Abstract:
A system for indicating a past state of an apparatus through the use of a remote device by indicating the state with the remote device whether or not the remote device is still within communications range of the apparatus. In one embodiment, an indication can be made as to whether or not a vehicle door has been locked by providing such an indication at a remote keyless entry key remote control.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to remote state indication of an apparatus. It more particularly relates to remote devices coupled with systems to obtain state conditions of system features such that these state conditions can be later indicated by the remote devices even when they are no longer able to communicate with the systems.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Many vehicles have remote keyless entry systems which allow vehicle drivers and/or passengers to lock and unlock doors and/or open trunks or doors and/or arm and disarm security systems. For most such systems, the vehicle provides visual and/or audible indications when the state of the vehicle has changed, such as a horn chirp or headlamp flash when the doors are locked. Unfortunately, due to repetition of the process and distraction, vehicle drivers and/or passengers often forget whether or not they have left the vehicle in a desired state, even with the indication that is given by the vehicle. For example, an individual leaving a vehicle in a busy and crowded parking lot might desire the vehicle to be locked with the security system armed, but because of distraction the state condition later cannot be remembered, thereby causing anxiety and/or the need to return to the vehicle to check the state. To confirm the state condition, it is usually necessary to visually inspect the vehicle or to use the remote keyless entry system to issue the command for the desired state so that the vehicle responds with its standard indicators (such as horn chirp or headlamp flashing). The results of this sequence of events possibly include unnecessary anxiety for the vehicle driver and/or passengers, a waste of time and energy, and/or a substantial financial loss if a vehicle is unknowingly left unlocked.  
           [0003]    A similar problem exists for many other devices. For example, it is often desirable to confirm the state of door locks for homes or businesses because of the substantial financial loss that may occur if they are unknowingly left unlocked. Additionally, state conditions of appliances, such as irons or stoves, may be desired from a remote location since significant property damage could result if such appliances are left on unattended.  
           [0004]    Anecdotally, it is believed that the various phenomena described above are widespread. However, to date, there appears to have been no recognition that this is a technical problem that may have a technical solution. While many apparatus have mechanisms to indicate state change when such occurs (such as a horn chirp when vehicle doors are locked), nothing has apparently been done to record state conditions in a remote device so that the state can be confirmed without being near the apparatus.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    There is now broadly contemplated, in accordance with at least one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system and method in which the last known state condition of an apparatus, such as a vehicle door lock, can be indicated with a remote device such as a wireless remote control.  
           [0006]    In another aspect, the invention provides a last-known state condition indication for a given apparatus by way of a remote device, regardless of proximity to the apparatus and even if the remote device cannot communicate with the apparatus at the time of indication. The apparatus communicates state conditions to the remote device when it is “in-range,” and the remote device can display the recorded state conditions whether it is “in-range” or “out of range”. (When the apparatus can communicate information to the remote device, the remote device is said to be in-range. A remote device is said to be out of range if the apparatus cannot communicate information to the remote device.)  
           [0007]    In accordance with at least one additional aspect of the present invention, feedback is provided to a remote device indicating that an issued command has been received by an apparatus and that the command has indeed led to the desired result.  
           [0008]    In accordance with an advantageous refinement of the present invention, when a vehicle is locked with a remote keyless entry system, a wireless remote control for the system may record in memory that the doors had been locked. For example, if the wireless remote control is used to lock the doors, a transmitter in the vehicle could broadcast a signal to receivers of all of the wireless remote controls for the remote keyless entry system when the door is locked, with any such in-range remote controls recording and indicating the state condition. The state indicator on the remote control could then indicate the state condition stored in the memory when the state condition is requested, in this case showing if the last know state condition of the vehicle door lock was “locked” or “unlocked”. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    Various aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon further consideration of the following detailed description of the invention when read in conjunction with the drawing figures, in which:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a vehicle with a remote keyless entry system and wireless remote control that records and indicates the state condition of the vehicle door lock.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a remote device for the state indication system.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a state indication system with transmitter and apparatus state monitor.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 shows a flowchart that illustrates the actions taken by a remote device.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 shows a flowchart that illustrates the actions taken by an apparatus. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    Generally, it should be appreciated that there is broadly contemplated in accordance with at least one presently preferred embodiment of the present invention the capability of providing an indication of the state condition of an apparatus by including a state indicator and memory on a remote device which can indicate the last known state condition regardless of its proximity to the apparatus.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a vehicle remote keyless entry system  180  with wireless remote control  105  that records and indicates the state condition of the vehicle door locks or other vehicle conditions, according to a preferred embodiment of a system of the present invention. The vehicle remote keyless entry system  180  preferably includes an apparatus that assumes different states, e.g., in the form of a vehicle system  100 , and a remote device in the form of a wireless remote control  105 . The vehicle system  180  preferably comprises many components that are part of existing vehicle remote keyless entry systems, such as at least one processing unit  140 , a wireless receiver  145 , at least one actuator  150  for locking/unlocking doors or cargo areas, and at least one vehicle control bus  135  which links the components together. The vehicle system  100 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, also preferably incorporates a wireless transmitter  155  that is connected to at least one of the other components by a vehicle control bus  135 , and at least one state monitor  190  that monitors the state of features such as door locks.  
         [0017]    Typically, a wireless remote control  105  for existing vehicle remote keyless entry systems may comprise at least one lock button  120 , at least one unlock button  115 , at least one cargo release button  125 , and a wireless transmitter  130  for transmitting signals to the wireless receiver  145  in the vehicle system  100 . However, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, there may also preferably be incorporated a wireless receiver  160 , a processing unit  175  with memory, at least one state indicator  165 , and at least one state indicator activator  170 .  
         [0018]    As in existing vehicle remote keyless entry systems, when a button on the wireless remote control  105  is pressed, signals are sent from the wireless transmitter  130  to the wireless receiver  145 . The signals may be decoded by the wireless receiver  145  or transmitted across a vehicle control bus  135  to an processing unit  140  for processing. Signals are then sent to at least one of the actuators  150  to lock or unlock a door or open a cargo area. Additional buttons or activators may be included that perform additional vehicle functions such as opening a van door or arming a security system.  
         [0019]    However, in accordance with at least one preferred embodiment of the present invention, when a processing unit  140  in the vehicle system receives a signal from a monitor  190  indicating that the state of the vehicle system has changed, such as when the doors have locked, a signal indicating the state condition is sent from the wireless transmitter  155  to any in-range wireless receivers  160  on wireless remote controls  105  that are part of the system. The signal from the wireless receiver is decoded and the state condition is stored in memory connected to the processing unit  175 . When a state indicator button  170  is pressed, the state condition is retrieved from the processing unit  175  memory and indicated on a state indicator  165 , whether or not the wireless remote control  105  is in-range. Here, the state indicator may be a digital readout which displays the time of the last known state condition signal and the last known state condition (in the figure, the last known state condition signal was at 10:30 a.m. and the state condition was locked represented by the letter “L”).  
         [0020]    A state indicator activator  170  may be a separate button, or it may be a button that shares many functions. For example, the lock button  120  may cause a lock signal to be issued if it is pressed and quickly released, but cause the state condition to be indicated on a state indicator  165  if it is pressed and held for a certain length of time. The state indicator  165  may also take many other forms not limited to at least one light emitting diode that flashes or uses certain colors to indicate different state conditions (for example, green for locked and red for unlocked), a light, a vibration transducer, a speech message generator, an audible signal generator, a text display, or a graphics display. In some embodiments, the state indicator  165  may be activated by a state indicator activator  170  such as button, a motion sensor, a pressure sensor or the state indicator  165  may be activated periodically according to a timer or continually without the need for a state indicator activator  170 . One of the primary advantages associated with this and similar systems is that the last known state condition can be determined from the wireless remote control, even if the wireless remote control is out of range at the time of indication.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a remote device for the state indication system. A receiver  200  receives state condition signals. The state condition signals are decoded and sent to a processing unit  210  where the state condition is stored in memory. The state condition stored in the memory for the processing unit  210  may be indicated using the state indicator  230  which may be activated by a state indicator activator  220 . Possibly, the state indicator activator  220  may not be present, in which case the state indicator  230  continually displays the state condition stored in the processing unit  210  memory.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a state indication system with transmitter and state monitor. An apparatus state monitor  300  monitors one or more states of an apparatus and communicates the states to a processing unit  310 . The apparatus state monitor may employ sensors or intercept state change messages from a control unit. The processing unit  310  sends messages indicating state conditions to a transmitter  320  according to a schedule. The processing unit  310  may send said signals after receiving messages from the apparatus state monitor or send them periodically. The transmitter sends the state condition messages which can be received by receivers  200 . The receivers  200 , processing unit  210 , state indicator activator  220 , and state indicator  230  are as described in FIG. 2.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 shows a flowchart that illustrates the actions taken by a remote device. The flowchart is entered in step  400  whenever the remote device is initialized. In step  405 , the remote device waits for input. Upon receiving input, the remote device checks to see if the input is from a receiver in step  410 . If the input is from the receiver in step  410 , then in step  420  the message received by the receiver is decoded and the resulting state condition is stored in memory. After step  420 , step  405  is executed. If the input is not from the receiver in step  410 , then in step  415  the input is processed to determine which state condition is desired and the state condition is retrieved from memory and indicated with the state indicator. After step  415 , step  405  is executed. It should be understood that other functions, perhaps of a minor, conventional or subsidiary nature, may be performed by the remote device but are not described here.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 5 shows a flowchart that illustrates the actions taken by an apparatus  100 . The flowchart is entered in step  500  whenever the apparatus is initialized. In step  510 , the apparatus state monitor waits for an apparatus state change. Next, in step  520 , the apparatus state change is processed into a state condition message and transmitted. After step  520 , step  510  is executed.  
         [0025]    It should be understood that a very broad range of applications may be addressed within the scope of the present invention. Thus, although the foregoing description addresses and alludes to various specific arrangements and methods, the intent and concept of the present invention are suitable and applicable to other arrangements and applications. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The described embodiments ought to be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of various embodiments of the present invention. Other beneficial results can be realized by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention in ways known to those familiar with the art.