FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a navigation system in a vehicle and in particular
relates to a vehicle navigation display displayed on an active-matrix thin film
transistor screen provided with the vehicle information display instrument of the
vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The statements in this section merely provide background information
related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art@). . .
Generally, vehicles are equipped with various kinds of in-built navigation
system that are.wel1 qualified to track the location of the moving vehicle 'by using
global positioning system and the reading of an odometer in a vehicle information
display instrument of the vehicle. The global positioning system utilizes the road
map of various countries that are loaded and regularly upgraded to convey the
exact position of the vehicle. Further, these navigation system also predicts the
journey time.of the moving vehicles depending on the locations (FROM and TO)
selected by the operator of the vehicle. These information are. intelligently . .
displayed on a liquid crystal display screen on the vehicle information display
instrument of the vehicle. Consideration has also been given to the display of
other interesting information such as gas station, hospital, pharmacy, restaurants,
and also the duration of the journey on the liquid crystal display screen on the
vehicle information display instrument of the vehicle.
Such vehicle information- display instruments display the navigation
system of the vehicle with an alternative option of systematic display of
maneuvers that includes turns at intersection or merges on to a highway that the
vehicle is about to make in order to reach its destination. A few of those
navigation systems are specified in manually zooming the size of the traveling
route on the map displayed on the liquid crystal display screen of the. vehicle
infomation display instrument of the vehicles to a ceitain degree. Further, various
maps displayed on the liquid crystal display screen are also set with various speed
limits corresponding to the road.
However, such navigation system provided on the vehicle information
display instruments are characterized to display the navigation on the liquid
crystal display carved out of one side of the vehicle information display
instrument. Such navigation display works by utilizing the map databases which is
input to the system from a DVD-ROM or through some other data input. These
map databases are stored in a rnicrocontroller of the vehicle information display
instrument of the vehicles. Therefore, such navigation system does not provide the
option of physically feeding the originating and final destination of the vehicle. In
other words, they are just restricted to highlight the instant position of the moving
vehicle grid not according to the requirements of the operator of the vehicle.
Secondly, it becomes tedious for the operator to focus on the navigation dong
with other necessary information being conveyed on the other side of the vehicle
information display instrument because of the inability of the device to
automatically zoom the size of the traveling route on the map. Furthermore,
manually zooming the displayed map while driving the vehicle sometimes invite
dangers and thus accidents to the operator also. Moreover, the navigation systems
being displayed in the vehicle information display instruments generally work on
micro controllers having a bus width in the range of 8 bit to 16 bit. Therefore, the
speed of the navigation display is very slow and sometimes very poor in
streaming the live track of the road map displayed on the liquid crystal display of
the vehicle information display instrument of the vehicles. Additionally, the cost
and power consumption of these micro controllers are also very high.
Hence, there is an urgent need 0f.a reliable, simple, stable, efficient, and
less costly vehicle navigation system to overcome 'the above mentioned
drawbacks available with the present vehicle navigation systems.
BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES OF TEE INVENTION
. .
The present subject matter relates to a vehicle navigation system on a
vehicle information display instrument that includes mainly a bluetooth
arrangement integrated with a vehicle information display instrument of a vehicle
for exchanging a navigation map between atleast one portable electronic device
I and the vehicle information display instrument. The vehicle navigation system is
governed by an electronic circuit structure governing the operation and display of
the bluetooth arrangement integrated with the vehicle information display
instrument of the vehicle which is provided with a micro~ontroller with the
vehicle to masterly control the operation of connection of bluetooth arrangement
with the portable electronic device, an ARM controller that communicate with the
microcontroller after receiving the signals from the portable electronic device via
a bluetooth controller, a voltage translation integrated chip that modulate the
voltage for the exchange of the data between the vehicle information display
instrument and the portable electronic device and most importantly a nlude switch
provided with the electronic circuit structure to selectively actuate the display of
vehicular operating information and/or the navigation map on an active-matrix
thin film transistor screen provided with the vehicle information Qi,splay
instrument of the vehicle.
An object of the present invention is to represent information such as
vehicle speed, rpm, gear indicator, and the like on the Active Matrix Thin Film
Transistor screen.
Another object of the present invention is to display various kind of textual
information on one side of the "active-matrix TFT" screen.
Another object of the present invention is to display a real time map on the
other side of the "active-matrix TFT" screen of the vehicle information display
instrument of the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to connect the portable
electronic device with the vehicle information display instrument via the bluetooth
arrangement.
Another object of the present invention is to display the route map of the
moving vehicle (as displayed on the portable electronic device) on the vehicle
information display instrument as well.
Another object of the present invention is to operate the portable electronic
device by setting the connection via GPS.
Another object of the present invention is to provide the electronic circuit
structure with an APPLE encryption integrated chip that communicates with the
ARM controller for setting up the bluetooth connection of the APPLE based
products with the vehicle information display instrument of the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to program the microcontroller
to display the vehicular operating information such as warning indicators, telltales,
caller's name, W i i connection set, data exchanged, and the like on the the activematrix
thin film transistor screen of the vehicle information display instrument.
Another object of the present invention is to program the microcontroller
to display the navigation map of the moving vehicle on the active-matrix. thin film
trmoistor sorccn of the vehicle i~~fiorinaldiois~pl~a y ~IISLuIr nerlt.
Another object of the present invention is to program the microcontroller
to.vehicular operating information as well as the navigation map of the moving
vehicle on'the active-matrix thin film transistor screen of the vehicle information
display instrument.
Yet another object of the present invention is to program the
rnicro.controller to shutdown andlqr reset the bluetooth arrangement in case of any
error or requirements.
Yet ahother object of .the present invention is to enable the active-matrix
thin film transistor screen to. highlight the status of the connectivity of the
bluetooth arrangement in terms of the texts such as BLUETOOTH CONNECTED,
BLUETOOTH NOT CONNETED, ERROR, and the like.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an easy, reliable,
efficient and less costly speed sensing device.
BRLEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
. The summary narrated above and the following detailed description of the
invention can be understood with the drawings appended to this claim. The
' illustrations provide the details of the invention. However, it should be understood
that the invention is not limited to the arrangements shown. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 show a perspective view of a two wheeler in an embodiment of the present
subject matter.
FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C show a perspective view of a vehicle information display
instrument in an embodiment of the present subject matter.
FIG. 3 shows an electronic circuit structure governing a vehicle information
display instrument in an embodiment of the present subject matter.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The embodiments of the present subject matter are described in detailwith
reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present subject matter is
not limited to these embodiments which are only provided to explain more clearly
the present subject matter to the ordinarily skilled in the art of the present
disclosure. In the accompanying drawings, like reference alphabets and numerals
are used to indicate like components.
The invention relates to a navigation system in a vehicle and in particular
relates to a vehicle navigation display displayed on an active-matrix thin film
transistor screen provided .with the vehicle information display instrument of the
vehicle. The following description is merely exemplary in nature 'md is not
intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. The present invention
will hereinafter be described in detail below as applied to a motor cycle 100.
However, the principles of the present invention are also applicable to other
vehicles such as, but not restricted to, three wheelers, four wheelers, and the like
equipped with a vehicle information display instrument. Upward, lower, front and
rear directions (see the directions indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1) will be
described with respect to directions as seated by the rider'on the motorcycle 100.
FIG. 1 illustrates a two wheeler 100 that include a he1 tank 102 and an
engine mounted ahead of a rider's seat 104,' a frame 106 and two relatively large
sized wheels 108 on which the frame 106 rides. The structure is necessarily
provided with a pair of left and right front fork members rotatably supported by a
head pipe 110 on the front end of the vehicle frame. The steering of the two
wheelers 100 is possible via a front wheel which is mounted on the front fork
member whereas the rear wheel (drive wheel) is at the rear end. FIG. 1 shows a
handlebar 112 secured to an upper portion of the front fork member, and the front
and rear portion of the handle bar 112 is covered .with a handle cover which is
further divided into forward and backward portions. The two wheeler 100 are also
provided with various lights mounted externally on the vehicle to indicate certain
information about the vehicle to other drivers and pedestrians. These lights mainly
include brake lights and tail lights besides indicator light bulbs which are provided
to indicate the driving direction of the two wheelers 100. The two wheeler 100 is
hrther provided with the intelligent vehicle information display instrument 114
(also known as a speedometer) located between the handle bars 112 of the two
wheeler 100. The vehicle information display instrument 114 may be viewable by
the rider of the motor cycle 100 when the rider is seated on the seat 104 and
operating the vehicle 100. The vehicle information display instrument 114 may be
disposed generally in front of the rider so that the rider can inspect or view a
variety of information that form part of the vehicle information display instrument
114, which information may indicate an operating condition or conditions of the
vehicle. The vehicle information display instrument 114 may be provided with
audio/visual warning indicators comprising information such as speed, the he1
level, telephone, bluetooth, rpm of the engine, tell tale symbols, turn signal
indicator, hazard warning indicator and / or other indicators. FIG. 1 further shows
a brake disc 116 mounted at the end of an input shaft protruding from the center
of the wheel 108 and mounted on a side surface of the wheel 108 of the two
wheeler 100 in an integrally rotatable manner. The brake disc 116 is provided
with a brake that apply braking force to the brake disc 116 which consequently
apply the same braking force on the wheel 108 to instantly stop the moving
vehicle 100.
FIG. 2A illustrates the vehicle information display instrument 114 of the
vehicle in accordance with preferred embodiment of the present subject matter. In
an embodiment of the present subject matter, information such as vehicle speed,
rpm, gear indicator, and the like are represented on a pre-defined portion of an
Active Matrix Thin Film transistor (often and hereinafter also referred as active
matrix TFT). Generally, a display is composed of a grid (or matrix) of picture
elements ("pixels"). Thousands or millions of these pixels together create an
image on the display. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) act as switches to individually
turn each pixel "ON" (light) or "OFF" (dark). These TFTs are the active control
elements, arranged in a matrix, on the display. Thus, these are termed as "activematrix
TFT". By principle, a back light (which is normdly comprised of a number
of flourescent tubes) is used for emitting any color out of the pixels present in the
matrix as disclosed above. In order to light a single pixel, all that needs to be done
is for a small 'door' or 'shutter' to open to let the light pass through. However,
since the liquid crystals can 'change their molecular structure and therefore may
allow varying levels of light to pass through them (or they can block the light),
therefore two polarizer filters, color filters and two alignment layers determine
exactly how much light is allowed to pass and which colors are created. The
layers are positioned between the two glass panels. A specific voltage is applied to
the alignment layer, creating an electric field - which then aligns the liquid
crystals. Each dot on the screen (pixel) therefore requires three components, one
for red, green and blue -just as for the tubes within cathode ray tube devices. In a
similar way, these dots on the screen can even display a combination' of these .
three primary colors also, thus providing a desired pattern on the "active-matrix
TFT" in the vehicle information display instrument 114 of the vehicles 100.
In a unique embodiment of the present subject matter, the pre-defined
portion 'of the "active-matrix TFT" in the vehicle information display instrument
114 is assigned to indicate various kind of textual information on an "activematrix
TFT" screen. In a unique embodiment of the present subject matter, the
"active-matrix TFT" provided with the vehicle information display instrument
114 may displays all the textual warning indicators and information such as, but
not restricted to, distance traveled after each trip, average he1 consumption, trip
time, audio songs being played during the travel, wireless devices (Wifi, bluetooth,
etc), ambient temperature and pressure, time, and the like as shown in FIG. 2A. In
another embodiment of the present subject matter, the said portion of the "activematrix
TFT" screen may also show the first and last name of the caller along with
the call duration and the call status of the call. In another embodiment of the
present subject matter, the "active-matrix TFT" screen may also provide a
switching 'option of the selection with respect to the night and day time as shown
in FIG. 2A. Here, various other textual warning indications are illustrated by
multiple notations such as XXXX, YYYY, ZZZZ, and the like in FIG. 2A.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present subject matter, the other
portion (apart from the display of the textual information) of the vehicle
information display instrument 114 is reserved for showing a real time map that
work on a system and its associated software to display the navigation route, map,
important landmarks, and many other similar information of the moving vehicle,
as shown in FIG. 2B. In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the vehicle
information display instrument 114 is integrally provided with a bluetooth
arrangement, as explained later, that gets connected with atleast one portable
electronic device 118. In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the . .
portable devices 118 (mechanical, electrical andlor electronic) may includes, but
not restricted to, mobiles, tablets, power banks, laptops, and the like. The said
connection is visibly indicated in the vehicle information 'display instrument 114
with a bluetooth symbol i.e. % visible on the displaying screen 116 of the vehicle
information display instrument 114. The displaying screen 116 is composed .of
atleast one segment 120 of the liquid crystal display for highlighting the status of
the connectivity of the bluetooth arrangement in terns of the 'texts such as
BLUETOOTH CONNECTED, BLUETOOTH NOT CONNECTED, ERROR,
. .
and the like. In a unique embodiment of the present subject matter, the navigation
system, once activated on the portable devices, gets displayed on the vehicle
information display instrument also. Thus, the. route map between the originating
destination and the final destination (as evident on the portable device) is
automatically observable on the vehicle information display instrument 114 of the
vehicles also. In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the vehicle
information (textual and telltales) and the navigation map are together displayed
on the "active-matrix TFT" screen of the vehicle information display instrument
of the vehicles as shown in FIG. 2C.
FIG. 3 discloses an electronic circuit structure that governs the fbnction of
navigation system of the vehicle in 'an embodiment of the present subject matter.
The electronic circuit structure 200 illustrates a battery powered ignition switch
202 which when turned therein with an ignition key (not shown) activates an
engine (not shown) of the motor cycle 100. The electronic circuit structure 200 is
provided with a microcontroller 202 that masterly control the fbnctioning of the
bluetooth arrangement via an ARM controller 204 that work in tandem with the
vehicle 100. The ARM controller 204 is considered as the operating mind of the
bluetooth arrangement that intelligently governs the acceptance and transmission
of the signals (data),between the electronic portable device 118 and the vehicle
information display instrument 114, in an embodiment of the present subject
matter. The ARM controller 204 communicates with the microcontroller 202 in a
Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus which is a synchronous serial communication
interface specification used for short .distance communication, primarily in
embedded systems. In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the ARM
controller 204 is attached'with a JTAG'port 206 (as shown in FIG. 4) to access
and control the design for test features such as VO pin observation and its control,
scan testing, debugging, and the like. The JTAG (Joint Tag Action Group) port
206 is an 1EEE.standard that defines a test access port and boundary scan
architecture for official integrated chips and provides a standardized serial
interface for controlling the associated test logic. Additionally, the ARM
controller 204 is also provided with an APPLE encqption integrated chip 208 that
communicates with the ARM controller 204 for setting up the bluetooth
connection of the APPLE based products with the vehicle information display
instrument 114 of the vehicle, in a unique embodiment of the present subject
matter. The electronic circuit structure 200 is also provided with a bluetooth
controller 210 that transmit the RF signals (data) received from the externally
located electronic portable device 118 to a voltage translation integrated chip 212
as shown in FIG. 3. In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the voltage
translation integrated chip 212 is characterized in translating the voltage from 1.8
Q to 3.3 Q and vice-versa depending. on the selection of exchange of the RF
signals (i.e. receiving or sending). FIG. 3 further shows that the electronic circuit
structure 200 is equipped with a band-pass-filter 214 that allows signals between
two specific frequencies (here 1.8 V and 3.3 V) to pass, but discriminates against
signals at other frequencies. In an embodiment of the present subject matter, the
electronic circuit structure 200 uniquely discloses a mode switch 216 which is
qualified to selectively switch ON and OFF the display of vehicle information
(textual and telltales) and the navigation map on the "active-matrix 'L'FL'" screen
of the vehicle information display instrument 114 of the vehicles 100. In an
exemplary embodiment of the present subject matter, the microcontroller 202 is
programmed to alternatively display the vehicle information (textual and telltales)
and the navigation map on the "active-matrix TFT" screen of the vehicle
information display instrument 114 of the vehicles. Additionally, the "activematrix
TFT" screenais also specified to display both the operations together i.e.
the vehicle information (textual and telltales) and the navigation map * on the
"active-matrix TFT" screen bf the vehicle information display instrument 114 as
shown in FIG. 2C.
Operationally, if the operator of the vehicle needs to check the route map
or any nearest landmark or destinations or even the position of the moving vehicle,
he connects his portable electronic device (enabled with bluetooth and GPS) with
the vehicle information display instrument. Therefore, by the virtue of quick
microprocessors and the advanced electronic circuits, the navigation data being
displayed on the portable electronic devices 118 gets automatically transferred on
the vehicle information display instrument for intelligently displaying the vehicle
information (textual and telltales) and/or the navigation map on the "active-matrix
TFT" screen of the vehicle information display instrument of the vehicles. In an
exemplary mode of explaining the operation, as the vehicle information display
instrument 114 gets turned on with the powering-on of the vehicle by the ignition
switch 202, the microcontrollei 202 receives the signals of the portable electronic
device 118 which is also on switch ON mode. The signals are received by the
bluetooth controller 210 aRer getting filtered by the band-pass-filter 214. The
voltage of these signals are modulated by the voltage translation integrated chip
212 and are being thoroughly controlled by the ARM controller 204. Also, the
microcontroller 202, provided with the vehicle 100, governs and controls the
resetting of the bluetooth arrangement. Further, the microcontroller 202 is also
provided with the provision of shutting and/or restarting the bluetooth
arrangement in case of any error and/or requirements, as is evident from the
electronic circuit structure 200 in FIG. 3 also. The turned ON, status of the
bluetooth arrangement integrated in the vehicle information display instrument
114 is visibly indicated in the vehicle information display instrument 114 with a
bluetooth symbol i.e. * visible on the displaying screen 116 of. the vehicle
information display instrument 114 as shown in FIG. 3. As soon as the bluetooth
connects the portable electronic hevice with the. vehicle information display
instrument of the vehicle, the navigation display being displayed on the portable
electronic device gets automatically displayed on the "active-matrix TFT" screen
of the vehicle information display instrument.
The vehicle navigation system in accordance with the present subject
matter advantageously facilitates .the display of navigation map of the moving
vehicle on the vehicle information display instrument without the input of map
databases in the CD ROM and the like as were being implemented in the prior arts.
This is because, here the said navigation map and its related data are being
projected and automatically displayed on the vehicle information display
instrument, thu~m inimizing thc cxtra need of focus ~equi~en~exbiyt sh eo perator.
Further, since the vehicle information display instrument is intelligently provided
with the mode switch 216 to swop the display of the vehicular textual information
andlor the navigation map according to the requirements. Thus, the present
subject matter diminishes the extra load of manually zooming the display of
navigation map on the vehicle information display instrument, thereby
subsequently reducing the risk of danger and accident for the operator and the
vehicle too. Furthermore, the vehicle navigation system is equipped with a high
grade ARM microcontroller characterized with a quicker response, especially
during the real time display of the road map and the.travel route of the moving
vehicle. This high grade ARM microcontroller is essentially designed for an ultrahigh
response of the vehicle navigation system. In an embodiment of the present
subject matter, such ARM microcontroller work on a minimum bus width of 32
bit and may vary till 64 bit also unlike the .16 bit bus width as being used in prior
art technologies. These high grade ARM microcontrollers are highly efficient and
parallely consume less power'too. Moreover, the advanced infotainment vehicle
information display instrument with the integral "active-matrix TFT" according to
the present subject matter enhances the visibility of the data to the operator
without any complex optical and light transmission mechanism. Furthermore, the
present subject matter discloses an improved, advanced, reliable, customers'
friendly vehicle navigation system in the vehicle information display instrument
for vehicles.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be
made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad
inventive concept thereof The present embodiments are therefore to be
considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the
invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing
description and all variations, substitutions and changes which come within the
meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be
embraced therein.

WE CLAIM:
1. A vehicle navigation system on a vehicle information display instrument
comprising:
a bluetooth arrangement integrated with a vehicle information display
instrument 114 of a vehicle 100 for exchanging a navigation map between
atleast one portable electronic device 118 and the vehicle information
display instrument 114;
an electronic circuit structure 200 governing the operation and display of
the bluetooth arrangement integrated with the vehicle information display
instrument 114 of the vehicle 100 comprising;
a microcontroller 202 provided with the vehicle 100 to masterly
control the operation of connection of bluetooth arrangement with
the portable electronic device 118;
an ARM controller 204 that communicate with the microcontroller
202 after receiving the signals from the portable electronic device
118 via.a bluetooth controller 210;
a voltage translation integrated chip 212 that modulate the voltage
for the exchange of the data between the vehicle information
. .
display instrument 114 and the portable electronic device 118;
a mode switch 216 provided with the electronic circuit structure 200 to
selectively actuate the display of vehicular operating information and/or
the navigation map on an active-matrix thin film transistor screen provided
with the vehicle information display instrument 114 of the vehicle 100.
2. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
navigation map of the vehicle 100 displayed on the active-matrix thin film
transistor screen is a real time map.
3. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
electronic circuit structure 200 is provided with an APPLE encryption
integrated chip 208 that communicates with the ARM controller 204 for
setting up the bluetooth connection of the APPLE based products with the
vehicle information display instrument 114 of the vehicle 100.
4. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the portable
electronic devices 118 may includes devices such as, but not restricted to,
mobiles, tablets, power banks, laptops, palmtop, medical equipment, and
the like.
5. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim . l , wherein the
originating and final destination of the moving vehicle 100 is displayed on
the portable electronic devices 118 that is subsequently shown on the
vehicle information display instrument 114.of the vehicle.
6. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
microcontroller 202 is programmed to display the vehicular operating
information such as warning indicators, telltales, caller's name, WiFi
connection set, data exchanged, and the like on the active-matrix thin film
transistor screen of the vehicle information display instrument 114.
4
7. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
microcontroller 202 is programmed to display the navigation map of the
moving vehicle on the the the active-matrix thin film transistor screen of
the vehicle information display instrument 114.
8. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
microcontroller 202 is programmed to display the vehicular operating
information as well as the navigation map of the moving vehicle on the the
active-matrix thin film transistor screen of the vehicle information display
instrument 114.
9. The vehicle navigation. system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
microcontroller 202 is programmed to shutdown andlor reset the bluetooth
t
arrangement in case of any error or requirements.
I 10. The vehicle navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the active-
. matrix thin film transistor screen is enabled to highlight the status of the
connectivity of the bluetooth arrangement in terms of the texts such as
BLUETOOTH CONNECTED, BLUETOOTH NOT CONNETED,
ERROR, and the like.