MOTORCAR
A motorcar contains a metallic door for opening and closing an entry space to the inside of the car body; a door handle by which the door is opened and closed; a door-lock system for the locking/unlocking door; a radio-wave-permeable lid that covers an opening formed so as to correspond to the position of the door handle; an antenna disposed on a lid inside the door; a controller that is connected to an antenna and controls the locking and unlocking operations of the door-lock system; and a portable key for establishing radio communications with the antenna.
1 . A motorcar comprising:
a car body;
a metallic door for opening and closing an entry space to an inside of the car body;
a door handle by which the door is opened and closed;
a door-lock system for locking/unlocking the door;
a radio-wave-permeable lid for covering an opening that is formed so as to correspond to a position to which the door handle is fixed;
an antenna disposed on the lid inside the door;
a controller that is connected to the antenna and controls locking and unlocking operations of the door-lock system;
a portable key for establishing radio communications with the antenna;
an external recognition-starting switch for operating recognition of the portable key when a user carrying the portable key opens the door from an outside and gets in the inside of the car body; and
an internal recognition-starting switch for operating recognition of the portable key after entry of the user,
wherein, the controller changes a communication range of the radio communications so as to provide a narrower range for door-unlocked condition, and provide a broader range for door-locked condition.
2 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the antenna is contained in the opening.
3 . The motorcar of claim 2 , wherein the antenna is contained in the opening in a way that ends of the antenna make no contact with perimeter of the opening.
4 . (canceled)
5 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the antenna, as proximity two-way communication, can be used as a part of a device for carrying out recognition of the portable key that operates without battery power.
6 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the portable key has no need of battery power when it operates for proximity two-way communication, while the portable key needs battery power when it operates for remote two-way communication or remote one-way transmission.
7 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the controller unlocks the door in the door-locked condition, or locks the door in the door-unlocked condition when detecting a match in the recognition by the external recognition-starting switch.
8 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the controller prohibits door-unlocking operation on the door in the door-locked condition when detecting that the user is in the car body after the door is closed and a match is obtained in the recognition by the external recognition-starting switch.
9 . The motorcar of claim 8 , wherein a seat weighted sensor is employed for detecting the user.
10 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the controller prohibits door-locking operation on the door in the door-unlocked condition when the motorcar contains a plurality of portable keys and they have a match in the recognition by the external recognition-starting switch.
11 . (canceled)
12 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the communication range is controlled according to communication speed for the recognition.
13 . The motorcar of claim 1 , wherein the controller issues warning for a predetermined number of time and switches communication control to proximity recognition or keyless operation when the portable key shows low battery power.