Vehicle door locking system with separate power operated inner door and outer door locking mechanisms
First Claim
1. A power-operated vehicle door locking assembly comprising:
- a housing assembly constructed and arranged to be mounted to a vehicle door, a door latching assembly carried by said housing assembly constructed and arranged to be moved between a door latching position and a door unlatching position, said door latching assembly includes a holding and releasing lever movable between a holding position wherein said lever prevents said door latching assembly from moving from said door latching position thereof and a releasing position wherein said lever permits said door latching assembly to move from said door latching position thereof to said unlatching position thereof, an outer door latch releasing mechanism including an outer releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an outer reversible electric motor, an inner door latch releasing mechanism including an inner releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an inner reversible electric motor, and separate inner and outer door locking mechanisms characterized by said outer door locking mechanism having an outer cam movable between unlocked and locked positions, responsively moving said outer releasing arm into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said outer door latch releasing mechanism to responsively effect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and out of engagement with said lever thereby disabling said outer door latch releasing mechanism, and said inner door locking mechanism having an inner cam movable between unlocked and locked positions, responsively moving said inner releasing arm into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said inner door latch releasing mechanism to responsively effect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and out of engagement with said lever thereby disabling said inner door latch releasing mechanism, said outer reversible electric motor cooperating with said outer cam to effect said movement thereof in response to an outer manual electrical energizing actuation, and said inner reversible electric motor cooperating with said inner cam to effect said movement thereof in response to an inner manual electrical energizing actuation.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A power-operated vehicle door locking assembly including separate inner and outer door locking mechanisms connected with a housing assembly and an electric motorized system operable to selectively move (1) the inner door locking mechanism between an inoperative and an inner door locking position in response to inner manual electric motor energizing actuations and (2) the outer door locking mechanism between an inoperative and an outer door locking positions in response to outer manual electric motor energizing actuations. The arrangement is such that an outer manual electric motor energizing actuation without a corresponding inner manual electric motor energizing actuation causes a door latching assembly when in a door latching position to be incapable of being moved into a door unlatching position by an outer door latch releasing mechanism while at the same time the door latching assembly is capable of being moved into the door unlatching position thereof by an inner door latch releasing mechanism.
55 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A power-operated vehicle door locking assembly comprising:
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a housing assembly constructed and arranged to be mounted to a vehicle door, a door latching assembly carried by said housing assembly constructed and arranged to be moved between a door latching position and a door unlatching position, said door latching assembly includes a holding and releasing lever movable between a holding position wherein said lever prevents said door latching assembly from moving from said door latching position thereof and a releasing position wherein said lever permits said door latching assembly to move from said door latching position thereof to said unlatching position thereof, an outer door latch releasing mechanism including an outer releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an outer reversible electric motor, an inner door latch releasing mechanism including an inner releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an inner reversible electric motor, and separate inner and outer door locking mechanisms characterized by said outer door locking mechanism having an outer cam movable between unlocked and locked positions, responsively moving said outer releasing arm into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said outer door latch releasing mechanism to responsively effect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and out of engagement with said lever thereby disabling said outer door latch releasing mechanism, and said inner door locking mechanism having an inner cam movable between unlocked and locked positions, responsively moving said inner releasing arm into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said inner door latch releasing mechanism to responsively effect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and out of engagement with said lever thereby disabling said inner door latch releasing mechanism, said outer reversible electric motor cooperating with said outer cam to effect said movement thereof in response to an outer manual electrical energizing actuation, and said inner reversible electric motor cooperating with said inner cam to effect said movement thereof in response to an inner manual electrical energizing actuation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A power-operated vehicle door locking system for a vehicle having a plurality of vehicle doors movable between open and closed positions with respect to a corresponding plurality of vehicle body openings, said locking system comprising:
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an electrically operable system, and a plurality of power-operated vehicle door locking assemblies for mounting to each of said plurality of vehicle doors, said door locking assemblies each being operatively connected with said electrical operable system, each of said power-operated vehicle door locking assemblies comprising;
a housing assembly constructed and arranged to be mounted to a vehicle door, a door latching assembly carried by said housing, assembly constructed and arranged to be moved between a door latching position and a door unlatching position, said door latching assembly includes a holding and releasing lever movable between a biased holding position wherein said lever prevents said door latching assembly from moving from said door latching position thereof and a releasing position wherein said lever permits said door latching assembly to move from said door latching position thereof to said unlatching position thereof, an outer door latch releasing mechanism including an outer releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an outer door locking mechanism having an outer cam movable between unlocked and locked positions, responsively moving said outer releasing arm;
into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said outer door latch releasing mechanism to responsively effect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and out of engagement with said lever thereby disabling said outer latch releasing mechanism, and an inner door latch releasing mechanism including an inner releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an inner door locking mechanism having an inner cam movable between unlocked and locked positions, responsively moving said inner releasing arm into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said inner door latch releasing mechanism to responsively effect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and out of engagement with said lever thereby disabling said inner latch releasing mechanism, said electrically operable system comprising an outer reversible electric motor at each of said assemblies cooperating with said outer cam to effect said movement thereof in response to an outer manual electrical energizing actuation, and an inner reversible electric motor at each of said assemblies cooperating with said inner cam to effect said movement thereof in response to an inner manual electrical energizing actuation, and a processor capable of selectively activating, based on a programmed operation scheme, each motor to achieve one of four position combinations at each vehicle door locking assembly in a manner dependent upon input signals, said four position combinations including (a) a first position combination wherein said inner and outer cams are in the unlocked positions, (b) a second position combination wherein said inner cam is in the unlocked position and said outer cam is in the locked position, (c) a third position combination wherein said inner cam is in the locked condition and said outer cam is in the unlocked position, and (d) a fourth position combination wherein said inner and outer cams are both in the locked condition. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A power-operated vehicle door locking system for a vehicle having a plurality of vehicle doors movable between open and closed positions with respect to a corresponding plurality of vehicle body openings, said locking system comprising:
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an electrically operable system; and
a plurality of power-operated vehicle door locking assemblies for mounting to each of said plurality of vehicle doors, said door locking assemblies each being operatively connected with said electrical operable system, each of said power-operated vehicle door locking assemblies comprising;
a housing assembly constructed and arranged to be mounted to a vehicle door, a door latching assembly carried by said housing assembly constructed and arranged to be moved between a door latching position and a door unlatching position, said door latching assembly includes a holding and releasing lever movable between (1) a biased holding position wherein said lever prevents said door latching assembly from moving from said door latching position thereof and (2) a releasing position wherein said lever permits said door latching assembly to move from said door latching position thereof to said unlatching position thereof, an outer door latch releasing mechanism including an outer releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an outer door locking mechanism having an outer cam movable between unlocked and locked positions to responsively move said outer releasing arm (1) into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said outer door latch mechanism to responsively affect movement of said lever to said releasing position, and (2) out of engagement with said lever thereby disable said outer latch releasing mechanism, and an inner door latch releasing mechanism including an inner releasing arm movably mounted and biased to engage with said lever, an inner door locking mechanism having an inner cam movable between unlocked and locked positions to responsively move said inner releasing arm (1) into engagement with said lever thereby enabling said inner door latch releasing mechanism to responsively affect movement of said lever to said releasing position and (2) out of engagement with said lever to thereby disable said inner latch releasing mechanism;
said electrically operable system comprising;
an outer reversible electric motor associated with each of said door locking assemblies, each of said outer reversible electric motors cooperating with an associated outer cam to affect said movement thereof in response to an outer manual electrical energizing actuation, and an inner reversible electric motor associated with each of said door locking assemblies, each of said inner reversible electric motors cooperating with an associated inner cam to affect said movement thereof in response to an inner manual electrical energizing actuation, and a processor capable of selectively activating, based on a programmed operation scheme, each motor to achieve one of four position combinations for each vehicle door locking assembly in a manner dependent upon input signals, said four position combinations including (1) a first position combination wherein said inner and outer cams are in the locked positions, (2) a second position combination wherein said inner and outer cams are in the unlocked positions, (3) a third position combination wherein said inner cam is in the unlocked position and said outer cam is in the locked position, (4) a fourth position combination wherein said inner cam is in the locked position and said outer cam is in the unlocked position, a manually actuable lock switch electrically connected to said electrically operable system, said electrically operable system being responsive to said manually actuatable lock switch such that a first kind of actuation causes said electrically operable system to move at least one of said outer cams and said inner cams of at least one assembly into one of said four position combinations;
said electrically operable system is further responsive to said manually actuatable lock switch such that a second kind of actuation of said manually actuatable lock switch causes said electrically operable system to move at least one of said outer door locking mechanism and said inner door locking mechanism of said at least one assembly into another one of said four position combinations which is different from that which is achieved by said first kind of actuation, said electrically operable system is further responsive to said manually actuatable lock switch such that a third kind of actuation of said manually actuatable lock switch causes said electrically operable system to move at least one of said outer door locking mechanism and said inner door locking mechanism of said at least one of said assemblies into yet another one of said four position combinations which is different from that which is achieved by said first and second kinds of actuation, said electrically operable system is further responsive to said manually actuatable lock switch such that a fourth kind of actuation of said manually actuatable lock switch causes said electrically operable system to move at least one of said outer door locking mechanism and said inner door locking mechanism of said at least one of said assemblies into a last one of said four position combinations which is different from that which is achieved by said first, second and third kinds of actuation, and said manually actuatable switch is a single switch, wherein said first kind of actuation involves pressing said single switch in a first direction, said second kind of actuation involves successively pressing said single switch twice in said first direction, said third kind of actuation involves pressing said single switch in a second direction, and said fourth kind of actuation involves successively pressing said single switch twice in said second direction.
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Specification