Connecting touch screen phones in a vehicle

• US 9,116,563 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kurosawa, Fuminobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Harris, Dorothy
• Application Number:
  US13/661,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20130106750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/10 Use of a protocol of communication by packets in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/12 Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information

Abstract

A system and method for connection management between a consumer device and a vehicle. The connection management is performed automatically using a computing device, e.g., an application executing on a smartphone. The system and method configure the vehicle and consumer device in a manner that the screen display of the consumer device is mirrored on a touch panel of the in-vehicle computer system and the consumer device is controlled remotely by the user using the touch panel of the in-vehicle computer system.

Claims

1. A method of communication between a mobile communication device and a vehicle, the method comprising:

coupling the mobile communication device to an in-vehicle head unit, the mobile communication device having a touch screen and the in-vehicle head unit having a touch panel;

identifying a communication interface that couples the mobile communication device to the in-vehicle head unit;

verifying through a policy control mechanism that the communication interface is a connection interface specified by the connections manager;

mirroring the display of the mobile communication device on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit;

receiving a touch command from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit, wherein the touch command corresponds to a command to launch an application displayed on the mobile communication device;

mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device;

transmitting the mapped touch event to the mobile communication device;

verifying through the policy control mechanism that the application to be launched is a qualified application, responsive to receiving the touch command to launch the application;

receiving display updates due to the touch event from the mobile communication device, responsive to the policy control mechanism successfully verifying the communication interface and successfully verifying the application to be launched; and

updating the display on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit based on the received display update.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device is coupled to the in-vehicle head unit via at least one of communication interface:

USB, HDMI, VGA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch command received from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit is at least one of:

drag, scroll, flick, swipe, slide, tap, double tap and other multi-touch gestures.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device comprises:

transforming a coordinate of the touch command on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit to another coordinate on the touch screen of the mobile communication device based on the display resolution of the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit and the touch screen of the mobile communication device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device further comprises:

determining touch event parameters including touch phase, gesture type, tap count, and timestamp.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

launching a connection management application at the in-vehicle head unit based on verified communication interface and matching device identifiers; and

launching a qualified app from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit based on matching app identifiers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the mobile communication device includes a device identifier, an International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI), and a serial number.

8. A system for communication between a mobile communication device and a vehicle, comprising:

a vehicle;

a mobile communication device, coupled the to an in-vehicle head unit, the mobile communication device having a touch screen and the in-vehicle head unit having a touch panel; and

a connections manager, wherein the connections manager performs a method comprising;

identifying a communication interface that couples the mobile communication device to the in-vehicle head unit;

verifying through a policy control mechanism that the communication interface is a connection interface specified by the connections manager;

mirroring the display of the mobile communication device on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit;

receiving a touch command from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit, wherein the touch command corresponds to a command to launch an application displayed on the mobile communication device;

mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device;

transmitting the mapped touch event to the mobile communication device;

verifying through the policy control mechanism that the application to be launched is a qualified application, responsive to receiving the touch command to launch the application;

receiving display updates due to the touch event from the mobile communication device, responsive to the policy control mechanism successfully verifying the communication interface and successfully verifying the application to be launched; and

updating the display on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit based on the received display update.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile communication device is coupled to the in-vehicle head unit via at least one of communication interface:

USB, HDMI, VGA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the touch command received from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit is at least one of:

drag, scroll, flick, swipe, slide, tap, double tap and other multi-touch gestures.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device comprises:

transforming a coordinate of the touch command on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit to another coordinate on the touch screen of the mobile communication device based on the display resolution of the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit and the touch screen of the mobile communication device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device further comprises:

determining touch event parameters including touch phase, gesture type, tap count, and timestamp.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

launching a connection management application at the in-vehicle head unit based on verified communication interface and matching device identifiers; and

launching a qualified app from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit based on matching app identifiers.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the identifier of the mobile communication device includes a device identifier, an IMEI, and a serial number.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable program instructions for communication between a mobile communication device and a vehicle, the instructions when executed cause at least one processor to perform a method comprising:

coupling the mobile communication device to an in-vehicle head unit, the mobile communication device having a touch screen and the in-vehicle head unit having a touch panel;

identifying a communication interface that couples the mobile communication device to the in-vehicle head unit;

verifying through a policy control mechanism that the communication interface is a connection interface specified by the connections manager;

mirroring the display of the mobile communication device on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit;

receiving a touch command from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit, wherein the touch command corresponds to a command to launch an application displayed on the mobile communication device;

mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device;

transmitting the mapped touch event to the mobile communication device;

verifying through the policy control mechanism that the application to be launched is a qualified application, responsive to receiving the touch command to launch the application;

receiving display updates due to the touch event from the mobile communication device, responsive to the policy control mechanism successfully verifying the communication interface and successfully verifying the application to be launched; and

updating the display on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit based on the received display update.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the mobile communication device is coupled to the in-vehicle head unit via at least one of communication interface:

USB, HDMI, VGA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the touch command received from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit is at least one of:

drag, scroll, flick, swipe, slide, tap, double tap and other multi-touch gestures.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device comprises:

transforming a coordinate of the touch command on the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit to another coordinate on the touch screen of the mobile communication device based on the display resolution of the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit and the touch screen of the mobile communication device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein mapping the received touch command to a touch event on the mobile communication device further comprises:

determining touch event parameters including touch phase, gesture type, tap count, and timestamp.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

launching a connection management application at the in-vehicle head unit based on verified communication interface and matching device identifiers; and

launching a qualified app from the touch panel of the in-vehicle head unit based on matching app identifiers.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the identifier of the mobile communication device includes a device identifier, an IMEI, and a serial number.