The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 30, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 12, 2005
Christopher M Kurpinski, Berkley, MI (US);
Justin P Mcbride, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Keiichi Aoyama, Novi, MI (US);
Thomas J Keeling, Plymouth, MI (US);
Michael a Wiegand, Birmingham, MI (US);
Tanemichi Chiba, Novi, MI (US);
Hiroto Uesaka, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Christopher M Kurpinski, Berkley, MI (US);
Justin P McBride, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
Keiichi Aoyama, Novi, MI (US);
Thomas J Keeling, Plymouth, MI (US);
Michael A Wiegand, Birmingham, MI (US);
Tanemichi Chiba, Novi, MI (US);
Hiroto Uesaka, West Bloomfield, MI (US);
DENSO International America, Inc., Southfield, MI (US);
Abstract
A hands-free vehicle door opener utilizes a spring-loaded mechanical pushing device, or other method, to open a vehicle door a few inches upon a laser emitting device sensing a foot in its emitted laser. The laser is emitted from the laser emitter upon the key fob of a smart key being validated by the vehicle's smart key validation system when a user approaches the vehicle with the smart key fob. When the laser beam is interrupted, a signal is sent from a smart ECU to a door lock ECU, which unlocks the vehicle door. Next, a signal is sent to a door open ECU to unlatch the vehicle door. Upon door unlatching, the spring-loaded pushing device pushes open the vehicle door. Instead of a laser emitting device being used as the sensor, a device with electrical contacts, an ultrasonic wave emitting sensing device, or other device could be used.