CLIAMS:We claim:
1. A dashboard for a vehicle comprising:
a primary display area;
a secondary display area; and
one or more hardware processors, wherein the one or more hardware processors are in communication with the primary display area and the secondary display area, and wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to:
(A) determine whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park based on at least one of: a vehicle’s engine state, a vehicle’s speed, a proximity of the vehicle to a traffic signal junction; a proximity of the vehicle to a parking lot, or a vehicle’s gear state;
(B) receive a notification request containing a notification from an application being executed by the one or more hardware processors;
(C) provide the notification using at least one of the primary display area or the secondary display area based on (I) the determination of whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park; and (II) a categorization of the application; and
(D) prioritize execution of the application by the one or more hardware processors based on the categorization of the application.
2. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein determining whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park comprises using one or more context-determination algorithms executed on the one or more hardware processors.

3. The dashboard according to claim 2, wherein two or more context-determination algorithms are used and each context-determination algorithm individually determines whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park based on at least one of a vehicle’s engine state, a vehicle’s speed, a proximity of the vehicle to a traffic signal junction; a proximity of the vehicle to a parking lot, or a vehicle’s gear state; and
wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to determine whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park by weighting the determination of each context-determination algorithm.
4. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein the primary display area and the secondary display area are integrated into a single display device.
5. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to receive input from a driver using one or more input devices, wherein the one or more input devices include at least one of: a touch-sensitive surface, a motion-sensing detector, a microphone, a keyboard, a touchscreen keyboard, or a pointing device.
6. The dashboard according to claim 5, wherein the one or more input devices include a microphone, and wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to process input from the microphone using a natural-language processing algorithm.
7. The dashboard according to claim 5, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to disable one or more input devices when the vehicle is in motion.
8. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to determine whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park using one or more on-board sensors, wherein the one or more on-board sensors include at least one of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a speedometer, and a GPS.
9. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to provide the notification using the primary display area when (I) the one or more hardware processors determine that the vehicle is in motion and (II) the application is categorized as a high priority application.
10. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to provide the notification using the secondary display area when (I) the one or more the one or more hardware processors determine that the vehicle is stationary in park and (II) the application is categorized as an intermediate or low priority application.
11. The dashboard according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to:
determine whether the application has been associated with the primary display area or the secondary display area; and
save the association to a remote storage device when the application has been associated with the primary display area or the secondary display area.
12. The dashboard according to claim 11, wherein determining whether the application has been associated with the primary display area or secondary display area includes determining whether the association has been saved to the remote storage device.
13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for providing a dashboard for a vehicle having a primary display area and a secondary display area, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more hardware processors causes the one or more hardware processors to:
(A) determine whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park based on at least one of: a vehicle’s engine state, a vehicle’s speed, a proximity of the vehicle to a traffic signal junction, a proximity of the vehicle to a parking lot, or a vehicle’s gear state;
(B) receive a notification request containing a notification from an application being executed by the one or more hardware processors;
(C) provide the notification using at least one of the primary display area or the secondary display area based on (I) the determination of whether the vehicle is in motion, stationary in traffic, or stationary in park; and (II) a categorization of the application; and
(D) prioritize execution of the application by the one or more hardware processors based on the categorization of the application.
Dated this 20th day of June 2013
Sravan Kumar Gampa
Of K&S Partners
Agent for the Applicant
,TagSPECI:The disclosure generally relates to vehicle dashboard systems, instrument clusters, central consoles, and alternatives thereto.