JP2012253438A - On-vehicle device and icon display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-vehicle device and an icon display method, enabling a user to easily search for a desired icon, when the user selects an application icon installed on a mobile terminal from a screen.SOLUTION: When a mobile terminal 200 is connected to an on-vehicle device 100, a communication unit 101 acquires an application icon installed on the mobile terminal 200 and page information representing a page on which the icon is present. By the control of a screen display control unit 104, each icon is displayed with a sort by page-by-page. Thus, it is identifiably shown on which page of the mobile terminal 200 the icon displayed on the screen of the on-vehicle device 100 is present. By this, on the screen of the on-vehicle device 100, the desired icon can be searched for in a substantially same page touch as on the screen of the mobile terminal 200.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted device and an icon display method, and is particularly suitable for use in a vehicle-mounted device that can use application functions on the mobile terminal side in cooperation with the mobile terminal.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile terminals that combine the functions of a mobile phone and the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA) have been provided. This type of portable terminal is called a smart phone, and has various application functions that the PDA is good at as well as a normal call function. Many smartphones have a touch panel screen. On the touch panel screen, operation keys (icons) for using a plurality of applications including a call are displayed, and a desired application can be easily started by a touch operation of the icons.

  Usually, the maximum number of icons displayed on one screen is fixed. When more applications than the maximum number are installed in the smartphone, icons corresponding to the applications are displayed across a plurality of pages.

  On the other hand, an in-vehicle device that is linked with a smartphone by wired communication such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) or wirelessly such as Bluetooth and that can use application functions installed in the smartphone is also being provided. In this type of in-vehicle device, a smartphone is assigned to one of the resources supported by the in-vehicle device, and a smartphone is selected on the resource selection screen, whereby an operation on the smartphone application can be performed in the in-vehicle device. .

  In this type of in-vehicle device, a technology for displaying only icons corresponding to applications that can be actually used in the in-vehicle device among a plurality of icons displayed on the touch panel screen of the smartphone has also been proposed. . If this technique is used, an icon of an application that cannot be used by the in-vehicle device is not displayed on the in-vehicle device, so that the inconvenience that the application does not start even when the icon is operated can be avoided.

  When a mobile phone is detected as being carried in the vehicle, the application is automatically started, and predetermined information (such as information to be noted when driving) is acquired from a server provided on the network and displayed. Technology has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-78696 A

  However, in the above conventional technique, the arrangement order of icons displayed on the screen of the in-vehicle device is different from the arrangement order of icons displayed on the screen of the smartphone. In particular, when using a smartphone, the user usually remembers what icon is on which page, and often looks for the desired icon based on that memory. Will be completely different between smartphones and in-vehicle devices. Therefore, when a user who is familiar with the display screen of the smartphone tries to select a desired icon on the in-vehicle device, there is a problem that it may take time to search for the desired icon.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and when a user selects an icon of an application installed in a mobile terminal such as a smartphone on the screen of the in-vehicle device, a desired icon is provided. The purpose is to make it easier to find.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the in-vehicle device of the present invention, when a mobile terminal is connected, the application icon installed in the mobile terminal and page information representing the page on which the icon exists are acquired. Each icon is identified and displayed by page.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, the page displayed on the screen of the in-vehicle device is identifiable as to which page the icon is on. As a result, it is memorized what page has what icon on the screen of the portable terminal, and for the user who usually looks for the desired icon by relying on the memory, the portable terminal is also on the screen of the in-vehicle device. It is possible to search for a desired icon with almost the same page feeling as the screen. Therefore, when a user who is familiar with the display screen of the mobile terminal tries to select a desired icon on the in-vehicle device, the desired icon can be easily found.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structural example of the application execution system containing the vehicle-mounted apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed on the display part of the vehicle-mounted apparatus by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the vehicle-mounted apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other example of the screen displayed on the display part of the vehicle-mounted apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other example of the screen displayed on the display part of the vehicle-mounted apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other example of the screen displayed on the display part of the vehicle-mounted apparatus by this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an application execution system including an in-vehicle device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the application execution system of this embodiment is configured by connecting an in-vehicle device 100 and a mobile terminal 200 such as a smartphone by wire or wireless. The in-vehicle device 100 according to the present embodiment is configured to be able to use functions of an application program (hereinafter simply referred to as an application) on the mobile terminal 200 side in cooperation with the mobile terminal 200.

  The in-vehicle device 100 includes a communication unit 101, an operation unit 102, a display unit 103, a screen display control unit 104, an availability determination unit 105, an application management table 106, an instruction determination unit 107, an operation execution control unit 108, and an operation stop control unit 109. It is configured with. The mobile terminal 200 includes a communication unit 201, an operation unit 202, a display unit 203, a screen display control unit 204, an application storage unit 205, an icon storage unit 206, an operation control unit 207, and a cooperation processing unit 208. Yes.

  The communication unit 101 of the in-vehicle device 100 and the communication unit 201 of the mobile terminal 200 communicate various data with each other in a state where the in-vehicle device 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are connected. For example, the communication units 101 and 201 communicate command information such as a start command, an operation execution command, and an operation stop command for an application installed in the mobile terminal 200 from the in-vehicle device 100 to the mobile terminal 200.

  In addition, the communication units 101 and 201 include identification information (for example, a file name) of an application installed in the mobile terminal 200, an application activation icon, page information indicating a page of the mobile terminal 200 where the icon exists, Screen information (hereinafter referred to as an application screen) indicating the execution result of the application is communicated from the mobile terminal 200 to the in-vehicle device 100. The communication unit 101 of the in-vehicle device 100 corresponds to the information acquisition unit of the present invention.

  The communication units 101 and 201 have a function of detecting whether or not the in-vehicle device 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are in a connected state. That is, the communication units 101 and 201 detect whether or not a connection state is established by performing predetermined communication with each other when the in-vehicle device 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are connected by a cable or the like. In the case where the in-vehicle device 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are wirelessly connected by Bluetooth or the like, the communication units 101 and 201 perform predetermined communication with each other when the in-vehicle device 100 and the mobile terminal 200 enter the wireless communication area. It is detected whether or not a connection state has been established. When it is detected that it is in the connected state, the communication unit 101 notifies the availability determination unit 105 to that effect.

  The operation unit 102 of the in-vehicle device 100 is for a user to give various instructions to the in-vehicle device 100, and is configured by a touch panel, for example. The operation unit 102 does not need to be a touch panel, and may be a remote controller, for example. The display unit 103 is for displaying various types of information, and is configured by a liquid crystal display, for example. The display unit 103 displays icons, application screens, and the like sent from the mobile terminal 200.

  The screen display control unit 104 controls the display of the various information described above on the display unit 103. In the present embodiment, the screen display control unit 104 displays only icons corresponding to applications that can be used in the in-vehicle device 100 when displaying icons sent from the mobile terminal 200 on the display unit 103. Control not to display icons corresponding to unavailable applications.

  Further, the screen display control unit 104 performs control to identify and display the icon acquired by the communication unit 101 for each page of the mobile terminal 200 based on the page information acquired by the communication unit 101. More specifically, the screen display control unit 104 identifies and displays icons corresponding to applications that are determined to be usable by the in-vehicle device 100 among the icons acquired by the communication unit 101 for each page of the mobile terminal 200. Let

  The availability determination unit 105 determines whether the application can be used by the in-vehicle device 100. The management information stored in the application management table 106 is used for the determination of availability. The application management table 106 stores in advance identification information (file name) of applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100. The availability determination unit 105 is installed in the portable terminal 200 by comparing the application identification information received by the communication unit 101 from the portable terminal 200 with the application identification information stored in the application management table 106. Among the existing applications, an application that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 is determined.

  The availability determination unit 105 notifies the screen display control unit 104 of applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100. Upon receiving this notification, the screen display control unit 104 controls the display unit 103 to display only icons corresponding to applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 among the icons received by the communication unit 101 from the mobile terminal 200. Note that the result of determination by the availability determination unit 105 is notified to the mobile terminal 200 via the communication unit 101, so that only icons corresponding to applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 are transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 to the in-vehicle device 100. Then, the screen display control unit 104 may control the display unit 103 to display it.

  The instruction determination unit 107 determines the type of instruction given to the in-vehicle device 100 through an operation on the operation unit 102. For example, the instruction determination unit 107 determines whether an instruction to start an application installed in the mobile terminal 200 has been issued through an operation on the operation unit 102 (an operation of pressing an icon displayed on the display unit 103). When it is determined that the activation instruction has been issued, the instruction determination unit 107 notifies the operation execution control unit 108 to that effect. Upon receiving this notification, the operation execution control unit 108 transmits a corresponding application activation command to the mobile terminal 200 via the communication unit 101. This activation command includes identification information of the application targeted by the command.

  In addition, the instruction determination unit 107 performs an operation execution instruction for an application installed in the mobile terminal 200 through an operation on the operation unit 102 (pressing operation of various operation buttons provided on an application screen displayed on the display unit 103). It is determined whether or not. When it is determined that an operation execution instruction has been issued, the instruction determination unit 107 notifies the operation execution control unit 108 of the content of the instruction. The operation execution control unit 108 that has received this notification transmits an operation execution command to the mobile terminal 200 via the communication unit 101. This operation execution instruction includes identification information of an application targeted by the instruction.

  In addition, the instruction determination unit 107 issues an operation stop instruction for an application installed in the mobile terminal 200 through an operation on the operation unit 102 (pressing a shutdown button provided on an application screen displayed on the display unit 103). Determine whether it was done. If it is determined that an operation stop instruction has been issued, the instruction determination unit 107 notifies the operation stop control unit 109 to that effect. Upon receiving this notification, the operation stop control unit 109 transmits an operation stop command for the corresponding application to the mobile terminal 200 via the communication unit 101. This operation stop command includes identification information of an application targeted by the command.

  The operation unit 202 of the mobile terminal 200 is for a user to give various instructions to the mobile terminal 200, and is configured by a touch panel, for example. The display unit 203 is for displaying various types of information, and is configured by a liquid crystal display, for example. On the display unit 203, an icon of an application installed in the mobile terminal 200, an application screen, and the like are displayed. The screen display control unit 204 controls the display of various types of information described above on the display unit 203.

  The application storage unit 205 stores an application installed in the mobile terminal 200. The icon storage unit 206 stores an icon corresponding to an application installed in the mobile terminal 200 and page information representing a page of the mobile terminal 200 where the icon exists. The icons stored in the icon storage unit 206 are supplied to the screen display control unit 204 and displayed on the display unit 203.

  Further, the icon and page information stored in the icon storage unit 206 are acquired by the cooperation processing unit 208 and transmitted to the in-vehicle device 100 via the communication unit 201. And in the aspect which can identify the page corresponding to the application which can be utilized with the vehicle-mounted apparatus 100 among the icons acquired by the communication part 101 by control of the screen display control part 104 on the screen of the portable terminal 200. It is displayed on the display unit 103.

  The operation control unit 207 controls the operation of the application stored in the application storage unit 205 on the portable terminal 200 in accordance with an operation performed on the operation unit 202 by the user. For example, the operation control unit 207 controls activation of an application corresponding to the pressed icon, execution of a function included in the application, stop of operation of the application, and the like. The application screen generated as a result of the function execution is output to the screen display control unit 204 and displayed on the display unit 203. The application screen is acquired by the cooperation processing unit 208 and transmitted to the in-vehicle device 100 via the communication unit 201. Then, the application screen transmitted to the in-vehicle device 100 is displayed on the display unit 103 by the screen display control unit 104.

  The cooperation processing unit 208 provides information necessary when the in-vehicle device 100 uses the application function on the mobile terminal 200 side in cooperation with the mobile terminal 200 to the in-vehicle device 100 via the communication unit 201. That is, the cooperation processing unit 208 acquires the icon and page information of the icon from the icon storage unit 206 and provides the acquired information to the in-vehicle device 100. Also, the cooperation processing unit 208 acquires application identification information from the application storage unit 205 and provides it to the in-vehicle device 100. In addition, the cooperation processing unit 208 acquires an application screen from the operation control unit 207 and provides it to the in-vehicle device 100.

  When the command information such as a start command, an operation execution command, and an operation stop command is sent from the in-vehicle device 100, the cooperation processing unit 208 supplies the command information to the operation control unit 207. The operation control unit 207 controls the operation of the mobile terminal 200 according to the command information received from the cooperation processing unit 208.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an icon screen displayed on the display unit 103 of the in-vehicle device 100. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the display unit 103 of the in-vehicle device 100 to which the mobile terminal 200 is connected has icons 21, corresponding to applications that can be used in the in-vehicle device 100 among the applications installed in the mobile terminal 200. Only 22 and 23 are displayed.

  In FIG. 2, a plurality of icons 21 with a number “1” in □ correspond to applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 among the icons displayed on the first page on the screen of the mobile terminal 200. Is. A plurality of icons 22 with the number “2” in the squares correspond to applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 among the icons displayed on the second page on the screen of the mobile terminal 200. A plurality of icons 23 with a number “3” in □ correspond to applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 among the icons displayed on the third page on the screen of the mobile terminal 200.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the first page icon 21, the second page icon 22, and the third page icon 23 are arranged in order from the upper left in one screen and displayed in a matrix. Moreover, the character showing the outline | summary of an application is displayed on the lower part of each icon 21-23. In this embodiment, the background color of this character portion is identified and displayed for each page of the mobile terminal 200. For example, for the icon 21 on the first page, the background color of the character is green, the icon 22 on the second page is orange, and the icon 23 on the third page is pink.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the in-vehicle device 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above. The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is executed when the in-vehicle device 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are connected. In FIG. 3, the communication unit 101 determines whether or not the mobile terminal 200 is connected (step S1). When determining that the mobile terminal 200 is connected, the communication unit 101 receives identification information, icons, and page information of each application installed in the mobile terminal 200 from the mobile terminal 200 (step S2).

  The availability determination unit 105 compares the application identification information received from the mobile terminal 200 with the application identification information stored in the application management table 106, so that among the applications installed in the mobile terminal 200. An application that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 is determined (step S3). Then, the availability determination unit 105 notifies the screen display control unit 104 of applications that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100.

  The screen display control unit 104 receives the notification from the availability determination unit 105 and based on the page information received by the communication unit 101 from the mobile terminal 200, among the icons received by the communication unit 101, the in-vehicle device 100. The icon 21 corresponding to the application that can be used in is identified and displayed for each page of the mobile terminal 200 as shown in FIG. 2 (step S4). And the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is complete | finished.

  As described above in detail, in the in-vehicle device 100 of the present embodiment, when the mobile terminal 200 is connected, the application icon installed in the mobile terminal 200 and the page of the mobile terminal 200 on which the icon exists are displayed. The page information to be represented is acquired by the communication unit 101. And when displaying each icon on the display part 103 of the vehicle-mounted apparatus 100 by control of the screen display control part 104, it identifies and displays each icon for every page of the portable terminal 200. FIG.

  According to the present embodiment configured as described above, the page displayed on the screen of the in-vehicle device 100 is identifiable as to which page the icon is on the mobile terminal 200. As a result, what page has what icon on the screen of the mobile terminal 200 is stored, and for a user who is usually searching for a desired icon by relying on the storage, the screen of the in-vehicle device 100 is also displayed. It is possible to search for a desired icon with almost the same page feeling as the screen of the mobile terminal 200. Therefore, when a user who is familiar with the display screen of the mobile terminal 200 tries to select a desired icon on the in-vehicle device 100, the desired icon can be easily found.

  In addition, in the said embodiment, although the form of FIG. 2 was shown as an example of the icon screen displayed on the display part 103 of the vehicle-mounted apparatus 100, this invention is not limited to this. For example, the icon screen may be displayed in a manner as shown in FIGS. In the example of FIG. 4, a frame is provided around the icons 21 to 23, and the display color of the frame is identified and displayed for each page of the mobile terminal 200.

  In the example of FIG. 5, the display areas of the icons 21 to 23 are displayed separately for each page of the mobile terminal 200. Specifically, the display area of the icons 21 to 23 is divided into upper, middle, and lower three levels, the first page icon 21 is the first level, the second page icon 22 is the second level, and the third page. The icon 23 is displayed in the third row. In each row, the icons 21 to 23 are displayed in one row or two rows in the horizontal direction. Here, the display areas of the icons 21 to 23 are divided into the upper, middle, and lower three stages, but the way of dividing is not limited to this example.

  The example of FIG. 6 is also an aspect in which the display areas of the icons 21 to 23 are distinguished and displayed for each page of the mobile terminal 200. FIG. 6A is an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 203 of the mobile terminal 200 and shows an icon screen for the first page. FIG. 6B shows an example of an icon screen displayed on the display unit 103 of the in-vehicle device 100.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, a plurality of icons 31 and 32 and operation buttons 33 are displayed on the display unit 203 of the mobile terminal 200. The icons 31 that are not shaded correspond to applications that can be used in the in-vehicle device 100. On the other hand, the hatched icon 32 corresponds to an application that cannot be used in the in-vehicle device 100. The plurality of icons 31 and 32 are arranged in a matrix of 3 columns × 4 columns.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6B, the in-vehicle device 100 distinguishes the display areas of the icons 21 to 23 for each page of the mobile terminal 200, and uses the same layout as the display layout on the screen of the mobile terminal 200. The icons 21 to 23 of each page are displayed. Specifically, the display area of the icons 21 to 23 is divided into three columns of left, middle, and right, and the icon 21 on the first page (corresponding to the icon 31 in FIG. 6A) is on the first column and the second page. The icon 22 is displayed in the second column, and the icon 23 on the third page is displayed in the third column.

  In each of the left, middle, and right columns, only the icons 21 to 23 that can be used on the in-vehicle device 100 among the icons on each page are displayed in the same layout as the display layout on the screen of the mobile terminal 200. . In FIG. 6B, an icon indicated by a dotted line is an icon that cannot be used in the in-vehicle device 100 and is not displayed on the screen of the in-vehicle device 100. For example, regarding the first page, among the icons 31 and 32 displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal 200, only the icon 21 that can be used by the in-vehicle device 100 is displayed as the icon 21 in the same display layout as the mobile terminal 200. I am letting.

  In order to display the icons 21 to 23 according to the same display layout as that of the mobile terminal 200 in the manner as shown in FIG. 6B, in addition to the page information of each icon, the icons 31 and 32 in the page of the mobile terminal 200 are displayed. It is necessary to transmit layout information (for example, position information indicating which column of which column is displayed) from the mobile terminal 200 to the in-vehicle device 100.

  In the example of FIG. 6B, the display area of the icons 21 to 23 is divided into three columns of left, middle, and right, but the way of dividing is not limited to this example. Similarly to the case of the mobile terminal 200, the pages 21 may be displayed for each page by performing page transition.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the availability determination unit 105 is provided and only icons corresponding to applications that can be used in the in-vehicle device 100 are displayed on the display unit 103 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, not only applications that can be used in the in-vehicle device 100 but all icons corresponding to applications installed in the mobile terminal 200 may be displayed on the display unit 103.

  In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof.

100 vehicle-mounted device 101 communication unit (information acquisition unit)
104 screen display control unit 105 availability determination unit

Claims (4)

It is an in-vehicle device that can use application functions on the mobile terminal side in cooperation with the mobile terminal,
When the mobile terminal is connected, an information acquisition unit that acquires application information installed on the mobile terminal and page information representing a page of the mobile terminal on which the icon exists;
An in-vehicle device, comprising: a screen display control unit configured to identify and display an icon acquired by the information acquisition unit for each page based on page information acquired by the information acquisition unit. The information acquisition unit further acquires identification information of an application installed in the mobile terminal,
Based on the identification information acquired by the information acquisition unit, further comprises an availability determination unit for determining an application that can be used in the in-vehicle device among applications installed in the mobile terminal,
Based on the page information acquired by the information acquisition unit, the screen display control unit applies the application determined to be usable by the in-vehicle device by the availability determination unit among the icons acquired by the information acquisition unit. The in-vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein the corresponding icon is identified and displayed for each page. The information acquisition unit further receives layout information representing a display layout of the icon in the page of the mobile terminal,
Based on the page information and layout information acquired by the information acquisition unit, the screen display control unit is determined to be usable by the in-vehicle device by the availability determination unit among the icons acquired by the information acquisition unit. The in-vehicle device according to claim 2, wherein an icon corresponding to the application is identified for each page and displayed in the same layout as the display layout on the mobile terminal. An icon display method in a vehicle-mounted device that can use the application function on the mobile terminal side in cooperation with the mobile terminal,
When the mobile terminal is connected, the in-vehicle device acquires an application icon installed in the mobile terminal and page information representing a page on which the icon exists;
An icon display method characterized in that the in-vehicle device has a screen display step for identifying and displaying the icon acquired in the information acquisition step for each page based on the page information acquired in the information acquisition step. .

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