Method and system for playing an electronic book using an electronics system in a vehicle

• US 8,103,554 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2010
• Issued: 01/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Tom, Alfred C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg, Yogesh C
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZIMMERMAN, MATTHEW E
• Application Number:
  US12/712,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20110208614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.58, 705/26.1, 709/219, 704/258, 704/270
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• 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

Abstract

A method and system for using a vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems to provide all features and functions typically found on a handheld electronic book device. The vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems can be used in an integrated fashion with a user'"'"'s handheld electronic book device, such that the vehicle'"'"'s systems can be used to recite electronic book materials, media files can be shared between the vehicle and the handheld device, bookmarks can be synchronized, and the user can seamlessly switch from one system to the other. The vehicle'"'"'s electronic systems can also be used independent of any other electronic book device, such that the vehicle'"'"'s systems provide all electronic book device functionality—including browsing for new reading materials, purchase, download, storage, reading, and listening.

Claims

1. A method for using an electronic book device in a vehicle, said method comprising:

introducing a handheld electronic book device into the vehicle, wherein the handheld electronic book device includes at least one electronic book that may have been purchased;

establishing an electronic connection between the handheld electronic book device and a separate electronic systems onboard the vehicle, wherein the electronic systems includes at least a text-to-speech converter and an audio system;

in response to establishing the connection, automatically playing at least a portion of the at least one electronic book by at least streaming text of the electronic book from the handheld electronic book device to a playback buffer in the electronic system, converting the text to speech using the text-to-speech converter, and playing the speech in the vehicle using the audio system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic book device is also configured to automatically turn on audio recitation using its own text-to-speech converter and the vehicle'"'"'s audio system when connected to the vehicle, and automatically turn off audio recitation when disconnected from the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the electronic connection between the electronic book device and electronic systems onboard the vehicle uses the Bluetooth wireless communication standard.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising browsing for new electronic book materials to purchase and purchasing new electronic book materials from an online store.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing electronic book media files on a vehicle storage system.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising downloading a new electronic book media file from an online store to the vehicle storage system.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising copying media files from the vehicle storage system to the electronic book device or from the electronic book device to the vehicle storage system.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising visually presenting text from either the electronic book device or the vehicle storage system on a display screen.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the media files are audio files.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking progress of reading electronic book materials via electronic bookmarks.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising synchronizing electronic bookmarks between copies of electronic book materials on the electronic book device and a vehicle storage system.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the electronic bookmarks are placed at the beginning of a paragraph immediately following a paragraph most recently completed.

13. A method for using an electronic book device in a vehicle, said method comprising:

introducing a handheld electronic book device into the vehicle, wherein the handheld electronic book device includes at least one electronic book that may have been purchased;

establishing an electronic connection between the handheld electronic book device and a separate electronic systems onboard the vehicle, wherein the electronic systems includes at least a text-to-speech converter and an audio system;

in response to establishing the connection, automatically playing at least a portion of the at least one electronic book by at least streaming text of the electronic book from the handheld electronic book device to a playback buffer in the electronic system, converting the text to speech using the text-to-speech converter, and playing the speech in the vehicle using the audio system;

wherein the electronic book device is also configured to turn on audio recitation using its own text-to-speech converter and the audio system when connected to the vehicle, and turn off audio recitation when disconnected from the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising storing electronic book media files on a vehicle storage system, and copying media files from the vehicle storage system to the electronic book device or from the electronic book device to the vehicle storage system.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising tracking progress of reading electronic book materials via electronic bookmarks, and synchronizing the electronic bookmarks between copies of electronic book materials on the electronic book device and the vehicle storage system.

16. A system for using an electronic book device in a vehicle, said system comprising:

at least one or more computer processors having memory configured with executable instructions which when executed cause the at least one or more computer processors to;

establish a connection between a handheld electronic book device and a separate electronic systems onboard the vehicle, wherein the electronic systems includes at least a text-to-speech converter and an audio system and further wherein the handheld electronic book device includes at least one electronic book that may have been purchased;

in response to establishing the connection, automatically play at least a portion of the at least one electronic book by at least streaming text of the electronic book from the handheld electronic book device to a playback buffer in the electronic system, convert the text to speech using the text-to-speech converter, and play the speech in the vehicle using the audio system.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the executable instructions further include instructions to use the Bluetooth wireless communication standard to establish the connection.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising wherein the electronic book device includes a text-to-speech converter.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the executable instructions further include instructions to:

shop for shopping for electronic book materials from online stores;

store electronic book media files in the vehicle;

manage, download, store, play, navigate, and synchronize electronic book materials in the vehicle; and

display electronic book materials in the vehicle and interact with the application.