A patent that covers many wireless and voice recognition smartphone connections to a car radio or video system has been awarded to Ira Marlowe the owner of Blitzsafe, a car interface manufacturer.
The patent, issued on April 10, addresses car radios with the ability to connect to a cell phone wirelessly to view and control apps or web browsing via the radio.
The patent called “Multimedia Device Integration System,” was filed in 2006.
“It applies to cellular phones that would have apps and you can use the LCD display of the car stereo or video system as an Internet browser so the phone becomes a conduit. This applies to an OE or aftermarket radio that links to the cellular telephone, where the phone is controlled through the car stereo system wirelessly,” said Marlowe.
He would not make any statements regarding enforcing the patent, but added, “The patent is very forward looking. It’s the direction that most vehicle manufacturers will be going in, if not all manufacturers….everyone has one device in their pocket that they utilize, and people are only going to want to have one service. That’s what we address.”
Marlowe Holdings owns other patents regarding car audio and has sued Ford under a patent entitled “Audio Device Integration System.” The Ford case is still pending.
The new smartphone-to-car patent description is as follows:
An multimedia device integration system is provided. One or more after-market audio or video devices, such as a CD player, CD changer, digital media device (e.g., MP3 player, MP4 player, WMV player, Apple iPod, portable media center, or other device) satellite receiver (e.g., XM or Sirius receiver), DAB receiver, video device (e.g., DVD player), cellular telephone, or any other device or combinations thereof, is integrated for use with an existing OEM or after-market car stereo or video system, wherein control commands can be issued at the car stereo or video system and data from the after-market device can be displayed on the car stereo or video system. Control commands generated at the car stereo or video system are received, processed, converted into a format recognizable by the after-market device, and dispatched to the after-market device for execution. Information from the after-market device is converted into a format recognizable by the car stereo or video system, and dispatched to the car stereo or video system for display thereon. One or more auxiliary input sources can be integrated with the car stereo or video system, and selected using the controls of the car stereo or video system. A docking station is provided for docking a portable audio or video device for integration with the car stereo or video system. Wireless integration between the portable audio or video device and a car stereo or video system is provided, and voice recognition and speech synthesis capabilities are provided in the portable audio or video device or the car stereo or video system.
Filed on: 2006-06-27; Patent Number: 8155342
Source: CEoutlook
Here we go again. Mr Ira must be laughing all the way to the bank on this one.
Huge. HUGE.