Method for operating a control system for a vehicle and control system for a vehicle

• US 8,564,560 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2009
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Wller, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khoo, Stacy
• Application Number:
  US13/002,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20110148799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-178, 173 1801- 1901, 715/800
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/143 Touch sensitive instrument input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1438 Touch screens
• 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: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A method for operating an operator control system (1) comprises presentation of at least one operator control panel (5-9) on a display unit (2), wherein the at least one operator control panel (5-9) is provided for a user to touch in order to operate a operator control function, detection of a touch (10-12) on a touch-sensitive interface (3) by the user, determination of whether the at least one operator control panel (5-9) has been hit during the touch (10-12) by virtue of coordinates of the touch (10-12) being compared with coordinates of the at least one operator control panel (5-9), and enlarged presentation of the at least one operator control panel (5-9) if no operator control panel (5-9) has been hit.

Claims

1. A method for operating an operator control system for a vehicle, wherein the operator control system comprises a graphical display unit and a touch-sensitive interface, wherein coordinates from information presented on the display unit are associated with coordinates of the touch-sensitive interface, the method comprising:

presenting at least one operator control panel on the display unit, wherein the at least one operator control panel is provided for a user to touch to operate an operator control function;

detecting of a touch on the touch-sensitive interface by the user

determining whether the at least one operator control panel has been hit during the touch based on comparison of coordinates of the touch with coordinates of the at least one operator control panel; and

recognizing the touch as a mishit based on a determination that the touch-sensitive interface has been touched outside coordinates of the at least one operator control panel;

enlarging presentation of the at least one operator control panel if a mishit is determined,

wherein enlargement decreases as the distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the mishit increases.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein enlargement of the at least one operator control panel for the enlarged presentation is performed based on a distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the detected touch.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operator control panel is one of a plurality of operator control panels and the enlargement produces an enlarged presentation of precisely one operator control panel from the plurality of operator control panels, wherein the precisely one operator control panel is enlarged such that it comprises the coordinates of the touch.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operator control panel is one of a plurality of operator control panels, and the enlargement provides an enlarged presentation of the plurality of operator control panels, wherein the plurality of operator control panels are enlarged uniformly.

5. A method for operating an operator control system for a vehicle, wherein the operator control system comprises a graphical display unit and a touch-sensitive interface, the method comprising:

presenting at least one operator control panel on the display unit, wherein the at least one operator control panel is provided for a user to touch to operate an operator control function;

detecting of a touch on the touch-sensitive interface by the user;

determining whether the at least one operator control panel has been hit during the touch based on comparison of coordinates of the touch with coordinates of the at least one operator control panel;

recognizing a user input touch as a mishit based on a determination that the touch-sensitive interface has been touched outside coordinates of the at least one operator control panel; and

enlarging presentation of the at least one operator control panel if a mishit is determined,

wherein enlargement of the at least one operator control panel for enlarged presentation is performed based on a distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the detected touch, and

wherein enlargement decreases as the distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the mishit increases.

6. An operator control system for a vehicle, the control system comprising:

a graphical display unit that presents a piece of information for a user;

a touch-sensitive interface that detects a touch by the user, wherein coordinates from information presented on the display unit are associated with coordinates of the touch-sensitive interface; and

a control unit coupled to the display unit and the touch-sensitive interface, the control unit controlling presentation of at least one operator control panel on the display unit, wherein the at least one operator control panel is provided for the user to touch to operate an operator control function,

wherein the control unit controls operation of the touch-sensitive interface to detect a touch on the touch-sensitive interface by the user,

wherein the control unit determines whether the at least one operator control panel has been hit during the touch by comparing coordinates of the touch with coordinates of the at least one operator control panel,

wherein the control unit recognizes the touch as a mishit based on a determination that the touch-sensitive interface has been touched outside coordinates of the at least one operator control panel,

wherein the control unit further controls presentation of at least one operator control panel in enlarged form on the display unit if a mishit is determined, and

wherein enlargement of the at least one operator control panel for enlarged presentation is performed based on a distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the detected touch, and

wherein enlargement decreases as the distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the mishit increases.

7. The operator control system of claim 6, wherein enlargement decreases as the distance between the coordinates of the at least one operator control panel and the coordinates of the detected touch increases.

8. The operator control system of claim 6, wherein the at least one operator control panel is one of a plurality of operator control panels and wherein enlargement produces an enlarged presentation of precisely one operator control panel from the plurality of operator control panels, wherein the precisely one operator control panel is enlarged such that it comprises the coordinates of the touch.

9. The operator control system of claim 6, wherein the at least one operator control panel is one of a plurality of operator control panels and the enlargement provides an enlarged presentation of the plurality of operator control panels, wherein the plurality of operator control panels are enlarged uniformly.

10. The operator control system of claim 6, wherein enlargement of the presentation of the at least one operator control panel is also based on a state of the operator control system, wherein the state of the operator control system is altered based on input from the user.

11. The operator control system of claim 6 wherein the operator control system determines which operator control panels are operated more frequently and presents at least one operator control panel of those more frequently operated control panels in enlarged form.