DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MULTIMEDIA DATA IN A MOTOR VEHICLE

• US 20150229711A1
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Published: 08/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: KRUEGER, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 10,063,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A device for providing multimedia data in a motor vehicle. At least one vehicle-internal hardware component serves to provide a first runtime environment for supporting at least one computer program application on the vehicle-internal hardware component. An interface serves for communication with at least one vehicle-external hardware component, which provides a second runtime environment for supporting the computer program application on the vehicle-external hardware component. Furthermore, either the vehicle-internal hardware component or the vehicle-external hardware component is selectable for executing the computer program application.

Claims

1. A device for providing multimedia data in a motor vehicle, the device comprising:

at least one in-vehicle hardware component providing a first runtime environment to support at least one computer program application on the in-vehicle hardware component;

an interface to at least one off-vehicle hardware component that provides a second runtime environment to support the computer program application on the off-vehicle hardware component; and

a selector that selects either the in-vehicle hardware component or the off-vehicle hardware component to execute the computer program application.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the selector is configured to select the in-vehicle hardware component when the hardware resources of the in-vehicle hardware component are sufficient for executing the computer program application and otherwise the off-vehicle hardware component.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first runtime environment mediates between the computer program application and a first operating system of the in-vehicle hardware component, and wherein the second runtime environment mediates between the computer program application and a second operating system of the off-vehicle hardware component.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one in-vehicle hardware component comprises a processor and/or a data memory of an infotainment system of the motor vehicle.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one computer program application is based on version 5 or higher versions of the text-based markup language HTML.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one off-vehicle hardware component comprises a portable device with at least one processor and a data memory for executing the at least one computer program application, a laptop computer, or smartphone.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one off-vehicle hardware component comprises an off-vehicle web server to access data provided by the web server or applications of an Internet service via the interface from the motor vehicle.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the interface is configured to transmit data generated by a computer program application running on the off-vehicle hardware component to the in-vehicle hardware component so that the generated data is played back via the in-vehicle hardware component.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is configured to receive a configuration setting from the off-vehicle hardware component via the interface, and wherein the configuration setting comprises information on the at least one computer program application to be executed and/or multimedia data to be played back.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the interface is provided by the first runtime environment and the at least one off-vehicle hardware component and/or by the second runtime environment.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein the interface is based on a Representational State Transfer (REST) programming paradigm and at least one standardized network protocol, HTTP and/or a WebSocket.

12. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device has an in-vehicle data memory to copy multimedia data and/or one or more computer program applications from the off-vehicle hardware component into the in-vehicle data memory in an event of a lack of connectivity between the in-vehicle hardware component and the off-vehicle hardware component.

13. A motor vehicle comprising a device according to claim 1.

14. A method for providing multimedia data in a motor vehicle that has an in-vehicle hardware component, which provides a first runtime environment to support at least one computer program application on the in-vehicle hardware component, the method comprising:

providing an interface between the in-vehicle hardware component and at least one off-vehicle hardware component, which provides a second runtime environment to support the computer program application on the off-vehicle hardware component; and

executing the computer program application either on the in-vehicle hardware component or on the off-vehicle hardware component.

15. A computer program for carrying out at least one step of the method according to claim 14, when the computer program runs on a programmable hardware component.