Vehicle Rear Closure Opening by Key Fob Dwell Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle systems for hands-free rear closure opening can fail to activate due to incorrect user gestures or misreadings, causing inconvenience when the user's hands are occupied.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle system that automatically opens the rear closure when a key fob is present in a predefined zone for a specified duration, providing visual and audible notifications to confirm the opening process, and requiring predefined vehicle conditions to be met before initiating the opening.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If hands-free opening is implemented using gesture recognition, then user convenience is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to incorrect gesture recognition
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary authentication mechanism between the gesture detection and the actual door opening. Instead of directly opening the door upon gesture detection, the system first verifies the user's identity through authentication (biometric or key fob), then proceeds with the door opening only after successful authentication. This intermediary step ensures that only authorized users can trigger the hands-free opening, thereby maintaining system reliability while preserving user convenience.
2Ease of operation
If automatic door opening is activated by proximity detection, then ease of operation is improved, but unintended activation risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary authentication action before the door opening is executed. When the system detects a key fob or biometric data, it does not immediately open the door, but first performs an authentication verification process. Only after successful authentication does the system proceed with the door opening. This preliminary action prevents unintended activation by ensuring that mere proximity or detection is not sufficient to trigger the door opening, thereby reducing the risk of harmful unintended activation while maintaining ease of operation for authorized users.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle including a rear closure, a detection unit and a notification unit is disclosed. The rear closure may move between a closed state and an open state. The detection unit may detect vehicle access device position in proximity to the vehicle. The notification unit may output visual and/or audible notifications. The vehicle may further include a processor that may determine that the vehicle access device has entered a predefined zone in proximity to a vehicle rear portion based on inputs from the detection unit. The processor may activate the notification unit to output notifications for a predefined time duration responsive to determining that the vehicle access device has entered the predefined zone. The processor may further determine a time duration the vehicle access device stays in the predefined zone. The processor may cause the rear closure to open when the time duration is greater than the predefined time duration.