Software Architecture for Developing In-Vehicle Software Applications

• US 20120173044A1
• Filed: 03/15/2012
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Hari, Watson, David Leslie, Whitaker, Matthew, Reyna, Emily
• Granted Patent: US 9,081,648 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/76 Adapting program code to run in a different environment; Porting

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a software architecture encoded on a computer readable medium is disclosed. The software architecture can be utilized for developing in-vehicle software applications for installation and execution on an in-vehicle computer system. The software architecture includes a number of vehicle application program interfaces (APIs) for accessing vehicles systems or data and for developing in-vehicle software applications; and a number of policy restrictions underlying the vehicle APIs for restricting the level of access to vehicle systems and data while the in-vehicle software application is being developed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor for a vehicle; and

a transceiver, operable to wirelessly transfer data to and from the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to receive remote access requests for vehicle systems or data, from applications, through the transceiver,

wherein the processor is configured to determine a current practical driver attention load and to restrict access to the requested vehicle systems or data based on the current practical driver attention load.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor restricts access to the requested vehicle systems increasingly as a current practical driver attention load decreases.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the current practical driver attention load varies with time of day.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the current practical driver attention load is lowered based on a late night time of day.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the current practical driver attention load varies with a navigable degree of difficulty of road or route.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor acts to restrict access by locking out requests requiring a level of projected driver attention above a threshold.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein an access request for a system display viewable by a driver may be restricted and wherein the same request for a system display not viewable by a driver may be permitted, based on a current practical driver attention load.

8. A tangible computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a vehicle computing system, cause the processor to perform the method comprising:

receiving requests for access to one or more vehicle systems or data, the requests having been transmitted wirelessly from remote applications;

determining a current practical driver attention load; and

based at least in part on the current practical driver attention load, restricting request access to vehicle systems or data.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the restricting increases in degree as a current practical driver attention load decreases.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the current practical driver attention load varies with time of day.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the current practical driver attention load is lowered based on a late night time of day.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the current practical driver attention load varies with navigable degree of difficulty of road or route.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the restricting includes locking out requests requiring a level of projected driver attention above a threshold.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the restricting includes preventing an access request for a system display viewable by a driver and permitting the same request for a system display not viewable by a driver, based on a current practical driver attention load.

15. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving requests for access to one or more vehicle systems or data, at a vehicle computing system, the requests having been transmitted wirelessly from remote applications;

determining a current practical driver attention load; and

based at least in part on the current practical driver attention load, restricting request access to vehicle systems or data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the restricting increases in degree as a current practical driver attention load decreases.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the current practical driver attention load varies with time of day.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the current practical driver attention load varies with navigable degree of difficulty of road or route.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the restricting includes locking out requests requiring a level of projected driver attention above a threshold.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the restricting includes preventing an access request for a system display viewable by a driver and permitting the same request for a system display not viewable by a driver, based on a current practical driver attention load.