Wireless internet radio system and method for a vehicle
First Claim
1. An apparatus for wirelessly connecting a smartphone to provide audio content received by the smartphone to a remote FM radio system of a vehicle, for playback over the remote FM radio system, and for controlling a playback of the audio content delivered wirelessly to the smartphone via a wide area network, on the remote FM radio system, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing adapted to receive a DC power signal from a remote DC power source;
a control panel having a display and a plurality of controls for controlling the playback of the audio content on the remote FM radio system, at least one of the controls performing a function in common with a playback control appearing on a display of the smartphone;
a first electronic subsystem in communication with the control panel and adapted to establish a wireless communications link with the smartphone to wirelessly receive audio content from the smartphone; and
a second electronic subsystem configured to transmit the audio content received from the smartphone as an FM signal to the remote FM radio system of the vehicle, in accordance with one or more user playback commands input at the controls of the control panel.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for wirelessly connecting a smartphone to a remote FM radio system, for controlling playback of audio content delivered wirelessly to the smartphone via a wide area network, on the remote FM radio system. An apparatus housing receives a DC power signal from a remote DC power source. A control panel has a display and controls for controlling playback of the audio content on the remote FM radio system, at least one of the controls performing a function in common with a playback control appearing on a display of the smartphone. An electronic subsystem communicates with the control panel and wirelessly receives audio content from the smartphone, and communicates the audio content as an FM signal via a user playback command input at the controls of the control panel, to the remote FM radio system.
35 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for wirelessly connecting a smartphone to provide audio content received by the smartphone to a remote FM radio system of a vehicle, for playback over the remote FM radio system, and for controlling a playback of the audio content delivered wirelessly to the smartphone via a wide area network, on the remote FM radio system, the apparatus comprising:
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a housing adapted to receive a DC power signal from a remote DC power source; a control panel having a display and a plurality of controls for controlling the playback of the audio content on the remote FM radio system, at least one of the controls performing a function in common with a playback control appearing on a display of the smartphone; a first electronic subsystem in communication with the control panel and adapted to establish a wireless communications link with the smartphone to wirelessly receive audio content from the smartphone; and a second electronic subsystem configured to transmit the audio content received from the smartphone as an FM signal to the remote FM radio system of the vehicle, in accordance with one or more user playback commands input at the controls of the control panel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for wirelessly connecting a smartphone to a remote FM radio system of a vehicle, for playing back audio content delivered wirelessly to the smartphone via a wide area network, on the remote FM radio system, the apparatus comprising:
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a housing adapted to receive a DC power signal from a remote DC power source; a control panel having a plurality of controls for controlling the playback of the audio content on the remote FM radio system, at least one of the controls performing a function in common with a playback control appearing on a display of the smartphone; an FM modulator tunable to a desired FM frequency to match a frequency that the FM radio is tuned to; a wireless communications transceiver adapted to automatically establish a wireless communications link with the smartphone when the smartphone is placed within a predetermined proximity of the apparatus; and a controller in communication with the FM modulator, the wireless communications transceiver and the control panel, which is configured to receive the audio content from the wireless communications transceiver and to transmit the audio content as an equivalent modulated FM signal to the remote FM radio system for playback over the remote FM radio system. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for wirelessly connecting a smartphone to a remote FM radio system of a vehicle, for controlling a playback of audio content delivered wirelessly to the smartphone via a wide area network, on the remote FM radio system of the vehicle, the method comprising:
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using a housing having a power cord to receive a DC power signal from a remote DC power source supplied by the vehicle; using a device having a control panel with a plurality of controls, and a display, to control the playback of the audio content on the remote FM radio system, at least one of the controls performing a function in common with a playback control appearing on a display of the smartphone; establishing a first wireless communications link between the smartphone and the device to receive audio content from the smartphone, which the smartphone has received over the wide area network; and establishing a second wireless communications link in a form of an FM signal transmitted from the device to the remote FM radio system, and using the second wireless communications link to enable the device to transmit the audio content as an FM signal to the remote FM radio system for playback using the remote FM radio system. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification