Patent Description:
In the prior art, user interface systems, e.g. graphical user interface systems, are known for displays in vehicles, which, for example, provide a driver with information about the vehicle and/or the state of the vehicle, these user interface systems being created for a particular application and/or for a particular vehicle. Thereby, the user interface systems are individually tailored to the respective application with the respective functions, so that a reuse of certain functions, which are also used in other user interface systems, is generally not possible, so that an additional effort arises in the development of different user interface systems. Furthermore, adjustments and/or modifications of a function of a user interface system are also only possible with the revision of the entire user interface system, just as updating a function of a user interface system of a vehicle may only be performed as an overall update of the user interface system. Moreover, a user interface system may negatively affect the driving safety of a vehicle and/or trigger failures in the function of the vehicle. In addition, responding to user experience in terms of adjusting and/or customizing a feature is also only possible by updating the entire user interface systems.

In view of this, it is found that a further need exists to provide an improved method for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle.

The document <CIT> discloses a computer-implemented method for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle.

In the view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle.

These and other objects, which become apparent upon reading the following description, are solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims refer to preferred embodiments of the invention.

The subject-matter of claim <NUM> relates to, a computer-implemented method for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle is provided, comprising:.

In other words, the computer-implemented method may be a prototyping platform that supports complex, rapid ideation and/or implementation of user interfaces in terms of human-centric design for a road-legal test fleet. In this context, vehicle functions may be read and written from vehicle signals in real time to meet the specific requirements of user interfaces, e.g., different prototypes of a user interface. Thereby, a prototype of a user interface for driving a vehicle, testing a vehicle and/or for presentation purposes for meetings may be created. However, the present disclosure is not limited to such prototyping platform.

The prototyping platform may comprise a complete tech stack or technical package that may be modular, with each module operating independently and interchangeable to adapt to the specific needs of a prototype.

Therefore, the prototyping platform may provide a common and reusable toolset for prototyping user experience in prototypes for user interfaces, which may improve the process of creating user interfaces for vehicle regarding the needed time and resources, by having to re-implement core functionality needed for each prototype of a user interface. In other words, the prototyping platform may provide a common set of user-friendly tools, both in terms of hardware and software implementation, to may reduce the effort required to explore new technologies and ideas that may be tested in a vehicle, to be able to reduce development costs and improve the driver experience of a vehicle.

In an Implementation, the computer-implemented method may comprises: providing, by the vehicle, vehicle data, which may comprise information about vehicle parameters and providing, by the computing unit, user interface control data for the at least one user interface, which may be further based on the provided vehicle data.

The vehicle data may be provided, for example, by a control unit of the vehicle, with the user interface accessing and/or displaying the vehicle data.

The control data for the user interface may be provided separately to the vehicle, for example, by a system.

In an Implementation, the user interface control data may comprises information about a selection of vehicle parameters for displaying by the at least one user interface.

The vehicle parameters displayed may vary depending on the application, vehicle type, user interface type, prototype of a user interface, etc..

In an Implementation, the vehicle data may comprises a vehicle speed of the vehicle, a vehicle gear level of the vehicle, a vehicle fuel range of the vehicle, a GPS location of the vehicle and/or further vehicle parameters. However, other data, e.g., weather data, may also be used/displayed.

Additional signals or data used and/or generated in a vehicle may also be displayed.

In an implementation, the vehicle data may be provided by the vehicle, e.g. by vehicle bus systems, preferably by a Flexray bus system, Controller Area Network bus system, CAN, Local Interconnect Network bus system, LIN, and/or automotive Ethernet bus system.

In addition, the vehicle data of various vehicle buses used in a vehicle may be provided.

In an implementation, the user interface may be configured to process web technology, in particular HTML data, CSS data and/or JavaScript data.

In this context, the user interface may comprise one or more elements that use web technologies for enabling fast iteration, deployment and reuse. In other words, making a new user interface, e.g. a prototype user interface, for a vehicle may become as simple as making a website.

Thereby, the user interface or prototype user interfaces of vehicles for driving, testing, or presenting may be in the state of being displayed as a web page as in the world wide web or documents and data in a web browser or internet browser in general.

In an implementation request data, e.g. a request of a driver, may be provided, whereby the user interface control data may then be further based on the request data.

The request data, which may be a vehicle parameter and/or user interface control data may be distinct from a driver's requirement for the vehicle.

In an implementation, the user interface may be an augmented reality user interface of the vehicle, a head-up display interface of the vehicle and/or a cockpit display interface of the vehicle.

In other words, this prototyping platform may provide flexibility to use existing vehicle features, integrate new technologies, and perform user testing in road environments of a vehicle. In addition, user interface prototypes developed with this platform may also be used in AR/VR environments or as showcase content during design reviews.

In an implementation, the vehicle may be provided by means of a vehicle software model.

In an implementation, the method may be performed as virtual reality model based on simulated vehicle data.

In an implementation, real-time may be defined in a timeframe of <NUM> milliseconds [ms] to <NUM> [ms], preferably between <NUM> [ms] and <NUM> [ms] and most preferably about <NUM> [ms].

The subject-matter of claim <NUM> relates to a system for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle comprising:.

In an implementation, the system may comprise:.

The gateway unit may be an interface to read and/or write vehicle buses.

The message broker unit may be a central hub to pass along messages of the system, in particular the control module, on request, for example, as pub/sub architecture. Therefore, the message broker unit decouples the units of the system, in particular, the control module.

The custom logic unit may be a middleware to enable stream signal processing. In computer science, middleware refers to application-neutral programs that mediate between applications in such a way that the complexity of these applications and their infrastructure are hidden.

The remote control unit may be an interface for subscribing and publishing both vehicle data and user interface data.

The HMI unit may be user-facing elements that affords communication and interaction, e.g. output/input for the driver of the vehicle.

The subject-matter of claim <NUM> relates to a vehicle and a computing unit configured to perform the herein disclosed method.

A further aspect of the present discourse relates to a computer program element with instructions, which, when executed on a computing device of a computing environment, is configured to carry out the steps of the disclosed method in the disclosed system.

In the following, the disclosure is described exemplarily with reference to the enclosed figures, in which:.

Notably, the figures are merely schematic representations and serve only to illustrate examples of the present disclosure.

<FIG> shows a schematic diagram of a process of the disclosed method, whereby the method comprises the steps of providing, by the vehicle, user interface data <NUM> of the vehicle to a separate computing unit, comprising at least information about the visualization parameters of at least one user interface. Further, a providing, by the computing unit, user interface control data <NUM> for the at least one user interface based on the provided user interface data. Further, a transmitting the user interface control data <NUM> to the vehicle. Further, an adjusting and/or a customising, by the vehicle, the at least one user interface <NUM> based on the user interface control data in real time.

<FIG> shows a schematic illustration of an example of a system for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle <NUM> comprising different units.

A first providing unit <NUM> of the vehicle configured to provide user interface data of the vehicle to a separate computing unit <NUM>, comprising at least information about the visualization parameters of at least one user interface, e.g., a cockpit user interface of the vehicle <NUM>. The user interface data of the vehicle may be provided to the computing unit <NUM> by any wireless communication method, e.g. any wireless communication technology, like a mobile communication, a Bluetooth communication, etc. In a further use case, the user interface data of the vehicle <NUM> may be provided to the computing unit <NUM> by any wire based communication standard, for example, a smart grid communication for electric vehicles during charging the electric vehicle or by means of a wired control device.

A second providing unit <NUM> of the computing unit <NUM> configured to provide user interface control data for the at least one user interface based on the provided user interface data.

A transmitting unit <NUM> configured to transmit the user interface control data to the vehicle <NUM>. In addition, here, the above-mentioned communication methods may be applied/used.

An adjusting and/or customising unit <NUM> of the vehicle <NUM> configured to adjust and/or customise the at least one user interface based on the user interface control data in real time.

Further, a gateway unit <NUM>, a message broker unit <NUM>, a custom logic unit <NUM>, a remote control unit <NUM> and a HMI unit <NUM> are provided in the shown example. Whereby, the HMI unit <NUM> is configured to display the user interface.

<FIG> shows a schematic illustration of an example architecture of a method and a system <NUM>, comprising a vehicle <NUM>, a (prototype) database and/or a software (prototype) tool <NUM> of the system <NUM>, a gateway unit <NUM>, a message broker unit <NUM>, a custom logic unit <NUM>, a remote control unit <NUM> and a HMI unit <NUM>. Whereby the (prototype) database and/or software (prototype) tool <NUM> may comprise additional devices that may be included in the user interface setup and provide, for example, a configuration of buttons and/or new buttons for a steering wheel of a vehicle. Furthermore, the (prototype) database and/or software (prototype) tool <NUM> may simulate an environment for augmented reality and/or virtual reality.

The vehicle <NUM> and the database <NUM> aggregated as a first stage <NUM> and the gateway unit <NUM>, the message broker unit <NUM>, the custom logic unit <NUM>, the remote control unit <NUM> and the HMI unit <NUM> aggregated as a second stage <NUM>. Whereby the first stage <NUM> and the second stage <NUM> are configured to communicate in a bidirectional way with each other. Moreover, the first stage <NUM> and/or the second stage <NUM> may be further configured to communication with further units/entities, e.g. server systems. Further, the first stage <NUM> provides data to the second stage <NUM> and the second stage <NUM> process the provided data.

In other words, data is received by the vehicle <NUM>, whereby, the custom logic unit <NUM> receives a list of signals of the vehicle <NUM> requested by the remote control unit <NUM> and the HMI unit <NUM>. The gateway unit <NUM> reads the signals from the vehicle busses, e.g. Flexray, CAN, LIN and/or automotive Ethernet, in real time. Whereby, the gateway unit <NUM> decodes the requested signals of the vehicle to human readable values and passes them to the custom logic unit <NUM>. The custom logic unit <NUM> allows combining, process or simply passing through the incoming data, as needed. Further, the custom logic unit <NUM> publishes the data to the message broker unit <NUM> as requested. The HMI unit <NUM> displays the received data, for example, vehicle speed, gear, fuel range and/or GPS of the vehicle <NUM>.

Further, data is received by the database <NUM>, whereby the database <NUM> publish the data to the message broker unit <NUM>. The custom logic unit <NUM> combines and/or process the data of the database <NUM>, as needed. Further, the custom logic unit <NUM> publishes the data to the message broker unit <NUM>. The HMI unit <NUM> displays the received data for example turn-by-turn indications and/or steering wheel button inputs.

Further, data is received by the remote control unit <NUM>, whereby the remote control unit <NUM> publishes the data to the message broker unit <NUM>. The custom logic unit <NUM> combines and/or processes the data of the remote control unit <NUM>, as needed. Further, the custom logic unit <NUM> publishes the data to the message broker unit <NUM>. The HMI unit <NUM> displays the received data, for example, notifications and/or user interface context changes.

Further, data is send to the vehicle <NUM>, whereby received data being sent via the remote control unit <NUM> and/or database <NUM> from the custom logic unit <NUM> via the message broker unit <NUM> to the vehicle <NUM>.

For example, a set of steering wheel buttons may be send to the vehicle, which should be pressed to activate a vehicle function. The request is received by the custom logic unit <NUM>. The custom logic unit <NUM> translates the request to a vehicle readable format: a set of vehicle signals that will activate the vehicle function. This set of signals are injected into the vehicle's busses by the gateway unit <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a schematic illustration of a first example of a user interface on a HMI unit <NUM> of a vehicle. The user interface comprise at least a first field <NUM>, a second field <NUM>, third field <NUM>, fourth field <NUM> and a fifth field <NUM>.

Further, in the first field <NUM>, the user interface shows a first field view of a speed of the vehicle comprising the actual speed and the unit of the speed.

Further, in the second field <NUM>, the user interface shows a first field view of a used gear of a transmission of the vehicle, comprising the possible gears of the transmission and a highlighting of the used gear.

Further, in the third field <NUM>, the user interface shows a first field view of navigation instructions for reaching a desired destination that comprises a distance for the next change of direction, a direction for the change of direction, and a location that will be reached next.

Further, in the fourth field <NUM>, the user interface shows a remaining range of the vehicle, for example, based on the remaining fuel and/or charge of a battery of the vehicle.

Further, in the fifth field <NUM>, the user interface shows a map of the location of the vehicle with an indication of a driving direction of the vehicle.

<FIG> shows a schematic illustration of a second example of a user interface on a HMI unit <NUM> similar to <FIG>. Whereby, here, in the third field <NUM>, the user interface shows a second field view of autopilot information for the usage of the vehicle. Moreover, the steering wheel buttons are configured or reconfigured to activate an autopilot mode of the vehicle. It is further displayed in the third field <NUM> that a driver may activate the autopilot by holding the steering wheel buttons, i.e. the HMI unit <NUM> displays a notification on the availability of a specific vehicle function, here an autopilot function of the vehicle.

<FIG> shows a schematic illustration of a third example of a user interface on a HMI unit <NUM> similar to <FIG>. Whereby, here, the in the third field <NUM>, the user interface shows an autopilot information, here that the autopilot mode of the vehicle is actually used.

<FIG> shows a schematic illustration of a fourth example of a user interface on a HMI unit <NUM> similar to <FIG>. Whereby, in the first field <NUM>, the user interface shows a second field view of a speed of the vehicle comprising the speed. As well as, in the second field <NUM> that the autopilot mode is activated.

Claim 1:
A computer-implemented method for adjusting and/or customising a user interface of a vehicle comprising:
- providing, by the vehicle, user interface data (<NUM>) of the vehicle to a separate computing unit, comprising at least information about the visualization parameters of at least one user interface;
- providing, by the computing unit, user interface control data (<NUM>) for the at least one user interface based on the provided user interface data;
- transmitting the user interface control data (<NUM>) to the vehicle; and
- adjusting and/or customising, by the vehicle, the at least one user interface (<NUM>) based on the user interface control data in real time.