System and method for a human machine interface

• US 8,866,604 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2013
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Rankin, James Stewart, Tonshal, Basavaraj, Buttolo, Pietro, Chen, Yifan, Strumolo, Gary Steven, Greenberg, Jeffrey Allen, Filev, Dimitar Petrov, Prasad, Krishnaswamy Venkatesh
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, TOAN NGOC
• Application Number:
  US13/767,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20140225724A1
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: 340/438, 340/870.01, 340/988, 340/993, 340/995.1, 340/995.12, 340/995.17, 340/539.11, 348/837, 348/839, 704/231, 455/563, 455/41.2, 455/403, 701/1, 701/36
• US Class Current: 340/438
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/563 Vehicle displaying mobile device information
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/566 Mobile devices displaying vehicle information
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/569 Vehicle controlling mobile device functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/573 Mobile devices controlling vehicle functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/589 Wireless data transfers
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/5899 Internet
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/592 Data transfer involving external databases
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• 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: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

A vehicle computer system comprising a wireless transceiver configured to send a nomadic device human machine interface to a nomadic device in a web browser format. The vehicle computer system further comprises a vehicle server utilizing a contextual data aggregator that utilizes vehicle data and off-board data to generate a dynamic human machine interface, the server further configured to generate an in-vehicle human machine interface for output on a vehicle display and generate the nomadic device human machine interface for the nomadic device to display.

Claims

1. A vehicle computer system comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured to establish a connection with a nomadic device, wherein the wireless transceiver is further configured to send a nomadic device human machine interface (HMI) configured for output on the nomadic device using a first web browser format;

a vehicle display configured to output an in-vehicle HMI using a second web browser format for controlling various vehicle functions; and

a vehicle server configured to generate the in-vehicle HMI for the vehicle display and generate the nomadic device HMI for the nomadic device.

2. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle computer system further includes an off-board server in communication with the vehicle computer system, the off-board server configured to utilize or provide off-board data for generating the nomadic device HMI or the in-vehicle HMI.

3. The vehicle computer system of claim 2, wherein the off-board server contains one or more of off-board vehicle data, smart phone vehicle data, and vehicle human machine interface data.

4. The vehicle computer system of claim 2, wherein the off-board server is further configured to exchange data between the vehicle server utilizing web sockets.

5. The vehicle computer system of claim 2, wherein the off-board server includes a contextual data aggregator that utilizes one or more of off-board vehicle data, smart phone vehicle data, and vehicle human machine interface data to generate a contextual human machine interface to be sent to the vehicle computer system.

6. The vehicle computer system of claim 2, wherein the vehicle computer system maintains a persistent connection with the off-board server utilizing websockets.

7. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle HMI includes a voice-interactive interface.

8. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle server is configured to utilize a full-duplex communication channel over a single TCP connection.

9. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the connection with the nomadic device is a Wi-Fi direct connection.

10. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the first web browser format and the second web browser format are the same.

11. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle server is configured to detect a capable format of the browser and generate the nomadic device HMI or the in-vehicle HMI based on the capable format of the browser.

12. The vehicle computer system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle server is configured to support natural language query search based human machine interface.

13. An off-board computer system comprising:

a wireless transceiver communicating with a vehicle; and

a server that includes a contextual data aggregator which utilizes vehicle data retrieved from the wireless transceiver and off-board data to generate a dynamic contextual human machine interface based on the vehicle data and off-board data in a web browser data format to be sent to the vehicle utilizing the wireless transceiver.

14. The off-board computer system of claim 13, wherein the wireless transceiver is further capable of communicating with a nomadic device.

15. The off-board computer system of claim 13, wherein the dynamic contextual human machine interface includes a voice recognition menu to be sent to the vehicle.

16. The off-board computer system of claim 13, wherein the off-board data includes data received from a home server.

17. The off-board computer system of claim 13, wherein the off-board data includes media data received from a media server.

18. The off-board computer system of claim 17, wherein the media data includes music data, picture data, or video data.

19. The off-board computer system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to generate a language query search HMI utilizing the vehicle data and the off-board data, the query search HMI to be sent to the vehicle utilizing the wireless transceiver.

20. A vehicle computer system comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured to send a nomadic device (ND) human machine interface (HMI) to a ND in a web browser format; and

a vehicle server utilizing a contextual data aggregator that utilizes vehicle data and off-board data to generate a dynamic HMI, the server further configured to generate an in-vehicle HMI for output on a vehicle display and generate the ND HMI for the ND to display.