Door latch, in particular motor vehicle door latch

Abstract

A door latch and in particular a motor vehicle door latch, which is equipped with a locking mechanism consisting substantially of a catch and a pawl, further having at least one locking mechanism sensor to determine the closing/opening state of the locking mechanism, further having a control unit for evaluating signals of the locking mechanism sensors, and having a trigger sensor for opening the locking mechanism in an electro-motoric manner. According to the invention, a multiple operation of the trigger sensor regardless of the state of the locking mechanism sensor is implemented for opening the locking mechanism.

Claims

1. A door latch comprising: a locking mechanism having a catch and a pawl; at least one locking mechanism sensor configured to generate signals indicating a closing/opening state of the locking mechanism; a trigger sensor for opening the locking mechanism, wherein the trigger sensor is configured to generate trigger signals indicating operation of a trigger handle; a control unit for evaluating the signals of the at least one locking mechanism sensor and the trigger signals from the trigger sensor; and an electromotor drive which, directly or indirectly, lifts the pawl from the catch in dependence on the signals received by the control unit, wherein the control unit is further configured to ignore the signals of the at least one locking mechanism sensor and open the locking mechanism via the electromotor drive lifting the pawl after multiple operations of the trigger handle occur.

2. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the multiple operations of the trigger handle based on a number of operations that is above a predetermined minimum number and/or below a predetermined maximum number.

3. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the multiple operations of the trigger handle based on the multiple operations occurring within a predetermined time window, wherein the time window includes a minimum value and a maximum value.

4. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine a time-dependent operation number of the trigger handle.

5. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to specify a time window for a permissible operation number of the trigger handle.

6. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the at least one locking mechanism sensor is formed as a catch sensor.

7. The door latch according to claim 5, wherein the control unit is configured to specify the time window as being between 1 second and 5 seconds.

8. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the trigger handle is an external handle.

9. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to ignore a one-time operation of the trigger handle when the at least one locking mechanism sensor determines that the locking mechanism is in an open state, whereby the locking mechanism is not opened.

10. The door latch according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to open the locking mechanism after multiple operations of the trigger handle occur when the locking mechanism is in an open state and when the locking mechanism is in a closed state.

11. The door latch according to claim 10, wherein the control unit is configured to open the locking mechanism after multiple operations of the trigger handle occur when the at least one locking mechanism sensor falsely detects that the locking mechanism is in the open state.

12. The door latch according to claim 3, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the multiple operations of the trigger handle based on the multiple operations occurring within the predetermined time window, wherein the minimum value corresponds to one second and the maximum value corresponds to ten seconds.

13. The door latch according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the multiple operations of the trigger handle based on the number of operations that is above the predetermined minimum number and below the predetermined maximum number, the predetermined minimum number being two or more and the predetermined maximum number being ten or less.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) In the following, the invention is explained in more detail by means of a drawing depicting only an exemplary embodiment; the sole FIG. 1 shows the door latch according to the invention in the form of a motor vehicle door latch schematically and in a manner reduced to the components substantial for the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(2) In FIG. 1, a door latch is shown. The door latch is not restrictively a motor vehicle door latch, i.e. a door latch, which is attached to or in an unspecified motor vehicle door. The door latch has in its basic structure a locking mechanism 1, 2 consisting substantially of the catch 1 and the pawl 2. Furthermore, at least one locking mechanism sensor 3 is realized for determining the closing/opening state of the locking mechanism 1, 2. The locking mechanism sensor 3 in the exemplary embodiment is a catch sensor 3, i.e. a sensor with the help of which, in particular, the opening state of the locking mechanism 1, 2 or the catch 1 can be detected and transmitted to a control unit 4 in the exemplary embodiment.

(3) The control unit 4 is used for the evaluation of signals of the locking mechanism sensor or the catch sensor 3 according to the exemplary embodiment. In addition, with the help of the control unit 4, an electromotor drive 5 can be acted upon, which according to the exemplary embodiment acts directly or indirectly on the pawl 2. It can be seen that the electromotor drive 5 acts upon the pawl 2 with the help of the control unit 4 in the clockwise direction indicated in FIG. 1, such that the pawl 2 is lifted off from the catch 1. As a result of this, the catch 1 can pan clockwise and release a locking bolt previously caught and indicated in FIG. 1. In this process, the locking mechanism sensor or catch sensor 3 is acted upon and reports the signal “Locking mechanism 1, 2 or catch 3 open” to the control unit 4.

(4) The locking mechanism 1, 2 is opened depending on signals of a trigger sensor 6. The trigger sensor 6 is assigned to a handle 7 according to the exemplary embodiment, in which it is in the exemplary embodiment an external handle or an external door handle. An action upon the external handle 7 in an opening sense ensures that the signal of the trigger sensor 6 is interpreted by the control unit 4, which evaluates the signals of the trigger sensor 6, in such a way that the electromotor drive 5 must be controlled for lifting off the pawl 2 from the catch 1. This is done depending on signals of the locking mechanism sensor or catch sensors 3.

(5) If the locking mechanism sensor or catch sensor 3 reports the signal “Locking mechanism 1, 2 or catch 1 open” to the control unit 4, the control unit 4 ignores a one-time operation of the external handle 7 for the action upon the trigger sensor 6. However, if the trigger sensor 6 is operated multiple times with the help of the handle 7 in the exemplary embodiment and according to the invention, this multiple operation of the trigger sensor 6 ensures, regardless of the state of the locking mechanism sensor 3, that the locking mechanism 1, 2 is opened. To this end, the “emergency operation” which has already been mentioned above corresponds thereto.

(6) For this purpose, the control unit 4 examines the operation of the trigger sensor 6 in order to determine whether a specified minimum number and a maximum number of the operation number of the trigger sensor 6 have been exceeded. For example, the minimum number may be two operations and the maximum number may be ten operations of the trigger sensor 6.

(7) In addition, the control unit 4 examines the operation of the trigger sensor 6 in order to determine whether the multiple operation of the trigger sensor 6 occurred within a predetermined minimum time window and maximum time window. The minimum time window may correspond to one second and the maximum time window to ten seconds. Finally, the control unit 4 also examines the signal or signal sequence of the trigger sensor 6 in terms of how the time-dependent operation number designed. This means that the control unit 6 also evaluates the operation number of the trigger sensor 6 per unit of time, for example, one operation per second, two operations per second, etc.

(8) In total, the control unit 4 gives a window for the operation number of the trigger sensor 6, a window for the time of the operation of the trigger sensor 6 and finally a window for a permissible operation number, for example from one operation per second to five operations per second. As soon as the operation of the trigger sensor 6 moves within the one or more windows, this is interpreted by the control unit 4 in the scope of the invention to the extent that “emergency operation” is desired by the operator. This is the case when the locking mechanism sensor or catch sensor 3 incorrectly reports the state “open” to the control unit 4, although the locking mechanism 1, 2 does not actually have its state “open.” In this case, the multiple operation of the trigger sensor 6 with the help of the handle or external handle 7 in the exemplary embodiment and according to the invention ensures that the locking mechanism 1, 2 is opened with the help of the electromotor drive 5, regardless of the state of the locking mechanism sensor or of the catch sensor 3.

(9) This means that the multiple operation of the trigger sensor 6 is evaluated in the scope of the invention in a time and/or number-dependent manner by the control unit 4. If specified limits are adhered to by the control unit 4 during this evaluation, the multiple operation of the trigger sensor 6 ensures that the electromotor opens the locking mechanism 1, 2, namely with the help of the electromotor drive 5.

REFERENCE LIST

(10) 1 Catch

(11) 2 Pawl

(12) 1, 2 Locking mechanism

(13) 3 Locking mechanism sensor/catch sensor

(14) 4 Control unit

(15) 5 Drive

(16) 6 Trigger sensor

(17) 7 Handle/external handle