USER INTERFACE FOR A VEHICLE SYSTEM

• US 20120065815A1
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2010
• 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: Hess, Wolfgang
• Granted Patent: US 9,626,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/11 Instrument graphical user interfaces or menu aspects
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1442 Emulation of input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/589 Wireless data transfers
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/11 Graphical user interfaces or menu aspects
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/1442 Emulation of input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/50 Control arrangements; Data network features
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/589 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/80 Arrangements for controlling instruments
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/85 Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 37/00 Dashboards as road-vehicle superstructure sub-units B62D25/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A vehicle computing device and a method of providing a user interface to a vehicle system to control at least one function of the vehicle system are provided. The vehicle computing device communicates with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection. At the vehicle computing device, control instructions are provided. The control instructions comprise instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at the client device to control the at least one function of the vehicle system. The vehicle computing device can be configured to transmit the control instructions to the client device over the wireless data connection.

Claims

1. A vehicle computing device adapted to provide a user interface to a vehicle system to control at least one function of the vehicle system, comprising:

a transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection; and

a processing unit that communicates with the mobile client device via the transceiver, where the processing unit (i) receives from the client device via the wireless data connection a request to provide user interface data for controlling the at least one vehicle system, (ii) transmits control instructions via the wireless data connection to the client device, the control instructions comprising instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at the client device to control the at least one function of the vehicle system, wherein the control instructions are interpreted by a platform independent application running on the client device, (iii) receives input data from the client device comprising a detected user input corresponding to an actuation of the graphical control element detected by the client device; and

(iv) provides the received user input to the vehicle system to enable control of the function of the vehicle system by the client device.

2. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the processing unit provides the control instructions such that the control instructions define a structured document.

3. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, further comprising a web server operated by the processing unit, the control instructions defining contents of a web page provided by the web server.

4. The vehicle computing device of claim 3, where the request received from the client device comprises a request message from a web client operated on the client device to the web server, the processing unit being configured to include the control instructions in a response message to be transmitted from the web server to the web client of the client device.

5. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the processing unit receives from the vehicle system information to be given out to the user and to include in the control instructions to be transmitted to the client device control instructions for displaying the received information at the client device.

6. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the data connection is a wireless local area network connection.

7. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the processing unit receives authorization data from the client device to transmit the control instructions to the client device only if the received authorization data corresponds to a predetermined authorization.

8. The vehicle computing device according to claim 1, where the processing unit receives authorization data from the client device and provides user specific settings for the vehicle system and/or user specific access to the vehicle system in accordance with a user profile identified by the authorization data.

9. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the control instructions further comprise control instructions to assign at least one function of the vehicle system to a mechanical control element of the client device.

10. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the vehicle system is at least partly implemented by an application running on the processing unit of the vehicle computing device.

11. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the vehicle system is selected from a group comprising a vehicle navigation system, a vehicle multimedia system, a vehicle communication system a driver assistance system, a vehicle infotainment system, a vehicle information system, and a vehicle telemetry system.

12. A method of providing a user interface for a vehicle system for controlling at least one function of the vehicle system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a vehicle computing device configured to communicate with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection;

providing in the vehicle computing device control instructions comprising instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at a client device to control the at least one function of the vehicle system;

configuring the control instructions such that they can be interpreted by a platform independent application operable on a client device; and

configuring the vehicle computing device such that the vehicle computing device transmits the control instructions via the wireless data connection to a client device in response to receiving a request for user interface data from the client device.

13. The method according to claim 12, where the step of configuring the control instructions is performed such that the control instructions define a structured document.

14. The method according to claim 12, where the step of configuring the control instructions is performed such that the control instructions define the contents of a web page, the platform independent application being a web browser.

15. The method according to claim 12, where the step of configuring the vehicle computing device further comprises the step of providing a web server on the computing device, where the request for user interface data being a request message from a web client operated on the client device, and wherein the control instructions are configured to be comprised in a response message from the web server to the web client of the client device.

16. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of configuring the vehicle computing device so as to receive from the vehicle system information to be given out to the user, the step of configuring the control instructions being performed such that the control instructions include control instructions for displaying the received information at the client device.

17. A method of operating a vehicle computing device for providing a user interface to a vehicle system to control at least one function of the vehicle system, the vehicle computing device being configured to communicate with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection, the method comprising:

receiving from the client device via the wireless data connection a request to provide user interface data for controlling the at least one vehicle system;

transmitting control instructions via the wireless data connection to the client device, the control instructions comprising instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at the client device for controlling the at least one function of the vehicle system, wherein the control instructions are interpreted by a platform independent application running on the client device;

receiving input data from the client device comprising a detected user input corresponding to an actuation of the graphical control element detected by the client device; and

providing the received user input to the vehicle system, thereby enabling the control of the function of the vehicle system by the client device.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the method further comprises performing the following steps at the client device:

receiving the control instructions transmitted by the vehicle computing device;

interpreting the control instructions via the platform independent application running on the client device to generate image data comprising the at least one graphical control element;

displaying the generated image data;

detecting the actuation of one of the displayed graphical control elements by a user as a user input; and

transmitting input data comprising the detected user input to the vehicle computing device.