Automotive Interior Customization via Flexible E-Ink Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Post-sale customization of automotive interiors is limited, costly, and time-consuming, and shared mobility vehicles lack customization options due to their shared nature, despite extensive pre-sale customization possibilities.
Innovation Solution
An electronic customization system utilizing flexible e-ink displays and NFC/Bluetooth communication technologies allows users to customize automotive interiors through a user interface, enabling real-time changes via mobile devices without the need for electrical connections or extensive wiring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional post-sale customization methods are used, then customization can be achieved, but it requires significant economic efforts and long customization times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical/mechanical customization (changing actual interior components) with electronic customization (displaying different visual appearances through screens). The interior panels include display screens that can show different images representing different interior designs, allowing users to customize the visual appearance without physically modifying the actual interior components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses digital copies/images of interior designs displayed on screens rather than physical copies. The display screens show visual representations (images) of different interior configurations, materials, and colors, allowing users to preview and select customizations without physically implementing each option.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional post-sale customization methods are used, then customization can be achieved, but it requires significant economic efforts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive physical customization with inexpensive electronic display changes. Instead of manufacturing and installing different physical interior components, the system uses display screens to show different visual appearances, dramatically reducing customization costs while maintaining full adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes a single physical interior configuration serve multiple customization purposes through electronic displays. The same physical panel with a display screen can show multiple different interior designs, colors, and materials, replacing the need for multiple physical interior variants.
3Productivity
If shared mobility vehicles are used, then vehicle availability is improved, but users cannot make any customization due to the shared nature
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic customization where display screens can change their visual appearances in real-time or between uses. This allows shared vehicles to adapt to different user preferences without physical modifications, enabling customization in shared mobility contexts while maintaining high vehicle availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the visual parameters (images, colors, appearances) displayed on the interior panels through electronic control. This allows the same physical vehicle to present different interior characteristics to different users, providing customization options in shared mobility vehicles without affecting vehicle availability or requiring physical changes.
Data Source
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AI summary
An electronic customization system (19) designed to allow an automotive interior (1) to be customizable via a user terminal (16). The electronic customization system (19) comprises electronic customization displays (20) integrated in corresponding aesthetic/functional components of the automotive interior (1), and an electronic control unit (17) configured to communicate and cooperate with the user terminal (16) in order to allow the automotive interior (1) to be customizable via the user terminal (16). The user terminal (16) is configured to expose a graphical user interface configured to allow digital decorative wallpapers to be selectable for display on the electronic customization displays (20), and to transmit to the electronic control unit (17) data indicative of the selected digital decorative wallpapers. The electronic control unit (17) is configured to receive data indicative of the selected digital decorative wallpapers from the user terminal (16), and to cause the selected digital decorative wallpapers to be displayed on the electronic customization displays (20).