RECONFIGURABLE VEHICLE USER INTERFACE SYSTEM

• US 20100268426A1
• Filed: 11/13/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Pathak, Rabindra, Veprek, Peter, Gallione, Kem, Tanaka, Tsuyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/48
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A reconfigurable vehicle user interface system is presented. A vehicle user interface has a touch sensitive input devices such as touchpads and a touch screen that have specific function commands mapped to them. A user can select which function commands are mapped to which portions of the touch screen. This allows a user to customize the steering wheel function commands.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable vehicle user interface system comprising:

a steering wheel;

a touch screen disposed along an outer surface of the steering wheel that generates a signal upon sensing user contact with a touch-sensitive surface of the touch screen, wherein the signal is dependent on location of the user contact;

a controller that receives the signal generated by the touch screen and determines a function command from the signal based on the location of the user contact;

a plurality of input shortcut displayed on the touch screen, each user input shortcut has a mapping to a specific function command, wherein each user input shortcut displayed on the touch screen indicates to the user the specific function command that is mapped to user input shortcut; and

a touch screen reconfiguration module that receives a user configuration specified by the user indicating a configuration of the plurality of user input shortcuts and displays the plurality of user input shortcuts according to the user configuration, wherein the user configuration includes an amount of user input shortcuts to be displayed, locations of each of the user input shortcuts, sizes of each of the user input shortcuts, and the mapping of the location to function command of each of the user input shortcuts.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a storage module that stores a plurality of usable user input shortcuts, wherein the user selects the plurality of user input shortcuts from the plurality of usable user input shortcuts.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a touchpad, wherein the plurality of the user input shortcuts are flexibly displayed on the touchpad.

4. The system of claim 2 further comprising a user configuration database storing a plurality of user configurations for a plurality of users, wherein the touch screen configuration module displays the plurality of user interface shortcuts according to the user of the plurality of users that is driving the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a touchpad disposed on the surface of the steering wheel for entering user input, wherein the user selects a function command using the touch screen and manipulates a setting of a device corresponding to the function command using the touchpad.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a display unit that displays to the user device settings after the user contacts the user input function associated with the device.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising an inertial sensor that generates a signal indicating an amount of change in motion of the vehicle and communicates the signal to the controller, wherein the controller deactivates the vehicle user interface system when the signal exceeds a predetermined threshold.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the controller receives user input shortcuts for a new device and stores said user input shortcuts in the storage module thereby integrating the new device with the vehicle user interface system.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the touch screen provides a user with at least one of haptic, tactile, visual, or audio response when contacted by the user.

10. A reconfigurable vehicle user interface system comprising:

a steering wheel;

a touchpad disposed on the steering wheel;

a display for displaying a user input shortcut;

a controller for controlling displaying the user input shortcut,

wherein the controller changes displaying the user input shortcut according to an operation on the touch pad.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the touchpad is disposed on two sides, right and left, of the steering wheel, the user input shortcut is displayed on at least two sides, right and left, of the display, the controller changes a setting of the right user input shortcut according to an operation on the right touchpad, and the controller changes a setting of the left user input shortcut according to an operation on the left touchpad.

12. A method for reconfiguring a graphical configuration of a touch screen displaying user input shortcuts on a steering wheel having a vehicle user interface system, the method comprising:

displaying on a display unit associated with vehicle user interface a query to a user for an amount of user input shortcuts to display on the touch screen;

receiving the amount of user input shortcuts to display on the touch screen from the user;

displaying on the display unit a query for a layout of the user input shortcuts to display on the touch screen, wherein the request for a layout indicates a request for the locations of each of the user input shortcuts and sizes of each of the user input shortcuts;

receiving the layout from the user;

displaying on the display unit a query for a mapping of each user input shortcut, wherein the mapping links the location of the user input shortcut to a function command to control a device of the vehicle from the touch screen;

modifying a configuration file used to configure the graphical configuration of the touch screen in accordance with the received amount of user input shortcuts, the received layout of the user input shortcuts and the mappings of the user input shortcuts; and

displaying the user input shortcuts on the touch screen in accordance with the configuration file.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising storing the configuration file in a storage module associated with the vehicle user interface system.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the user enters the amount of user input shortcuts using a touchpad disposed on the steering wheel, wherein the touchpad is used to scroll through a plurality of possible amounts displayed on the display unit.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the user selects the layout from a plurality of predetermined layouts displayed on the display unit, wherein the user uses a touchpad disposed on the steering wheel to select the layout by scrolling through the plurality of layouts.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the user selects the layout using a touchpad, wherein the user is prompted to enter boundaries of each user input shortcut to be displayed on the touch screen, and wherein the user enters the boundaries by touching the desired locations of each boundary.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the user enters the mapping of the user input shortcuts by selecting function commands from a plurality of function commands stored in a storage module associated with the vehicle user interface system.

18. A reconfigurable vehicle user interface system for controlling a plurality of devices in a vehicle comprising:

a steering wheel;

a user input mechanism disposed on an external surface of the steering wheel;

a display associated with the user input mechanism displaying a plurality of user input shortcuts, each user input shortcut mapping to a function command of one of the plurality of devices, wherein a user selects a user input shortcut using the user input mechanism;

a selection library storing a plurality of selectable user input shortcuts, wherein the plurality of user input shortcuts is a subset of the plurality of selectable user input shortcuts, and wherein the user defines the plurality of user input shortcuts from the plurality of selectable user input shortcuts; and

a selection library updating module that receives new user input shortcut data including a new user input shortcut corresponding to a newly added device and adds new user input shortcut to the plurality of selectable user input shortcuts, wherein the newly added device is controlled by the vehicle user interface system when the user adds the new user input shortcut to the plurality of user input shortcuts.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the newly added device is an after market device having the new user input shortcut data embedded in a driver of the newly added device, wherein the new user input shortcut data includes a signal that controls the newly added device.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein:

the newly added device connects to the vehicle via one of a USB connection, Bluetooth connection, and a wireless connection; and

the user input shortcut data is transmitted to the selection library updating module via the USB connection or Bluetooth connection.