Patent Publication Number: US-9892578-B1

Title: Garage automatic open or close linked to vehicle gearshift

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present specification relates generally to a vehicular garage door opening and closing assembly, and more particularly to such an opening and closing assembly that operates automatically upon switching gear settings within a vehicle. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Garage door opener (GDO) systems typically require that the user of a vehicle physically interact with the GDO through a wireless transmitter or related remote control device for the purpose of signally instructing a motorized linkage to open or close a garage door. For example, in most systems, a user must manually press a button on an in-vehicle transmitter to operate the GDO. The activation range of most such devices is limited to a relatively short range (typically no more than about 100 feet). More recently, such systems have been included as part of an inner (i.e., rear-view) mirror assembly that may use a human-machine interface (HMI) in the form of push buttons, speakers or the like as a way to effect door opening and closing instructions while taking advantage of share components. Even more recently, vehicles have incorporated telematics systems in conjunction with global positioning systems (GPS) or other position determining devices. Such systems can use a driver&#39;s cellular telephone as a data carrier in order to ascertain a vehicle&#39;s spatial coordinates and travel direction, as well as to achieve additional wireless communication capacity, including connection to the internet to permit remote control of various suitably-connected devices or systems. The GDO is one such system that can be connected via combination of one or more of telematics, GPS and the internet to effect additional functionality. 
     Nevertheless, to date there has been no attempt to have a vehicular garage door system that is responsive to a change in the gear selector as a way to achieve automated opening and closing operation. Moreover, there has been no attempt to combine gear shift changes with position determining devices to effect fully automated garage door operation that takes into consideration the vehicle&#39;s spatial position relative to the door being opened and closed. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one embodiment, a vehicular garage door operating assembly is disclosed. The assembly includes an electronic control unit (ECU), a receiver cooperative with the ECU and a GPS or related vehicular position determining system, a garage door remote control cooperative with the ECU, and a gear status indicator cooperative with a vehicular gear selector to provide indicia of a shift in gears to the garage door remote control. A control logic contained in one or both of the garage door remote control and the ECU can obtain an open or closed status of a signally-connected garage door, as well as selectively generate an instruction signal for opening or closing of such a garage door. The assembly is configured such that upon receipt of various signals that meet a predetermined criteria, the garage door remote control transmits the instruction signal for opening or closing the garage door. The received signals include as a first criterion a spatial position signal from the GPS to indicate whether the vehicle is situated within a garage. A second criterion provides an indication of a shift in gears from the gear status indicator, while the third criterion corresponds to a received status indication of whether the garage door is in an open or closed position. If all of the criteria are met, the assembly automatically opens the garage door to permit the vehicle to exit the garage. In an optional form, the spatial position criterion may be used by the control logic in conjunction with the other criteria to determine if an imminent egress maneuver by the vehicle relative to the garage is being made, undertaken or contemplated. In another optional form, the instruction signal can subsequently close the garage door automatically once the vehicle has left the garage. 
     In another embodiment, a vehicle is disclosed that includes a platform made up of a wheeled chassis, a motive power unit secured to and propulsively cooperative with the platform, a passenger compartment, a guidance apparatus cooperative with the wheeled chassis and a transmission with a gear selector to provide operational control of the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle includes a garage door operating assembly made up of an ECU, a receiver that is cooperative with both the ECU and a vehicular position determining system, a garage door remote control and a gear status indicator cooperative with the gear selector. The assembly is configured such that upon receipt and control logic-based processing of various signals, the garage door remote control selectively transmits the instruction signal for opening a closed, signally-connected garage door. As with the previous embodiment, the signals make up decision criteria for the control logic that is coupled to or otherwise cooperative with the ECU or related microcontroller, and include a spatial position signal from the vehicular position determining system. Another of the received signals is indicative of a shift in gears; this signal is provided by the gear status indicator that provides indicia of which of the P-R-N-D-L modes chosen by the driver through the gear selector. The received signal corresponding to the garage door status indication provides information about whether the garage door is in an open or closed position. These signals are conveyed to the ECU through the receiver, while the control logic contained within one or both of the garage door remote control and the ECU is structured to selectively generate an instruction signal for opening the garage door based on the information provided by these signals. Because data associated with the spatial position can provide proximity information as well as travel direction information (the latter including whether the vehicle is getting closer to or farther from the signally-connected garage), such data may optionally be useful to indicate that an egress maneuver by the vehicle relative to the garage is being made, contemplated or undertaken. In another optional form, the instruction signal can subsequently close the garage door automatically once the vehicle has left the garage. 
     In yet another embodiment, a method of automatically operating a garage door from a vehicle is disclosed. The method includes detecting various signals that—once suitably processed by the control logic contained within the control logic that is embodied within a garage door operating assembly—make up the criteria used to determine if automated opening or closing of the garage door is to be provided. The signals that make up the criteria are sensed from various sources. A first of the sources is a vehicular position determining system, where the signal corresponds to a spatial position of the vehicle relative to a garage to which the garage door is movably secured. A second of the sources is a gear status indicator that provides indicia of which gear or related transmission setting is engaged, while a third of the sources is a status indication of whether the garage door is open or closed. The method further includes using a control logic associated with an ECU to process, the first, second and third signals to determine if all of the criteria associated with the signals to open the garage door are met, and then using a garage door remote control that is coupled to the ECU to send an instruction signal to a garage door opener for the opening the garage door only if all of the criteria are met. The criteria includes having the first signal indicate that the vehicle is situated within the garage, while the second signal includes an indication that the garage door is closed and the third signal includes an indication that a shift in gears has taken place. It will be understood that additional criteria may also apply, such as having the vehicle be in an operational status, such as having its motive power unit turned on such that that an egress maneuver by the vehicle relative to the garage is imminent, having all of the passenger doors be closed, or the like. 
     These and additional features provided by the embodiments described herein will be more fully understood in view of the following detailed description, in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplary in nature and not intended to limit the subject matter defined by the claims. The following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which: 
         FIG. 1  depicts a vehicle parked within a garage with an automated garage door opening and closing system in accordance with one or more embodiments shown or described herein; 
         FIG. 2  depicts an internal passenger compartment view of the vehicle of  FIG. 1  showing the cooperation of an electronic control unit, signal transmitter and receiver, garage door remote control and an inner mirror according to one or more embodiments shown or described herein; 
         FIG. 3  depicts the signal communication between the vehicle and the garage of  FIGS. 1 and 2  when the vehicle is outside, and further where a global positioning system (GPS) can be used to provide vehicular spatial position and travel direction information according to one or more embodiments shown or described herein; and 
         FIG. 4  depicts a flowchart illustrating the selective movement of the garage door according to one or more embodiments shown or described herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments disclosed herein include an assembly that can be used in conjunction with a vehicle and a vehicular position determining system so that movement of the vehicle associated with changing its gear setting can be used to automatically open or close a garage door that is signally coupled to the assembly. As will be discussed in more detail herein,  FIG. 2  generally depicts one embodiment of such an assembly  1  that is made up of an ECU  200 , one or more receivers  300 , a garage door remote control  400  and a gear selector  500  with a status indicator  520 . Information obtained that relates a spatial position of the vehicle  100  to a suitably-equipped garage door  20  is used in conjunction with changes in the vehicle  100  gear selector  500  settings and a present open or closed status of the garage door  20  in order to be used as criteria to determine if the assembly  1  should automatically change the position of the garage door  20  from open to closed or vice versa. 
     Referring first to  FIG. 1 , a garage  10  and door  20  are used to store vehicle  100  during periods where the vehicle  100  is not operational. Within the present context, although vehicle  100  is presently depicted as a car in general, and a sedan in particular, it will be appreciated that the term “vehicle” may apply to car, truck, van, sport utility vehicle (SUV) or related architecture, so long as such architecture is capable of fitting into a comparably-configured garage  10 . GDO  30  is connected to both the garage  10  and the door  20  such that upon a signal-based instruction from a wireless garage door remote control that is discussed in more detail below, the GDO  30  can selectively raise or lower the garage door  20 . 
     Vehicle  100  includes a chassis  110  with a plurality of wheels  120 . Chassis  110  may either be of body-on-frame or unibody construction, and both configurations are deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. A motive power unit  130  such as a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE), battery pack, fuel cell stack or a hybrid combination of one or more of the above may be situated in or on the chassis  110  to provide propulsive power to the vehicle  100 . As shown, the motive power unit  130  is situated underneath a hood that is placed at the fore end of vehicle  100 . A passenger compartment  140  is formed inside the chassis  110  and serves not only as a place to transport passengers and cargo, but also as a place from which a driver may operate vehicle  100 . A transmission  150  is coupled to the motive power unit  130  such that together they form a drivetrain through which a torque may be applied to some or all of the wheels  120 . In a preferred configuration, the transmission  150  is an automatic transmission; however, it will be appreciated that the assembly  1  of the present disclosure may be used in conjunction with manual transmissions as well. A guidance apparatus (which may include, among other things, steering wheel, accelerator, brakes or the like)  160  is used in cooperation with the wheels  120 , motive power unit  130 , transmission  150  and other systems to control movement of the vehicle  100 . Within the passenger compartment  140 , an inner mirror  170  (also referred to as a rearview mirror) is mounted to provide a driver with a view of what is behind vehicle  100 . As will be described in more detail below, such mirror  170  may include some or all of the assembly  1  features discussed herein in order to increase its functionality. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 2 , the driver&#39;s portion of a vehicle passenger compartment  140  is shown. In particular, a steering wheel  160  forms part of the guidance apparatus that is used to control driving speed and direction. In addition, a gear selector  500  (also referred to as a gear shifter or the like) is typically mounted on a center console (not shown) that separates the driver from the other front-seat passenger. In configurations where vehicle  100  is outfitted with an automatic transmission  150  that has a conventional gearing system that includes a park, reverse, neutral and a plurality of forward gears, the gear selector  500  is comparably arranged in the P-R-N-D-L format, where changing gears between these settings may be effected through movement of a gear shift lever  510 . To instruct the transmission  150  to engage one of the corresponding PARK, REVERSE, NEUTRAL or DRIVE operational modes or positions. A gear status indicator  520  (which may be in the form of a sensor) is used to send a signal to the ECU  200  to provide an indication of the presently-selected gear. Although not shown, the transmission  150  may be configured to not respond to changes entered via gear selector  500  until the assembly  1  determines that the motive power unit  130  is in the ON position, where such information may be correlated with the main ignition switch position or the like. The use of the gear status indicator  520  coupled with the garage door remote control  400  is beneficial in that it allows the assembly  1  to achieve automated operation of opening or closing the garage door  20  every time the vehicle  100  goes through a change of gears when the vehicle is inside or close to the garage  20 . 
     Within the present context, the terms “gear shift change”, shift in gears“, shift in transmission gears”, “shift in a transmission setting” and their variants are all meant to cover situations where a driver of vehicle  100  has engaged the gear selector  500  to effect a change in the forward, backward or parking mode of operation of vehicle  100 . As such, the vehicle  100  is deemed to go through such a change in gears only when the gear selector  500  has moved from one operational setting to another such that the transmission  150  recognizes or responds to the request made through the selector  500 . By way of non-limiting examples, if the gear shift lever  510  of gear selector  500  is moved from PARK to REVERSE, from PARK to DRIVE, from REVERSE to DRIVE or DRIVE to REVERSE, the operational setting of the gear selector  500  (and derivatively, the transmission  150 ) is deemed to be suitably changed. Contrarily, a mere upshifting or downshifting that accompanies the normal progression within an automatic transmission as vehicle  100  speeds up or slows down is not deemed to constitute such a gear change as defined herein. 
     Although shown schematically as being within the passenger compartment  140 , it will be appreciated that the ECU  200  is situated in any suitable location within vehicle  100  where access to wiring, harnesses or busses is readily available. In addition, it will be appreciated that ECU  200  may be one of many such control units within the vehicle  100 , depending on the desired degree of integration or autonomy among such control units. ECU  200  is provided with one or more input/output (I/O)  210 , microprocessor (CPU)  220 , read-only memory (ROM)  230 , random-access memory (RAM)  240 , which are respectively connected by a bus to provide connectivity for a logic circuit  250  for the receipt of signal-based data, as well as the sending of commands or related instructions. Various algorithms and related control logic may be stored in the ROM  230  or RAM  240  in manners known to those skilled in the art. Thus, in one form, CPU  220  can be made to operate on the opening/closing (i.e., control) logic for garage door  20  such that individually and together the various components making up ECU  200  define the logic circuit  250  needed to provide the automated opening and closing control of the garage door  20  as discussed herein. The control logic may be embodied in an algorithm or related program code that can be manipulated or otherwise operated on by CPU  220  and then conveyed via I/O ports  210  to one or both of the receiver  300  and garage door remote control  400  the latter of which occurs when operating as an antenna as discussed below. In one form of I/O  210 , signals from the interior rearview mirror  170 , the garage door remote control  400 , the receiver  300  and gear selector  500  are exchanged with ECU  200 . Other such signals, such as an ignition signal (not shown) that indicates whether or not the engine or related motive power unit  130  is operational may also be signally provided to ECU  200  for suitable processing by the control logic. 
     Within the passenger compartment  140 , the interior rearview mirror  170  may be configured as an assembly to include additional functionality. In one form, the mirror  170  may include electrochromic features such that it may act as a variable display; such features may include a display of compass settings  172 , auto-dimming or related variations in reflectance (not shown), a message/warning indicator  173  (such as for engine warnings, door openings or other vehicular systems), backing camera (not shown) such as those associated with a reversing maneuver or other video display. Mirror  170  may have forward-and rearward-facing photocells or related sensors to measure ambient light conditions for use in such mirror-dimming, as well as for headlamp control or the like. Buttons  171  may be mounted on the mirror  170  as a form of HMI; other forms (not shown) may also be included into the housing of mirror  170 , such as a microphone/speaker, display-based touch screen or the like. Likewise, control signals sent from or received by the mirror  170  may be routed through a circuit  174 , which may be in the form of a wired or wireless connection between the mirror  170  and the ECU  200 . 
     As with ECU  200 , the garage door remote control  400  is notionally shown as being situated within the passenger compartment  140 . It will likewise be appreciated that the garage door remote control  400  may be placed in any suitable location within vehicle  100  where simplified driver access to its one or more buttons  410  is desired. In one form, the garage door remote control  400  is a portable, battery-powered stand-alone device, while in another it can be linked through the mirror  170  so that HMI controls such as buttons  171  may act as a surrogate for buttons  410 . As part of a control logic that defines the opening and closing instruction signals S I  that are transmitted to the GDO  30 , the garage door remote control  400  preferably provides wireless control or instruction signals S I  to the GDO  30 . In one form, the garage door remote control  400  is configured to operate in a radio frequency range of between 300-400 MHz with encoded hopping or rolling code technology for added operational security. Signal ranges S R  (such as that shown in conjunction with  FIG. 3 ) for the garage door remote control  400  are between about 25 feet and 100 feet, although longer ranges associated with higher-power transmitters and more sensitive versions of receiver  300  are deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. Garage door remote control  400  can be made to transmit either a radio wave or an infrared signal with corresponding signal ranges S R  know to those skilled in the art. For example, the garage door remote control  400  may be made to operate through a telematics unit (not shown) in vehicle  100  that is signally coupled to a mobile telephone (such as a smartphone or the like) so that a wireless cellular communication network—either with or without an internet connection—may be used with GDO  30  over any range where cellular continuity between them is available. 
     Although the microcontroller and related circuitry that makes up ECU  200  is shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  as being a stand-alone component, it will be appreciated that it may also have numerous parts in common with other devices, such as the garage door remote control  400  or the mirror  170 , among others. In such case, it may be that in variants of the disclosed assembly, one or more of the essential ECU  200  features may be formed as part of such garage door remote control  400  or mirror  170 . It is equally likely that the garage door remote control  400  may be formed as part of the ECU  200 , and that all such variants are deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. It is likewise contemplated within the present disclosure that various transmitters, receivers (such as antenna  300  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , along with associated circuitry) and other wireless communication equipment that are used to establish signal communication between vehicle  100  and other remote devices (such as GDO  30  or GPS  800 ) may be formed as part of—or independently from—any or all of the mirror  170 , ECU  200  or garage door remote control  400 , and that all such variants are deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, by way of example, it will be appreciated that in one form, the garage door remote control  400  may have its own autonomous antenna with which to achieve wireless communication with GDO  30 , while in another it can use common equipment with the other components (such as the ECU  200  and the receiver  300  so that input and output can go directly through such other components. In this way, redundancy of components may be avoided. 
     Within the present context, it will be appreciated that the antenna depicted for each of GDO  30  and receiver  300  may be used to not only receive wireless signal, but as a transmitter of signals as well in such situations where such two-way communication is required. Likewise, although the term “receiver” is used, it will be appreciated that in situations where two-way communication is required, the receiver (such as receiver  300 ) may be configured as a transceiver in order to effect such two-way communication, and that both variants are deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 3 , the cooperation of the vehicle  100  and the vehicular position determining system  800  is shown, where the vehicular position determining system  800  is notionally depicted as a GPS system. As is understood by those skilled in the art, the vehicular position determining system  800  can provide through triangulation and associated means the ability to provide navigational information, including accurately pinpointing a spatial position of the vehicle  100  (particularly as it relates to whether vehicle  100  is situated within a signally-connected garage  10 ), as well as provide a direction of travel of the vehicle  100 . In the present context, the travel direction corresponds to the direction or orientation that the front end of vehicle  100  is pointed in when associated with normal (i.e. forward) movement, as well as the direction or orientation that the rear end of vehicle  100  is pointed in when associated with reverse vehicular movement. A GPS receiver (which in one form may be integrated into ECU  200 , a telematics system or other device suitably equipped with an antenna or related receiver, such as receiver  300 ) receives position determining signals S PDS  from various space-based GPS satellites (only one of which is shown), and calculates a position of the vehicle  100  against known maps in order to place the vehicle  100  within a unique spatial position. Within the present context, such spatial position takes on special significance when it is generally within a signal range S R  of the GDO  30  that corresponds to the garage door remote control  400  and more particularly when such signal range S R  is within garage  10  that houses the GDO  30 , as in either case it satisfies the criterion that a garage door status signal S GDS  being sent by GDO  30  can reach vehicle  100 . Variations in the spatial position such as that associated with an egress of the vehicle  100  from the garage  10  may also be provided by other non-GPS means, such as by a vehicle speed or wheel sensor that measures wheel movement. In another form, an inertial navigation sensor (INS) that may employ gyroscopic sensors to detect angular changes in vehicular movement to provide updates to the spatial position; such updates are especially prevalent in situations where the vehicle  100  has not traversed a significant distance, such as when it is in the garage  10  or on a driveway or road that is contiguous with the garage  10  and within visual range or signal range S R  of the GDO  30 . 
     Within the present context, an egress maneuver that is optionally associated with one or more of the three vehicle  100  criteria is considered to be made, undertaken, contemplated, initiated or imminent when it takes place from either within or outside but adjacent (such as on a contiguous driveway) the signally-connected garage  10  that is within the signal range S R  of the garage door remote control  400 , and further where a change in the gear selector  500  setting takes place to indicate that the driver intends to move the vehicle  100  away from the garage  10  and its door  20 . Furthermore within the present context, an egress maneuver is deemed to be taking place or contemplated only when the vehicle  100  is in an operational (i.e., “on”) state. Thus, when the ignition is turned on such that the motive power unit  130  (whether ICE, fuel cell stack, battery pack of a hybrid combination of any of the three) is operational to provide propulsive power to vehicle  100 , such egress is possible, while in situations where the ignition is turned off, no such egress is possible until such time as the ignition has been engaged Likewise, a change of gears through the gear selector  500  is deemed to have relevance to the present disclosure only when the ignition has been turned to the “on” or “start” position. 
     Such egress maneuver has particular relevance in two situations. First, when vehicle  100  is in the garage  10  and the driver wants to move the vehicle  100  out, the receipt by the ECU  200  of a signal from the gear selector  500  to shift the transmission  150  into REVERSE (in situations where the rear of vehicle  100  is adjacent the closed garage door  20 ) or into DRIVE (in situations where the front of vehicle  100  is adjacent the closed garage door  20 ) in order to effect corresponding movement of vehicle  100 . 
     Second, once the vehicle  100  has been moved out of the garage  10 , there may be circumstances where it is desirable to have the garage door  20  close automatically, such as once the vehicle  100  making the egress has traversed a certain predetermined distance from the garage  10  (such as leaving an associated driveway or travelling down an adjacent street). Because the assembly  1  remains in communication with GPS  800  or other vehicle spatial position determining system (assuming no visual range obstruction such as a tunnel or the like), the received first signal may also be used by the control logic that is contained within any or all of the ECU  200 , garage door remote control  400  and mirror  170 . This signal in turn may be used to alert the assembly  1  that the vehicle is moving away from the garage door that just opened, and that it is now necessary to perform an opposite automatic closing operation. It will be appreciated that the use of such a signal to perform an optional closing of the garages door  20  once the vehicle  100  has traversed such a distance away from the garage preferably needs to be coordinated with the operation of the garage door remote control  400  to ensure that the vehicle  100  is within the signal range S R . As mentioned above, in situations where the signal ranges S R  for the garage door remote control  400  are between about 25 feet and 100 feet, it would be necessary to have such predetermined distance be less than that so that a door closure instruction signal can be sent prior to vehicular attainment of a distance farther away. In addition, the predetermined distance that triggers the garage door  20  closure signal may be made to have a manual override for those circumstances where it is desired to leave the garaged door  20  remain open even as the vehicle  100  moves away from the garage  10 . Of course, in situations where a telematics system or related cellular or internet-based wireless communication can be provided between the vehicle  100  and the GDO  30 , the signal range S R  may no longer be a limiting factor in how long such a predetermined egress distance is in order to effect door  20  closure. Instead of using the GPS  800  to determine the spatial position of vehicle  100  (including its position relative to garage  10 ), in another embodiment, autonomous ascertainment of such a predetermined distance may be made through an INS, odometer or a signal-generating device (such as a radar-or infrared-based sensor) in order to trigger the automatic closing of the garage door  20  once the vehicle has left the garage  10  and made an additional egress maneuver. All such ways to acquire the predetermined distance are deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Further within the present context, all three criteria associated with signals received by and processed within the ECU  200  or related logic-based microcontroller act as a necessary precursor for the automated garage door opening or closing disclosed herein. This includes not just the signal corresponding to vehicle  100  egress maneuvers, but also the signal corresponding to the status indication of the garage door  20  and the signal corresponding to a shift in gears from the gear status indicator. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 4  in conjunction with  FIG. 2 , a flowchart depicting the algorithmic procession of some of the portions of the control logic  900  that is loaded, embedded or otherwise signally cooperative with the logic circuit  250  is shown. In the present context, it will be appreciated that the control logic may be voluminous, including potentially thousands of lines of code, including numerous routines and subroutines that can be stored in ROM  230  or RAM  240  accessed by and acted upon by the ECU  200  in general and the CPU  220  in particular. Nevertheless, the discussion below focuses on only those portions of such control logic as being the ones most relevant to the operation of assembly  1 , the remaining portions being understood by those skilled in the control unit art. 
     Starting with step  910 , a determination is made at step  920  to ascertain whether vehicle  100  is operational, such as by having its motive power unit  130  running or having its ignition in either the ON or ACCESSORY position. In situations where the vehicle  100  is not operational, the control logic  900  goes into a WAIT status until such time as the vehicle  100  does become operational. At step  930 , signals are received (such as from GPS  800 ) through receiver  300  to provide spatial position of vehicle  100  in a manner well-known in the GPS art. Such signal-based acquisition of the spatial position of vehicle  100  corresponds to the first signal being conveyed to the ECU  200 . This provides indicia of where vehicle  100  is presently such that if it is within a signally coupled garage  10  as indicated at step  940 , then a determination may be made at step  950  to see if the garage door  20  is open or not. This determination corresponds to the second signal being conveyed to the ECU  200  and that is used to provide a status indication of the garage door  20 . Within the present context, a signally coupled garage is one that has a GDO  30  that is operatively paired to the garage door remote control  400  through a unique coding arrangement (such as through matched identification with suitable rolling codes or related security features) so that through normal operation of the garage door remote control  400 , the GDO  30  responds by opening or closing the garage door  20  as needed. In a preferred form, the security-based features of the signally coupled relationship between the garage door remote control  400  and the GDO  30  prevent unauthorized opening or closing of the garage door  20  by others. In situations where the garage door  20  is determined to already be open, the control logic  900  returns to the WAIT status until a subsequent event occurs. Contrarily, in situations where the garage door  20  is determined to be closed, the control logic  900  proceeds to step  960  in order to determine if a shift in gear selection through gear selector  500  (such as through movement of the gear shift lever  510  from PARK to REVERSE or from PARK to DRIVE as discussed above) has occurred. If so, which corresponds to the third signal being conveyed to the ECU  200 , then all three signal criteria are met such that at step  980  an instruction signal is sent by the ECU  200  to the GDO  30  to instruct it to have its power source, motorized drive unit, transceiver and linkage operate to open the garage door  20 . Significantly, it is preferable to have an alarm or related warning as shown in step  970  be deployed in situations where the vehicle  100  is deemed to be both operational and within an enclosed garage  10 , at least in vehicle  100  configurations where the motive power unit  130  is an ICE, as otherwise, an undesirable level of carbon monoxide may start to form. Although not shown, such a warning or alarm may be accompanied with one or both of a vehicular ignition shutoff function and an automated garage door  20  opening function the latter of which would be based on the door opening function of step  980 . Regardless of whether the inquiry from step  940  is or is not satisfied, the control logic  900  proceeds to step  990  to ascertain whether the vehicle  100  is moving away from the garage  10 . If so, then at step  1000  an inquiry is placed as to whether a threshold minimum distance between the vehicle  100  and the GDO  30  has been attained to provide indicia of the driver&#39;s desire to move away from the garage  10 . If, so, the control logic  900  can instruct the GDO  30  to automatically close the garage door  20  at step  1010 . Control logic  900  may also be built into the garage door remote control  400  so that in situations where the garage door  20  may already be closed (for example, in circumstances where the vehicle  100  was parked outside of the garage  10  prior to being started), no such signal such as that of step  1010  need be sent. Likewise, if the garage door remote control  400  does not include such logic, then an additional inquiry similar to that of step  950  may be included interstitially between steps  990  and  1000  in order to moot steps  1000  and  1010 ; either variant is deemed to be within the scope of the present disclosure. As indicated above, the steps  990  through  1010  associated with closing an open garage door  20  once vehicle  100  has made an egress maneuver from garage  20  and is continuing to move away from garage  10 , are optional, and as such may not in certain circumstances be needed as part of the control logic  900 . 
     Importantly, in situations where vehicle  100  is being pulled into garage  10  where door  20  is open, an interlock system may be included to prevent an automatic garage door closure until such time as the motive power unit  130  has been turned off. Thus by way of example, leaving the garage door  20  open during the time where the vehicle  100  is pulled into the garage  10  and switched into PARK mode will prevent an inadvertent buildup of carbon monoxide within the space defined by the garage  10 . This distinguishes those situations where the egress maneuver by vehicle  100  has merely ceased temporarily, such as by application of the brakes with enough force to overcome the fluid coupling between the motive power unit  130  and the transmission  150  through a torque converter (not shown). It will be appreciated that such an interlock may only be necessary in situations where the architecture for the motive power source  130  is based on an ICE, as fuel cell stack or battery pack configurations do not emit an appreciable amount of carbon monoxide. 
     It is noted that the terms “substantially” and “about” may be utilized herein to represent the inherent degree of uncertainty that may be attributed to any quantitative comparison, value, measurement, or other representation. These terms are also utilized herein to represent the degree by which a quantitative representation may vary from a stated reference without resulting in a change in the basic function of the subject matter at issue. 
     While particular embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be understood that various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, although various aspects of the claimed subject matter have been described herein, such aspects need not be utilized in combination. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of the claimed subject matter.