Rear entertainment system and control method thereof

• US 7,106,184 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2002
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Kaminaga, Satoshi, Inoue, Takao
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T.
• Application Number:
  US10/298,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20030095179A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,393 Days
• Field of Search: 340/438, 340/461, 340/444, 340/426.15, 340/985, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/995.17, 701/211, 701/207, 701/208, 701/213, 701/29, 701/34, 701/39
• US Class Current: 340/438
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/002 Special television systems not provided for by H04N7/007 - H04N7/18 still pictures via a television channel H04N1/00098

Abstract

A rear entertainment system has a voice synthesis circuit, an OSD unit, a video camera, a DVD playback unit, a rear monitor, a navigation unit, a mixer, an IR circuit, and headphones. The voice synthesis circuit and the OSD unit receive driving information from a handle, a brake, a winker, and so on. The voice synthesis circuit presents the driving condition in an audio form, while the OSD unit presents the driving condition in a video form. The video camera takes a scene in a forward direction. The navigation unit supports the driving of the vehicle. The mixer synthesizes the voice output of the voice synthesis circuit, audio signals from the DVD playback unit and audio signals from the navigation unit. The IR circuit converts the synthesized audio signals into IR signals. The headphones receive the IR signals from the IR circuit and convert the IR signals into audio.

Claims

1. An entertainment system mounted on a vehicle for a passenger sitting in a rear seat of the vehicle, the system comprising:

an output unit for outputting contents information including at least one of audio information and image information for the passenger sitting in the rear seat; and

a first control unit for controlling the output unit in accordance with driving information indicating a driving condition which is a condition of an operating device used by a driver of the vehicle for driving so that the driving information is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the driving information in place of or in addition to the contents information, when the driving condition is in predetermined kinds of conditions.

2. The entertainment system according to claim 1, further comprising

a second control unit for controlling the output unit so that navigation information supplied from a navigation unit for carrying out navigation is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the navigation information in place of or in addition to the contents information.

3. The entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein the first control unit controls the output unit so as to convert at least one of the driving information and the navigation information into audio or an image corresponding thereto in accordance with a predetermined conversion rule and outputs the audio or the image in place of or in addition to the contents information.

4. The entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the driving information and the navigation information includes synthetic voice information.

5. The entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein the contents information and at least one of the driving information and the navigation information are output from headphones.

6. The entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein another video image displaying at least one of the driving information and the navigation information is selectively displayed on one-half of a screen of the output unit.

7. The entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein another video image displaying at least one of the driving information and the navigation information is superimposed on a part of a screen of the output unit.

8. The entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein an output of at least one of the driving information and the navigation information can be turned ON/OFF.

9. The entertainment system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit for switching a screen of the output unit to a navigation screen.

10. The entertainment system according to claim 1, wherein a screen of the output unit is switched to a scenic video image through a camera taking an image of a scene outside the vehicle.

11. An entertainment system mounted on a vehicle, comprising:

an output unit for outputting contents information including at least one of audio information and image information; and

a first control unit for controlling the output unit in accordance with driving information indicating a driving condition of the vehicle so that the driving information is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the driving information in place of or in addition to the contents information, when the driving condition is in predetermined kinds of conditions,

wherein the driving condition includes at least one of a brake operating condition of the vehicle and a turn-signal blinking condition of the vehicle.

12. An entertainment system mounted on a vehicle, comprising:

an output unit for outputting contents information including at least one of audio information and image information; and

a first control unit for controlling the output unit in accordance with driving information indicating a driving condition of the vehicle so that the driving information is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the driving information in place of or in addition to the contents information, when the driving condition is in predetermined kinds of conditions,

wherein the driving information includes a tone of a turn-signal.

13. An entertainment system mounted on a vehicle, comprising:

an output unit for outputting contents information including at least one of audio information and image information;

a first control unit for controlling the output unit in accordance with driving information indicating a driving condition of the vehicle so that the driving information is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the driving information in place of or in addition to the contents information, when the driving condition is in predetermined kinds of conditions; and

a second control unit for controlling the output unit so that navigation information supplied from a navigation unit for carrying out navigation is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the navigation information in place of or in addition to the contents information,

wherein the contents information is paused, a screen of the output unit is switched to another screen displaying at least one of the driving information and the navigation information, and the screen is then switched again so as to be restored to the contents information.

14. A control method of an entertainment system mounted on a vehicle for a passenger sitting in a rear seat of the vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

outputting contents information including at least one of audio information and image information for the passenger sitting in the rear seat; and

controlling the output step in accordance with driving information indicating a driving condition which is a condition of an operating device used by a driver of the vehicle for driving so that the driving information is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the driving information in place of or in addition to the contents information, when the driving condition is in predetermined kinds of conditions.

15. The control method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of controlling the output step so that navigation information supplied from a navigation unit for carrying out navigation is output directly or as audio or an image corresponding to the navigation information in place of or in addition to the contents information.