Abstract:
A vehicle entertainment system comprising media player, master unit, slave units and smart devices to control the operation of master unit and slave units. A media placed in the media player can be played and shared between master and slave units. The media can be stored in a storage device to be played at a later time. The media content is shared between master and slave units via cable or wireless communication.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Smart devices use operating systems to control their operations. Applications developed to enable smart devices to perform different functions. These application programs run within the operating system environment. An example of operating systems in a smart device is an operating system known as Android. In a vehicle system, the driver and the passengers holding a smart device such as a smart phone or a smart tablet are able to consume the rich contents provided by these smart mobile devices. When occupants in the vehicle want to watch a DVD or play a CD, they will not be able to do it on these devices. 
     DVD, CD, and Blue ray discs have reached a significant amount of popularity worldwide over the past decade. These storage medias can store large amount of information, music and movies. They can be played on devices that have DVD, CD and Blue ray device slots that can accept DVD, CD or Blue ray media. Current smart devices do not have DVD, CD or Blue ray slots to accept these media to play. 
     Even if the system could play DVDs or CDs it still would not solve a common problem a family faces while traveling in a vehicle. It is common for parents to ride in the front seats and for young kids to ride in the back seats. Very often a parent would want to control what children watch and listen to. In other words parents would like to moderate the contents consumed by their kids in the back. This problem is especially visible in families of large size over extended periods of travel. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is the integration of a DVD player, a CD player, a Blue ray disc player, or a combo player with an operating system used in the vehicle system. More specifically the integration of a DVD player, a CD player, a Blue ray disc player, or a combo player with an operating system used in the vehicle system. 
     In one embodiment the system comprises a panel and a player, housed in a common housing. As an alternative the panel and the player could be physically separated, housed separately and connected with wires or wirelessly. An operating system used and the operating system can be any popular operating system such as Android, iOS, Windows used by smart devices on the market. We create an algorithm and a software application based on the algorithm to interface and control the physical player. 
     A common use case is a person slides a DVD into the player and the system begins to play the DVD. The viewer will be able to control the player to make it stop, fast forward, etc. 
     Another common use case is a person puts in a CD and the system begins to play the CD. The viewer will be able to control the player to make it stop, go to the next song, etc. 
     In another embodiment, a master unit with an operating system installed in the head unit compartment which is normally accessible only by occupants in the front seats of the car. Then a slave unit is installed, behind the headrest for backseat occupants. There can only be one master unit and there can be more than one slave unit. The master unit and the slave units are connected wirelessly or by using wires. The multimedia player would be installed in the master unit only. The front seat occupant would be in control of the medium, be it a DVD, a CD, or a Blue ray disc, to be played in the system. The slave units can only watch and listen to the contents and cannot control them. However the slave units&#39; screen can be turned on or off and the volume can be adjusted by backseat occupants. 
     In yet another embodiment, a master unit and a plurality of slave units are installed in a vehicle. At least one smart device exists in the vehicle. The master unit and the slave units are connected wirelessly or by using wires. The multimedia player would be installed in the master unit only. The smart device can control the operation of the master unit and slave units. Furthermore the media that is played on the master unit can be viewed on slave units or on the smart device. This interface and exchange of media is accomplished by modifying the operating system in the master unit, in the slave unit and in the smart device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows the system configuration with a master unit, media driver and a smart unit 
         FIG. 2  shows the system configuration with a master unit, multiple slave units and multiple smart units 
         FIG. 3  shows the flow diagram of how the master unit is controlled to distribute video to slave units 
         FIG. 4  shows the algorithm used to play DVD or blue ray or other video media based on the command received from the user 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     An embodiment of the invention is shown in  FIG. 1 . Master unit  50  is a display unit or a smart device that has an operating system installed on it to perform several functions. These functions do not include playing a DVD media or CD media or Blue Ray media. Media player  51  is a unit where it may have a DVD drive or a CD drive or a Blue Ray drive or any of the combination of these drives. Connection  53  between media drive  51  and master unit  50  connects the video signals, audio signals and control signals between the master unit  50  and the media player  51 . Media player  51  can be placed in the proximity of master unit  50  or media player  51  can be placed in a remote location. If master unit  50  and media player  51  are used in a vehicle then master unit  50  and media player  51  can be either placed next to each other or they can be separated from each other. Media player  51  should be placed in a location in the vehicle such that it would be fairly easy to access to media player  51  to make it easy for users to change the media when they wish to do so. 
     In another embodiment of the invention media player  51  and master unit  50  are combined into one unit. When master unit  50  is combined with media player  51 , connecting wire  53  is built in master unit  50 . The combined unit is placed in a location within the vehicle such that users can easily access to the unit to insert a media into it or to remove media from it. 
     In either embodiments disclosed above, master unit  50  has display  54  to display the video signal coming from the media player  51 . Master unit  50  also has a plurality of control buttons on master unit  50 . A user can push buttons  55  to control the operation of master unit  50 . When a user provides commands to master unit  50  by using the buttons  55 , master unit  50  communicates with media player  51  via control signal lines  53 . When media player  51  receives commands from master unit  50 , it performs different acts based on the incoming command. If the command is a play command then media player  51  starts playing the media and sends the audio and video signals to master unit  50 . Master unit  50  displays the video signal on display unit  54 . 
     In another embodiment, display unit  54  has touch control capability and therefore a user can input commands to master unit  50  by touching display unit  54 . In this case buttons  55  do not need to exist. 
     In another embodiment, master unit  50  and media player  51  are controlled by smart device  56 . The smart device  56  is a device that has a program running on it and can perform many different functions. For example smart device  56  can be a smart telephone or a smart tablet device. Smart device  56  may or may not have display  59 . If smart device  56  does not have display  59  then smart device  56  has buttons to send commands to master unit  50 . If smart device  56  has display unit  59  then commands sent to master unit  50  can be entered on the display by using touch screen  58  that is incorporated over display  59 . A user will have the option of controlling master unit  50  either by using buttons  55  or by using smart device  56 . The connection between master unit  50  and smart device  56  is either a wired or wireless connection  57 . Wireless connection  57  can be any communication channel such as Bluetooth, radio frequency connection, infrared connection, WIFI connection or any other suitable method to communicate command signals from smart device  56 . Connection between master unit  50  and smart device  56  is a two way communication channel. Smart device  56  can send control signals to master unit  50  to control the operation of master unit  50  and media player  51 . If smart device  56  sends a command to master unit  50  such that the user that is using smart device  56  wants smart device  56  to display video, then master unit  50  sends video signals via communication channel  57  to smart device  56 . The smart device  56  displays the video signal coming from master unit  50  on display  59  of smart device  56 . This way, smart device  56  can send commands to master unit  50  and display video signals on display  59  of smart device  56 . Smart device  56  can either send commands only, or display video only or can do both of these control function and display function simultaneously. 
       FIG. 2  shows another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment there is master unit  1  and slave units  2 ,  3  and  4 . There are three slave units shown in  FIG. 2 . However the number of slave units can be either 1 or more. There is no upper limit as to the number of slave units. The system in  FIG. 2  also has smart devices  5  and  6 . Only two smart devices are shown in  FIG. 2 . There may be one or more smart devices in the system. Master unit  1  is similar to the unit  50  in  FIG. 1 . System  41  also has media player  40 . Media player  40  has either DVD drive,  15 , CD drive  16  or Blue ray drive  17 . Media player  40  can have any combination of these drives. In  FIG. 2  master unit  1  and media player  40  are shown as two separate units. In another embodiment master unit  1  and media player  40  can be combined as one unit. Slave units  2 ,  3 , and  4  have display units on them and they communicate with master unit  1  via communication links  12 ,  13 , and  14  respectively. These communication links  12 ,  13 , and  14  can be wireless or wired communication links. They comprise video signals, audio signals and control signals. If they are wireless links the wireless technology can be Bluetooth technology, radio frequency technology, infrared technology, WIFI connection or any other current or potential wireless technology. Smart devices  5  and  6  are devices with software programs running on them and they may or may not have display devices on them. Smart devices  5  and  6  communicate with master unit  1  via communication channel  8  and  9 . Smart device  5  communicates with slave units  2 ,  3 , and  4  via communication channels  7 ,  19  and  60 . Smart device  6  communicates with slave units  2 ,  3 , and  4  via communication channels  18 ,  10  and  11 . Communication links  7 ,  19 ,  60 ,  18 ,  10  and  11  can be wireless or wired communication links. They comprise video signals, audio signals and control signals. If they are wireless links the wireless technology can be Bluetooth technology, radio frequency technology, infrared technology, WIFI connection or any other current or potential wireless technology. In this embodiment either smart unit  5  or smart unit  6  can control the operation of master unit  1  and slave units  2 ,  3  and  4 . For example smart unit  5  can send a command to master unit  1  to play a media that is placed in media player  40 . Smart unit  5  can send another command to master unit  1  directing master unit  1  to send video signal to slave unit  2 . Smart unit  5  can send a command to master unit  1 , asking master unit  1  to send video signal to smart unit  5 . A user that is controlling smart unit  5  can watch the video on smart unit  5 &#39;s display device. There are many other combinations of commands that are possible in this configuration. If smart unit  5  and smart unit  6  send conflicting commands to master unit  1 , master unit  1  performs the most recent command received from any smart device. 
       FIG. 3  shows another embodiment where a command received from smart devices  5  and  6  are processed by master unit  1 . In  FIG. 3  in step  30 , a user enters a command to smart unit  5  or  6  or to master unit  50 . The command is sent to master unit  1  and evaluated by master unit  1 . In step  31 , the command coming from smart unit  5  or  6  or command entered to master unit  50  is decoded. If the command coming from smart unit  5  or  6  or the command entered to master unit  50  is a media player command then the command is sent to media player in step  22 . If the command in step  21  is not a media player command then other function control operation is performed in step  34 . In step  23 , media player  40  executes the command and sends the video signal to the video decoder. In step  24 , the video decoder outputs signal to the panel. In step  32  master unit  1  sends the video signal to one of slave units  2 ,  3  or  4  or any combination thereof. Furthermore in step  33 , master unit  1  may send video signals to smart units  5  or  6  or any combination thereof. Distribution of video signal by master unit  1  depends on the command signal received from smart device  5  or  6  or the command entered to master unit  1 . In step  36 , the system waits for the next command. 
       FIG. 4  shows the algorithm used to play DVD or blue ray or other video media based on the command received from the user. In step  60  the system initializes the user interface. In step  61 , the system initializes dynamic surface view and further initializes listeners for events (misspelling in  FIG. 4 ) including keystroke and the touch panel. In step  62  the system receives video decoder&#39;s camera service. In step  64 , the video decoder gets the analog video signal from the media player. This analog video signal is called CVBS or YC. The system outputs digital video signal based on the analog video signal input. This digital video signal is called BT656. In step  66  the source is switched to the selected video media in the video decoder. In step  68  the image processing unit is booted up to receive digital video signal from the video decoder. Boot up means start. In step  70  the system sends the digital video signals to dynamic surface view and display view on the screen. 
     In step  63 , the audio decoder is started to perform its operation. In step  65  the source is switched to audio in the audio decoder to get analog audio signal from the media player and output digital audio signal. In step  67  the audio processing unit is booted up to receive digital audio signal. Boot up means start. In step  69 , system converts and sends audio signal of proper format to output source. The output source can be earphone, speaker, Bluetooth or any other suitable output device selected by user. 
     In step  71 , listeners in the system listen for events. In step  72  user presses menu button and selects brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness and hue. In step  73 , video decoder&#39;s camera sends the command to kernel. The command is among brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness and hue. There may be additional commands. In step  74 , kernel driver receives command and adjusts video decoder&#39;s brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness and hue depending on the selected command. This communication is sent over a line by using I2C protocol or any other suitable protocol. 
     In step  75 , user presses either home, play, pause, stop, eject, next or previous buttons. In step  76 , OS framework sends one of the home, play, pause, stop, eject, next or previous commands to kernel via media loader library. In step  77 , kernel driver receives command and sends it to media loader by using I2C protocol. The protocol can be any protocol that can transmit signal from one point to the next. 
     In step  78 , user touches the touch panel. In step  79  the system displays commands specified in step  72  and step  75  in a user interface screen. In step  80 , the system waits for an input for 3 seconds. If there is no input for 3 seconds or user taps out of the controls UI area, the controls UI disappears in step  81 . If user inputs a command via the UI, the system moves to step  73  or  76  depending on the command. 
     While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention.