Cabin entertainment system and control method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to a cabin entertainment system and a control method thereof, and the cabin entertainment system comprises an interactive device which is disposed in a vehicle cabin and is configured to display an interactive interface and generate a corresponding user input signal in response to a user operation on the interactive interface; and an on-board host communicatively coupled to the interactive device and configured to: generate and transmit the interactive interface to the interactive device; receiving the user input signal from the interactive device; and presenting entertainment content including audio content and visual content to the user based on the user operation indicated by the user input signal and the arrangement of the interactive interface.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to automotive electronic technology, and in particular to a cockpit entertainment system and a method for controlling the cockpit entertainment system. Background Art

[0002] It has become a trend to provide more in-cabin entertainment functions for vehicle cabins (e.g., the rear cockpit of a car). However, in some cases, a vehicle is not equipped with a head unit with audio and video output functions (e.g., a rear seat entertainment (RSE) system, which is also called an "after-installed" head unit (in contrast to a front-installed head unit that is already installed on the vehicle during the production process) at a retailer rather than at the factory. However, since the cabin audio system may not be compatible with such a head unit (e.g., because no interface for the after-installed RSE system is reserved when the system is designed), the after-installed head unit may have difficulty accessing the installed vehicle audio equipment (e.g., multiple amplifiers and speakers), thereby being unable to use it to play content.

[0003] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background technology section is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present application, and therefore may include information that does not constitute the prior art known to ordinary technicians in the field. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to one aspect of the present application, a cockpit entertainment system is provided, which includes: an interactive device, which is arranged in a vehicle cockpit and configured to: display an interactive interface and generate corresponding user input signals in response to user operations on the interactive interface; and an on-board host, which is communicatively coupled to the interactive device and configured to: generate and transmit the interactive interface to the interactive device; receive the user input signal from the interactive device; and present entertainment content including audio content and visual content to the user based on the user operations indicated by the user input signals and the arrangement of the interactive interface.

[0005] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the cabin entertainment system also includes: an in-vehicle audio device, which includes an audio amplifier and a speaker, wherein the interactive device is configured to: adjust the playback of the audio content on the speaker according to instructions received from the in-vehicle host and configuration information of the audio amplifier and the speaker, wherein the audio content is transmitted from the in-vehicle host to the interactive device.

[0006] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the vehicle-mounted host is configured to: generate and send the instruction to the interactive device according to the user operation indicated by the user input signal.

[0007] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the interactive interface, the user input signal and the audio content are transmitted between the in-vehicle host and the interactive device via a single differential signal link.

[0008] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the cockpit entertainment system also includes: at least one display, wherein the vehicle-mounted host is configured to: adjust the playback of the visual content transmitted to the at least one display on the at least one display according to the user operation indicated by the user input signal.

[0009] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the user operation includes a touch operation of the user on the interactive interface, the touch operation includes swiping and tapping, and wherein the arrangement of the interactive interface includes the distribution of one or more user operation areas on the interactive interface corresponding to one or more control functions associated with the entertainment content.

[0010] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the user input signal at least indicates: a position of the touch operation relative to the interactive interface and the existence of the touch operation.

[0011] In one or more embodiments of the present application, optionally, the vehicle-mounted host is also configured to: generate a visual effect associated with the user operation; incorporate the visual effect into the interactive interface; and transmit the interactive interface including the visual effect to the interactive device.

[0012] According to one aspect of the present application, a method for controlling a cockpit entertainment system is provided, wherein the cockpit entertainment system includes a vehicle-mounted host and an interactive device arranged in a vehicle cockpit that are communicatively coupled, and the method includes: the vehicle-mounted host generates and transmits an interactive interface to the interactive device; the interactive device displays the interactive interface and generates corresponding user input signals in response to user operations on the interactive interface; the vehicle-mounted host receives the user input signals from the interactive device; and the vehicle-mounted host presents entertainment content including audio content and visual content to the user based on the user operations indicated by the user input signals and the arrangement of the interactive interface.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which instructions are stored, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the method as described above is implemented. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The above and other features, aspects and advantages of the present application will become better understood when reading the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar elements are represented by the same reference numerals. It should be noted that the drawings in the present application are only schematic and may not be drawn to scale or specific numbers. In the drawings:

[0015] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a cockpit entertainment system according to some embodiments of the present application;

[0016] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a cockpit entertainment system according to some embodiments of the present application;

[0017] Figure 3 A control method of a cockpit entertainment system according to some embodiments of the present application is shown;

[0018] Figure 4 A computer system is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present application is described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which the illustrative embodiments of the present application are illustrated. In the following detailed description of the embodiments, many specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the disclosure of the present application. However, in one or more embodiments, well-known features are not described in detail to avoid making the description unnecessarily complicated. Where applicable, the embodiments of the present application and the features in the embodiments can also be combined with each other.

[0020] In the present application, terms such as "comprises", "includes", "has" and the like indicate that in addition to the units and steps directly and explicitly stated in the specification and claims, the technical solution described in the present application does not exclude the existence of other units and steps that are not directly or explicitly stated.

[0021] Figure 1Schematic diagram of a cockpit entertainment system 100 according to some embodiments of the present application. The cockpit entertainment system 100 includes at least a vehicle-mounted host 110 and an interactive device 120. The vehicle-mounted host 110 may be the above-mentioned aftermarket device, which may obtain (e.g., download) streaming media data from the Internet or obtain playable files from devices such as mobile terminals, optical disks, external hard disks, flash disks, etc. and / or carry interactive software such as game consoles, etc., to provide entertainment content including audio, video and / or interactive elements. The interactive device 120 may provide an interactive interface 122 with the user (e.g., providing a human-machine interface (HMI)), and may be integrated into the cabin (e.g., integrated into the armrest of the rear seat) when the vehicle is assembled at the factory, so as to facilitate access to the front-mounted vehicle audio equipment. The vehicle-mounted host 110 may be coupled to the interactive device 120 by a wired method based on protocols such as Ethernet, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), universal serial bus (USB), mobile industry processor interface (MIPI), low voltage differential signal (LVDS), etc., and a wireless method based on protocols such as wireless local area network. Through a single communication link including, for example, a pair of LVDS transceiver interfaces, high-speed and low-power transmission (for example, transmission of audio and video signals, control signals, etc.) can be achieved between the vehicle host 110 and the interactive device 120. It should be noted that for the purpose of simplicity, Figure 1 Conventional components of the vehicle-mounted host 110 or the interactive device 120, such as a processing unit, a communication unit, a storage unit, etc., are not specifically shown, but for those skilled in the art, the omission of the description of these units will not constitute an obstacle to the understanding and implementation of the technical solution of the present application.

[0022] The vehicle host 110 can generate (e.g., render) an interactive interface 122 for user interaction using its processing unit (e.g., a microcontroller, a central processing unit, and a system on a chip integrated in the vehicle host 110) according to the preset configuration stored therein. The interactive interface 122 can provide a dynamic and / or static picture including one or more virtual buttons, knobs, joysticks, icons, images, etc., which can be viewed and interacted with directly (e.g., by hand touch) or can be viewed and / or interacted with with the help of virtual reality and / or augmented reality devices. The interactive interface 122 can have one or more user-operable areas divided according to functions related to entertainment content control (e.g., backlight adjustment, volume adjustment, video playback, pause, forward, backward, picture-in-picture playback mode, etc.), according to preset configurations or user expectations, and these operable areas can be distributed in the interactive interface 122 or multiple sub-interactive interfaces (e.g., multiple pages). The vehicle host 110 can send the interactive interface 122 to, for example, an interactive device 120 that may not have the ability to render the interactive interface 122.

[0023] Accordingly, the interactive device 120 may receive the interactive interface 122 from the vehicle host 110 and display it, for example, on a screen (e.g., LCD, OLED screen) that may be included in the interactive device 120. The displayed interactive interface 122 may be operated (e.g., touched) by the user, wherein the interactive device 120 may generate corresponding electrical signals indicating these operations based on one or more operations of the user in the operable area, so as to be sent to the vehicle host 110 as user input for processing. Then, the vehicle host 110 may receive the above-mentioned signal carrying the user input from the interactive device 120, and provide the user with the desired entertainment content according to the one or more operations of the user indicated by the signal (e.g., swiping, touching, pressing) and the arrangement of the user operable area on the interactive interface 122.

[0024] In some embodiments, the user can click on the area (e.g., button) where the mute function is located on the interactive interface 122 to pause the playback of the audio content in the entertainment content and play only the visual (e.g., video, image, etc.) content. Specifically, the user's click can be detected and the digitized information of the click can be collected (e.g., via an application running on the interactive device 120), and the digitized information can include the existence of the click operation (e.g., "1" and "0" can respectively indicate that the click is detected and not detected) and the position of the operation relative to the interactive interface 122 (e.g., the xy coordinates relative to the origin of the rectangular interactive interface 122 represented by the xy coordinate system), and can also include the duration of the operation and / or the magnitude of the force applied.

[0025] In some embodiments, a visual effect may be provided on the interactive interface 122 when the user performs an operation. The vehicle-mounted host 110 may generate a visual effect associated with the user operation according to the received user input signal, and incorporate the visual effect into the interactive interface 122. For example, when the user long presses an item in the menu displayed on the interactive interface 122, the other items in the menu may be changed from clear to blurred to highlight the selected item, and the blurred effect may be generated based on the position and duration of the user operation on the interactive interface 122 meeting the preset conditions and superimposed on, for example, one of the layers forming the interactive interface 122. The interactive interface 122 with the visual effect may be sent to the interactive device 120 and presented in synchronization with the user's click. In this way, the content desired to be presented on the interactive device 120 may be flexibly configured by only updating the software related to generating the interactive interface 122 and / or the visual effect running on the vehicle-mounted host 110.

[0026] Figure 22 is a schematic diagram of a cockpit entertainment system 200 according to some embodiments of the present application. The cockpit entertainment system 200 includes a vehicle host 210, an interactive device 220, a vehicle audio device 230, and a display 240 (e.g., one or more screens disposed on the top of the vehicle cabin or the backrest of the front seat). The vehicle host 210 and the interactive device 220 may be respectively Figure 1 The vehicle-mounted host 110 and the interactive device 120 are described and are arranged in accordance with Figure 1 The vehicle audio device 230 can be connected to the interactive device 220 through an automotive audio bus (Automotive Audio Bus) that transmits digital audio signals to receive audio content transmitted from the vehicle host 210 to the interactive device 220, and may include multiple audio amplifiers 232 and speakers 234 that receive analog audio signals from the multiple audio amplifiers 232. This arrangement allows the cockpit entertainment system proposed in the present application to directly utilize the vehicle audio device 230 as a front-end device without, for example, additional conversion equipment. In addition, the display 240 can be connected to the vehicle host 210 (e.g., corresponding hardware interface) through, for example, HDMI, LDVS wiring harnesses and receive visual content from it.

[0027] The vehicle host 210 may send instructions to the interactive device 220 according to the user's operation, and the interactive device 220 may adjust the playback of the audio content on the speaker 234 in response to the instructions. Specifically, for example, after receiving a user input signal including a user operation on the interactive interface 222 to reduce the volume, the vehicle host 210 may send an instruction to the interactive device 220 to indicate the volume reduction operation. The interactive device 220 controls the audio amplifier 232 (for example, reduces the output power of the audio amplifier 232) according to the received instructions, thereby reducing the volume of the speaker 234. Further, the interactive device 220 may also provide a variety of sound effects, such as surround sound, bass enhancement, vocal enhancement effects, etc., in combination with the configuration information of the audio amplifier 232 and the speaker 234 (for example, tuning parameters) according to the received instructions.

[0028] The vehicle host 210 may transmit visual content in the entertainment content to the display 240, and may adjust the playback of the visual content transmitted to the display 240 on the display 240 according to the user operation indicated by the user input signal. For example, after receiving the user input signal including the user operation of pausing the video, the vehicle host 210 may control the display 240 (e.g., via the display driver) to maintain the continuous display of the currently presented frame.

[0029] Figure 3 The control method 300 of the cockpit entertainment system according to some embodiments of the present application is shown. The control method 300 includes: Figure 1 and Figure 2The system can implement steps 310, 320, 330 and 340. In step 310, the vehicle host can generate an interactive interface and transmit the interactive interface to the interactive device. In step 320, the interactive device can generate a corresponding user input signal in response to a user operation on the interactive interface displayed by the interactive device. In step 330, the vehicle host can receive the user input signal from the interactive device. In step 340, the vehicle host can present entertainment content including audio content and visual content to the user based on the user operation indicated by the user input signal and the arrangement of the interactive interface.

[0030] With the help of Figure 3 The further steps of the method described can be referred to by Figure 1 and Figure 2 The system is implemented by the present invention, and the relevant contents are quoted here.

[0031] Although Figure 3 The steps in the embodiment are presented and described sequentially, but a person of ordinary skill will appreciate that some or all of the steps may be performed in a different order, may be combined or omitted, and some or all of the steps may be performed in parallel, and additional steps may be further performed. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be considered to be limited to Figure 3 A specific arrangement of the steps shown in .

[0032] Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram of a computer system. Figure 4 As shown, the computer system 400 includes at least one memory 410 (e.g., a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, a ROM, a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.), at least one processor 420, and a computer program 430. The memory 410 stores the computer program 430 executable by the processor 420. The processor 430 is configured to run the computer program 430 stored on the memory 410. By running the computer program stored on one or more memories on one or more processors (e.g., a method in which multiple processors cooperate to run the computer program or a method in which a single processor runs the computer program alone), the above-mentioned method can be realized by using Figure 3 One or more steps or operations included in the method.

[0033] According to another aspect of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided on which instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the above-mentioned Figure 3 One or more steps or operations included in the method.

[0034] According to another aspect of the present application, a computer program product is also provided, the computer program product comprising computer instructions, the computer instructions can be executed by a processor to achieve the above Figure 3 One or more steps or operations included in the method.

[0035] The processor referred to in this application may be an integrated circuit chip having the ability to process signals. Figure 3 One or more steps or operations included in the method may be performed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or by instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc.

[0036] The computer-readable storage medium referred to in the present application includes various types of computer storage media, which can be any available medium that a general or special-purpose computer can access. For example, a computer-readable storage medium can include RAM, ROM, EPROM, E2PROM, register, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or can be used to carry or store a desired program code unit with an instruction or data structure form and can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer, or a general or special-purpose processor. Any other temporary or non-temporary medium. The above combination should also be included in the protection scope of the computer-readable storage medium. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read and write information from / to the storage medium. In an alternative, a storage medium can be integrated into a processor.

[0037] It should be noted that the embodiments described in this application are intended to make the disclosure herein comprehensive and complete, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Those skilled in the art may think of other feasible changes or replacements based on the technical scope disclosed in this application, and such changes or replacements are all included in the protection scope of this application. Those skilled in the art will know that the above description and examples are provided only for the convenience of explanation and example, and the proposed description and examples are not intended to cover all aspects of the application or limit the application to the disclosed precise form. The technical solutions recorded in this application can be implemented in different forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the application.

Claims

1. A cockpit entertainment system, comprising: An interactive device, which is disposed in a vehicle cockpit and is configured to: display an interactive interface and generate corresponding user input signals in response to user operations on the interactive interface; as well as A vehicle-mounted host, which is communicatively coupled to the interactive device and configured to: generating and transmitting the interactive interface to the interactive device; receiving said user input signal from said interactive device; as well as Entertainment content including audio content and visual content is presented to the user based on the user operation indicated by the user input signal and the arrangement of the interactive interface.

2. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 1, further comprising: A vehicle audio device, comprising an audio amplifier and a speaker, wherein the interactive device is configured to adjust the playing of the audio content on the speaker according to instructions received from the vehicle host and configuration information of the audio amplifier and the speaker, wherein the audio content is transmitted from the vehicle host to the interactive device.

3. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 2, wherein: The vehicle-mounted host is configured to generate and send the instruction to the interactive device according to the user operation indicated by the user input signal.

4. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 1, wherein: The interactive interface, the user input signal and the audio content are transmitted between the vehicle-mounted host and the interactive device via a single differential signal link.

5. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 1, further comprising: At least one display, wherein the vehicle-mounted host is configured to adjust the playback of the visual content transmitted to the at least one display on the at least one display according to the user operation indicated by the user input signal.

6. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 1, wherein: The user operation includes touch operations of the user on the interactive interface, the touch operations include swiping and tapping, and wherein the arrangement of the interactive interface includes the distribution of one or more user operation areas on the interactive interface corresponding to one or more control functions associated with the entertainment content.

7. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 6, wherein: The user input signal indicates at least: a position of the touch operation relative to the interactive interface and the existence of the touch operation.

8. The cockpit entertainment system according to claim 1, wherein: The vehicle-mounted host is also configured as: generating a visual effect associated with the user operation; Incorporating the visual effect into the interactive interface; and The interactive interface including the visual effect is transmitted to the interactive device.

9. A method for controlling a cockpit entertainment system, wherein: The cockpit entertainment system includes a vehicle-mounted host and an interactive device disposed in a vehicle cockpit that are communicatively coupled, and the method includes: The vehicle-mounted host generates and transmits an interactive interface to the interactive device; The interactive device displays the interactive interface and generates corresponding user input signals in response to user operations on the interactive interface; The vehicle host receives the user input signal from the interactive device; and The in-vehicle host presents entertainment content including audio content and visual content to the user based on the user operation indicated by the user input signal and the arrangement of the interactive interface.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: When the instructions are executed by a processor, the method according to claim 9 is implemented.

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