In-vehicle tablet

• US 9,162,574 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Kolodziej, Kris
• Primary Examiner(s): Magloire, Vladimir
• Assistant Examiner(s): Navar, Erica
• Application Number:
  US13/332,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20130157647A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.06, 455/41.2, 455/99, 455/238.1, 455/345, 455418-420, 455/569.2, 340/429, 34042611-42636, 340/438, 340/436, 340/461, 3405391-5392, 340 102- 1032, 379/37, 379/40, 379/45, 379/51, 379/142.1, 379/201.01, 379/203.01, 379/218.02, 379/265.01, 379260-267, 379/308, 379/321, 379/448
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/111 for controlling multiple devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/113 Scrolling through menu items
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/119 Icons
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1442 Emulation of input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1472 Multi-touch gesture
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/195 Blocking or enabling display functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/197 Blocking or enabling of input functions
• 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 2360/5894 SIM cards
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/5899 Internet
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/592 Data transfer involving external databases
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/834 Docking arrangements
• 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 35/29 Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/50 Instruments characterised by their means of attachment to or integration in the vehicle B60K35/231 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/65 Instruments specially adapted for specific vehicle types or users, e.g. for left- or right-hand drive
• 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: G08G 1/096716 : where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 : where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 : where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 : Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• 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: H04M 1/6091 : including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 : with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 : using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 : including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 : including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 : including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 : for in-vehicle communication

Abstract

A portable telematics device can be a tablet or a mobile device. The tablet and mobile device can combine to run applications via a communication link and form a link with a vehicle and/or another mobile device. The tablet can also have a telematics component which has a display component displaying a selected program icon from the mobile station on the tablet and a control component. The control component can be configured to prevent a use of all program icons on the mobile station. Further, it can allow a use of the selected program icon on the tablet, which can activate a related program on the mobile station. The display component can display at least an output of the related program on the tablet.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture, comprising:

at least one machine readable non-transitory storage medium; and

programming instructions embodied in said at least one medium for execution by a tablet and a mobile station, the mobile station being configured to display a plurality of program icons including a first program icon related to the operation of a vehicle and a second program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle, wherein the programming instructions configure said tablet and mobile station to perform functions for communications between the tablet and the mobile station, the configuring functions comprising;

automatically activating a telematics application of the tablet when the tablet is mounted in the vehicle and, upon activation, the telematics application configuring the tablet and the mobile station for use in the vehicle, comprising the functions of;

establishing a communication link between the tablet and the mobile station while within the vehicle;

displaying the first program icon from the mobile station, on the tablet using the communication link;

preventing, on the mobile station, use of all program icons including the first program icon and the second program, using the communication link;

permitting a use of the first program icon on the tablet using the communication link;

activating a program corresponding to the first program icon, on the mobile station using the communication link;

displaying at least an output of the corresponding program on the tablet using the communication link

receiving a voice command

translating the received voice command into a predetermined plurality of commands for a respective plurality of applications running on the mobile station and related to the operation of the vehicle;

transmitting the plurality of commands to the mobile station; and

receiving output data of the plurality of applications from the mobile station.

2. The article of claim 1, further comprising the function of disabling the configuring functions when the vehicle is stopped.

3. The article of claim 1, further comprising the function of establishing a second communication link between the tablet and the vehicle, wherein the second communication link is configured to allow information about the vehicle to be accessed by the tablet.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein the corresponding program and the plurality of applications execute only on the mobile station.

5. The article of claim 1, wherein the configuring function further comprises the function of:

disabling a first feature of the corresponding program; and

allowing a second feature of the corresponding program to be accessed through the tablet over the communication link.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein establishing the communication link between the tablet and the mobile station includes automatically establishing the communication link between the tablet and the mobile station when the tablet is mounted in the vehicle.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the configuring functions further comprising a function of automatically changing screen resolution of the tablet to increase the size of the first program icon after the communication link between the tablet and the mobile station has been established.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the configuring functions further comprise a function of automatically increasing the size of the first program icon on the tablet without changing a screen resolution of the tablet after the communication link between the tablet and the mobile station has been established.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein displaying the first and second program icons from the mobile station on the tablet using the communication link includes displaying on the tablet a limited set of all program icons on the tablet, available on the mobile station prior to the communication link between the tablet and the mobile station being established.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the preventing the use of all program icons on the mobile station includes disabling a user interface of the mobile station.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the programming instructions further configure the tablet to link the voice command to a macro to translate the voice command into the predetermined plurality of commands for the respective plurality of applications running on the mobile station.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the programming instructions further include receiving the predetermined plurality of commands in the macro from a user-interface input to the tablet.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the functions further include:

disabling display of text output from at least one application of the plurality of applications related to operation of the vehicle;

converting the text output to speech data, using a text-to-speech converter; and

providing audio output of the speech data at the tablet.

14. A portable telematics system for use in a vehicle, including a tablet and a mobile station, comprising:

a telematics application configured to be automatically activated when the tablet is mounted to the vehicle;

a communication link between the tablet and the mobile station while both are within the vehicle;

an audio output device;

an audio input device;

a display component displaying a program icon from the mobile station related to an operation of the vehicle, on the tablet using the communication link, wherein the mobile station is configured to display a plurality of program icons, including the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and a program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle and wherein the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle is displayed on the tablet with increased size relative to the program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle; and

a control component configured to ;

determine whether the telematics application of the tablet is activated and when the telematics application is activated;

prevent, on the mobile station, use of all program icons on the mobile station including the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and the program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle; and

allow use of the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle on the tablet, which activates a program, corresponding to the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle, on the mobile station,

receive a voice command via the audio input device;

translate the received voice command into a predetermined plurality of commands for a respective plurality of applications running on the mobile station;

transmit the plurality of commands to the mobile station;

receive output data of the plurality of applications from the mobile station; and

convert text data in the output data from the corresponding program and the plurality of applications into speech data;

wherein the audio output device of the tablet presents an audio output of the speech data.

15. The portable telematics device of claim 14, wherein the control component is configured to be disabled when the vehicle is stopped.

16. The portable telematics device of claim 14, further comprising a second communication link between the tablet and the vehicle,

wherein the second communication link is configured to allow information about the vehicle to be accessed by the tablet.

17. The portable telematics device of claim 14, wherein the corresponding program and the plurality of applications execute only on the mobile station.

18. The portable telematics device of claim 14, wherein the control component is further configured to:

disable a first feature of the corresponding program; and

allow a second feature of the corresponding program to be accessed through the tablet over the communication link.

19. A method comprising:

automatically activating a telematics application on a tablet computer when the tablet is mounted to a vehicle;

controlling a mobile station from the tablet computer using the telematics application, the controlling comprising the steps of;

establishing a communication link between the tablet computer and the mobile station in the vehicle;

displaying a program icon related to the operation of the vehicle from the mobile station, on the tablet computer using the communication link, wherein the mobile station is configured to display a plurality of program icons, including the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and a program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle and wherein the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle is displayed on the tablet computer with increased size relative to the program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle;

preventing, on the mobile station, use of all program icons including the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and the program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle, using the communication link;

permitting a use of the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle on the tablet computer using the communication link;

activating a program corresponding to the program icon, related to the operation of the vehicle, on the mobile station using the communication link; and

displaying at least an output of the corresponding program on the tablet computer using the communication link

receiving a voice command;

translating the received voice command into a predetermined plurality of commands for a respective plurality of applications running on the mobile station;

transmitting the plurality of commands to the mobile station;

receiving output data of the plurality of applications from the mobile station;

converting text components of the received output data from the plurality of applications into speech data; and

presenting the speech data as an audio output of the tablet computer.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of establishing a second communication link between the tablet and the vehicle,

wherein the second communication link is configured to allow information about the vehicle to be accessed by the tablet.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the program corresponding to the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and the plurality of applications execute only on the mobile station.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

disabling a first feature of the corresponding program; and

accessing a second feature of the corresponding program through the tablet, over the communication link.

23. A portable in-vehicle telematics master tablet, including a slave mobile station, comprising:

an audio output device in the master tablet;

an audio input device in the master tablet;

a display device in the master tablet;

a communication link between the master tablet and the slave mobile station in the vehicle; and

a control component on the master tablet configured to;

automatically activate a telematics application of the master tablet when the master tabled is mounted to the vehicle and, when the telematics application is activated;

selectively display a program icon from the slave mobile station and related to an operation of the vehicle, on the master tablet using the communication link, wherein the slave mobile station is configured to display a plurality of program icons corresponding to a plurality of applications running on the mobile device, the plurality of icons including a first program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and a second program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle and wherein the program icon related to the operation of the vehicle is displayed on the tablet with increased size relative to the program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle;

selectively prevent a use of all program icons including the first program icon related to the operation of the vehicle and the second program icon not related to the operation of the vehicle on the slave mobile station using the communication link; and

selectively allow a use of the first program icon related to the operation of the vehicle on the master tablet, which activates a program, corresponding to the first icon related to the operation of the vehicle, on the slave mobile station using the communication link,

wherein the selective allowance further disables at least one feature of the corresponding program using the communication link;

receive a voice command via the audio input device;

translate the received voice command into a predetermined plurality of commands for a respective plurality of applications running on the mobile station and related to the operation of the vehicle;

transmit the plurality of commands to the mobile station;

receive output data of the plurality of applications via the communication link from the mobile station;

convert text components of the received output data from the plurality of applications into speech data; and

present the speech data as an audio output of the tablet computer.

24. The portable in-vehicle telematics device of claim 23, wherein the master tablet is at least acting as a telematics device and the slave mobile station is not acting as part of the telematics device.

25. The portable in-vehicle telematics device of claim 23, wherein the slave mobile station comprises one of a laptop, a smart phone, and a tablet.