Entryway control and monitoring system

• US 8,922,356 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2011
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Lambert, Craig A., Hua, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): AKKI, MUNEAR T
• Application Number:
  US13/324,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20130147616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 340/426.1, 340/424.15, 340/5.71, 340/5.7, 340/5.64, 701/2, 455/352
• US Class Current: 340/426.1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00928 for garage doors
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

An entryway control and monitoring system includes a remote controller to open and close an entryway and a telematics unit. The remote controller and the telematics unit are each disposed in a vehicle. The system further includes any of i) a vehicle bus that operatively connects the remote controller to the telematics unit, or ii) respective short range wireless connection units disposed in each of the remote controller and the telematics unit that selectively operatively connect the remote controller and the telematics unit. Computer readable code embedded on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium is executable by a processor of the telematics unit to at least one of control or monitor an operation of the remote controller.

Claims

1. An entryway control and monitoring system, comprising:

a vehicle including an armed state that is actuatable upon setting a vehicle ignition to an OFF state and activating a vehicle door-lock function;

a remote controller being disposed in the vehicle;

a telematics unit disposed in the vehicle;

any of i) a vehicle bus operatively connecting the remote controller to the telematics unit, or ii) respective short range wireless connection units disposed in each of the remote controller and the telematics unit and selectively operatively connecting the remote controller and the telematics unit; and

the remote controller having;

     1) an activation mode in which the remote controller is configured to open or close an entryway;

     2) an activation prevention mode in which the remote controller is configured to not open the entryway and to generate and send a signal indicating that an unauthorized attempt to activate the remote controller from inside the vehicle has been made, the remote controller to enter the activation prevention mode in response to recognition of the armed state and to return to the activation mode in response to recognition of deactivation of the armed state.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a telematics service center in selective communication with the telematics unit; and

a mobile communications device for submitting a request to the telematics service center to activate the remote controller to one of open or close the entryway.

3. The system as defined in claim 2 wherein the telematics service center includes a communications module to transmit a signal to the telematics unit to activate the remote controller in response to the request.

4. The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the telematics unit is configured to transmit a signal to the remote controller via the vehicle bus, the signal including a command to execute the request.

5. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising a body control module operatively connected to each of the vehicle bus and the telematics unit.

6. The system as defined in claim 5 wherein in the activation prevention mode, the remote controller is further configured to send the signal to the body control module which sends a notification to the telematics unit indicating that the signal has been initiated, the notification being sent via the vehicle bus.

7. The system as defined in claim 6 wherein the telematics unit is configured to send a notification message to a telematics service center indicating that the signal has been initiated, the telematics service center including a communications module to send an other message to a mobile communications device of a vehicle owner also indicating that the signal has been initiated.

8. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the remote controller is a universal garage door opener, and wherein the entryway is a garage door.

9. A method for monitoring usage of an entryway, comprising:

activating an armed state of a vehicle, the vehicle having disposed therein a remote controller for access to the entryway;

in response to the activation of the armed state, the remote controller entering an activation prevention mode in which the remote controller is configured to not open the entryway and to generate and send a signal indicating that an unauthorized attempt to activate the remote controller from inside the vehicle has been made;

recognizing, by the remote controller in the activation prevention mode, an unauthorized attempt to activate the remote controller from inside the vehicle;

initiating the signal from the remote controller while the armed state is activated and in response to the unauthorized attempt to activate the remote controller from inside the vehicle;

automatically transmitting a notice from the remote controller to a telematics unit operatively disposed in the vehicle, the notice indicating that the signal has been initiated; and

upon receiving the notice, transmitting a notification message from the telematics unit to a telematics service center.

10. The method as defined in claim 9 wherein the activating of an armed state occurs upon setting a vehicle ignition to an OFF state and activating a vehicle door-lock function.

11. the method as defined in claim 9 wherein the notification message to the telematics service center includes an indication that the signal has been initiated, and wherein upon receiving the notification message, the method further comprises sending an other message to a mobile communications device of a vehicle owner, the other message indicating that the unauthorized attempt to activate the remote controller for access to the entryway has been recognized.

12. The method as defined in claim 11 wherein the other message is one of a voice message, a short message service (SMS) message, or an electronic mail (e-mail) message.

13. The method as defined in claim 9 wherein upon initiating the signal, the method further comprises, via the telematics unit, controlling at least one vehicle system.

14. The method as defined in claim 9 wherein prior to initiating the signal, the method further comprises triggering an alarm in response to an unauthorized entry into the vehicle.

15. The method as defined in claim 9, further comprising the remote controller returning to an activation mode from the activation prevention mode in response to recognizing that the vehicle is no longer in the armed state.

16. The method as defined in claim 13, further comprising any of:

sending an other signal to disallow any activation of an ignition system of the vehicle while the vehicle is in the armed state;

or

sending an other signal to a vehicle locking system to automatically lock any locks of the vehicle.