said bus system includes a plurality of parallel lines, the number of said parallel lines corresponding to the number of bits of a condition message to be transmitted.

18. A central locking system according to claim 17 wherein each of said actuators includes an interface logic through which said control unit is connected to said bus system.

19. A central locking system according to claim 18 wherein said interface logic is connected to said bus system by an open collector output which generates a dominant level on said bus system.

20. A central locking system according to claim 19 wherein each condition message transmitted from said control unit by said interface logic to said bus system has a standardized structure in the form of a bit block of defined length, with each bit block having a start bit and at least one message bit following said start bit.

21. A central locking system according to claim 20 wherein each said bit block has a start bit end bit after said start bit and before the first message bit, and said start bit and said start bit end bit have complementary values.

22. A central locking system according to claim 21 wherein said signal transmitter unit includes a plurality of signal transmitters which generate said message bits and said message bits represent at least one of parity bits, control bits and data signals.

23. A central locking system according to claim 22 wherein at least one of said signal transmitters of one of said signal transmitter units of at least one of said actuators responds to an external command signal which is sent by the user of the motor vehicle to activate or deactivate a theft protection system cooperating with the central locking system.

24. A central locking system according to claim 22 wherein at least one of said signal transmitters of one of said signal transmitter units of at least one of said actuators responds to an external command signal which is sent by the user of the motor vehicle to activate or deactivate the central locking system.

25. A central locking system according to claim 15 wherein said signal transmitter is a Hall sensor.

26. A central locking system according to claim 15 wherein said signal transmitter is a switch.

27. A central locking system according to claim 15 wherein only one of said actuators triggers functional components of the motor vehicle whose activation depends on the condition parameters of the monitored and which assume a function independent from the central locking system and a theft protection system.

28. A central locking system according to claim 15 wherein each of said actuators includes at least one drive which generates adjusting signals for the final control elements of the central locking system and a theft protection system.