Universal garage door opener and appliance control system

1. A garage door opener (GDO) system operable with a vehicle to transmit garage door signals to control a garage door, the system comprising:

a remote keyless entry (RKE) fob being operable remotely from the vehicle to transmit and receive RKE signals;

a RKE transceiver being fixed within the vehicle and operable to transmit and receive RKE signals, and upon receipt of RKE signals from the RKE fob, to control one or more vehicle subsystems as a function thereof; a GDO transmitter being fixed within the vehicle and operable to transmit the garage door signal to control the garage door in response to receipt of a corresponding GDO signal; and

wherein the RKE transceiver and the GDO transmitter are operably coupled to each other via a vehicle bus, the RKE transceiver being further operable to determine, independently of operation of the RKE fob, the GDO transmitter to have transmitted the garage door signal from information output by the GDO transmitter on the vehicle bus;

wherein the RKE transceiver is operable to transmit RKE signals to the RKE fob to notify the RKE fob of the GDO transmitter transmitting the garage door signal responsive to the RKE transceiver determining that the GDO transmitter has transmitted the garage door signal;

wherein the RKE fob is operable to generate an alert in response to receipt of the RKE signals notifying the RKE fob of the GDO transmitter transmitting the garage door signal.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the alert is an audible alert.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the alert is a visual alert.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the GDO transmitter receives the GDO signal over the vehicle bus.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the GDO transmitter is operably coupled to a user operable GDO interface within the vehicle for receiving the GDO signal over the vehicle bus from the GDO interface.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the RKE transceiver is further operable to transmit the GDO signal to the GDO transmitter over the vehicle bus.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the RKE fob is further operable to transmit RKE signals to the RKE transceiver to instruct the RKE transceiver to transmit the GDO signal to the GDO transmitter over the vehicle bus.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the RKE transceiver is further operable to instruct delivery of the GDO signal to the GDO transmitter while the vehicle is locked.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the RKE fob is further operable to transmit the RKE signals to the RKE transceiver to instruct the RKE transceiver to transmit the GDO signal in response to at least one of user depression of a button included on the RKE fob that displays an icon representative of a door, user depression of a button included on the RKE fob that displays an icon representative of an RKE function, user depression of a particular sequence of buttons included on the RKE fob, and user depression of a button of included on the RKE fob for a period of time of at least 0.5 seconds.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the RKE transceiver is further operable to ignore RKE fob instructed transmission of the GDO signal in the event one of the RKE transceiver determines the RKE fob to be within the vehicle and the RKE transceiver fails to authenticate the RKE fob.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the RKE fob is unable to detect transmission of the garage door signal.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the GDO transmitter is unable to receive signals directly from the RKE fob.

13. A portable, wireless device operable with a vehicle-based keyless entry system and a garage door opener (GDO) system, the keyless entry system being operable to support keyless entry to the vehicle and the GDO system onboard a vehicle being operable to control a garage door using wireless signals transmitted from the vehicle, the wireless device comprising:

an antenna being operable to support two-way wireless communications with the keyless entry system;

a controller being operable to wirelessly instruct the keyless entry system to instruct the GDO system to control the garage door; and

an alert unit being operable to generate an alert in response to the antenna receiving wireless signals from the keyless entry system notifying the controller that the GDO system is controlling the garage door responsive to the keyless entry system determining that the GDO system is controlling the garage door in response to being instructed by the keyless entry system to control the garage door and responsive to the keyless entry system determining that the GDO system is controlling the garage door independently of the controller instructing the keyless entry system to instruct the GDO system to control the garage door.

14. The wireless device of claim 13 wherein the alert unit is instructed by the controller to generate a first alert when control of the garage door is instigated, a second alert in the event control of the garage door is successful, and a third alert in the event control of the garage door is unsuccessful.

15. The wireless device of claim 14 wherein the controller is further operable to determine control of the garage door to be instigated, successful, and unsuccessful from wireless signals received from the keyless entry system.

16. The wireless device of claim 13 further comprising at least one user operable unlock button wherein the controller is further operable to wirelessly instruct the keyless entry system (i) to unlock the vehicle in the event the unlock button is contacted for a first period of time and (ii) to instruct the GDO system to control the garage door, instead of unlocking the vehicle, in the event the button is contacted for a second period of time, the second period of time being greater than the first period of time.