Description:A SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING ACCESS TO A VEHICLE
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to a system for facilitating access to a vehicle. In particular, the present disclosure relates to the system, where the system allows a vehicle’s user to unlock door of the vehicle using an external light source for a determine time period when battery of the vehicle is low to awake a vehicle body controller to unlock the door.
BACKGROUND
[0002] In recent times, automobile manufacturers are coming up with cutting edge technologies in order to enable user to control ones’ vehicle without any hassle and manual labor. Due to current competitive scenario, automobile manufacturers are providing solutions to not only enhance comfort level of the vehicle’s user while driving, but also aims to provide remote assistance or methodology that the user can adapt for troubleshooting some simple issues in the vehicle.
[0003] Typically, in case of discharge of the vehicle’s battery, the vehicle’s user may come up with certain alternatives for getting access to the vehicle. One such obvious technique is locking/unlocking of the vehicle’s door by a mechanical key; however, the technique lacks proper authentication and thus anyone can have access to the vehicle. Moreover, the mechanical key is also prone to be lost or stolen and may hinder access to the vehicle. Electronic keys may serve as an alternate solution to facilitate access to the vehicle, but in case of this solution, vehicle battery should be charged prior for key authentication.
[0004] Some of the other existing arrangements include locking/unlocking of the vehicle’s door by using a backup battery, or through mutual inductance by means of a smart phone. However, the backup battery being pre-assembled in the vehicle tends to increase overall weight of the vehicle and also impacts on cost. Moreover, the backup battery may also get discharged and may not serve suitably as and when required. Secondly, if maximum power rating of battery of the user’s smartphone is lower than the threshold voltage of the vehicle’s battery, the user cannot get an access to the vehicle by mutual inductance as mentioned. Moreover, the smartphone may not be equipped with an adequate transmitting coil in order to enable awakening of the vehicle body controller.
[0005] Another existing arrangement includes unlocking the vehicle’s door using a light source. However, such techniques do not provide any insight on the time period as required to continuously irradiate a PV-Cell (Photovoltaic-Cell) mounted on the vehicle’s door. More importantly, such arrangements also do not delineate any interdependency of the light source on time period; as a result of which it may lead the user to make any false judgement regarding functioning of the vehicle door locking system. Furthermore, the arrangement is not user friendly and do not make mention of user freedom to choose available light source to be used among different light sources in order to unlock the vehicle’s door.
[0006] Towards this direction, it is evident that a system is imperative in order to facilitate access to the vehicle where the vehicle’s user is not bounded by the above mentioned limitations.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfy, are listed herein below.
[0008] It is an object of the present subject matter to overcome the aforementioned and other drawbacks existing in the prior art systems and methods.
[0009] It is a significant object of the present disclosure to develop a system that is capable to allow access to a vehicle when the vehicle’s battery is in discharged condition.
[0010] It is an object of the present disclosure to develop the system that is capable to unlock vehicle by awaking the vehicle body controller by a charge storing device which is connected with a PV cell system and charged by an external light source.
[0011] It is another object of the present disclosure to develop the system that is capable dynamically estimating the time period for charging the charge storing device by the external light source based on intensity of light sources in order to unlock the vehicle.
[0012] It is another object of the present disclosure to develop the system that is able to dynamically determine/estimate time period required to apply the light from the external light source on the PV cell system of the vehicle based on state of health (SOH) and state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle’s battery along with intensity of the light source.
[0013] It is another object of the present disclosure to develop the system for unlocking vehicle’s door by an external light source where the system is user friendly and easy to implement.
[0014] These and other objects and advantages of the present subject matter, will be apparent to a person skilled in the art after consideration of the following detailed description, taken into consideration with accompanied drawings in which preferred embodiments of the present subject matter are illustrated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to a system for facilitating access to a vehicle. The concepts are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0016] According to an embodiment of the present subject matter, a system is provided to facilitate access to a vehicle when voltage of a battery is low and unable to awake a vehicle body controller to unlock door of the vehicle upon receiving an unlock command. The system comprising a telematics controller which is coupled with a battery controller via CAN-bus to receive state of charge (SOC) of a battery and with a body controller of the vehicle. The telematics controller is configured to determine state of health (SOH) of the battery when the state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than a predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1); and transmit an alerting message containing current battery voltage of the vehicle, the determined SOH of the battery, and a time stamp to a server when the current voltage (SOC) of the battery is less than predefined second threshold voltage value (VTH2). The system further comprises a photo voltaic cell system disposed at an exterior surface of the vehicle to receive light from an external light source for a determined or estimated time-period and convert the received light energy into electrical energy to awake the body controller to unlock the door of the vehicle upon authentication.
[0017] In an aspect, the telematics controller is coupled with a server through a wireless network and the server is coupled to a communicating device through the wireless network.
[0018] In an aspect, the determined time period is calculated on basis of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, the determined state of health (SOH) of the battery, and intensity of the external light source.
[0019] In an aspect, the photovoltaic (PV) cell is disposed to at least one door lock of the vehicle.
[0020] In another aspect, the PV cell system transfers the converted electrical energy into a charge storing unit, and wherein the charge storing unit transmits stored electrical energy to the body controller for activation.
[0021] In an aspect, the time stamp defines details of time and date on which alerting message is generated by the telematics controller.

[0022] In another embodiment of the present subject matter, a communicating device is disclosed which is coupled with a server to communicate with a telematics controller of a vehicle. The communicating device comprising one or more processors which is coupled with a memory having executable instructions to be executed by the one or more processor to determine time period required to keep an external light source ON to awake the body controller of the vehicle. The one or more processor is configured to establish a connection with the server via a wireless network; receive a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of a battery of the vehicle along with a time stamp from the server; select an external source of light from a plurality of external sources as displayed in a display unit of the communicating device; determine time period on the basis of the received SOC, the received SOH, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and selected external source of light; and display the determined time period.
[0023] In another embodiment of the present subject matter, a method is disclosed for facilitating access to a vehicle when voltage of a battery is low and unable to awake a body controller to unlock door of the vehicle upon receiving unlock command. The method comprising steps of determining, by a telematics controller, state of health (SOH) of a battery when state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than a predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1); transmitting, by the telematics controller, an alerting message containing current battery voltage of the vehicle, the determined SOH of the battery, and a time stamp to a server when the current voltage (SOC) of the battery is less than predefined second threshold voltage value (VTH2); and unlocking the door, by a photo voltaic cell system which is disposed at an exterior surface of the vehicle to receive light from an external light source for a dynamically determined or estimated time period and convert the received light energy into electrical energy to awake the body controller.
[0024] In yet another embodiment of the present subject matter, a method, implemented at a communicating device that includes one or more processors, for determining a time period required to keep an external light source ON to awake a body controller of the vehicle to unlock door. The method comprising receiving a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of a battery of the vehicle along with a time stamp from a server; selecting an external source of light from a plurality of external sources as displayed on the display unit of the communicating device; determining the time period on the basis of the received SOC, the received SOH, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and selected external source of light; and displaying the determined time period.
[0025] To further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit the scope of the present subject matter.
[0026] Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which numerals represent like components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING(S)
[0027] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The detailed description is given with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system or methods or structure in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which
[0028] Figure 1 depicts an exemplary network diagram of vehicle, server, and communicating device and communication among them in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0029] Figure 2 depicts an exemplary block diagram of a communicating device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0030] Figure 3 depicts an exemplary block flow diagram of the present subject matter, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present subject matter;
[0031] Figure 4 depicts an example method flow chart of the present subject matter illustrating communication between a telematics controller and a server in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0032] Figure 5 depicts an example method flow chart of the present subject matter illustrating communication between the server and a communicating device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0033] Figure 6 depicts exemplary method for determining state of health of battery of the vehicle by the telematics controller in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[0034] Figure 7 depicts exemplary method for charging the PV cell and unlock the door upon authentication in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0035] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0036] A few aspects of the present disclosure are explained in detail below with reference to the various figures. Example implementations are described to illustrate the disclosed subject matter, not to limit its scope, which is defined by the claims. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a number of equivalent variations of the various features provided in the description that follows.
Non limiting Definitions
[0037] In the disclosure hereinafter, one or more terms are used to describe various aspects of the present disclosure. For a better understanding of the present disclosure, a few definitions are provided herein for better understating of the present disclosure.
[0038] “State of health (SOH)” of a battery is an index parameter defining the level of degradation and remaining capacity of the battery. It is essentially the capacity of the battery to retain charge at a present time instant as compared to its rated value or as compared with a new battery.
[0039] “State of charge (SOC)” of a battery is defined as a ratio of available capacity of the battery to maximum possible charge that can be stored in a battery. For example, a fully charged battery has a SOC of ‘1’, whereas a completely discharged battery has a SOC of ‘0’.
[0040] “Telematics Control Unit (TCU)” of a vehicle may be defined as an embedded system capable of wirelessly connecting the vehicle to a plurality of cloud services or servers over a cellular or allied network.
Overview
[0041] While the embodiments of the disclosure are subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof have been shown by way of example in the figures and will be described below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.
[0042] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof used in the disclosure, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a device, system, assembly that comprises a list of components does not include only those components but may include other components not expressly listed or inherent to such system, or assembly, or device. In other words, one or more elements in a system or device proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or device.
[0043] The present disclosure intends to design and develop a system that is capable to a charge storing device to wake up a vehicle body controller by means of an external light source when voltage of the vehicle’s battery is low and therefore unable to awake a vehicle body controller to unlock door of the vehicle upon receiving unlock command. Herein, the system facilitates irradiation of the external light source for a dynamically estimated period of time depending on intensity of the external light source to be used for the purpose.
[0044] Figure 1 depicts an exemplary architectural or network layout of the system (102) in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The system (102) which is embedded in a vehicle (100) may comprise of a telematics controller (104), the vehicle body controller (108), a battery controller (106) which is coupled with a battery to determine state of charge condition and a photo voltaic (PV) cell system (110). The telematics controller (104) is coupled with a server (116) to send and receive vehicle related information, like GPS, Speed, Battery related information.
[0045] In an aspect, the telematics controller (104) is connected to the battery controller (106) via a controller area network (CAN) bus and is configured to receive state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle’s battery from the battery controller (106).
[0046] The telematics controller (104) is further configured to determine state of health (SOH) of the vehicle’s battery when the state of charge (SOC) received from the battery controller (106) becomes less than a predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1).
[0047] In an aspect, the telematics controller (104) is furthermore configured to transmit an alerting message containing battery voltage at current time instant along with the as determined SOH of the vehicle’s battery to a communicating device (112), through one or more networks (114) when SOC of the vehicle’s battery is less than a predefined second threshold value (VTH2). The alerting message may comprise a time stamp details along with the SOC and the SOH information. The alerting message may be shared by the server (116) to a dedicated vehicle application present in the communicating device (112) via one or networks (114). Moreover, an alerting message may also be transmitted as a short messaging service (SMS) or as any other form of notification in order to just inform the vehicle’s user about discharge of the battery. Consequently, the authenticated communicating device (112) can access the information and act in accordance to the user’s instructions. Herein, the one or more networks (114) includes, but not limited to, 2G network, 3G network, 4G network, LTE network, 5G network, 6G network, and so forth.
[0048] To calculate or determine the SOH of the battery, the telematics controller (104) determine applied loads, for example, vehicle’s alarm, an exterior/interior lamp of the vehicle, dark current supply, etc., on the battery when the state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than the predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1). The telematics controller (104) determines a time stamp (T1) when the state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than the predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1) and stored the same in its memory. The controller (104) determines a time stamp (T2) when state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is decreased by a predefined voltage (V1) from the predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1); and determine the SOH based on load values of the applied loads and difference of time (T3=T2-T1) between the time stamp (T1) and the time stamp (T2) and other electrical parameters such as open circuit voltage, short circuit current, etc.
[0049] In an aspect, the PV cell system (110) is disposed at an exterior surface, preferably at least at one door lock/handle of the vehicle, and is configured to receive light from an external light source for a determined time. The PV cell system (110) upon reception of the light energy converts the same into electrical energy. The converted electrical energy is stored in charge storing unit such as but not limited to a capacitor unit, so as to provide sufficient electrical energy to activate the vehicle body controller (108) for unlocking the vehicle’s door upon authentication. Here, the as determined time may be dynamically estimated by an application installed in the communicating device (112) of the user based on state of charge (SOC) of the battery, as determined state of health (SOH) of the battery, passage of time from the receipt of the alerting message in the server, and intensity of external light source to be used for providing and storing electrical energy in the charge storing unit, that is utilized to awake the vehicle body controller (108).
[0050] In an aspect, the telematics controller (104), the battery controller (106) and the vehicle body controller (108) may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities as discussed previously. In examples described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. In one example, the programming may be processor executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware may include a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions. In other examples, the telematics controller (104), the battery controller (106) and all similar controllers may also be implemented by electronic circuitry.
[0051] Referring to Figure 2, in yet another embodiment, the communicating device (112) may also comprise of one or more processors (202) along with memory (204) having executable instructions to be executed by the one or more processor (202) to dynamically determine/estimate time period required to keep an external light source ON to awake a body controller of the vehicle to unlock the door. The communicating device (112) is coupled with the server (116) to communicate with the telematics controller (104) of a vehicle (100). The communicating device (112) has a vehicle communication unit (206) which provides set of executable instructions to be executed by the one or more processor (202) to perform the dedicated actions and display the result to the user via a display unit (208) of the communicating device (110).
[0052] In an aspect, the one or more processors (202) of the communicating device (112) configured to execute instructions to establish connection with the server (116) via a wireless network. Upon establish communication with the server (116), the communicating device (112) receives a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of a battery of the vehicle (100) along with a time stamp from the server (116). The communicating device (112) display a list of predefined light sources to the user for selection on the display screen of the communicating device (112). Upon selection of the light source from the plurality of light sources, the communicating device (112) dynamically determines time period on the basis of the received SOC, the received SOH, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and selected external source of light. The communicating device (112) displays the determined time period on the display screen via the display unit (208) to indicate the user to keep the selected external light source ON for the displayed time period and switch ON the selected external light source as per the timer available on the screen.
[0053] Exemplary illustrations for time period is given below:
[0054] For example, say the state of health (SOH) of the vehicle’s battery is fixed to 90% and the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle’s battery for one used case be ?V1 and for another used case be ?V2, where ?V1 is greater than that of ?V2. Herein, if an external light source of fixed intensity is opted for both the used cases the time (t1) required to charge the charge storing unit in the first case is less than the time (t2) required to the charge storing unit for the second case.
[0055] Example:
Battery Voltage (SOC) Battery SOH Light Source Opted Timer T1
6.5 90% Torch (4W) 7sec.
6 90% Torch (4W) 9sec.

[0056] In another example, say the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle’s battery is fixed to V3, but state of health (SOH) of the vehicle’s battery for a first used case and a second used case be H1 and H2 where H1 is greater than that of H2. If the vehicle’s user selects an external light source of a fixed intensity to provide electrical energy to the charge storing unit for both the cases, the time (t1) required to charge the charge storing unit in the first case is less than the time (t2) required to charge the vehicle’s battery for the second case.
Battery Voltage (SOC) Battery SOH Light Source Opted Timer T1
6.5 90% Torch (4W) 7sec.
6.5 70% Torch (4W) 10sec.

[0057] In yet another example, say both the state of charge (SOC) and the state of health (SOH) of the vehicle’s battery is fixed and say an external light source having an intensity of I1 and I2 are selected to charge the charge storing unit for both the used cases, where I1 is less than that of I2. In such cases, the system will operate in a manner such that the time (t1) as required to charge the charge storing unit for the first used case is higher than the time (t2) required to charge the charge storing unit for the second used case.
Battery Voltage (SOC) Battery SOH Light Source Opted Timer T1
6.5 90% Torch (4W) 7sec.
6.5 90% Torch (10W) 4sec.

[0058] In an aspect, the external light sources may be of low intensity (includes but are not limited to for example, smartphone flash, key fob LED etc.), medium intensity (includes but are not limited to torch, laser light, etc.) or high intensity (includes but are not limited to vehicle headlight, sunlight, etc.).
[0059] The one or more processors (202) of the communicating device (112) may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the processing unit. In examples described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the one or more processors (202) may be processor executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the communicating device (112) may include a processing resource (for example, one or more processors (202)), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing unit. In such examples, the one or more processor (202) and the memory (204) may be implemented by electronic circuitry.
[0060] Figure 3 illustrate flow of action to unlock the door of the vehicle. At step (302), the user (304) operates the communicating device (112) to check the determined time period and to operate the timer for the determined time period. At step (306), an external light source is shown which is used to charge the PV cell (at step 308) of the PV cell system (110) to charge the charge storing unit such as capacitor for waking up the vehicle body controller (108) at step (310). When the vehicle body controller (108) is awake and user is authenticated by the remote key upon pressing the unlock button, the body controller (108) unlocks the door and allow access to the user.
[0061] Figure 4 depicts an example method flow chart of the present subject matter illustrating communication between a telematics controller and a server in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The order in which the method (400) is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks may be combined in any order to implement the method (400), or an alternative method. Furthermore, method (400) may be implemented by processing resource or computing device(s) through any suitable hardware, non-transitory machine-readable medium/instructions, or combination thereof. The method comprising:
[0062] At step (402), the method includes receiving SOC of the battery from the battery controller coupled with the telematics controller (104) via CAN-bus.
[0063] At step (404), the method includes determining, by the telematics controller (104), state of health (SOH) of a battery when state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than a predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1).
[0064] At step (406), the method includes transmitting, by the telematics controller (104), an alerting message containing current battery voltage of the vehicle, the determined SOH of the battery, and a time stamp to the server (116) when the current voltage (SOC) of the battery is less than predefined second threshold voltage value (VTH2).
[0065] Figure 5 illustrate working of the communicating device (110) to determine/estimate the time period dynamically on the basis of the SOC, SOH and time interval between current time and time stamp stored in the server (116). The order in which the method (500) is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks may be combined in any order to implement the method (500), or an alternative method.
[0066] At step (502), the method incudes establishing connection with the server (116) via wireless network (114).
[0067] At step (504), the method includes receiving a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of a battery of the vehicle (100) along with a time stamp from the server (116).
[0068] At step (506), the method includes selecting an external source of light from a plurality of external sources as displayed on the communicating device (112).
[0069] At step (508), the method includes dynamically determining the time period on the basis of the received SOC, the received SOH, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and selected external source of light.
[0070] At step (510), the method includes displaying the determined time period.

[0071] Figure 6 illustrates dynamic calculation or determination (600) of the state of Health (SOH) of the battery by the telematics controller (104) based on the State of Charge (SOC) of the battery and its depletion rate.
[0072] At step (602), the method includes determining whether the current voltage of the battery is less than the predefined first voltage value (VTH1). The method includes determining a time stamp (T1) when the state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than the predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1).
[0073] At step (604), the method includes determining applied loads on the battery when the state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than the predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1).
[0074] At step (606) and (608), the method includes determining a time stamp (T2) when state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is decreased by a predefined voltage (V1) from the predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1). For example, the predefined voltage (V1) is 0.2V when the current voltage is less than VTH1-0.2, the telematics controller (104) determine the time period in which voltage is decreased by the 0.2V.
[0075] At step (610), the method includes storing time value T1, T2, and applied loads in the memory (204).
[0076] At step (612), the method includes determining the SOH based on load values of the applied loads and difference of time (T3=T2-T1) between the time stamp (T1) and the time stamp (T2) and other electrical parameters that may include but are not limited to open circuit voltage, short circuit current, etc.
Working of the present subject matter
[0077] Figure 7 illustrate an exemplary method of working of the present subject matter to unlock the door when the vehicle battery is low and unable to awake the body controller to unlock the door in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0078] At step (702), the method includes selecting the light source by the user on the communicating device (112) from the displayed list of a plurality of communicating devices.
[0079] At step (704), the method includes, displaying the dynamically estimated/determined time period for the selected light source or external light source.
[0080] At step (706), the method includes accessing the PV cell system (110) provide on the vehicle door, specifically, the vehicle door lock handle.
[0081] At step (708), the method includes throwing light on the PV cell by the selected external source of light for the determined time period as displayed on the communicating device (112).
[0082] At step (710), the method includes the PV cell of the PV cell system (110) convert the light energy into electrical energy.
[0083] At step (712), the method includes the PV cell charge the charge storing unit such as, but not limited to capacitor unit which will store the electrical energy to wake up the body controller.
[0084] At step (714), the method includes determining whether vehicle body controller (108) is wake up or not. When the vehicle body controller (108) is awake by the charge storing unit, the method proceeds to step 716. When the vehicle body controller (108) is unable to awake, the method proceeds to step 718.
[0085] At step (716), the method includes after the body controller (108) activation (714), authenticating the remote key by providing lock/unlock command from the remote key.
[0086] At step (718), the method includes indicating malfunction in the door locking system. After expiration of the dynamically determined time period, the vehicle body controller (108) is still not activated, which can be estimated by checking locking and unlocking commands from the remote key and receiving no response from the vehicle, it indicates to the user that there is some malfunction in the door locking system that may also include the PV cell system (110) which can be rectified (724) at authorised service centre. Accordingly, the user does not keep charging the PV cell system for long time to wake the vehicle body controller (108) which saves user time and fatigue.
[0087] At step (718), the method includes authenticating the user. When authentication is successful, the method proceeds to step (722). When authentication fails, the method proceed to step (724), i.e., taking no action such as door will not unlock.
[0088] At step (722), the method includes locking/unlocking the door upon successful authentication.
[0089] At step (724), the method includes no action as authentication fails.

Technical Advantages

[0090] All in all, the invention described in the present disclosure is having the following advantages:
[0091] If photo voltaic cell system (110) is not faulty and the time required to turn ON the light source is high, then user might turn OFF the light source prematurely, assuming that the PV cell is faulty, before the body controller wakes up. Thanks to the present subject matter which provide an indication to the user to know the exact time for which light source needs to be kept ON.
[0092] If PV Cell system (110) is faulty or other error in the system after battery discharged and user has no time estimation, user will continue to throw light at PV Cell which redundantly leads to wastage of time and energy. Thanks to the present subject matter which allows the user to easily detect this condition and get the issue fixed at the service center.
[0093] In the present subject matter, the user has freedom to use available light source among the displayed different categories of lights.
[0094] Moreover, the invention disclosed in the present subject matter is user friendly and provides hassle free solutions to the vehicle’s user.

Equivalents
[0095] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various systems that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the above mentioned description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures.
[0096] Although embodiments for the present subject matter have been described in language specific to package features, it is to be understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/device of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.
[0097] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances, where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
[0098] It will be further appreciated that functions or structures of a plurality of components or steps may be combined into a single component or step, or the functions or structures of one-step or component may be split among plural steps or components. The present invention contemplates all of these combinations. Unless stated otherwise, dimensions and geometries of the various structures depicted herein are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, and other dimensions or geometries are possible. In addition, while a feature of the present invention may have been described in the context of only one of the illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, for any given application. It will also be appreciated from the above that the fabrication of the unique structures herein and the operation thereof also constitute methods in accordance with the present invention. The present invention also encompasses intermediate and end products resulting from the practice of the methods herein. The use of “comprising” or “including” also contemplates embodiments that “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the recited feature.
, Claims:We Claim:
1. A system (102) for facilitating access to a vehicle when voltage of a battery is low and unable to awake a body controller to unlock door of the vehicle upon receiving unlock command, the system (102) comprising:
a telematics controller (104) coupled with a battery controller (106) to receive state of charge (SOC) of a battery, the telematics controller (104) configured to:
determine state of health (SOH) of the battery when the state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than a predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1);
transmit an alerting message containing current battery voltage of the vehicle, the determined SOH of the battery, and a time stamp to a server when the current voltage (SOC) of the battery is less than predefined second threshold voltage value (VTH2); and
a photo voltaic cell system (110) disposed at an exterior surface of the vehicle to receive light from a selected external light source for a determined time-period and convert the received light energy into electrical energy to awake the body controller to unlock the door of the vehicle upon authentication.
2. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the telematics controller (104) is coupled with a server (116) (114) and wherein the server (116) is coupled with a communicating device (112).
3. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determined time period is dynamically calculated on basis of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, the determined state of health (SOH) of the battery, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and intensity of the selected external light source.
4. The system (102) as claimed in claim 2 and 3, wherein the external source of light is selected, by a user, from a group of a plurality of different external sources of light displayed on a display unit (208) of the communicating device (112), the group of the plurality of different external sources of light comprising low intensity external light sources, medium intensity external light sources and a high intensity external light sources.
5. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the photovoltaic (PV) cell is disposed to at least one door lock of the vehicle.
6. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the PV cell system (110) transfers the converted electrical energy into a charge storing unit, and wherein the charge storing unit transmits stored electrical energy to the body controller for activation.
7. The system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the time stamp defines details of time and date on which alerting message is generated by the telematics controller (104).
8. A communicating device (112) coupled with a server (116) to communicate with a telematics controller (104) of a vehicle, the communicating device (112) comprising:
one or more processors (202) coupled with a memory (204) having executable instructions to be executed by the one or more processor (202) to dynamically determine time period required to keep an external light source ON to awake a body controller of the vehicle, the one or more processor (202) configured to:
establish a connection with the server;
receive a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of a battery of the vehicle (100) along with a time stamp from the server (116);
select an external source of light from a plurality of different external sources as displayed on a display unit (208) of the communicating device (112;
dynamically determine time period on the basis of the received SOC, the received SOH, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and selected external source of light; and
display the determined time period on display unit (208).

9. The communicating device (112) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the external source of light is selected, by a user, from a group of the plurality of different external sources of light displayed on the display unit (208) of the communicating device (112), the group of the plurality of different external sources of light comprising low intensity external light sources, medium intensity external light sources and high intensity external light sources.
10. A method (400) for facilitating access to a vehicle when voltage of a battery is low and unable to awake a body controller to unlock door of the vehicle upon receiving unlock command, the method comprising:
receiving (402) state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle’s battery by a telematics controller (104) from a battery controller (106);
determining (404), by the telematics controller (104), state of health (SOH) of a battery when state of charge (SOC) (V) of the battery is less than a predefined first threshold voltage value (VTH1);
transmitting (406), by the telematics controller (104), an alerting message containing current battery voltage of the vehicle, the determined SOH of the battery, and a time stamp to a server when the current voltage (SOC) of the battery is less than predefined second threshold voltage value (VTH2); and
unlocking (412) the door, by a photo voltaic (PV) cell system (110) which is disposed at an exterior surface of the vehicle to receive light from a selected external light source for a determined time-period and convert the received light energy into electrical energy to awake the body controller.
11. The method (400) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the telematics controller (104) coupled with a server (116) (114) and wherein the server (116) is coupled with a communicating device (112)
12. The method (400) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the determined time is dynamically calculated on basis of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, the determined state of health (SOH) of the battery, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and intensity of the external light source.
13. The method (400) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the time stamp defines details of time and date on which alerting message is generated by the telematics controller (104).
14. A method (500), implemented at a communicating device (112) that includes one or more processors (202), for determining a time period required to keep an external light source ON to awake a body controller of a vehicle (100) to unlock door, the method (500) comprising:
establishing (502) connection with a server (116;
receiving (504) a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of a battery of the vehicle (100) along with a time stamp from the server (116);
selecting (506) an external source of light from a plurality of external sources as displayed on the communicating device (112);
dynamically determining (508) the time period on the basis of the received SOC, the received SOH, time interval between current time and the time stamp, and selected external source of light; and
displaying the determined time period.
15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the external source of light is selected, by a user, from a group of a plurality of different external sources of light displayed on a display unit (208) of the communicating device (112), the group of the plurality of different external sources of light comprising low intensity external light sources, medium intensity external light sources and high intensity external light sources.