METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZED ELECTRONIC BOOK PAYMENT, STORAGE, DOWNLOAD, LISTENING, AND READING

• US 20110208614A1
• Filed: 02/24/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Tom, Alfred C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,103,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A method and system for using a vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems to provide all features and functions typically found on a handheld electronic book device. The vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems can be used in an integrated fashion with a user'"'"'s handheld electronic book device, such that the vehicle'"'"'s systems can be used to recite electronic book materials, media files can be shared between the vehicle and the handheld device, bookmarks can be synchronized, and the user can seamlessly switch from one system to the other. The vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems can also be used independent of any other electronic book device, such that the vehicle'"'"'s systems provide all electronic book device functionality—including browsing for new reading materials, purchase, download, storage, reading, and listening.

Claims

1. A method for using an electronic book device in a vehicle, said method comprising:

introducing a handheld electronic book device into the vehicle;

establishing electronic communications between the electronic book device and electronic systems onboard the vehicle;

using the vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems to control operation of the electronic book device; and

using an audio system in the vehicle to deliver audio output from the electronic book device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic book device automatically turns on audio recitation using its own text-to-speech converter and the vehicle'"'"'s audio system when connected to the vehicle, and automatically turns off audio recitation when disconnected from the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising using a text-to-speech converter in the vehicle to recite text from the electronic book device over the audio system in the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing electronic communications between the electronic book device and electronic systems onboard the vehicle uses the Bluetooth wireless communication standard.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising browsing for new electronic book materials to purchase and purchasing new electronic book materials from an online store.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing electronic book media files on a vehicle storage system.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising downloading a new electronic book media file from an online store to the vehicle storage system.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising copying media files from the vehicle storage system to the electronic book device or from the electronic book device to the vehicle storage system.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising visually presenting text from either the electronic book device or the vehicle storage system on a display screen.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the media files are audio files.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking progress of reading electronic book materials via electronic bookmarks.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising synchronizing electronic bookmarks between copies of electronic book materials on the electronic book device and a vehicle storage system.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the electronic bookmarks are placed at the beginning of a paragraph immediately following a paragraph most recently completed.

14. A method for using an electronic book device in a vehicle, said method comprising:

introducing a handheld electronic book device into the vehicle;

establishing electronic communications between the electronic book device and electronic systems onboard the vehicle;

using the vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems to control operation of the electronic book device;

using a text-to-speech converter in the vehicle to recite text from the electronic book device as audio output; and

using an audio system in the vehicle to deliver audio output from the electronic book device or from the text-to-speech converter.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing electronic book media files on a vehicle storage system, and copying media files from the vehicle storage system to the electronic book device or from the electronic book device to the vehicle storage system.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising tracking progress of reading electronic book materials via electronic bookmarks, and synchronizing the electronic bookmarks between copies of electronic book materials on the electronic book device and the vehicle storage system.

17. A system for using an electronic book device in a vehicle, said system comprising:

a device interface for communicating between the electronic book device and electronic systems in the vehicle;

a human-machine interface for allowing a user to interact with the system;

a playback buffer for temporarily storing data being sent to the vehicle from the electronic book device; and

an audio system in the vehicle for delivering sounds of text recited from electronic book materials.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the device interface uses the Bluetooth wireless communication standard.

19. The system of claim 17 further comprising a text-to-speech converter in the vehicle.

20. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

an application in the vehicle for shopping for electronic book materials from online stores;

a storage system for storing electronic book media files in the vehicle;

a controller for managing the download, storage, playback, navigation, and synchronization of electronic book materials in the vehicle;

a display screen for visually displaying electronic book materials in the vehicle and for interacting with the application; and

an antenna for wirelessly communicating between the vehicle'"'"'s systems and online stores or other internet sites.