Electronic key, system having electronic key and locking / unlocking device, and electronic key control program

Abstract

To provide an electronic key, a system having the electronic key and a locking / unlocking device, and an electronic key control program, which reliably lock and unlock an electronic lock even when multiple electronic keys are connected to the locking / unlocking device at the same time.SOLUTION: An electronic key, upon receipt an advertising signal transmitted from a locking / unlocking device installed near the door of the building, starts connecting to the locking / unlocking device. The electronic key is configured, upon determination of a connection failure, to retry scanning to receive the advertising signal after a delay time different from that of other electronic keys that can be connected to the locking / unlocking device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic key that wirelessly connects to a locking / unlocking device installed near a door of a building, a system having the electronic key and the locking / unlocking device, and a control program for the electronic key. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a locking / unlocking device provided on a door of a building locks and unlocks an electronic lock by wireless communication with a portable electronic key. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4019257 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, if a parent and child each have their own electronic key and return home together, there is a risk that wireless communications between the multiple electronic keys may collide, preventing the electronic lock from being unlocked. Therefore, the present invention aims to propose an electronic key, a system having an electronic key and a locking / unlocking device, and a control program for the electronic key that will reliably lock and unlock an electronic lock even when multiple electronic keys are connected to the locking / unlocking device at the same time. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present invention provides an electronic key that starts a connection with a locking / unlocking device installed near a door of a building when it receives an advertising signal transmitted from the locking / unlocking device, When the electronic key determines that the connection has failed, the electronic key is configured to retry scanning to receive an advertising signal after a delay time that is different from that of other electronic keys that can be connected to the locking / unlocking device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0006] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a system having a locking / unlocking device and an electronic key. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system having a locking / unlocking device and an electronic key. [Figure 3] 1 is a schematic diagram of a system having a locking / unlocking device and multiple electronic keys. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a timing diagram showing a process of failure to unlock an electronic lock. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a timing diagram showing the flow of unlocking an electronic lock according to the present invention. [Figure 6] 1 is a flowchart showing the flow of unlocking an electronic lock according to the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a timing diagram for explaining a first modified example of the delay time. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a timing diagram for explaining a second modified example of the delay time. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0007] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system having a locking / unlocking device and an electronic key. A locking / unlocking device (not shown) is embedded in a door 100 of a building. An outer door handle 400 is provided on an outer surface 101 of the door 100. A button 500 is provided on the outer door handle 400, and a user who possesses the electronic key 1 presses the button 500 to lock or unlock the electronic lock.

[0008] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system having a locking / unlocking device and an electronic key. The locking / unlocking device 10 has a detection unit 10a that detects when the user presses the button 500, a communication unit 10b that communicates wirelessly with the electronic key 1, a locking / unlocking unit 10c that electrically locks and unlocks the electronic lock, and a controller 10d that controls the detection unit 10a, communication unit 10b, and locking / unlocking unit 10c. The controller 10d is equipped with a well-known computer that has a CPU, memory, etc. The electronic key 1 is a small portable device that can be carried by a user. The electronic key 1 has a key communication unit 1b that wirelessly communicates with the communication unit 10b of the locking / unlocking device 10, and a key controller 1d that controls the key communication unit 1b. The key controller 1d is a well-known computer having a CPU, memory, etc. The key controller 1d also stores a program that controls the operation of the electronic key 1 in its memory. The program can be stored and provided to the computer using various types of non-transitory computer-readable media. Non-transitory computer-readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (specifically, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, and hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (specifically, magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / Ws, semiconductor memories (specifically, mask ROMs, programmable ROMs (PROMs), and erasable PROMs (EPROMs)), flash ROMs, and random access memories (RAMs). The program may be provided to the computer by various types of transitory computer-readable media. Examples of transitory computer-readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The transitory computer-readable media may provide the program to the computer via a wired or wireless communication path, such as an electrical wire or optical fiber.

[0009] Referring again to FIG. 1, the process of unlocking an electronic lock will be described. (1) When the user presses the button 500, (2) the locking / unlocking device detects via the detection unit that the user has pressed the button 500, and transmits LF radio waves (LF: Low Frequency) via the communication unit. (3) When the electronic key 1 receives the LF radio waves, it starts a BLE scan (BLE: Bluetooth Low Energy). The locking / unlocking device constantly transmits a BLE advertising signal via the communication unit at regular intervals (advertising interval T). When the electronic key 1 receives the BLE advertising signal, it sends a connection request to the locking / unlocking device and initiates a connection with the locking / unlocking device. Once the connection with the locking / unlocking device is complete, (4) the electronic key 1 sends an unlock command, and (5) the locking / unlocking device controls the locking / unlocking unit to unlock the electronic lock. However, when multiple electronic keys are present, the wireless communications between them may collide, causing the electronic lock to not be unlocked. This problem will be explained below.

[0010] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a system having a locking / unlocking device and a plurality of electronic keys. (1) and (2) are the same as those described above in FIG. (3) When each electronic key 1, 2, or 3 receives the LF radio wave, it starts a BLE scan and sends a connection request. However, none of the electronic keys 1, 2, or 3 receives the expected response from the locking / unlocking device. If each electronic key 1, 2, or 3 does not receive the expected response from the locking / unlocking device even after multiple retries, (4) each electronic key 1, 2, or 3 determines that the connection has failed. This is because multiple electronic keys 1, 2, or 3 are attempting to connect to the locking / unlocking device at the same time, resulting in a collision of connection requests.

[0011] The flow of events that cause an electronic lock to fail to unlock will be explained in detail using the timing diagram in Figure 4. The top graph shows that the locking / unlocking device transmits a BLE advertisement signal Adv at regular intervals. The second graph from the top shows the timing at which the locking / unlocking device transmits LF radio waves. The graphs from the third onwards show the operation of electronic keys 1, 2 and 3.

[0012] At time t1, when the user presses the button 500, the locking / unlocking device transmits an LF radio wave. Upon receiving this LF radio wave, each of the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 starts a BLE scan. At t2, when the locking / unlocking device transmits a BLE advertisement signal Adv, each of the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 receives the BLE advertisement signal Adv and starts a connection scan. At t3, when the locking / unlocking device transmits the next BLE advertise signal Adv, each of the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 receives the BLE advertise signal Adv and transmits a connection request. Since the locking / unlocking device receives connection requests from the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously, it is unable to process any of the connection requests from the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3, resulting in a connection failure. At t4, each of the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 determines that the connection has failed and performs post-disconnection processing. The present invention proposes a technology that allows an electronic lock to be reliably locked and unlocked even when multiple electronic keys are connected to the locking / unlocking device at the same time, and this technology will be described below.

[0013] FIG. 5 is a timing diagram showing the flow of unlocking an electronic lock according to the present invention. The steps from t1 to t3 are the same as those described above with reference to FIG. At t4, if the electronic key 1 determines that the connection has failed, it retries the BLE scan to receive the BLE advertising signal after a delay time different from that of the other electronic keys 2 and 3 that can be connected to the locking / unlocking device (hereinafter referred to as a scan retry). In this embodiment, the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 have ID codes 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and the delay time is based on the ID codes 1, 2, and 3 that are unique to the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3. Electronic key 1 initiates a scan retry at time t5 after a 50 ms delay. Electronic key 2 initiates a scan retry at time t7 after a 100 ms delay, and electronic key 3 initiates a scan retry at time t9 after a 150 ms delay. At t6, when the locking / unlocking device transmits a BLE advertising signal, the electronic key 1 receives the BLE advertising signal and starts a connection scan. At t8, when the locking / unlocking device transmits the next BLE advertising signal, the electronic key 1 receives this BLE advertising signal and transmits a connection request. At this time (t8), electronic key 2 is in the middle of a scan retry, and electronic key 3 has not yet started a scan retry, so neither of them will send a connection request. Therefore, the connection request of electronic key 1 will not conflict with the connection requests of electronic keys 2 and 3. At t9, the connection of the electronic key 1 is completed. Thereafter, the electronic key 1 transmits an unlock command, and the locking / unlocking device unlocks the electronic lock. Once the connection is complete, the locking / unlocking device stops transmitting the BLE advertising signal until the connection is disconnected at t12.

[0014] As described above, the electronic key 2 initiates a scan retry at time t7 after a delay of 100 ms. At time t8, the locking / unlocking device transmits a BLE advertising signal. The electronic key 2 receives the BLE advertising signal and begins a connection scan. However, because the locking / unlocking device stops transmitting BLE advertising signals after time t8, the electronic key 2 does not receive the next BLE advertising signal. Therefore, the electronic key 2 continues the connection scan. At t10, when a predetermined connection timeout period has elapsed, the electronic key 2 goes into sleep mode. The time t10 at which the specified connection timeout period elapses must be set before the time t12 at which the electronic key 1 is disconnected. This is because the locking / unlocking device resumes sending BLE advertising signals after the time t12 at which the electronic key 1 is disconnected. If the electronic key 2 continues scanning for a connection after t12, the electronic key 2 will receive the BLE advertising signal and send a connection request, resulting in the electronic key 2 being connected.

[0015] As described above, the electronic key 3 initiates a scan retry at time t9 after a delay of 150 ms. After t9, the locking / unlocking device stops transmitting the BLE advertising signal, so the electronic key 3 does not receive the BLE advertising signal and continues to retry scanning. At t11, when a predetermined scan timeout period has elapsed, the electronic key 3 goes into sleep mode. The time t11 at which the specified scan timeout period elapses must also be set before the time t12 at which the electronic key 1 is disconnected. This is because the locking / unlocking device resumes sending the BLE advertising signal after the time t12 at which the electronic key 1 is disconnected. If the electronic key 3 continues to retry scanning after t12, the electronic key 3 will receive the BLE advertising signal and send a connection request, resulting in the electronic key 3 being connected.

[0016] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of unlocking an electronic lock according to the present invention. When the electronic key receives an LF radio wave in step S1, the electronic key starts a BLE scan in step S2. When the electronic key receives the BLE advertise signal Adv in step S3, the electronic key starts a connection scan in step S4. When the electronic key receives the next BLE advertise signal Adv in step S5, the electronic key transmits a connection request in step S6 to initiate connection with the locking / unlocking device. If it is determined in step S7 that the electronic key has failed to connect, then in step S8, the electronic key returns to step S2 after a delay time that is different from that for other electronic keys that can be connected to the locking / unlocking device has elapsed. If it is determined in step S7 that the electronic key has been successfully connected, the connection of the electronic key is completed.

[0017] If the electronic key does not receive the BLE advertise signal Adv in step S3 and this state continues until a predetermined scan timeout period elapses in step S9, the electronic key goes into sleep mode. If the electronic key does not receive the next BLE advertise signal Adv in step S5 and this state continues until a predetermined connection timeout period has elapsed in step S10, the electronic key goes into sleep mode.

[0018] In the above embodiment, the advertising interval T is 50 ms, the electronic key 1 has a delay time of 50 ms (=T×1), the electronic key 2 has a delay time of 100 ms (=T×2), and the electronic key 3 has a delay time of 150 ms (=T×3). In other words, the delay time is calculated by multiplying the advertising interval T by the ID code (1, 2, 3) unique to each electronic key.

[0019] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, after the user performs an unlocking operation on the locking / unlocking device, specifically, after button 500 is pressed, the advertising interval T is shortened by a predetermined period (e.g., 2 seconds). That is, the locking / unlocking device always transmits BLE advertising signals at a fixed advertising interval T (e.g., 300 ms), but if this advertising interval T remains the same, the electronic key 1 will have a delay of 300 ms, and it will take a long time to unlock. Therefore, by shortening the advertising interval T from 300 ms to 50 ms after the button 500 is pressed, the time until unlocking can be shortened. Modifications of the delay time will be described below.

[0020] FIG. 7 is a timing chart for explaining a first modified example of the delay time. In a first variant, the key controller of each of the electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 has a random number generator that generates random numbers. In the illustrated example, electronic key 1 generates random number 1, electronic key 2 generates random number 5, and electronic key 3 generates random number 2, and the delay time is the advertising interval multiplied by the random numbers generated by electronic keys 1, 2, and 3, i.e., advertising interval T × random number. Electronic key 1 initiates a scan retry at t5 after a delay of 50 ms (=50×1), electronic key 2 initiates a scan retry at t10 after a delay of 250 ms (=50×5), and electronic key 3 initiates a scan retry at t7 after a delay of 100 ms (=50×2). At t6, the electronic key 1 receives the BLE advertising signal and starts a connection scan. At t8, the electronic key 1 receives the next BLE advertising signal and sends a connection request. At t9, the electronic key 1 is connected. In this way, by using random numbers, the electronic key that will result in successful connection can be varied.

[0021] FIG. 8 is a timing diagram for explaining a second modification of the delay time. In the second modification, the controller of the locking / unlocking device has a random number generator that generates random numbers, and incorporates the generated random numbers into LF data and transmits them as LF radio waves. In the illustrated example, electronic keys 1, 2, and 3 have ID codes 1, 2, and 3 that are unique to electronic keys 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and receive a random number 108. In addition, the remainder obtained by dividing the random number by 10 and adding it to the ID code is further divided by 10 to obtain the remainder, and the delay time is determined by the sum of the remainder multiplied by the advertising interval T and the advertising interval T, i.e., {(random number %10 + ID code) %10 × advertising interval T + advertising interval T}. Electronic key 1 initiates a scan retry at time t10 after a delay of 500 ms ((8+1)%10×50+50), electronic key 2 initiates a scan retry at time t5 after a delay of 50 ms ((8+2)%10×50+50), and electronic key 3 initiates a scan retry at time t7 after a delay of 100 ms ((8+3)%10×50+50). At t6, the electronic key 2 receives the BLE advertising signal and starts a connection scan. At t8, the electronic key 2 receives the next BLE advertising signal and sends a connection request. At t9, the electronic key 2 is connected. In this way, the controller of the locking / unlocking device may generate a random number, and by using this random number, the electronic key that will be successfully connected can be made unfixed.

[0022] In the present invention, a plurality of electronic keys connectable to the locking / unlocking device have different delay times, which are preferably determined based on at least one of an ID code unique to each electronic key and a random number. Although not shown in the figure, both the key controller of each electronic key and the controller of the locking / unlocking device may have a random number generator that generates random numbers, and the delay time may be set based on these two random numbers.

[0023] The above has been explained regarding unlocking an electronic lock, but the same applies to locking an electronic lock. When multiple users (e.g., a parent and child) each have an electronic key and go out together, even when they press a button to lock the electronic lock, the present invention prevents the problem of collisions between wireless communications between multiple electronic keys.

[0024] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. The locking / unlocking device may be provided near the door, for example, on the wall next to the door. In this case, the button is also provided on the wall. The button may be a push button or an optical touch button. The number of electronic keys is not limited to three and can be any number. In the above-described embodiment, the locking / unlocking device transmits LF radio waves when the button is pressed, but if power consumption is not a consideration, the locking / unlocking device may transmit LF radio waves at regular intervals at all times. Similarly, the electronic key starts a BLE scan when it receives an LF radio wave, but it may also start a BLE scan when a button on the electronic key is pressed, for example. In the above-described embodiment, LF radio waves and BLE are used for wireless communication between the electronic key and the locking / unlocking device, but other communication methods may be used. For example, instead of LF radio waves, wireless communication may be performed using any other frequency band. Also, for example, instead of BLE, any other short-range wireless communication method that employs advertising may be used. The present invention can also be applied to passenger cars, electrically assisted bicycles, and the like. [Explanation of symbols]

[0025] 1, 2, 3...electronic key, 1b...key communication unit, 1d...key controller, 10...locking / unlocking device, 10a...detection unit, 10b...communication unit, 10c...locking / unlocking unit, 10d...controller, 100...door, 101...exterior surface, 400...exterior door handle, 500...button

Claims

1. An electronic key that starts a connection with a locking / unlocking device installed near a door of a building when it receives an advertising signal transmitted from the locking / unlocking device, The electronic key is configured to retry scanning to receive an advertising signal after a delay time different from that of other electronic keys that can be connected to the locking / unlocking device when it determines that the connection has failed. Electronic key.

2. The delay time is determined based on at least one of an ID code unique to the electronic key and a random number. The electronic key according to claim 1 .

3. The delay time is a value obtained by multiplying an advertising interval, which is a transmission interval of an advertising signal, by the ID code, or The delay time is a value obtained by multiplying the advertising interval by a random number generated by the electronic key. The electronic key according to claim 2 .

4. A locking / unlocking device provided near the door of the building; a plurality of electronic keys according to any one of claims 1 to 3 connected to the locking / unlocking device; A system having:

5. The locking / unlocking device is provided on the door of the building or on the wall next to the door. The system of claim 4.

6. When connection of one of the plurality of electronic keys is completed, the locking / unlocking device stops transmitting an advertising signal until the connection of the one electronic key is disconnected. The system of claim 4.

7. The electronic keys other than the one electronic key continue to retry scanning to receive the advertising signal for a predetermined scan timeout period, The time when the predetermined scan timeout period elapses is set to be before the time when the connection of the one electronic key is disconnected. The system of claim 6.

8. The electronic keys other than the one electronic key continue the connection scan to receive the next advertising signal for a predetermined connection timeout period, The time when the predetermined connection timeout period elapses is set before the time when the connection of the one electronic key is disconnected. The system of claim 6.

9. The locking / unlocking device shortens an advertising interval, which is an interval between transmissions of advertising signals, for a predetermined period after a user performs an unlocking operation on the locking / unlocking device. The system of claim 4.

10. The locking / unlocking device transmits the random number generated by the locking / unlocking device as a radio wave, The delay time is the sum of the remainder obtained by dividing the random number by 10, adding the remainder to an ID code unique to the electronic key, and further dividing the remainder by 10, and multiplying the remainder by an advertising interval, which is an interval between transmissions of an advertising signal, and the advertising interval. The system of claim 4.

11. A program for controlling an electronic key that wirelessly connects to a locking / unlocking device installed near a door of a building, the program being installed on a computer, Initiating a scan to receive an advertising signal; A process of receiving an advertising signal from the locking / unlocking device; A process of starting a connection with the locking / unlocking device; If it is determined that the connection has failed, a process of retrying scanning to receive an advertising signal after a delay time different from that of other electronic keys that can be connected to the locking / unlocking device; A program that executes the following.

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