Method for activating a vehicle function and associated activating device
A method for activating a vehicle function, of one vehicle among a plurality of vehicles, by an activating device, the device communicating with a user's portable access equipment. The vehicle function triggered on detection of the presence of the portable equipment in a predetermined zone around the vehicle, in a polling phase, and on authentication of the equipment. The method includes: selecting from the plurality of vehicles, a master vehicle and slave vehicles; each slave vehicle sending the master vehicle a specific identifier; the master vehicle sending each slave vehicle an instruction putting their polling phase on standby; increasing the frequency and/or power of the polling transmissions of the master vehicle and generating an enlarged predetermined zone around the master vehicle. If the presence of an authenticated user is detected in the predetermined zone, the master vehicle sends a wake-up instruction to the slave vehicle corresponding to the identifier triggering its polling phase; activating the vehicle function of the slave vehicle if the authenticated user is located in a predetermined zone around the slave vehicle.
1 . A method for activating a vehicle function, of one vehicle among a plurality of vehicles, by way of a respective activating device installed in the vehicle, the respective device comprising radio-frequency communication means capable of communicating with a portable access equipment borne by a user, the vehicle function being triggered on detection of the presence of said portable user equipment in a predetermined zone around the vehicle, in a polling phase, and on authentication of said equipment, wherein the plurality of vehicles are equipped beforehand with respective radio-frequency vehicle-to-vehicle communication means, the activating method comprising:
a) selecting a master vehicle from the plurality of vehicles, depending on predefined criteria exchanged between the respective activating devices, and slave vehicles,
b) sending, by each slave vehicle, a specific identifier to the master vehicle,
c) sending, by the master vehicle to each slave vehicle, an instruction to put the polling phase of the respective slave vehicle on standby,
d) putting the polling phase of the respective slave vehicles on standby,
e) increasing a frequency and/or power of polling transmissions of the master vehicle and generating an enlarged predetermined zone around the master vehicle,
f) if the presence of a user authenticated by an identifier is detected in said enlarged predetermined zone around the master vehicle, then
i) sending a wake-up instruction from the master vehicle to the slave vehicle corresponding to the identifier,
ii) waking up said slave vehicle and getting said slave vehicle to trigger its polling phase,
iii) activating the vehicle function of the slave vehicle if the authenticated user is located in a predetermined zone around the slave vehicle.
2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the method is repeated for each new vehicle entering the enlarged transmission zone of the master vehicle or leaving said transmission zone.
3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a master vehicle is selected through:
a) vehicle-to-vehicle communication between the respective activating devices,
b) exchange between the vehicles of values of predefined criteria,
c) comparison, by the respective activating devices, of the values of the predefined criteria with one another.
4 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predefined criteria comprise at least one of:
a) a threshold value or a maximum value of the state of charge of a battery of the vehicle,
b) a maximum transmission range.
5 . A device for activating a vehicle function, said device being intended to be embedded in a vehicle, the device comprising radio-frequency communication means capable of communicating with a portable access equipment borne by a user, the vehicle function being triggered on detection of the presence of said portable user equipment in a predetermined zone around the vehicle, in a polling phase, and on authentication of said equipment, the device being capable of:
a) communicating with other vehicles among a plurality of vehicles,
b) selecting, from the plurality of vehicles, a master vehicle and slave vehicles depending on predefined criteria, the device of the master vehicle being a master device,
c) receiving, by the master device, from each slave vehicle a specific identifier,
d) sending, by the master device, to each slave vehicle an instruction to put its polling phase on standby,
e) increasing, by the master device, a frequency or transmit power of the polling phase,
f) detecting, by the master device, the presence of a user authenticated by an identifier in an enlarged predetermined zone,
g) sending, by the master device, an instruction to wake up its polling phase to a slave vehicle corresponding to the identifier of the authenticated user.
6 . The device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the device is capable of exchanging, with the other vehicles, values of predefined criteria, and of comparing the values with one another.
7 . The device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the predefined criteria comprise:
a) a threshold value or a maximum value of the state of charge of a battery of the vehicle,
b) a maximum transmission range of the vehicle.
8 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program code instructions for executing the method as claimed in claim 1 , when said program is executed on a respective computer of the plurality of vehicles.
9 . A motor vehicle comprising a device as claimed in claim 5 .
10 . The device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the predefined criteria comprise:
a) a threshold value or a maximum value of the state of charge of a battery of the vehicle,
b) a maximum transmission range of the vehicle.