Remote keyless system

A remote keyless system (RKS), also known as remote keyless entry (RKE) or remote central locking, is an electronic lock that controls access to a building or vehicle by using an electronic remote control (activated by a handheld device or automatically by proximity). RKS largely and quickly superseded keyless entry, a budding technology that restrictively bound locking and locking functions to vehicle-mounted keypads. Widely used in automobiles, an RKS performs the functions of a standard car key without physical contact. When within a few yards of the car, pressing a button on the remote can lock or unlock the doors, and may perform other functions. A remote keyless system can include both remote keyless entry (RKE), which unlocks the doors, and remote keyless ignition (RKI), which starts the engine. Remote keyless entry was patented in 1981 by Paul Lipschultz, who worked for Niemans (a supplier of security components to the car industry) and had developed a number of automotive security devices. His electrically actuated lock system could be controlled by using a handheld fob to stream infrared data. Patented in 1981 after successful submission in 1979, it worked using a "coded pulse signal generator and battery-powered infra-red radiation emitter." In some geographic areas, the system is called a PLIP system, or Plipper, after Lipschultz. Infrared technology was superseded in 1995 when a European frequency was standardised. The remote keyless systems using a handheld transmitter first appeared on the French made Renault Fuego in 1982, and as an option on several American Motors vehicles in 1983, including the Renault Alliance. The feature gained its first widespread availability in the U.S. on several General Motors vehicles in 1989. Prior to Remote Keyless Entry, a number of systems were introduced featuring Keyless Entry (i.e., not remote), including Ford's 1980 system introduced on the Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Cougar, Lincoln Continental Mark VI, and Lincoln Town Car, which Ford called Keyless Entry System (later renamed SecuriCode).