Controlling navigation software on a portable device from the head unit of a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9958289-B2
Application number	US-201314038478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2013
Priority date	Sep 26, 2013
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A mapping between controls of the head unit of a vehicle and functions of a navigation service application running on a portable device is received. Subsequently, an indication that one of the controls has been actuated is received via a communication link between the portable device and the head unit. A function is selected from among the functions of the navigation service application in accordance with the received mapping and the received indication. The selected function of the navigation software application then is executed. In this manner, the navigation service application is safely and efficiently controlled via the head unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling navigation service applications via head units of vehicles, the method comprising:
creating, using a companion application executed at a portable device by one or more processors, a mapping between a plurality of controls of the head unit and a plurality of functions of a navigation service application executing on the portable device to utilize the plurality of controls on the head unit as an external input device of the portable device, wherein the companion application and the navigation service application execute as separate tasks on an operating system of the portable device, including:
receiving, at the companion application via a communication link between the portable device and the head unit, a corresponding control actuation event for each of a plurality of controls actuated at the head unit, and
receiving, at the companion application via a user interface of the portable device, selections of respective functions for each of the plurality of controls;

subsequently to creating the mapping, receiving, by the companion application, an indication that one of the plurality of controls has been actuated, via the communication link between the portable device and the head unit;
selecting, by the companion application, a function from among the plurality of functions of the navigation service application in accordance with the created mapping and the received indication, including passing an indication of the selected function from the companion application to the navigation service application; and
executing, by the navigation service application, the selected function of the navigation service application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining , by the one or more processors, navigation data that specifies a sequence of instructions for travelling between a source to a destination, wherein each of the instructions describes a respective maneuver at a corresponding geographic location; and
wherein executing the selected function includes providing a next instruction in the sequence of instruction.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein receiving the indication that one of the plurality of controls has been actuated includes receiving an indication that a next track button was actuated, wherein providing the next instruction is in response to receiving the indication that the next track button as actuated.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein providing the next instruction includes transmitting the next instruction to the head unit via the communication link.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the communication link between the portable device and the head unit is a short-range communication link, and wherein obtaining the navigation data includes receiving the navigation data from a navigation server via a long-range communication link.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the mapping includes:
for each of the control actuation events received for a corresponding control,
generating a respective data record to indicate a correspondence between the control and the selected function; and
storing each data record in a memory of the portable device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of functions of the navigation software application includes one or more of (i) start navigation, (ii) cancel navigation, (iii) provide next instruction, and (iv) provide previous instruction.

8. A portable device comprising:
one or more processors;
a user interface;
a short-range network interface to communicate with a head unit of a vehicle via a short-range communication link, wherein the head unit includes a plurality of controls;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon (i) first instructions that implement a navigation service application executable on the one or more processors, wherein the navigation service application supports a plurality of user-selectable functions, and (ii) second instructions that implement a companion application that executes on the one or more processors as a task separate from the navigation service application, wherein the companion application is configured to:
receive, via the short-range network interface, control actuation events indicative of controls actuated at the head unit and, via the user interface, selections of corresponding functions of the navigation service application to create a mapping between the controls and the functions;
subsequently to creating the mapping, receive, via the short-range network interface, an indication that one of the plurality of controls on the head unit has been actuated,
select a function from among the plurality of user-selectable functions based on the received indication in accordance with the mapping, and
pass an indication of the selected function to the navigation service application;
wherein the navigation service application is configured to execute the selected function in response to the indication.

9. The portable device of claim 8 , further comprising:
a long-range network interface to communicate with a navigation server via a long-range communication link;
wherein the navigation service application, when executed on the one or more processors, causes the portable device to receive, via the second network interface, navigation data that specifies a sequence of instructions for travelling between a source to a destination, wherein each of the instructions describes a respective maneuver at a corresponding geographic location; and
wherein the selected function provides a next instruction in the sequence of instructions.

10. The portable device of claim 9 , wherein the second instructions further cause the portable device to provide the next instruction to the head unit via the short-range network interface.

11. The portable device of claim 9 , wherein the second instructions cause the portable device to provide the next instruction in response to receiving the indication that the next track button as actuated.

12. The portable device of claim 8 , wherein the mapping is stored on the computer-readable medium.

13. The portable device of claim 12 ,
wherein to generate the mapping, the instructions further cause the portable device to:
receive, for each of the indications of the plurality of controls being actuated, a corresponding control identifier,
and generate a respective data record to indicate a correspondence between the control identifier and the selected function.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a portable device, cause the portable device to:
create, using a companion application, a mapping between a plurality of controls on a head unit of a vehicle and a plurality of navigation functions supported by the portable device to utilize the plurality of controls on the head unit as an external input device of the portable device using (i) indications of a plurality of controls actuated at the head unit, received via a communication link between the portable device and the head unit, and (ii) respective one of the plurality of functions selected via a user interface of the portable device;
subsequently to creating the mapping, receive, by the companion application, an indication of one of the plurality of controls being actuated on the head unit;
select, by the companion application, a navigation function from among the plurality of navigation functions in accordance with the received mapping and the received indication;
provide an indication of the selected navigation function to a navigation service application that executes as a task separate

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Foster Andrew

Classifications

• G01C21/3661

  Guidance output on an external device, e.g. car radio · CPC title

• G01C21/3688 Primary

  Systems comprising multiple parts or multiple output devices (not client-server), e.g. detachable faceplates, key fobs or multiple output screens · CPC title