FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10, rule 13)
1. Title of the Invention:
“A VEHICLE ACCESS SYSTEM AND A METHOD FOR PROVIDING SECURE ACCESS TO A VEHICLE”
2. APPLICANT (S) -
(a) Name : MINDA CORPORATION LIMITED
(b) Nationality : Indian
(c)Address : E-5/2, Chakan Industrial Area, Phase-III,
M.I.D.C, Nanekarwadi, Tal: Khed, Dist. Pune -410501, Maharashtra, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

Field of the Invention
The present subject matter is related, in general, to providing remote access of a vehicle and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a system and a method for providing secure access to the vehicle.
Background of the Invention
Accessing vehicles remotely provides convenience to vehicle users. Now a days, remote accessing feature can be observed in almost every segment of vehicles. According to this feature, the user can remotely start/stop an engine of the vehicle using a remote device. Though, this feature provides luxury and convenience to the users, however it also increases risk of unauthorized access. Since the communication or instructions for starting/stopping happens using existing technologies like low frequency (LF)/radio frequency (RF) or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)/Near Field Communications (NFC), the chances of relay attack increases. This is because, in such passive type of communication, the remote device of the user automatically starts communicating with an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle, once the remote device comes in communication range of the vehicle.
Though this feature gives a good level of comfort to the user, however it also gives opportunity to an unauthorized person or a hacker to perform relay attacks. In such type of attacks, the unauthorized person may mimic the signa/communication between the remote device and ECU of the vehicle by using his/her own device. In other words, the hacker makes his/her device to act as a remote device for communicating with the ECU of the vehicle. Thus, there is challenge of securely accessing the vehicles having such remote accessing feature.
The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Objects of the Invention
An object of the present invention is to facilitate secure access of a vehicle by overcoming limitations of passive type communication techniques.
Another object of the present invention is to improve user’s or driver’s experience while using the remote access of the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to improve speed of the communication between remote device and ECU, thereby reducing the risk of relay attacks.
Summary of the Invention
The present disclosure overcomes one or more shortcomings of the prior art and provides additional advantages discussed throughout the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.
In one non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, a vehicle access system for providing a secure access to a vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle access system comprises a remote device and an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to communicate with each other. The remote device comprises a remote transmitter having a light emitting source configured to transmit light towards the ECU. The remote device also comprises a remote photo detector. Further, the transmitted light comprises data in an encoded form for authentication. Further, the ECU comprises an ECU photo detector configured to detect the light transmitted by the remote transmitter, and an ECU transmitter having a light emitting source. The ECU also comprises a processor configured to decode the data detected by the ECU photo detector by authenticating a secret key present in the data. The secret key comprises unique identification information associated with the remote device and the ECU. The processor further encodes acknowledgement data to be transmitted by the ECU transmitter to the remote photo detector based on the decoding. Further, the transmitting and the receiving of the data between the remote device and the

ECU is performed using light fidelity (Li-Fi) technology in such a manner that switching of the light emitting source, of the remote transmitter and the ECU transmitter, from one state to another state permits the transmission of the data in form of binary codes.
In one non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of providing a secure access to a vehicle is disclosed. The method comprises providing a communication between a remote device and an electronic control unit (ECU). The method further comprises transmitting, by a remote transmitter having light emitting source of the remote device, light towards the ECU. The transmitted light comprises data in an encoded form. Further, the method comprises detecting, by an ECU photo detector of the ECU, the light transmitted by the remote transmitter. The method further comprises decoding, by a processor of the ECU, the data detected by the ECU photo detector by authenticating a secret key present in the data. The secret key comprises unique identification information associated with the remote device and the ECU. The method further comprises encoding, by the processor of the ECU, acknowledgment data to be transmitted by ECU transmitter, of the ECU, to the remote photo detector based on the decoding. Further, the transmitting and the receiving of the data between the remote device and the ECU is performed using light fidelity (Li-Fi) technology in such a manner that switching of the light emitting source, of the remote transmitter and the ECU transmitter, from one state to another state permits the transmission of the data in form of binary codes.
The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.
Brief description of the drawings
The embodiments of the disclosure itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the

accompanying drawings. One or more embodiments are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows an exemplary environment 100 for providing secure access to a vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Figure 2 shows block diagram 200 illustrating a vehicle access system for providing secure access to the vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Figure 3 shows a method 300 of providing secure access to the vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily 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 of the Invention
The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description of the disclosure that follows may be better understood. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the 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 disclosure.
The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.

Disclosed herein is a vehicle access system which comprises a remote device and an electronic control unit (ECU). The remote device and the ECU communicate with each other using light fidelity (Li-Fi) technology which helps in making the communication not only secure but also faster. The remote device may be carried by user of the vehicle to perform start/stop operation of the vehicle’s engine. Unlike the conventional passive type communication, the technique disclosed in the present disclosure helps in providing more secure environment by using the Li-Fi technology.
It may happen that an unauthorized person may try to access the vehicle by mimicking the signals between the remote device and the ECU. However, by using the Li-Fi technology, the present disclosure avoids or eliminates such type intrusion. Also, since the Li-Fi uses light as a communication medium between the remote device and the ECU, the speed of the communication also gets faster when compared with the conventional LF/RF or BLE/NFC techniques used in the field of remote vehicle access.
Figure 1 shows an exemplary environment 100 for providing secure access of a vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It must be understood to a person skilled in art that the present invention may also be implemented in various environments, other than as shown in Fig. 1. Further, it may be also understood to the skilled person that, the present invention may be implemented in various types of vehicles including, but not limited to, two-wheeler, three-wheeler, four-wheeler, or in any transport vehicle. The environment 100 includes the vehicle access system 102 comprising a remote device 104 and an electronic control unit (ECU) 106. According to an embodiment, the remote device 104 may be a separate device handled by the user. However, according to other embodiments, the functionality of the remote device 104 may also be implemented into user’s mobile device. Hence, the user may use his/her mobile device as the remote device 104, as disclosed in the present disclosure.
Further, the ECU 106 may be installed within the vehicle. According to an embodiment, the ECU 106 may be connected with a solenoid or an electric steering column lock

(ESCL) associated with the vehicle for performing lock and unlock operation. The ECU 106 and the remote device 104 may communicate with each other using Li-Fi technology for providing secure access to the vehicle. However, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ECU 106 and the remote device 104 may communicate with each other using different combinations of the technologies, for example, a combination of Li-Fi technology and a radio frequency (RF) technology or a combination of Li-Fi technology and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology or in a combination of Li-Fi technology and a near-field communication (NFC) technology. Further, according to the other embodiments of the present disclosure, the user may use the remote device 104 having the Li-Fi technology as a secondary key, in case of battery drain / non-functioning of primary key remote device 104 equipped with. a RF/LF or BLE/NFC technology for accessing & locating the vehicle.
When the user wishes to start the vehicle, he/she may operate the remote device 104 by pressing a button or using touch screen or by giving a command to transmit light from the remote device 104. Here, it may be understood that, the light transmitted from the remote device 104 may comprise data in an encoded form. The data may carry authentication information required for authenticating the remote device 104. While, on the other hand, the ECU 106 may receive the light (encoded data) transmitted by the remote device 104. The ECU 106 may perform the decoding of the encoded data for validating the remote device 104. Once the remote device 104 gets validated, the ECU 106 may also send acknowledgement data using the light or RF or BLE to the remote device 104 to confirm the successful authentication. This way, the transmission of the light between the remote device 104 and the ECU 106 provides secure access to the vehicle. The upcoming paragraphs describes the working of the vehicle access system in detail.
Figure 2 shows block diagram illustrating a vehicle access system for providing a secure access to the vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The vehicle access system 102 may comprise a remote device 104 and an electronic control unit (ECU) 106. In this section, how the vehicle access system 102 is implemented and how the various components of the remote device 104 and the ECU 106

interacts with each other are described in detail. According to an embodiment of present disclosure, the remote device 104 may be a separate hand-held device used by the user of the vehicle. For example, the remote device 104 may be in a form of, but not limited to, FOB or a remote control or a key which the user may carry with himself/herself. According to another embodiment, the user may also use his/her mobile device as the remote device 104. The purpose of the remote device 104 is to help the user to communicate with the vehicle for performing starting/stopping of the vehicle’s engine. Stated another way, the remote device 104 provides the remote access of the vehicle 104.
Providing such remote access is conventionally known and are widely used in automobile sector. The known approaches are based on passive type communications, in which, the remote device automatically gets validated once it comes in a communication range of the vehicle. For example, once the user walks towards the vehicle, while keeping the conventional remote device in his/her pocket/purse, conventional ECU of the vehicle automatically validates the conventional remote device. Although it provides convenience to the users, however at the same time, it also raises concerns related to security of the vehicles. This is because, any unauthorized person or hacker may use his/her device to act as a remote device of the user. In such a scenario, the ECU may mistakenly consider the hacker’s device as the remote device and may allow the hacker to access the vehicle. In such conventional approaches, the communication between the remote device and the ECU happens using either LF/RF technology or BLE/NFC technology.
However, in the present disclosure, to overcome the above technical problem, the remote device 104 and the ECU 106 communicates with each other using light fidelity (Li-Fi) technology. One of a technical advantage of the Li-Fi technology is that, it does not allow the remote device 104 to communicate with the ECU 106 in a passive mode. That is, the user is required take out the remote device from his/her pocket or purse and hold it in proper direction/position so that the light emitting from the remote device 104 gets captured/detected by the ECU 106 of the vehicle. This eliminates the possibility of hacking the signals, as the signals are only transmitted when the light falls on the ECU

106 from the remote device 104. It may be understood to a skilled person that the remote device 104 and the ECU 106 communicates with each other in a two-way communication mode for providing secure access to the vehicle.
At one hand, the remote device 104 may comprise a remote transmitter 210, a remote photo detector 212, a memory 214, and a processor 216. The remote transmitter 210 may be further equipped with a light emitting source 218 which may be for example, but not limited to, a light emitting diode (LED) or and an organic light emitting diode (OLED). Whereas, on the other hand, the ECU 106 comprises ECU photo detector 220, a processor 222, ECU transmitter 224, and a memory 226. The ECU transmitter 224 is further equipped with a light emitting source 228 which may be for example, but not limited to, a light emitting diode (LED), and an organic light emitting diode (OLED).
Now, when the user wishes to access his/her vehicle, he/she may simply press a button or knob or provide command from touch screen on his/her remote device 104. In response, the remote transmitter 210 having a light emitting source such as LED or OLED glows and transmits the light towards the ECU 106. As the system of the present disclosure uses the Li-Fi technology, it may be understood that the transmitted light from the remote device 104 comprises data in an encoded form for authentication. According to embodiments of present disclosure, the data may be stored in the memory 214 of the remote device 104. According to other embodiments of present disclosure, the memory 214 may also comprise instructions which may be executed by the processor 216 to perform various operations of the remote device 104.
Further, data may comprise user data and vehicle data. The user data may be associated with a user of the vehicle, whereas the vehicle data may be associated with the vehicle to be accessed. For example, the user data may comprise user’s demographic details and the vehicle data may comprise vehicle name, vehicle type, and other details related to vehicle. The data may also comprise a secret key or pass key to distinguish the vehicle from other vehicles. For example, the data may comprise unique identification information associated with the remote device 104 and the ECU 106.

When the light is transmitted towards the ECU 106, the ECU photo detector 220 (at ECU 106 side) detects the light. In other words, the ECU photo detector 220 works a receiver for receiving the transmitted light carrying the data in the encoded form. Post receiving the transmitted light, the ECU photo detector 220 may pass the light to the processor 222 of the ECU 106 for further processing.
According to embodiments of present disclosure, the processor 222 may decode the data detected by the ECU photo detector 220 by authenticating the secret key present in the data. During the decoding process, the processor 222 may also refer prestored data into the memory 226 of the ECU 106. The prestored data may contain those data which are required for validating the data received from the remote device 104. If the secret key is successfully authenticated, the processor 222 understands that the user holding the remote device 104 is the authorized user. However, if the secret key does not match or get authenticated during the decoding process, the processor 222 may deny the access of the vehicle.
Further, the processor 222 may also encode acknowledgement data confirming that the secret key provided by the remote device 104 has been successfully authenticated. The ECU transmitter 224 transmits the acknowledgment data (ACK Data) to the remote photo detector 212 at the remote device 104 side. Here, it may be understood that, the ACK data is also transmitted in a form of light by using the light emitting source 228 of the ECU transmitter 224. As the ECU transmitter 224 confirms the successful authentication, the access of the vehicle may be provided to the user. For providing the access, the ECU 106 may be further coupled with at least one of solenoid or an electric steering column lock (ESCL) associated with the vehicle. The solenoid or the ESCL are actually responsible for unlocking or locking the vehicle.
This way, the transmitting and receiving of the data and the ACK data between the remote device 104 and the ECU 106 is performed using the Li-Fi technology. It may be understood that switching of the light emitting sources 218 and 228 from one state to

another state permits the transmission of the data in form of binary codes using the light as a medium. Thus, the vehicle access system 102 of the present disclosure provides secure environment while providing access to the vehicle. Also, because of the high frequency range of the Li-Fi technology as compared with the conventional techniques (LF/RF or BLE/NFC), the speed of the communication becomes not only safer, but faster also. Thus, giving no chance to a hacker to perform any relay attacks.
Figure 3 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for providing secure access to a vehicle in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the method 300 includes one or more blocks illustrating a method of facilitating the secure access to the vehicle using the vehicle access system 102. The method 300 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform specific functions or implement specific abstract data types.
The order in which the method 300 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.
At bock 302, the method 300 may include providing a communication between a remote device 104 and an electronic control unit (ECU) 106. As discussed in above paragraphs, the remote device 104 and the ECU 106 communicates with each other using the Li-Fi technology i.e., using light as a medium.
At block 304, the method 300 may include transmitting, by the remote transmitter 210 having light emitting source 218 of the remote device 104, light towards the ECU 106.

The transmitted light comprises data in an encoded form. According to embodiments of present disclosure, the data may comprise user data and vehicle data. The data may also comprise a secret key or pass key to distinguish the vehicle from other vehicles.
At block 306, the method 300 may include detecting, by an ECU photo detector 220 of the ECU 106, the light transmitted by the remote transmitter 210.
At block 308, the method 300 may include decoding, by a processor 222 of the ECU 106, the data detected by the ECU photo detector 220 by authenticating a secret key present in the data. The secret key may comprise unique identification information associated with the remote device 104 and the ECU 106.
At block 310, the method 300 may include encoding, by the processor 222 of the ECU 106, acknowledgment data to be transmitted by ECU transmitter 224 of the ECU 106, to the remote photo detector 212 based on the decoding.
The present invention is described with reference to the figures and specific embodiments. This description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various alternate embodiments of the invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that such alternative embodiments form part of the present invention.

We Claim:
1. A vehicle access system (102) for providing a secure access to a vehicle, wherein the vehicle access system (102) comprising:
a remote device (104) and an electronic control unit (ECU) (106) configured to communicate with each other;
wherein the remote device (104) comprises a remote transmitter (210) having a light emitting source (218) configured to transmit light towards the ECU (106), and a remote photo detector (212), wherein the transmitted light comprises data in an encoded form for authentication, and wherein the ECU (106) comprises:
an ECU photo detector (220) configured to detect the light transmitted by the remote transmitter (210), and an ECU transmitter (224) having a light emitting source (228); and
a processor (222) configured to:
decode the data detected by the ECU photo detector (220) by
authenticating a secret key present in the data, wherein the secret key
comprises unique identification information associated with the remote
device (104) and the ECU (106), and
encode acknowledgement data to be transmitted by the ECU
transmitter (224) to the remote photo detector (212) based on the
decoding,
wherein transmitting and receiving of the data between the remote
device (104) and the ECU (106) is performed using light fidelity (Li-Fi)
technology in such a manner that switching of the light emitting source
(218), (228), of the remote transmitter (210) and the ECU transmitter
(224), from one state to another state permits the transmission of the data
in form of binary codes.

2. The vehicle access system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ECU (106) is further coupled with at least one of a solenoid or an electric steering column lock (ESCL) associated with the vehicle, wherein the ECU (106), based on the authentication, is configured to perform lock operation or unlock operation of the at least one of the solenoid or the ESCL.
3. The vehicle access system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data further comprises user data and vehicle data, wherein the user data is associated with a user of the vehicle, and the vehicle data is associated with the vehicle to be accessed.
4. The vehicle access system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light emitting source (218), (228) comprises at least one of light emitting diode (LED), and organic light emitting diode (OLED).
5. The vehicle access system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remote device (104) and the ECU (106) is further configured to perform the transmitting and the receiving of the data using at least one of:
a combination of Li-Fi technology and a radio frequency (RF) technology, a combination of Li-Fi technology and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
technology, and
a combination of Li-Fi technology and a near-field communication (NFC)
technology.
6. A method of providing a secure access to a vehicle, wherein the method
comprising:
providing a communication between a remote device (104) and an electronic control unit (ECU) (106);
transmitting, by a remote transmitter (210) having light emitting source (218) of the remote device (104), light towards the ECU (106), wherein the transmitted light comprises data in an encoded form,

detecting, by an ECU photo detector (220) of the ECU (106), the light transmitted by the remote transmitter (210),
decoding, by a processor (222) of the ECU (106), the data detected by the ECU photo detector (220) by authenticating a secret key present in the data, wherein the secret key comprises unique identification information associated with the remote device (104) and the ECU, and
encoding, by the processor (222) of the ECU (106), acknowledgment data to be transmitted by ECU transmitter (224) of the ECU (106), to the remote photo detector (212) based on the decoding,
wherein transmitting and receiving of the data between the remote device (104) and the ECU (106) is performed using light fidelity (Li-Fi) technology in such a manner that switching of the light emitting source (218), (228), of the remote transmitter (210) and the ECU transmitter (224), from one state to another state permits the transmission of the data in form of binary codes.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising performing lock operation or unlock operation, based on the decoding, of at least one of solenoid or an electric steering column lock (ESCL) both coupled with the ECU (106).
8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the data further comprises user data and vehicle data, wherein the user data is associated with a user of the vehicle, and the vehicle data is associated with the vehicle to be accessed.
9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the light emitting source (218), (228) comprises at least one of light emitting diode (LED), and organic light emitting diode (OLED).
10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transmitting and the receiving of the data between the remote device (104) and the ECU (106) is performed using at least one of:
a combination of Li-Fi technology and a radio frequency (RF) technology,

a combination of Li-Fi technology and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, and
a combination of Li-Fi technology and a near-field communication (NFC) technology.