Patent Publication Number: US-2016234954-A1

Title: Modular upgradeable vehicle infotainment system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/114,803, filed on Feb. 11, 2015, which the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The disclosure relates to an infotainment system for a motor vehicle for any mode of transportation. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Infotainment systems on motor vehicles are generally not upgradeable. The consumer electronics market not only changes software but continuously upgrades the electronics, as well. This constant rapid evolution of the consumer market quickly forces the electronics of the infotainment system to become obsolete within a few years, and yet the vehicle may be in service for over ten years. Thus, the majority of a vehicle&#39;s life may be spent with obsolete electronics. 
     SUMMARY 
     Disclosed herein is a system partitioning and architecture wherein it is possible to upgrade, swap out, or exchange a module or modules that include the wired and/or wireless in-cabin interfaces to communicate with consumer electronics, upgrade the processing of vehicle/infotainment audio/video/data, and/or increase internet/data bandwidth for vehicle/infotainment applications. 
     The system partitioning/architecture provides a physical division between the permanent automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vehicle-centric components and the modular upgradable components. The permanent components may include an external radio frequency (RF) interface (e.g., broadcast audio systems, broadcast television systems, cellular systems, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers, wireless transceivers, etc.), audio power amplifiers, automotive displays/clusters/heads up displays (HUD), and/or vehicular communication buses. All of these elements may be tailored or tuned to the aspect of the vehicle for best performance or styling. In contrast, the modular upgradeable components may include the main processor or system on chip (SoC) of the infotainment system along with the latest electronic, mechanical, or software interfaces to the consumer devices (phones, tablets, etc.). The permanent and modular systems may be connected via high bandwidth bi-directional audio/video/data communication buses and signaling. 
     The invention may provide the ability to upgrade the vehicle infotainment system with minimal impact to the factory-installed vehicle systems over the lifetime of the vehicle. This architecture provides the ability to keep better pace with the current state of consumer electronics, while possibly adding features to the vehicle system in the future as well. In essence, the inventive architecture future-proofs the vehicle infotainment system. The architecture enables quick and cost effective upgrading of the components of the system that are most likely to be in need of an upgrade in the future. 
     In one embodiment, the invention comprises deploying a basic but complete infotainment system on all vehicles, and then adding any additional desired components or features for certain models of vehicles without impacting the base system. 
     The architecture binds the system to the elements that are vehicle specific, leaving open many possible upgrade paths that are more specific to the human-machine interface (HMI), user experience, external connectivity, and other technologies that are not necessarily a part of the vehicle-specific components. 
     A core hardware system can be qualified for use and deployed across a broad range of vehicles. The features or capabilities are upgraded without having knowledge in advance of what those features or capabilities might be, because the core system can hand over control to one of the newly installed components. These upgrades can be installed without having to re-qualify the already installed components. 
     The system may be upgraded by replacement and/or exchanging of the modular units. This approach avoids system redundancy and maintains cost effectiveness. In one embodiment, a factory installed unit has a main system on chip (SoC) and connections with a blank or empty dock. This approach saves the cost of the modular unit housing and power supplies. This method is valid, but provides redundancy to the overall system cost once the first modular unit is applied. 
     In one embodiment, the invention comprises an infotainment arrangement for a motor vehicle including a permanent portion permanently installed in the vehicle. The permanent portion includes a plurality of non-upgradeable electronic components. A non-permanent upgradeable portion is in electronic communication with the permanent portion. A non-permanent upgradeable portion is non-permanently installed in the vehicle and is replaceable in the vehicle. 
     In another embodiment, the invention comprises a method of maintaining an infotainment system in a motor vehicle, including permanently installing a permanent portion of the infotainment system in the vehicle. The permanent portion includes a plurality of non-upgradeable electronic components. A non-permanent upgradeable portion of the infotainment system is non-permanently installed in the vehicle. Electronic communication is performed between the permanent portion and the non-permanent upgradeable portion. The non-permanent upgradeable portion is removed from the vehicle. An upgraded non-permanent portion is re-installed in the vehicle. 
     In yet another embodiment, the invention comprises a motor vehicle including an infotainment arrangement having a permanent portion permanently installed in the vehicle. The permanent portion has a plurality of non-upgradeable electronic components. A non-permanent upgradeable portion is electronically connected to the permanent portion. The non-permanent upgradeable portion is non-permanently installed in the vehicle and is replaceable in the vehicle. The non-permanent upgradeable portion is removed from the vehicle by pulling the non-permanent upgradeable portion out of the vehicle in a first single, linear motion in a first direction. The non-permanent upgradeable portion is installed in the vehicle by pushing the non-permanent upgradeable portion into a recess of the vehicle in a second single, linear motion in a second direction opposite to the first direction. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A better understanding of the present invention will be had upon reference to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one example embodiment of a vehicle infotainment system of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a method of installing a non-permanent upgradeable portion of an infotainment system into a recess of the vehicle and removing the non-permanent upgradeable portion from the recess of the vehicle. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of a vehicle infotainment system  10  of the present invention including a permanently factory installed portion  12  and an upgradeable modular unit  14 . Each of permanent portion  12  and modular unit  14  may be contained in a separate, respective housing. Permanent portion  12  and modular unit  14  may be interconnected by a connector arrangement  16  including one or more cables and connectors. The conductive lines within the connector arrangement  16  include audio/video data bus along with control signaling  18 , a base interface/data signaling  20 , and an audio/video bridge (AVB) signaling  22  which may carry time-stamped Ethernet data. 
     Each of audio/video data bus along with control signaling  18  may carry uncompressed data without any latency. In one embodiment, each of audio/video data bus along with control signaling  18  may carry about three gigabits of data in each direction. 
     In the embodiment shown, permanently factory installed portion  12  includes an instrument cluster/heads up display (HUD)  24 , Skype cameras  26 , Rear View Camera (RVC)/array cameras  28 , a camera multiplexer  30 , a user interface/base system  32  having a HT (Bluetooth)/WIFI/NFC (near field communication) antenna  34 , a voice microphone  36 , an ancillary microphone  38 , a camera array  40 , a digital video recorder (DVR)  42 , rear seat entertainment (ME) subsystem  44 , a premium audio subsystem  46 , an ancillary microphone  48 , a loudspeaker  50 , and a radio frequency (RE) antenna array  52  including an AM/FM/high definition (HD)/digital radio mondiale (DRM) antenna  54 , a SiriusXM (SXM)/digital audio broadcasting (DAB) antenna  56 , a global positioning system (GPS)/GNSS antenna  58 , a Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB)/China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB)/Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T)/Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) antenna  60 , and a long-term evolution (LTE) cellular antenna  62 . 
     In the embodiment shown, upgradeable modular unit  14  includes a BT/WiFi/NFC antenna  64 , a remote display serializer/deserializer  66 , a camera input serializer/deserializer  68 , a base system PCIe  70 , a USB port  72 , an audio/video bridge  74 , mobile high-definition link (MHL 3 )  76 , an Apple Interface USB port  78 , and a microprocessor  80  in communication with each of the other above-identified components of upgradeable modular unit  14 . Apple Interface USB port  78  may be connectable to a personal electronic device, such as a mobile phone. A processor in the personal electronic device may be used as the primary processor of, and may perform most of the processing for, vehicle infotainment system  10 . 
     During use, the components of upgradeable modular unit  14  may become obsolete due to age and/or better or more widely accepted technology coming to the consumer electronics market. When such obsolescence of one or more of the components of upgradeable modular unit  14  occurs, the owner of the vehicle may swap out the obsolete modular unit  14  with an upgraded modular unit  14 . The owner of the vehicle may swap out modular unit  14  himself by disconnecting the obsolete modular unit  14  from the vehicle dashboard. In one embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 2 , modular unit  14  may be disconnected from the vehicle dashboard  84  simply by pulling modular unit  14  out of a recess  82  in a dashboard  84  in a single linear motion in direction  86 . Similarly, the new, upgraded modular unit  14  may be inserted into dashboard  84  by simply pushing modular unit  14  into recess  82  in dashboard  84  in a single linear motion in direction  88  until it snaps into place by virtue of opposing snap connectors  90 ,  92  on modular unit  14  and in recess  82 , respectively. Although snap connectors  90 ,  92  may hold modular unit  14  within recess  82 , manual pulling three may be sufficient to overcome the bias of snap connectors  90 ,  92  and remove modular unit  14  from recess  82 . The direction of pushing  88  may be in a direction opposite to the direction  86  in which unit  14  was pulled out during removal. Modular unit  14  may be hot swappable such that the new modular unit.  14  is operable as soon as it is snapped into place. 
     In another embodiment, specialized or customized tools are required to remove the obsolete modular unit  14  from the dashboard such that replacing modular unit  14  with another one must be performed by personnel at the dealership who have the required tools. 
     The foregoing detailed description is given primarily for clearness of understanding and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom for modifications can be made by those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.