Switchable Vehicle Display With Focused Audio Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle audiovisual systems often fail to provide private visual and audio content to specific occupants while maintaining privacy for others, leading to potential distractions and privacy concerns.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle system incorporating a switchable display panel and a transparent sound-generation film that can be toggled between private and public modes, allowing focused sound and visual content to be directed to a specific seat while keeping it private from others, using a computer to manage the selection based on vehicle state and occupant input.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If audio content is played through conventional speakers in a vehicle, then all occupants can hear the audio, but privacy is compromised and other occupants are distracted or disturbed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a sound field that is spatially localized to specific regions of the vehicle cabin. Different audio content can be played in different zones (e.g., driver zone, passenger zone) with each zone having independent audio characteristics. This allows audio privacy for specific occupants while preventing distraction to others by confining sound to local areas rather than distributing it universally throughout the cabin.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the vehicle cabin into multiple independent audio zones, each with its own audio output characteristics. By dividing the cabin space and assigning different audio streams to different segments, the system enables selective audio delivery to specific occupants without affecting others, thereby achieving audio privacy while eliminating the harmful effect of disturbing other passengers.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a display panel is made visible to multiple occupants, then public content can be shared, but privacy for individual occupants is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic display technology that can adjust visibility characteristics in real-time. The display panel can switch between different visibility states (e.g., visible to all occupants, visible only to specific occupants, or invisible) based on selected content types and occupancy patterns. This dynamic adaptability allows the system to provide public content sharing when appropriate while maintaining visual privacy for sensitive content, resolving the contradiction between versatility and privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating different visibility zones for the display panel. Different portions of the display or different layers of the display can have different visibility characteristics, allowing certain content to be visible to specific occupants while remaining invisible to others. This enables simultaneous public sharing of some content while maintaining privacy for other content on the same display device.
3Loss of information
If separate audio and visual systems are installed for each occupant, then privacy is maximized, but device complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing audio and visual output devices that can serve multiple functions and multiple occupants simultaneously. A single display panel can dynamically adjust visibility for different occupants, and a single audio system can create multiple independent sound zones. This multi-functionality allows the system to achieve privacy for multiple occupants using shared hardware resources, thereby maximizing content privacy while minimizing device complexity and space requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by dynamically adjusting physical parameters of the display and audio systems (such as visibility parameters, sound directionality, volume levels) to achieve different privacy configurations. By changing these parameters rather than using separate physical devices for each occupant, the system can provide personalized privacy experiences while using a shared set of hardware components, thus reducing overall system complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables private visual and audio experiences for specific occupants without distracting or disturbing others, optimizing space utilization and enhancing privacy in vehicle compartments.
Implementation Method 1
The sound-generation film is positioned to emit focused sound audible to the occupant of the first seat and not audible to the occupant of the second seat
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle includes a display panel and a transparent sound-generation film. The display panel is mounted to a dashboard of the vehicle. The display panel is switchable between a private mode and a public mode. The display panel in the private mode displays visual content visible to an occupant of a first seat of the vehicle and not visible to an occupant of a second seat of the vehicle. The display panel in the public mode displays visual content visible to occupants of the first seat and of the second seat. The transparent sound-generation film is positioned to emit focused sound audible to the occupant of the first seat and not audible to the occupant of the second seat. The sound-generation film is laminated on one of the display panel or a windshield of the vehicle.