Method and system for passive start of a vehicle

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method performed by a within-vehicle-confirming system on-board a vehicle for establishing that a key device is within an interior of the vehicle. The system determines that there is a secure communication link between the vehicle and the key device. The system further provides a vehicle sound signal within the interior of the vehicle. Moreover, the system receives from the key device a key device signal via the secure communication link, which key device signal is derived from a sound signal detected by one or more sensors associated with the key device. The system further compares the vehicle sound signal with the key device signal, and enables a start of the vehicle when the key device signal matches the vehicle sound signal. The disclosure also relates to a within-vehicle-confirming system in accordance with the foregoing, and to a vehicle at least partly comprising such a system.

Claims

1. A method performed by a within-vehicle-confirming system on-board a vehicle for, prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device to initiate a passive start of the vehicle, establishing that the key device is within an interior of the vehicle, the method comprising: providing a vehicle sound signal within the interior of the vehicle, the vehicle sound signal having a duration of time greater than a predetermined minimum threshold, wherein the predetermined minimum threshold is a non-zero and adjustable threshold; receiving from the key device a key device signal via a secure communication link, the key device signal being derived from the vehicle sound signal detected by one or more sensors associated with the key device; comparing the vehicle sound signal with the key device signal, wherein comparing comprises comparing a time signature of the vehicle sound signal with a time signature of the key device signal or comparing a frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal with a frequency domain signature of the key device signal; and enabling a passive start of the vehicle when the key device signal matches the vehicle sound signal, wherein enabling comprises enabling a passive start of the vehicle when the time signature of the key device signal matches the time signature of the vehicle sound signal or when the frequency domain signature of the key device signal matches the frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising: determining that a driving means of the vehicle is inactive; and determining with support from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle, that the operator is deemed to be entering, or has entered, the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the one or more sensors associated with the vehicle comprise one or more door status sensors to detect opening and closing of a door of the vehicle, the determining that the operator is deemed to be entering, or has entered, the vehicle then further comprises determining with support from the one or more door status sensors, that the door of the vehicle has been opened and subsequently closed.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle sound signal comprises an audio signal or an ultrasound signal, or wherein the sound signal detected by the key device comprises an audio signal or an ultrasound signal.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising providing the key device, via the secure communication link, information pertaining to the vehicle sound signal before providing the vehicle sound signal within the interior of the vehicle, wherein the information pertaining to the vehicle sound signal comprises the duration of time of the sound signal or a modulation frequency of the sound signal.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising determining that the secure communication link exists between the vehicle and the key device.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the providing the vehicle sound signal within the vehicle comprises providing a randomly generated vehicle sound signal within the vehicle.

8. A within-vehicle-confirming system configured to be on-board a vehicle, the within-vehicle-confirming system configured for, prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device to initiate a passive start of the vehicle, establishing that the key device is within an interior of the vehicle, the within-vehicle-confirming system comprising: a sound providing unit configured to provide a vehicle sound signal within the interior of the vehicle, the vehicle sound signal having a duration of time greater than a predetermined minimum threshold, wherein the predetermined minimum threshold is a non-zero and adjustable threshold; a signal receiving unit configured to receive from the key device a key device signal via a secure communication link, the key device signal being derived from the vehicle sound signal detected by one or more sensors associated with the key device; a comparing unit configured to compare the vehicle sound signal with the key device signal, wherein the comparing unit is configured to compare a time signature of the vehicle sound signal with a time signature of the key device signal or compare a frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal with a frequency domain signature of the key device signal; and an enabling unit configured to enable a passive start of the vehicle when the key device signal matches the vehicle sound signal, wherein the enabling unit is configured to enable a passive start of the vehicle when the time signature of the key device signal matches the time signature of the vehicle sound signal or when the frequency domain signature of the key device signal matches the frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal.

9. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8 further comprising: an inactivity determining unit configured to determine that a driving means of the vehicle is inactive; and an entry determining unit configured to determine with support from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle, that the operator is deemed to be entering, or has entered, the vehicle.

10. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 9 wherein the one or more sensors associated with the vehicle comprise one or more door status sensors configured to detect opening and closing of a door of the vehicle, and wherein the entry determining unit further is configured to determine with support from the one or more door status sensors, that the door of the vehicle has been opened and subsequently closed.

11. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8, wherein the vehicle sound signal comprises an audio signal or an ultrasound signal, or wherein the sound signal detectable by the key device comprises an audio signal or an ultrasound signal.

12. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8 wherein the sound providing unit is configured to provide the vehicle sound signal as a randomly generated vehicle sound signal within the vehicle.

13. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8 wherein the sound providing unit, the signal receiving unit, the comparing unit, or the enabling unit comprises one or more processors.

14. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8 further comprising one or more processors.

15. The vehicle comprising the within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8.

16. The within-vehicle-confirming system according to claim 8 wherein the sound providing unit is further configured to provide the key device, via the secure communication link, information pertaining to the vehicle sound signal before providing the vehicle sound signal within the interior of the vehicle, wherein the information pertaining to the vehicle sound signal comprises the duration of time of the sound signal or a modulation frequency of the sound signal.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The various aspects of the non-limiting embodiments of the disclosure, including particular features and advantages, will be readily understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic overview of an exemplifying within-vehicle-determining system according to embodiments of the disclosure;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplifying within-vehicle-determining system according to embodiments of the disclosure;

(4) FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting an exemplifying method according to embodiments of the disclosure, for—prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device to initiate a passive start of a vehicle—establishing that the key device is within an interior of the vehicle;

(5) FIGS. 4A-C illustrate exemplifying diagrams according to embodiments of the disclosure;

(6) FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative exemplifying diagram according to embodiments of the disclosure; and

(7) FIG. 6 illustrates yet another alternative exemplifying diagram according to embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) The non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which currently preferred embodiments of the disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein Like reference characters refer to like elements throughout. Dashed lines of some boxes in the figures indicate that these units or actions are optional and not mandatory.

(9) In the following, according to embodiments herein which relate to—prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device to initiate a passive start of a vehicle—establishing that the key device is within an interior of the vehicle, there will be disclosed an approach according to which a passive start may be avoided should the key device be outside rather than inside the vehicle.

(10) Referring now to the figures and FIG. 1 in particular, there is illustrated a schematic overview of an exemplifying within-vehicle-determining system 1 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The within-vehicle-determining system 1 is at least partly positioned on-board—and/or comprised in—a vehicle 2, which vehicle 2 here is represented by a passenger car. The vehicle 2 here comprises optional one or more sensors 20 associated with the vehicle 2, and further an optional loudspeaker 21. The one or more optional sensors 20 associated with the vehicle 2 are here represented by one or more door status sensors comprised in a door 22 of the vehicle 2, here the door on the driver's side of the vehicle 2. The one or more door status sensors are adapted to detect opening and closing of the door 22. An interior of the vehicle 2 is here denoted 23. Also depicted is an optional vehicle start control 24, here comprising a start button.

(11) The within-vehicle-confirming system 1 is adapted for—prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device 3 to initiate a passive start of a vehicle 2—establishing that the key device 3 is within an interior 23 of the vehicle 2. The key device 3 is here represented by a smart phone. One or more sensors associated with the key device 3 are here denoted 31, and are further here represented by a microphone comprised in the key device 3. It may be noted that although not depicted in FIG. 1, the key device 3 may be carried by an operator, e.g., be positioned in the operator's pocket, hand, bag and/or purse etc. Additionally or alternatively, rather than be positioned on the operator's person, the key device 3 may after vehicle entry be positioned in any arbitrary location within the vehicle 2, e.g., in a cradle, in a center console of the vehicle 2, and/or, e.g., in a bag or purse. The key device 3 may comprise an optional app 32 which may assist an operator in a commonly known manner to communicate over a secure communication link—such as via Bluetooth—with the vehicle 2.

(12) As further shown in FIG. 2, which depicts a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplifying within-vehicle-determining system 1 according to embodiments of the disclosure, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 comprises a communication determining unit 101, an optional inactivity determining unit 102, an optional entry determining unit 103, a sound providing unit 104, a signal receiving unit 105, a comparing unit 106 and an enabling unit 107, all of which will be described in greater detail in conjunction with FIG. 3. Furthermore, the embodiments herein for—prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device 3 to initiate a passive start of a vehicle 2—establishing that the key device 3 is within the interior 23 of the vehicle 2, may be implemented through one or more processors, such as a processor 108, here denoted CPU, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. Said program code may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the within-vehicle-determining system 1. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick, flash memory, etc. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the within-vehicle-determining system 1. The within-vehicle-determining system 1 may further comprise a memory 109 comprising one or more memory units. The memory 109 may be arranged to be used to store, e.g., information, and further to store data, configurations, schedulings, and applications, to perform the methods herein when being executed in the within-vehicle-determining system 1. For instance, the computer program code may be implemented in the firmware, stored in FLASH memory 109, of an embedded processor 108.

(13) Furthermore, the communication determining unit 101, the optional inactivity determining unit 102, the optional entry determining unit 103, the sound providing unit 104, the signal receiving unit 105, the comparing unit 106, the enabling unit 107, the optional processor 108 and/or the optional memory 109 may at least partly be comprised in the vehicle 2—for instance in one or more nodes 110 thereof such as electronic control units (ECUs). Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the communication determining unit 101, the optional inactivity determining unit 102, the optional entry determining unit 103, the sound providing unit 104, the signal receiving unit 105, the comparing unit 106 and/or the enabling unit 107 described above, and which will be described in more detail later on in this description, may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and/or one or more processors configured with software and/or firmware, e.g., stored in a memory such as the memory 109, that when executed by the one or more processors such as the processor 108 perform as will be described in more detail in conjunction with FIG. 3. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a SoC (System-on-a-Chip).

(14) Further shown in FIG. 2 is an optional driving means 25 of the vehicle 2, here represented by an engine. Also shown is a vehicle sound signal 211 provided within the vehicle 2, here with support from the loudspeaker 21. Further depicted is a key device signal 311 received from the key device 3 via the secure communication link between the vehicle 2 and the key device 3. The key device signal 311 is derived from a sound signal detected by the one or more sensors 31, here microphone, associated with the key device 3. The vehicle sound signal 211 and the key device signal 311 will be further described below.

(15) FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting an exemplifying method according to embodiments of the disclosure for—prior to enabling an operator in possession of a key device 3 to initiate a passive start of a vehicle 2—establishing that the key device 3 is within an interior 23 of the vehicle 2. The exemplifying method, which may be continuously repeated, comprises the following actions discussed with support from essentially FIGS. 1 and 2. The actions may be taken in any suitable order, for instance may Actions 1001 and 1004 be performed simultaneously and/or in an alternate order.

(16) Action 1001

(17) In Action 1001, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 determines—e.g., by means of the communication determining unit 101—that there is a secure communication link between the vehicle 2 and the key device 3. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, it is established that the vehicle 2 and key device 3 are wirelessly connected and may communicate in a trusted manner. Subsequently, the key device 3 may be utilized for potentially opening and furthermore potentially starting the vehicle 2.

(18) Action 1002

(19) In optional Action 1002, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 may determine—e.g., by means of the inactivity determining unit 102—that a driving means 25 of the vehicle is inactive. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, it may established that the vehicle's driving means 25, here engine, is not running.

(20) Action 1003

(21) In optional Action 1003, which follows upon optional Action 1002 of determining that the driving means 25 is inactive, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 may determine—e.g., by means of the entry determining unit 102—with support from one or more sensors 20 associated with the vehicle 2, that an operator is deemed to be entering—and/or has entered—the vehicle 2. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, it may be established that an operator such as a driver or potential driver is likely to be entering and/or likely to have already entered the vehicle 2. Accordingly, subsequent an inactive state of the vehicle 2, said operator is in this scenario assumed to be—or within shortly be—within the interior 23 of the vehicle 2.

(22) Optionally, the one or more sensors 20 associated with the vehicle 20 may comprise one or more door status sensors adapted to detect opening and closing of a door 22 of the vehicle 2, as shown in FIG. 1. Action 1003 of determining that an operator is deemed to be entering—and/or has entered—the vehicle 2, may then further comprise determining—e.g., by means of the entry determining unit 102—with support from the one or more door status sensors 20, that a door 22 of the vehicle 2 has been opened and subsequently closed. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, in addition to the ability to potentially establish that an operator is deemed to be within the vehicle 2, by closing of the vehicle door 22 the interior 23 of the vehicle 2 is closed off from an exterior thereof. Accordingly, the vehicle sound signal 211 subsequently provided (Action 1004 below) within the vehicle 2 may to a greater extent be detected only inside the vehicle 2, not reaching outside thereof.

(23) Action 1004

(24) In Action 1004, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 provides—e.g., by means of the sound providing unit 104—a vehicle sound signal 211 within the interior 23 of the vehicle 2. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, there is emitted—here by means of a loudspeaker 21—a signal 211 of sound inside the vehicle 2, thus detectable therein 23. Thereby, unlike short-wavelength signals such as, e.g., Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi signals, which—should they be emitted within the vehicle 2—would extend outside and/or beyond the chassis of the vehicle 2, sound signals 211—with their longer wavelengths—are to a greater extent limited to a range within 23 the vehicle 2.

(25) Optionally, the vehicle sound signal 211 may comprise an audio signal and/or an ultrasound signal. Thus, as shown with support from FIGS. 1 and 2, the vehicle sound signal 211 is represented by a signal 211 of relatively long wave-length as compared to short-wavelength signals such as Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi signals, thus to a greater extent limiting the range of the vehicle sound signal 211 to an interior 23 of the vehicle 2. Furthermore, thus, the sound signal detected by the key device 3 is represented by a sound which may be detected by the key device 3 in a convenient manner, such as by the microphone 31.

(26) Optionally, the Action 1004 of providing a vehicle sound signal 211 within the interior 23 of the vehicle 2 may comprise providing—e.g., by means of the sound providing unit 104—a randomly generated vehicle sound signal 211 within the vehicle 2. Thus, as shown with support from FIGS. 1 and 2, a risk of a successful malicious attempt to enable start of the vehicle 2 by, e.g., an illicit key device and/or equipment, may be decreased, in that the vehicle sound signal 211 may be difficult if not impossible to predict.

(27) Optionally, the Action 1004 of providing a vehicle sound signal 211 within the interior 23 of the vehicle 2 may comprise providing—e.g., by means of the sound providing unit 104—a vehicle sound signal 211 within the vehicle 2, which vehicle sound signal 211 has a duration greater than a predetermined minimum threshold. Thus, as shown with support from FIGS. 1 and 2, a sound signal 211 of significant duration may be emitted, thus providing for the duration of the vehicle sound signal 211 to be extensive enough for the subsequent comparison (Action 1006 below) between the vehicle sound signal 211 and the received (Action 1005 below) key device signal 311 derived from the sound signal detected by the key device 3, to be sufficient.

(28) Action 1005

(29) In Action 1005, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 receives—e.g., by means of the signal receiving unit 105—from the key device 3, a key device signal 311 via the secure communication link, which key device signal 311 is derived from a sound signal detected by one or more sensors 31 associated with the key device 3. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, there is derived in a trusted manner from the key device 3 a signal 311 which is based on a signal of sound detected by at least a first sensor 31—here a microphone—of the key device 3.

(30) Optionally, the sound signal detected by the key device 3 may comprise an audio signal and/or an ultrasound signal. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, the sound signal detected by the key device 3, may be represented by a sound which may be detected by the key device 3 in a convenient manner, such as by the microphone 31.

(31) Action 1006

(32) In Action 1006, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 compares—e.g., by means of the comparing unit 106—the vehicle sound signal 211 with the key device signal 311. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, similarities and/or correlations between the vehicle sound signal 211 provided within the vehicle 2 and the key device signal 311—subsequently the sound signal detected by the key device sensor(s) 31—are analyzed.

(33) Optionally, the Action 1001 of comparing the vehicle sound signal 211 with the key device signal 311 may comprise comparing—e.g., by means of the comparing unit 106—a time signature and/or frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal 211 with a time signature and/or frequency domain signature of the key device signal 311.

(34) Action 1007

(35) In Action 1007, the within-vehicle-determining system 1 enables—e.g., by means of the enabling unit 107—a start of the vehicle 2 when the key device signal 311 matches the vehicle sound signal 211. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, start of the vehicle 2 is enabled only if the key device signal 311 is determined to match the vehicle sound signal 211. Subsequently, a start of the vehicle 2 is enabled only if the sound signal detected by the key device sensor(s) 31 is considered to match the sound signal 211 provided within the vehicle 2, which implies that the key device sensor(s) 31—here microphone—has detected the vehicle sound signal 211. This in turn implies that the key device 3 is within an interior 23 of the vehicle 2, rather than outside the vehicle 2. Accordingly, a start of the vehicle 2 is enabled only when the key device 3 is within the vehicle 2, which thus reduces the risk of accidentally enabling start of the vehicle 2 while the key device 3 is outside the vehicle 2.

(36) Enabling start of the vehicle 2 here comprises enabling start of the driving means 25 of the vehicle 2—in the shown embodiment an engine. Moreover, the actual subsequent potential start of the vehicle 2 may be accomplished as commonly known in the art, for instance with support from the vehicle start control system 24, here comprising a commonly known start button, e.g., comprised in the dashboard, steering wheel and/or gear shift.

(37) Optionally, following upon optional Action 1006 of comparing a time signature and/or frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal 211 with a time signature and/or frequency domain signature of the key device signal 311, Action 1007 of enabling start of the vehicle 2 may comprise enabling—e.g., by means of the enabling unit 1007—a start of the vehicle 2 when the time signature and/or frequency domain signature of the key device signal 311 matches the time signature and/or frequency domain signature of the vehicle sound signal 211. Thus, as shown with support from at least FIGS. 1 and 2, similarities and/or correlations may be established between the two signals 211, 311, in view of time signatures and/or frequency domain signatures of the signals 211, 311.

(38) FIGS. 4A-C illustrate exemplifying diagrams according to embodiments of the disclosure. There are several ways for the vehicle 2 to send a sound signal—in FIGS. 4A-C referred to as a proximity challenge—to the key device 3, e.g., via audio. One potential method may be to allocate bits of a challenge word to specific tones, and allow the key device 3 to run analysis to determine which bits were active by detecting the tones that are present. Another, more conventional method, may be to modify the challenge's bitstream into audio or ultrasound, using Frequency Shift Keying, “FSK”, or Phase Shift Keying, “PSK”, the same technologies used in early modems.

(39) In the following exemplifying illustration in FIGS. 4A-C, FSK is used to modulate the challenge bitstream into near-ultrasound frequencies which is inaudible to most people, but is detectable by the microphone 31 in the key device 3. The microphone sample rate is here 44.1 kHz, but the sample rate may alternatively be, e.g., lower or higher. It may further be noted that additionally or alternatively, PSK, QPSK, tones, or any other form of audio broadcast may be utilized for ultimately determining whether the key device 3 is in the interior 23 of the vehicle 2.

(40) Illustrated in exemplifying FIG. 4A is a relatively slow modulating challenge bitstream, that may be utilized to modulate two frequency generators—an f0 oscillator and an f1 oscillator. In its simplest form, FSK modulates a serial bitstream into two separate frequencies, f0 and f1. Here, f0 represents a binary ‘0’ and f1 a binary ‘1.’ A ‘0’ turns on the f0 oscillator and turns off the f1 oscillator, whereas a ‘1’ turns off the f1 oscillator and turns on the f0 oscillator, as commonly known in the art.

(41) Shown in FIG. 4B is an exemplifying bitstream-modulated audio output. The shown bitstream may be utilized to modulate into an f0 and f1 frequency, which may be output to the speaker 21 inside the vehicle 2.

(42) Illustrated in exemplifying FIG. 4C is a spectrogram that shows the challenge inside the vehicle 2, here at frequencies mostly above the audible range for most humans, with f0 at 19 kHz representing a ‘0’ and f1 at 20.5 kHz representing a ‘1’.

(43) At the detector 31 of the key device 1, an f0 filter detects incoming signals at the f0 frequency and an f1 filter detects incoming signals at the f1 frequency. The output of these filters is combined into the decoded bitstream at the baud rate of the original modulating bitstream.

(44) Alternatively, FSK can also be modulated onto an audible melody, as illustrated in exemplifying FIG. 5, where the melody's notes may be chosen based on the challenge, or modulated by the FSK.

(45) According to yet another alternative, as shown in FIG. 6, a combination of constant tones may be used to encode a challenge. For instance, 64 tones from 100 Hz to 11 kHz spaced at, e.g., 171 Hz intervals may be used, where presence of a tone represents a ‘1’ and absence of a tone represents ‘0’. The key device 3 can run a discrete Fourier transform (DFT), such as a fast Fourier transform (FFT), on the input and determine which bits are active and which are not.

(46) Alternatively, a melody itself comprised of musical notes—where the musical note “A” for instance is represented by 440 Hz—may comprise a challenge. The melody may be chosen to have musical qualities, yet still random, so that it changes on preferably every key device 3 localization request.

(47) The person skilled in the art realizes that the present disclosure by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims. It should furthermore be noted that the drawings not necessarily are to scale and the dimensions of certain features may have been exaggerated for the sake of clarity. Emphasis is instead placed upon illustrating the principle of the embodiments herein. Additionally, in the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality.