Patent ID: 6559773
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: B60K

Abstract:
An electronic accessory display/control system for a transportation vehicle, comprising:a reconfigurable control panel having a visual display for displaying menu items for an electronic accessory and having at least one control actuator; a human-machine interface controller coupled to said reconfigurable control panel and including a local archive for storing a plurality of interface specifiers, each specifier defining interaction between said reconfigurable control panel and a respective electronic accessory for performing operations via said menu items using a predetermined communications protocol; an expandable interconnection link for coupling compatible electronic accessories with said human-machine interface controller; and a wireless transceiver for accessing a remote archive of interface specifiers, wherein said remote archive includes interface specifiers each adapted for a corresponding combination of a particular electronic accessory and a particular reconfigurable control panel; wherein said human-machine interface controller responds to a coupling of an electronic accessory to said expandable interconnection link by checking said local archive for presence of a desired interface specifier corresponding to said electronic accessory and said reconfigurable control panel, and if said desired interface specifier is not present in said local archive then activating said wireless transceiver to automatically obtain said desired interface specifier from said remote archive.