Scalable vehicle processing system

• US 20050027787A1
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Published: 02/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kuhn, Thomas, Kuz, Volker, Behrens, Ralph
• Granted Patent: US 7,577,740 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A vehicle processing system exchanges data through a vehicle entertainment and information system, a service gateway, and a content provider. The vehicle processing system requests data from the content provider through a service gateway. The service gateway generates and transmits a downstream service packet to the vehicle entertainment and information system. The content provider may include a packet generation subsystem that forms the downstream data packets. The subsystem may encode the data and embed a data identifier that may identify the data format of the downstream data packets.

Claims

1. A method for exchanging data between a vehicle entertainment and information system and a content provider comprising:

requesting data from the content provider;

encoding the requested data in a first data format at the content provider;

transmitting the encoded data to the service gateway;

generating a downstream service packet in a second data format at the service gateway based on the data received from the content provider; and

transmitting the downstream service packet to the vehicle entertainment and information system.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

decoding the received data from the content provider at the service gateway;

encoding the downstream service packet in the second data format at the service gateway, where the first and the second data formats are different data formats.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the:

deciding to convert the received data to a second data format at the service gateway; and

;

converting the received data to the second data format at the service gateway before generating the downstream service packet.

4. The method according to claim 3 where the act of deciding is based on a data format identifier embedded in the data received from the content provider.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

generating an upstream service packet in a third data format;

transmitting the upstream service packet to the service gateway;

generating a data packet in the first data format based on the data of the upstream service packet at the service gateway; and

transmitting the generated data packet to the content provider.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising converting the data to the first data format at the service gateway before generating a data packet of the first data format.

7. The method according to claim 5 further comprising forwarding the upstream service packet in the third data format to the content provider at the service gateway.

8. The method according to claim 1 where the act of encoding comprises compressing the requested data, and the method further comprises decompressing the data at the vehicle entertainment and information system.

9. The method according to claim 3 where the act of encoding comprises compressing the requested data and the act of converting at the service gateway comprises decompressing the data received from the content provider.

10. The method according to claim 1 where the act of generating the downstream service packet at the service gateway comprises compressing the data to be transmitted before generating the downstream service packet, and the method further comprises decompressing the data in the downstream service packet at the at the vehicle entertainment and information system.

11. The method according to claim 8 where the data formats is based on a markup language.

12. The method according to claim 11 where the data comprises tags defined by the markup language.

13. The method according to claim 12 where the act of compressing data comprises tokenizing the tags for data compression.

14. A service gateway that exchanges data with a content provider and a vehicle entertainment and information system comprising:

a receiver that receives data from the content provider in a first data format;

the data being requested by the vehicle entertainment and information system;

a packet generator that generates a downstream service packet in a second data format from the data received from the content provider; and

a transmitter that transmits the downstream service packet to the vehicle entertainment and information system.

15. The service gateway according to claim 14 further comprising a computer program that decides whether to convert the received data according to the second data format compatible with the vehicle entertainment and information system.

16. The service gateway according to clain 15 where the receiver is configured to receive an upstream service packet according to a third data format, and the computer program is configured to decide whether to convert the third data format to a first data format.

17. A content provider that exchanges data between a vehicle entertainment and information system and a service gateway comprising:

encoding means for encoding requested data in a first data format;

packet generation means for forming a downstream data packet that includes an encoded data and a data format identifier that identifies a data format, the downstream data packet being forwarded by the service gateway to the vehicle entertainment and information system; and

a transmitter that transmits the downstream data packet to the service gateway.

18. The content provider according to claim 17 further comprising a receiver that receives data requesting content.

19. A vehicle entertainment and information system that exchanges data with a content provider comprising:

a receiver that receives a downstream service packet from the service gateway;

a packet generator configured to generates an upstream service packet to a second and a third a third data format; and

a transmitter that transmits the upstream service packet to the service gateway.

20. The vehicle entertainment and information system according to claim 19;

further comprising;

encoding means for encoding the transmitted data; and

decoding means for decoding the received data.

21. The vehicle entertainment and information system according to claim 20 where the encoding means is configured to compress the transmitted data.

22. The vehicle entertainment and information system according to claim 21 where the decoding means is configured to decompress the received data when the data are received in a compressed data format.

23. A vehicle processing system comprising:

a vehicle entertainment and information system requesting data;

a content provider configured to receive the request and encode and transmit the requested data; and

;

a service gateway configured to receive the encoded data from the content provider and generate and transmit a downstream service packet based on the encoded data to the vehicle entertainment and information system.

24. The vehicle processing system according to claim 23 where the service gateway is configured to detect different data formats between the content provider and the vehicle entertainment and information system.

25. The vehicle processing system according to claim 24 where the service gateway is configured to convert the data received from the content provider into a data format compatible with the vehicle entertainment and information system upon the detection of the difference in format.

26. The vehicle processing system according to claim 24 where the service gateway is configured to forward the data received from the content provider to the vehicle entertainment and information system when no format differences are detected.

27. The vehicle processing system according to claim 23 where:

the vehicle entertainment and information system generates and transmits an upstream service packet to the service gateway; and

;

the service gateway generates a data packet based on the data contained within the upstream service packet.

28. The vehicle processing system according to claim 27 where the service gateway is configured to detect a data format difference between the content provider and the vehicle entertainment and information system.

29. The vehicle processing system according to claim 28 where the service gateway is configured to forward the data received from the vehicle entertainment and information system to the content provider when no format differences are detected.

30. The vehicle processing system according to claim 23;

where the service gateway further comprises;

a receiver that receives data from the content provider in a first data format;

the data being requested by the vehicle entertainment and information system;

a packet generator that generates at least one downstream service packet from the data received from the content provider;

where the at least one downstream service packet is in a second data format; and

a transmitter that transmits the downstream service packet to the vehicle entertainment and information system.