Patent ID: 7161467

Claim:
A vehicle-mounted device communication controller which includes a vehicle-mounted unit for communicating with a plurality of ID-registered portable units, a switch-detection mechanism for detecting pressing of an operation knob operable to be pressed and rotated, a switch-operation restriction mechanism for restricting the rotation of the operation knob, and a door-opening/closure detection mechanism for detecting opening and closure of a door, and in which a search signal and a response signal are sent and received between the vehicle-mounted unit and the portable units, the portable unit having succeeded in exchanging both of the signals is authenticated among the portable units, and the restriction of the switch-operation restriction mechanism is released by the authentication, wherein the vehicle-mounted unit includes a sending/receiving part which sends the search signal and receives the response signal, a controller which totally controls each parts, an authentication part which authenticates the portable unit under the control of the controller, and an ID-storage part which updates and stores a portable unit's ID of the portable unit authenticated at a latest time as a latest authenticated ID, and when the door-opening/closure detection mechanism detects opening of the door, and then detects closure of the door, the controller performs searching by an all search method in which all portable units are searched in series and in which a response signal is used which includes an ID, and only when the latest authenticated ID is stored in the ID-storage part, the controller performs searching by an urgent search method using a simple response signal which does not include an ID.