Input output device and vehicle comprising the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10732715-B2
Application number	US-201816026705-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 3, 2018
Priority date	Jan 5, 2018
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an input/output device mounted on a vehicle having a plurality of displays, and the input/output device may include a touch panel configured to sense a touch input, a haptic module configured to generate a tactile effect on the touch panel, a communication unit configured to perform communication with any one of the displays, and a processor configured to set one or more feedback regions on the touch panel based on a screen being displayed on the display, and control the haptic module to generate a tactile effect when a touch is applied to the one or more feedback regions, wherein the one or more feedback regions vary according to the screen being displayed on the display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An input/output device mounted on a vehicle comprising a plurality of displays, the input/output device comprising:
a touch panel configured to sense touch input;
a haptic module configured to generate a tactile effect on the touch panel;
a communication unit configured to perform communication with the plurality of displays of the vehicle;
at least one processor; and
a computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
varying one or more feedback regions on a surface of the touch panel by setting the one or more feedback regions based on a content being displayed on at least one of the plurality of displays;
receiving, through the touch panel, a first touch input at the one or more feedback regions of the touch panel;
generating, through the haptic module, a tactile effect in response to receipt of the first touch input;
receiving, through the communication unit, one or more images captured by one or more cameras of the vehicle;
determining which passenger of the vehicle is applying a touch input to the touch panel;
based on the one or more images, determining a third display of the plurality of displays being viewed by the determined passenger; and
varying the one or more feedback regions by setting the one or more feedback regions based on a content being displayed on the determined third display.

2. The input/output device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
determining that the first touch input is a preset touch input; and
based on the determination that the first touch input is the preset touch input, executing a function associated with the preset touch input.

3. The input/output device of claim 2 , wherein the preset touch input comprises at least one of a force touch or a double touch.

4. The input/output device of claim 2 , wherein executing the function associated with the preset touch input comprises:
determining the function based on the feedback region through which the first touch input is received.

5. The input/output device of claim 4 , wherein the content being displayed on the at least one of the plurality of displays comprises one or more graphic objects that provide an interface for user input, and
wherein varying the one or more feedback regions comprises:
setting the one or more feedback regions in correspondence to the one or more graphic objects of the content being displayed.

6. The input/output device of claim 5 , wherein the one or more graphic objects comprises a first graphic object associated with a first function and a second graphic object associated with a second function,
wherein the one or more feedback regions comprise a first feedback region corresponding to the first graphic object and a second feedback region corresponding to the second graphic object, and
wherein executing the function associated with the preset touch input comprises:
based on a determination that the first touch input is received through the first feedback region, executing the first function.

7. The input/output device of claim 6 , wherein the operations comprise:
determining that the first touch input is a simple touch input different from the preset touch input; and
based on the determination that the first touch input is the simple touch input, instructing, through the communication unit, the at least one of the plurality of displays to display notification information configured to indicate a selection of the first graphic object.

8. The input/output device of claim 5 , wherein varying the one or more feedback regions comprises:
determining positions and sizes of the one or more graphic objects; and
setting positions and sizes of the one or more feedback regions corresponding to the one or more graphic objects based on the determined positions and sizes of the one or more graphic objects.

9. The input/output device of claim 1 , wherein generating, through the haptic module, the tactile effect in response to receipt of the first touch input comprises:
determining whether the first touch input is received through a first feedback region or a second feedback region;
based on a determination that the first touch input is received through the first feedback region, generating a first tactile effect; and
based on a determination that the first touch input is received through the second feedback region, generating a second tactile effect different from the first tactile effect.

10. The input/output device of claim 1 , wherein generating, through the haptic module, the tactile effect in response to receipt of the first touch input comprises:
generating a local tactile effect on the feedback region through which the first touch input is received.

11. The input/output device of claim 10 , wherein generating, through the haptic module, the tactile effect in response to receipt of the first touch input comprises:
determining whether the first touch input is received through a first feedback region or a second feedback region;
based on a determination that the first touch input is received through the first feedback region, generating a first local tactile effect localized to the first feedback region; and
based on a determination that the first touch input is received through the second feedback region, generating a second local tactile effect localized to the second feedback region.

12. The input/output device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving, through the communication unit, a first image of a passenger of the vehicle captured by a camera of the vehicle; and
based on the first image, determining a first display of the plurality of displays being viewed by the passenger of the vehicle, and
wherein varying the one or more feedback regions comprises:
setting the one or more feedback regions based on a content being displayed on the determined first display.

13. The input/output device of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving, through the communication unit, a second image of the passenger of the vehicle;
based on the second image, determining that the passenger is viewing a second display of the plurality of displays different from the first display; and
based on the determination that the passenger is viewing the second display of the plurality of displays different from the first display, varying the one or more feedback regions by setting the one or more feedback regions based on a content being displayed on the second display.

14. The input/output device of claim 13 , wherein the operations comprise:
based on a determination that the passenger is viewing the first display of the plurality of displays, instructing, through the communication unit, the first display to display a guide information configured to indicate the display currently being viewed by the passenger.

15. The input/output device of claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise:
based on the determination that the passenger is viewing the second display of the plurality of displays different from the first display, instructing, through the communication unit, the first display to remove the guide information and the second display to display the guide information configured to indicate the display currently being viewed by the passenger.

16. The input/output device of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving, through the communication unit, a second image of the passenger of the vehicle;
determining that (i) the

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Piao Jinhua
• Oh Jiwon
• Cho Eunjoung

Classifications

• B60K35/60

  Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles (arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10) · CPC title

• B60K35/28

  characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver · CPC title

• B60K37/20

  Dashboard panels · CPC title

• B60K35/23

  Head-up displays [HUD] (optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01) · CPC title

• B60K35/223

  Flexible displays · CPC title