Description:Complete Specification:
The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

Field of the invention
[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of automotive chassis safety and protection. In particular, the present invention discloses system adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle and a method thereof.

Background of the invention
[0002] The vehicle door opening warning systems have become an indispensable part of automotive chassis protection and occupant safety. It is necessary to prevent accidents happening during opening the car door and to provide safety to the occupants. The different kinds of implementation for Door Open Prevention system, after the car is parked, is well known in the state of the art. In the current implementations, the warning is issued after the occupant pulls the door handle to open the door.

[0003] US patent application US2021264172 AA titled Apparatus and method for controlling door opening discloses a door opening control apparatus and a door opening control method thereof are provided. The door opening control apparatus includes a recognizer configured to recognize a surrounding obstacle based on sensor recognition information received from a plurality of sensors, a determiner configured to calculate a maximum opening angle of a door for preventing collision with the recognized surrounding obstacle and to determine a risk of collision between the door and the surrounding obstacle based on the calculated maximum opening angle, and a controller configured to control an opening angle of the door to prevent the door from colliding with the surrounding obstacle when determining that the risk of collision is present.

[0004] However, in the scenarios of sudden opening the door after the car is parked/stopped, there would be a system limitation to lock the doors due to a short duration of time between pulling the door handle and opening the door since the system should activate the mechanical process internally to lock the doors in this short duration. Currently there are no means or solutions for early detection of occupant’s intention to open the door and thereby provide extra time for the system to lock the doors. This invention provides the solution by the early detection of occupant’s intention to open the door and thereby providing an extra time for the system to lock the doors.

Brief description of the accompanying drawings
[0005] An embodiment of the invention is described with reference to the following accompanying drawings:
[0006] Figure 1 depicts a system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle;
[0007] Figure 2 illustrates method steps to operate a door lock of a vehicle.

Detailed description of the drawings

[0008] Figure 1 depicts a system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle. The system (100) comprises a plurality of radar sensors (20), a control unit (10), an audio-visual unit (30) and at least one proximity sensor. The system (100) is activated when the vehicle speed is below a pre-determined threshold for example 5km/hr.

[0009] The plurality of radar sensors (20) are installed on the vehicle. Radar sensors (20) are used to detect objects approaching and objects stationary to each of the vehicle door. Radar sensors (20) recognize, pinpoint their (objects) position, and also measure their speed in comparison to the movement of the own vehicle. The sensors can recognize and process the exact position, speed, and movement direction of multiple objects and people simultaneously. The plurality of radar sensors (20) in communication with the control unit (10).

[0010] The control unit (10) of the vehicle is processor is logic circuitry and software programs that respond to and processes logical instructions to get a meaningful result. Modern day vehicle may contain a plurality of control unit s like the Airbag control unit, Transmission control unit, Glow time control unit, Heating control unit, Vehicle charge communication unit, Engine control unit, Vehicle control unit. Each control unit coordinates the components specific to them for example an Engine control unit can provide torque coordination, operation and gearshift strategies, high-voltage and 48V coordination, charging control, on board diagnosis, monitoring, thermal management and much more for electrified and connected powertrains. The control unit (10) used in this system (100) could any one of the above or separate new device. The control unit (10) may be implemented in the system as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries, and/or any component that operates on signals based on operational instructions.

[0011] The control unit (10) is in communication with the audio-visual unit (30) inside the vehicle. The audio-visual unit (30) could be any automotive head unit or the vehicle infotainment system (100). The audio-visual unit (30) is capable of displaying visual warning or providing an auditory warning to the occupants of the vehicle. The control unit (10) operates the audio-visual unit (30) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40).

[0012] The proximity sensors (40) are installed proximate to each door lock controller (50) inside the vehicle. The proximity sensors (40) are a group of sensors that includes all sensors that perform non-contact detection i.e. detect objects without physically contacting them. Proximity sensors (40) convert information on the movement or presence of an object into an electrical signal. The most prominent type of proximity sensor used is the photoelectric sensor as they have very short range of detection i.e. less than 1cm (example is the one which is installed in our phones). In the present system (100), this functionality of the proximity sensors (40) is used to determine an intention of the occupant i.e. whether or not they are trying to access the door lock to open a vehicle door.

[0013] The door lock controllers (50) are in communication with the control unit (10). The door lock controllers (50) could be an electrical or mechanical or an electro-mechanical means to open the vehicle door. The control unit (10) operates the door lock controllers (50) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40).

[0014] It should be understood at the outset that, although exemplary embodiments are illustrated in the figures and described below, the present disclosure should in no way be limited to the exemplary implementations and techniques illustrated in the drawings and described below.

[0001] Figure 2 illustrates method steps to operate a door lock of a vehicle. The vehicle and the system (100) adapted to execute the method steps have been elaborated in accordance with figure 1. For clarity it is reiterated that vehicle comprises a plurality of radar sensors (20), said plurality of radar sensors (20) are in communication with a control unit (10) of the vehicle. The control unit (10) is in communication with an audio-visual unit (30) inside the vehicle. The control unit (10) is further in communication with at least one proximity sensor installed proximate to each door lock controller (50) of the vehicle.

[0002] Method step 201 comprises detecting objects approaching and objects stationary to each of the vehicle door by means of the plurality of radar sensors (20). Using the radar sensors (20), the system (100) can pinpoint approaching road users such as cars, cyclists, scooters, and motorcyclists, precisely and in real time. The radar sensors (20) process the exact position, speed, and movement direction of multiple objects and people simultaneously and communication this information to the control unit (10).

[0003] Method step 202 comprises ascertaining an occupant intention from each of the proximity sensors (40). Proximity sensors (40) detect any movement/presence of hand approaching very close to the door lock controller (50)s. The presence/movement of hand approaching very close to the door lock gives us a positive intention of an occupant trying to open a door lock of a vehicle door.

[0004] Method step 203 comprises operating the door lock controller (50) by means of the control unit (10) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40). The control unit (10) locks one or more door lock controller (50)s when the plurality of radar sensors (20) detect objects approaching or objects stationary to at least one vehicle door and the proximity sensors (40) ascertain positive occupant intention.

[0005] Method step 204 comprises operating the audio-visual unit (30) by means of the control unit (10) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40). The control unit (10) triggers an audio or visual warning in the audio-visual unit (30) when the plurality of radar sensors (20) detect objects approaching or objects stationary to at least one vehicle door and the proximity sensors (40) ascertain positive occupant intention.

[0006] Current implementations of similar door opening warning and prevention systems in the OEMs gives the warning when the occupant operates the door lock controller (50) to open the door. There is a chance that the collision might happen before the system (100) gives the warning since there is very short time available between operating the door lock controller (50) and opening the door. This idea to develop a system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle gives extra time to the system (100) to act upon and lock the doors automatically via the door lock controller (50) as driver/passenger’s hand movement is tracked to understand the intention of him/her to open the door.

[0007] A person skilled in the art will appreciate that while these method steps describes only a series of steps to accomplish the objectives, these methodologies may be implemented with modification and adaptations to the proposed system (100) and method without departing from the scope of the invention. It must be understood that the embodiments explained in the above detailed description are only illustrative and do not limit the scope of this invention. Any modification to the system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle are envisaged and form a part of this invention. The scope of this invention is limited only by the claims.
, Claims:We Claim:

1. A system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle, said system (100) comprising a plurality of radar sensors (20) installed on the vehicle, said plurality of radar sensors (20) in communication with a control unit (10) of the vehicle, said control unit (10) in communication with an audio-visual unit (30) inside the vehicle, characterized in that system (100):
at least one proximity sensor installed proximate to each door lock controller (50) inside the vehicle, said door lock controllers (50) in communication with the control unit (10).

2. The system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system (100) is activated when the vehicle speed is below a pre-determined threshold.

3. The system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit (10) operates the door lock controllers (50) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40).

4. The system (100) adapted to operate a door lock of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit (10) operates the audio-visual unit (30) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40).

5. A method (200) to operate a door lock of vehicle, said vehicle comprising a plurality of radar sensors (20), said plurality of radar sensors (20) in communication with a control unit (10) of the vehicle, said control unit (10) in communication with an audio-visual unit (30) inside the vehicle, said control unit (10) further in communication with at least one proximity sensor installed proximate to each door lock controller (50) of the vehicle, the method steps comprising:
detecting objects approaching and objects stationary to each of the vehicle door by means of the plurality of radar sensors (20);
ascertaining an occupant intention from each of the proximity sensors (40);
operating the door lock controller (50) by means of the control unit (10) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40);
operating the audio-visual unit (30) by means of the control unit (10) in dependence of the communication received from the plurality of radar sensors (20) and the proximity sensors (40).

6. The method to (200) operate a door lock of vehicle as claimed in 5, wherein the control unit (10) locks one or more door lock controller (50)s when the plurality of radar sensors (20) detect objects approaching or objects stationary to at least one vehicle door and the proximity sensors (40) ascertain positive occupant intention.

7. The method (200) to operate a door lock of vehicle as claimed in 5, wherein the control unit (10) triggers an audio or visual warning in the audio-visual unit (30) when the plurality of radar sensors (20) detect objects approaching or objects stationary to at least one vehicle door and the proximity sensors (40) ascertain positive occupant intention