JP2007513393A - Application access right management method and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

  The present invention relates to a method, a computer program and a communication system for entering access rights for user access, preferably in a vehicle, using at least two operating devices of the same input application. According to the prior art, the method is basically known but not specifically specified. Also, the prior art does not take into account the fact that not all available access schemes are equally suitable for all applications. According to the present invention, access rights are set in an application specific manner.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and a computer program for managing user access rights for accessing at least one application, preferably provided in a vehicle, by means of a plurality of operating units for the user. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a data storage medium having the computer program.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle communication system and method for exchanging data in a vehicle. The vehicle communication system includes a center system control device that can give individual different access rights to individual applications for individual operation units of the system. This center system control device is realized by a central processing unit of the vehicle communication system or another arithmetic unit. In such a relationship, the ranking assigned to the operation unit can be uniformly defined for all applications or for each individual application. Furthermore, the center system control device can arrange an output device in the operation unit. The center system control device includes a priority management unit. One aspect of this is assigning access rights to the data bus and / or to the operating unit to individual applications. When a plurality of operations having the priority assigned to them occur at the same time, the priority management unit prioritizes one of the operations and resolves a risky conflict. These competing operations may involve, for example, two operating units with specific priorities that require an application to the same physical device that does not have multi-console functionality. The operation time ranking is processed according to an appropriate criterion for such conflict resolution.

  In the aforementioned prior art, the access rights referred to in the prior art are substantially defined only for a single operator on the data bus and / or only for a single application, and the access rights are related to the man / machine interface. There is no specific relationship, that is, there is a disadvantage that it is only for a single user or operation unit. When recognizing access rights or access methods in a specific relationship, it is necessary to consider that not all applications are as suitable as all known access methods.

German Patent Publication No. 198 53 665 specification (corresponding special table 2002-530245)

  For this reason, the object of the present invention is to provide a method and a computer program for providing an access method to an application, taking into account individual applications for a specific access method based on the prior art, and this computer program It is to provide a data storage medium and a communication system for carrying out this method.

  This object is achieved by the method described in claim 1. According to the claim, the method of providing a user access method to the same application provided in the vehicle using the operation unit for at least two users is provided with a unique access method for each application. Features.

  In particular, the access method in the present embodiment is a “last wins” access method. According to the access method, the user who last accessed the application controls the application to determine its operation. To do. In such a relationship, the operation instructions from the two user operation units may be different. A further access method in the present embodiment is “parallel switching”, in which the same content is displayed to all users regardless of whether or not different access operations from different operation units are performed on the same application. provide. Furthermore, using the “first wins” access method, the user who first accesses the application controls the application to determine its operation. If the application is likely or disturbed from the operating unit for the first user, the “first wins” access scheme is preferably visually and / or in the operating unit for the second user. Give an audible warning message. Alternatively or additionally, the “first wins” access scheme allows the second user's operating unit to access the application until a warning message issued to the second user's operating unit is acknowledged. It can also be set to be blocked.

  The application in this embodiment comprises at least one function that allows a service to be provided to the user. Typical examples of applications are “audio functions” provided by audio systems or hi-fi systems, “video functions” provided by video recorders, “navigation functions” provided by navigation systems, or “provided by communication devices”. Communication function ". The “communication function” is a function based on an Internet connection, particularly a function based on a personal computer that is preferably connected to the Internet. One function is performed by one of these supply devices.

  The benefits of application-specific provisioning using the claimed access method are not necessarily suitable for all possible access methods that all applications can assume or use. Absent. There are often technical constraints that make an application appear suitable only for a particular access method.

  The “Last Winds” access scheme is suitable for “audio” and “video” applications, and the “Parallel switching” access scheme is also suitable for “navigation system” applications.

  In certain cases in applications where the “parallel switch” access scheme operates, a “superuser” access scheme for this application can be provided.

  Further, if an operation of accessing an application from one user's operation unit may or may interfere with the sequence of applications of the operation unit from another user, the user's operation unit is visually and An audible warning may be output.

  The above object is realized by a computer program and a communication system for executing the method described in the claims, and a data storage medium having the computer program. With respect to the claimed method, the advantages of these solutions correspond to the specific advantages described above.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a vehicle 200 according to the present invention having wheels 230 and a communication system 100. The communication system includes a central processing unit 110 that controls an application and a plurality of user operation units 120-1 to 120-3. The user operation units 120-1 to 120-3 are used to provide applications to the user at various positions inside the vehicle. The operation unit 120-1 provided in the center of the front seat of the vehicle 200 is disposed at a position accessible from the user of the driver seat 210-1 and the passenger seat 210-2. Furthermore, user operation units 120-2 and 120-3 for the rear seat are arranged at the position of the rear bench seat 220 of the vehicle 200.

In the present invention, the assignment of the access method to each application is basically performed automatically or is fixedly defined in advance. This is configured to be done only when, for example, verbal agreement between users cannot avoid resource contention (i.e. contention between users when accessing the same application from different user operation units 120). Good. The following describes some situational scenarios where such a solution negotiated among people is not possible.
-Resources already used by the application called from the rear seat side are required in the driver's seat of the vehicle 200 (ie using the application, especially from the driver's or front passenger's passenger seat). Illustratively: a “navigation” application is used to access the same resource (disc player) simultaneously from both the driver's seat and the rear seat. Rear seat occupants may not be able to release resources, for example because they are getting off the vehicle, their fingers are dirty, or do not know how to perform the resource release. is there. In this case, it must nevertheless be possible to transfer resources to the driver's seat.
-The rear seat occupant wants to watch the video but doesn't know how to set it.
-The infant sits at the rear of the vehicle. An infant should play with the audio device (eg, tweak the volume control to make it loud), resulting in a dangerous situation and not surprise the driver.
-The juvenile sits in the back seat. The young should not have access to expensive equipment and / or equipment that is not suitable for the young.
-The boss sits in the back of the vehicle and does not want the driver's seat, especially the driver, to be able to read his email or phone number list.
-The rear seat occupant wants to receive information of interest, such as a destination, via a specific application in the form of an information service and forward this information to the driver as a data record.
-While the driver is using the navigation system's route guidance function, the rear seat occupant wants to see the point of interest (POI) or freely select details from the map using the same navigation system. It is out.
-The driver supports the rear seat occupant by performing an operating step or function from the driver side and control unit to the rear seat occupant to allow the rear seat occupant to use a specific application. . To do this, the driver also enters the rear seat occupant code.
-Since the rear seat occupant does not want to disclose this code to the driver, this time the driver does not need to enter the rear seat occupant code in a manner similar to the previous scenario. Support crew.

  A solution for handling the competing cases given above is presented below as an example. These conflict cases occur mainly between the two rear operating units. Only when the navigation system and the mobile phone call unit are being accessed, there is generally a conflict between the driver's seat control unit and the rear seat control unit.

Entertainment Entertainment includes “audio” and “video” applications. In accordance with the present invention, these two applications are each assigned to a “last wind” access scheme. This gives priority to the user who last performed an operation (eg switching CDs) controlling the system. When this access method is used, there is no “priority user” of the application in the sense that only the user determines who can access the application or how the application can be operated simultaneously. When a rear seat occupant uses one of the entertainment applications with a headset, a warning is issued to another user who wants access to the application. If this warning is acknowledged by the rear occupant, the rear occupant therefore allows access to the application for other users. This warning is repeated when other requesting users switch to another entertainment application (especially another audio resource) for the time being.

  A shared resource that must be shared for applications invoked from the backseat is the sound system of a single cab vehicle. Audio resources, ie data sources such as CDs for sound systems, can be accessed from the respective user location of the vehicle. It is not possible to access the CD changer in the rear seat from the driver's seat, or to access the cassette drive in the front of the vehicle from the rear seat. A sound system that accesses the rear seat audio source, which is currently occupied by the rear seat occupant, and at the same time, for example, in the front of the vehicle, the driver also attempts to access the sound system with respect to the sound system, And if a different source is activated to do so, a warning is given to the rear seat occupant. The rear seat occupant releases the sound system for the driver only if the rear seat occupant acknowledges this warning. The sound system can then access, for example, audio resources that are preferred by the driver and located in the front of the vehicle.

Communication A “communication” application comprises a mobile phone or a communication device, in particular an internet connection, in particular a PC connected to the internet. In these cases, communication channel resources, especially the connection of these applications to the outside, are important parameters. It is necessary to prevent a subscriber from accidentally interrupting another subscriber's connection. For this reason, the present invention determines whether or not this communication channel uses a mobile phone or communication device connected to the Internet, especially an Internet connected PC, if another user also attempts to access this communication channel. Regardless of whether or not is used, the user who is using the communication is made to receive the warning message. At that time, the user in use is requested to reply that another user interrupts his application by confirmation. If the user in use does not do this, the user in use can continue to access the communication channel with the application in use, and other users are denied use of the communication channel.

There are three specific options for the form of the “communication” application.
1. In particular, the driver's seat of the vehicle has only one mobile phone call unit. In this case, the competition between the operation units for the three users, that is, the competition between the operation unit in the driver's seat and the two operation units for the rear seat is controlled.
2. There are one mobile phone call unit on the driver's seat and one on the back seat. In this case, since the driver's seat communication unit is available exclusively to the driver, contention occurs only between the two operating units in the rear seat.
3. There are one mobile phone call unit on the driver's seat and one on the back seat. According to the present invention, the telephone unit in the driver's seat can also be used from the rear seat side. In this case, the competition between the three operating units is controlled.

  When there is an incoming call, the incoming message is also displayed on the rear seat control unit.

Navigation In the “Navigation” application, different access operations cannot be allowed to the application in the driver seat and the rear seat due to resource limitations. Therefore, for example, it is not possible to display different maps on the driver seat and the rear seat, or to input another destination from the rear of the vehicle while displaying one map on the driver seat.

  For this reason, the “navigation” application according to the invention is assigned the “parallel switching” access method. That is, as long as the navigation mask is called by both the driver seat operation unit and the rear seat operation unit, the same content is displayed on both operation units. This is done regardless of whether a particular soft key or a particular hard key of one operating unit is pressed in the driver seat or the rear seat. The same applies to simultaneous user control of the “navigation” application by using two operating units in the rear seat.

  When the “navigation” application is activated on one of the operating units and the MAP key (the map display indicator button of the navigation system is called so) is pressed by a different user on a different operating unit, the navigation system is active A warning is given to the operation unit. Until this warning is acknowledged by the original user, the requested map is not displayed on the operation unit for other users. The same is true if the map is active in the original user and the navigation key is pressed to call the navigation system in the operating unit for the other user or to move the navigation system to the basic mode.

  In certain cases, using a specific “superuser” access scheme is possible within the scope of the “parallel switch” access scheme recommended, especially for “navigation” applications. The “super user” access scheme features parallel control and user control that can be switched intermittently by authorized users. For example, if control from the rear seat operation unit 120 is performed from the driver's seat to support rear seat users using this operation unit, the “superuser” access scheme is recommended. To this end, in the basic video mask of the driver's seat operating unit, the system switches between the operating units for the left or right rear seat user.

  Control by the user is then executed using the hard keys and / or soft keys of the operation unit 120-1 in the driver's seat.

  During the “superuser” access scheme, control by the user is possible from both the driver seat and the rear seat location. In the operation units 120-2 and 120-3 at the rear seats of the vehicle, as a result, the symbol indicates that the same image is displayed on the operation unit 120-1 at the driver seat. This option can preferably be switched off using the configuration menu of the operating unit for the rear seat user. For safety reasons, it is recommended for video applications in superuser mode that a still image is displayed on the driver's seat control unit 120-1 if the vehicle speed exceeds a predefined threshold. .

  Two alternative ways to exit superuser mode are presented below.

  One is to press the eject key, and the other is to press two numeric keys simultaneously. From a man / machine interface perspective, the first alternative is preferred.

Child Safety According to the present invention, access rights for children are limited to certain applications at location 220 in the vehicle where the child normally sits. This restriction can be basically implemented in various situations. For example, any access rights to an application by a child can be denied, or access rights to specific communication resources can be restricted.

The figure which shows the structure of the communication system in a vehicle.

Claims (11)

A method for providing an access method for a user access operation to the same application provided in a vehicle using at least two user operation units,
The access method is provided in an application specific manner.   The method of claim 1, wherein "Last Winds" access scheme is provided for "Audio" and "Video" applications.   The application according to claim 1, wherein a “parallel switching” access scheme is provided for the application when simultaneous use in operation units for a plurality of users is not possible for this application due to technical constraints. Method.   The technical constraints exist in the application that cannot simultaneously access the same resource with different requests because the resource is presented only once, or the application lists different selection possibilities on multiple screens 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the method cannot be provided simultaneously.   The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the application is a navigation system.   The method according to claim 3, wherein the access operation to the application is executed from the operation unit for the second user using a “super user” method.   If the operation of accessing the application from the operation unit for the second user may disturb the sequence of the application in the operation unit for the first user, 7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an audible warning message is output using the operating unit for the second user.   The access operation from the second user operation unit to the application is blocked until the warning message output using the second user operation unit is acknowledged. Item 8. The method according to Item 7.   A computer program for a communication system, comprising program code for performing the method according to claim 1.   A data storage medium storing the computer program according to claim 9. A communication system for an automobile comprising an arithmetic device (110) for controlling an application and a plurality of operation units for providing the application to various users of operation units at different locations in the vehicle (200). 100)
A communication system, characterized in that the central processing unit (110) executes the method according to any one of claims 1-8.

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