Vehicle Infotainment Spatial Audio Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle infotainment systems require users to frequently divert their visual attention from the road to navigate and select different media types and data, leading to distractions while driving.
Innovation Solution
An infotainment system that uses a console with multiple speakers arranged throughout the vehicle to transmit sound signals corresponding to different infotainment data, allowing users to navigate and select media through an audial interface without visual distraction, utilizing a hierarchical organization and user feedback to browse and choose options.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a visual display and multiple buttons are used for infotainment system control, then the user can navigate and select infotainment media, but the user must frequently divert visual attention from the road
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the visual-mechanical interaction system (visual display with buttons) with an acoustic-electronic interaction system (spatial audio signals). The console transmits sound signals corresponding to different infotainment data to multiple speakers positioned throughout the vehicle, allowing users to navigate and select media through spatial audio cues without visual distraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces spatial audio signals as an intermediary between the infotainment system and the user. The console processes infotainment data and transmits corresponding sound signals to multiple speakers, creating a spatial audio map that users can navigate through sound alone, serving as a mediator that eliminates the need for visual interaction.
2Ease of operation
If multiple speakers are arranged throughout the vehicle to transmit different sound signals, then users can navigate infotainment data audibly without visual distraction, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the audio system multi-functional by using the same speaker network for both infotainment data transmission and spatial navigation cues. The console transmits sound signals corresponding to different infotainment data to multiple speakers, which serve dual purposes: delivering audio content and providing spatial navigation information, thereby reducing the need for separate specialized components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the infotainment data into spatially distributed sound signals transmitted to different speakers throughout the vehicle. Each speaker or group of speakers can transmit signals corresponding to specific infotainment data or categories, allowing users to navigate through spatial audio zones. This segmentation enables complex information presentation while distributing the computational and hardware load across multiple independent units.
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 users to select and navigate infotainment data without taking their eyes off the road, creating a virtual three-dimensional audio library space for seamless media selection and reducing driver distraction.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the speakers is adapted to receive a respective one of the sound signals and convert the respective sound signal into a corresponding audible sound
Data Source
AI summary
An infotainment system is for a vehicle having a body defining an interior space. The infotainment system includes a playback device receiving and processing a plurality of sets of infotainment data. The infotainment data is organized in a hierarchy. The playback device transmits a plurality of sound signals. Each sound signal corresponds to a respective one of the sets of infotainment data. A plurality of speakers are communicatively coupled to the playback device. Each speaker is disposed at a different respective location within the interior space. Each of the speakers is adapted to receive a respective one of the sound signals and convert the respective sound signal into a corresponding audible sound. A user interface is communicatively coupled to the playback device. The user interface enables a user to navigate between levels of the hierarchy of infotainment data by making selections. Each of the selections corresponds to a respective one of the sets of infotainment data.