Patent ID: 6710700
Filing Date: 2004-03-23
Classification: B60R,G07C

Abstract:
A vehicle key system for verifying identity of fingerprint information about a user's fingerprint and for controlling pieces of equipment in a vehicle according to a verification result, said system comprising:a transmitter including a fingerprint information capturing means for capturing fingerprint information from a user's fingerprint, and a transmitting means for transmitting the finger print information captured by said fingerprint information capturing means; an attaching means disposed in the vehicle, for attaching said transmitter thereto; and a receiver disposed in the vehicle, including a receiving means for receiving the fingerprint information transmitted from said transmitting means of said transmitter, a fingerprint verification means for verifying the fingerprint information against a list of pieces of previously stored fingerprint information, an attaching detection means for determining whether or not said transmitter is attached to said attaching means, and a control means for controlling the pieces of equipment in the vehicle according to a verification result from said fingerprint verification means and a detection result from said attaching detection means, wherein said receiver includes a transmitter verification means for verifying identify of said transmitter, and wherein said control means controls the pieces of equipment in the vehicle according to the verification result from said fingerprint verification means, the detection result from said attaching detection means, and a verification result from said transmitter verification means, wherein said transmitter includes an identifier transmitting means for transmitting an identifier specific to said transmitter, and wherein said receiver includes an identifier receiving means for receiving the identifier from said transmitter, and said transmitter verification means compares the identifier received by said identifier receiving means with one or more previously stored identifiers to verify the identity of said transmitter, and wherein said vehicle key system further comprises another transmitter including an identifier receiving means for receiving an identifier from said receiver, and an identifier storing means for storing the identifier received by said identifier receiving means in said other transmitter, as well as said fingerprint information capturing means, said transmitting means, and said identifier transmitting means, wherein said receiver includes an identifier transmitting means for transmitting the identifier specific to said transmitter to said other transmitter.