Patent ID: 8400262

Claim:
A keyless entry device of a vehicle comprising: transmission means installed in the vehicle for transmitting a search signal to a search range including an area inside the vehicle and a vicinity area outside the vehicle; reply means installed in a portable device carried by a user for transmitting a reply signal when receiving the search signal at several locations within the search range; determination means for individually determining whether the portable device is present in the area inside the vehicle and the vicinity area outside the vehicle within the search range on the basis of the reply signal transmitted from the portable device; and control means for controlling locking or unlocking of a door of the vehicle on the basis of the determination result of the determination means, wherein upon controlling the locking of the door, the control means changes a status of the door from an unlocked status to a locked status under a condition that the determination means determines that the portable device is present in the vicinity area outside the vehicle at least once, and wherein the determination means, as a first procedure, determines whether the portable device is present in the vicinity area outside the vehicle when the transmitting means transmits the search signal, wherein the determination means, as a second procedure, determines whether the portable device is present inside the vehicle when the determination means determines that the portable device is not present in the vicinity area outside the vehicle, wherein the determination means, as a third procedure, determines whether the portable device is present in the vicinity area outside the vehicle, when the determination means determines that the portable device is present in the vicinity area outside the vehicle in the first procedure, wherein the determination means, as a fourth procedure, determines whether the portable device is present inside the vehicle, when the determination means determines that the portable device is not present in the vicinity area outside the vehicle, and wherein the control means performs control to switch a status of the door from an unlocked status to a locked status, when the determination means determines that the portable device is not present inside the vehicle in the fourth procedure.