FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT, 1970,
(39 OF 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULE, 2003
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
'System for Integrating and Displaying Desired Image on the Screen of
Driver Information System"


Mahindra & Mahindra Limited An Indian Company, R&D Center, Automotive Sector, 89, M.1.D.C, Satpur, Nashik-422 007, Maharashtra, India.

The following specification describes the nature of the invention


FIELD OF INVENTION:
The present invention relates to the driver information system (DIS) on automotive vehicles. More particularly it relates to the image integrating and transferring apparatus on to the DIS of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND & PRIOR ART:
It is a general practice of the vehicle owners in India to keep / paste the idols / pictures of god / goddess on the instrument panel depending on individual's religious ethics. The cases where the instrument panel does not permit to keep / paste god / goddess images due to DIS placement which creates a tack of space, it makes the vehicle owner disturbed because of his religious faith.
The Driver Information system (DIS) is one of the main systems on the instrument panel of a vehicle that assists the driver while driving by displaying information of current vehicle performance and environmental conditions which helps the driver to improve his driving and drive safely. So far, the instrument cluster provides the necessary real time information about the vehicle to the driver, but they have their own limitations and are not very much interactive. Recently DIS with liquid crystal display (LCD) or other similar display are being widely used in automotive vehicles to display the required information for the driver. DIS can be an add-on to the existing instrument cluster or in future it can replace the instrument cluster.
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There is large number of display systems available in public domain for automotive vehicles which talks about display of text data, indicating gauges, maps, holograms, traffic signs, etc.
US patent No. 5635953 discloses a map displaying apparatus for displaying a map and a destination on a display screen. A map memory stores a map data to be displayed on a displayer. But this system require a certain input such as telephone number, area code, postal code and like to display map image on the display screen.
European patent No. EP 1582393 describes driver information system having a control device with functional units to select main functions. Control unit select functions of the main functions, a selection unit selects sub functions of the main functions, and a return unit reverts to a start level. But in this system the display is of technical nature such as speed and number of revolutions and / or control unit related information at various display modes.
Patent No. WO 2007085506 disclosed a method for representing a map section on a display of a driver information system. An intersection lying ahead of the vehicle in the direction of the travel on a current route of the vehicle is selected so as to be represented on the display, and the scale at which the map section that is to be represented is selected such that the length and/or the width of the respective intersection fills at least a predefined percentage of the height and/or width of the display. The system disclosed
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herein makes the driver of a vehicle easier to orient himself / herself in a road system.
US Patent No. US 2006/0220905 provides a driver information system for safe driving of a vehicle. The system comprises a traffic rule database including traffic rules for geographical regions, a position detecting unit for detecting the actual position of the vehicle, a driving parameter detecting unit for detecting at least one driving parameter of the vehicle, a control unit for extracting relevant traffic rules for the detected vehicle position from the traffic rule database. This system also talks about traffic rule signs and signals.
US Patent No. 6522311 discloses an image information displaying system comprising a transparent support, a hologram screen attached to the transparent support, a radiation unit for radiating image information on the hologram screen, a sensor for detecting the ambient condition within the viewing angle of the hologram screen, and a controller for controlling the radiation unit based on the signal from the sensor.
Conventional display systems in prior art has the problem that driver can not change the image as per his requirement. None of the systems in prior art talks about integration display of god images on the LDC screen of a DIS of automotive vehicle. None of the display system takes care of religious faith of the customer.
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OBJECT OF THE INVENTION:
The main object of the present invention is to provide a system that integrates the desired religious image and cater the customer by providing an option of displaying it on the LDC or similar screen of the DIS of an automotive vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for integrating and displaying god / goddess image on the screen of DIS depending on individual's religion and religious faith.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a product for selection, conversion and integration/downloading of desired images in Driver Information System (DIS)
Another object of the present invention is to provide a facility to the customers for selection, conversion, downloading and display of images on the DIS.
Still another object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks associated with the prior art display systems for automotive vehicles.
DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES:
Figure 1 shows the instrument panel of an automotive vehicle with DIS.
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Figure 2 shows the system for integrating and displaying image on the screen of the DIS in accordance with the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION:
Referring to figure 1, instrument panel (1) consists of instrument cluster (2) and DIS screen (3) mounted / fitted thereon. The screen of the DIS (3) has the Graphical liquid crystal display (LCD) that the driver and the passengers would be able to see. The DIS (3) can be mounted on various locations inside the vehicles such as instrument panel, center console, etc. In figure 1, the DIS with display screen (3) is shown at the top of the center console.
The complete system (4) in accordance with the present invention consists of an image integrating device (5), communication interface (6) and DIS with display screen (3). The image integrating device (5) has a data storage memory and a processor embedded with a specific logic that converts the image compatible to the LCD screen of a DIS (3). The data storage memory is used to store the database of religious images. The image integrating device (5) may be desktop, laptop, palmtop and likewise. The communication interface (6) is used to transfer the images from image integrating device {5) to the DIS (3). The communication interface (6) may be hard wired tool or on¬board diagnostic cord which is generally used for diagnostic purpose of a vehicle or wireless interface and likewise. The DIS (3) has volatile memory where the images transferred from image integrating device (5) via communication interface (6) are stored. The DIS (3) retrieves this information
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to display the images. The DIS (3) has the information divided in five different screens on one Graphical LCD. The screens can be changed with the help of the buttons on the DIS. One out of these five screens will display the downloaded religious images.
There are two switches on the DIS, one for going to previous screen and the other for next screen. The user anytime select the religious image displaying screen by changing or scrolling the screen using these two buttons till he / she gets the religious image screen.


Religious Image Screen

->

Screen 1
Screen 2
Screen 3
Screen 4
Screen 5

The images stored in the memory of image integrating device are selected for transferring to DIS screen. These images are converted by image integrating device to be compatible with the LCD screen of DIS. The conversion of images is achieved by a particular logic embedded within the image integrating device. Then by way of communication interface, the converted images are transferred to the memory of DIS. The transferred images are stored in DIS until the new images are selected and transferred to it from the memory of image integrating device.
The DIS module can take signals from ln-vehicle/ CAN communication network or Digital/Analog signal available on Vehicle or a Blend of both based on Vehicle Platform. CAN stands for Controller Area Network. It is a communication protocol which is now a days very widely used in vehicles.
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The signals received by DIS are processed and processed information is presented / displayed on to the screen of the DIS.
ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION:
• Caters to the needs of individual's religious ethics, in the vehicle configurations where the DIS sits above the center console.
• The system is inexpensive, long in service life, superior in eye-catching effect, low in running cost and consumes less energy.
• Image transfer / changing are practically possible infinite number of time at anywhere.
• The customers can have the images changed as per his/her religion choice and even after selling the vehicle to some other person of different religion, the images can be changed as per choice.

ith
Dated this 12Tn Day of December 2008


A.A.Kirpekar (Agent for the applicant)