Sound output control device
Contents
1. US 8 548 617 B2 11 limited to a flowchart illustrated in FIG 2 For example another selection criterion may be used in which an applica tion to which a high priority is assigned by an in vehicle apparatus may be preferentially selected While the invention has been described above with refer ence to various embodiments thereof it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the above described embodiments and constructions The invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements In addition while the various combinations and configurations described above are contemplated as embodying the inven tion other combinations and configurations including more less or only a single element are also contemplated as being within the scope of embodiments Further each or any combination of procedures processes steps or means explained in the above can be achieved as a software section or unit e g subroutine and or a hardware section or unit e g circuit or integrated circuit including or not including a function of a related device furthermore the hardware section or unit can be constructed inside ofa micro computer Furthermore the software section or unit or any combina tions of multiple software sections or units can be included in a software program which can be contained in a computer readable storage media or can be installed in a computer via a communications network2. REQUEST INDEX 3 INFO ANSWER INDEX 3 INFO REQUEST INDEX 4 INFO ANSWER INDEX 4 AVRCP 1 4 CONNECT ING U S Patent Oct 1 2013 Sheet 4 of 7 US 8 548 617 B2 FIG 4A UNCONNECT HON WINDOW 121 AUDIO 2d CONNECT PORTABLE DEVICE 15 UNCONNECTED i Bluetooth ESTABLISHING CONNECTION 52 WITH PORTABLE DEVICE MAIN WINDOW AVRCP 1 3 E Bluetooth TRACK 1 unu __ ARTIST ARTI st 12 ALBUM ALBUM LOONNEGT TRACK TRACK 1 5 U S Patent Oct 1 2013 Sheet 5 of 7 US 8 548 617 B2 FIG 5A UNCONNECT ION WINDOR Blueton 3th AUDIO FIG 58 CONNECTION ESTABLISHING WINDOW ue Bluetooth AUD 0 ESTABLISHING CONNECTION 2 WITH PORTABLE DEVICE 1 PLAYER STARTING WINDOW m NM DIDI P antt i Bluetooth AUDIO PLAYER i i U S Patent Oct 1 2013 Sheet 6 of 7 US 8 548 617 B2 FIG 6A MAIN WINDOW CAVRCP 1 Bluetooth PLAYER TRACK UDI PLAY L IST PLAY LIS IST 1 00 00 0 Br EH ARTIST ARTIST mx ALBUM ALBUM CONNECT TRACK TRACK SOUND Ps ce 34 FIG 6B BROWSE WINDOW 0 LIBRARY FIG 6C BROWSE ALL music minoon _ LIBRARY ALL MUSIC mas U S Patent Oct 1 2013 Sheet 7 of 7 US 8 548 617 B2 FIG BROWSE ARTIST WINDOW ENS m _________ ______ 2 ume LB 2 1 i ia rane ALBUS 3
3. 4 has a predetermined selec tion criterion to select a start candidate application from the multiple applications the start candidate application being the one of the plurality of applications to be started in the external device The predetermined selection criterion includes a first selection criterion which is such that if the 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 application registered as a default default application in the cellular phone 3 has the audio function and the browsing function the in vehicle apparatus 2 selects the default appli cation and causes the cellular phone 3 to start the selected default application Thus it is possible to preferentially use the application that is registered as a default in the cellular phone 3 and that has the browsing function and the audio function It is thus possible to preferentially use the applica tion registered as a default which is considered to be most frequently used in the cellular phone 3 In the present embodiment the BT communication device 5 is connectable with the cellular phone 3 via a local wireless communication link and the BT communication device 5 can acquire the application information from the external device via the local wireless communication link when the BT com munication device 5 is connected with the external device via the local wireless communication link According to the above configuration since the application informatio
4. 7 Oct 1 2013 U S Patent aa BE 4999 AL 1711910 43AVd VIG3H 01 u3AVId NOl1VOl Iddy XAQANI H3 T1041N00 3910A 5NIWOONI 3910A 9 109100 14510 3813934 011 8340 NO11V9 I NDWAOO 3NOHd3 131 NO ILY I NQWWO 1 915 29V INdN WNOIS 39 015 104100 08005 YATIOULNOD AW1dS 10 3034 N011V43d0 NOI1V9 1NOWHOO 18 U S Patent Oct 1 2013 Sheet 2 of 7 US 8 548 617 B2 START TRANSMIT DEFAULT PLAYER ID REQUEST S2 NO RECEIVE DEFAULT PLAYER ID ANSWER YES RECORD DEFAULT PLAYER ID S3 TRANSMIT APPL INFO REQUEST 54 55 a PPL INFO YES 56 TART CANDIDATE No RECORD APPL INFO APPL 15 STORED 57 ves YES FIRST APPL 2 8 NO RECORD AS START CANDIDATE APPL MATCHES S9 No DEFAULT PLAYER ID 2 514 S10 AUDIO FUNCTION HAS NO AUDIO FUNCTION FAS BROWSING FUN CTION T SU YES 12 START CANDIDATE YES lt lt APPL HAS RECORD AS BROWSING FUNCTION START CANDIDATE APPL ii 517 S13 staRT TARGET FUNCTION START START CANDIDATE APPL U S Patent Oct 1 2013 FIG 3 IN VEHICLE APPARATUS Sheet 3 of 7 US 8 548 617 B2 CELLULAR PHONE COMPLETION OF AVRCP 1 4 CONNECTION PROCEDURE c DEFAULT PLAYER ID REQUEST DEFAULT PLAYER 10 ANSWER APPL APPL APPL APPL APPL APPL APPL APPL INFO REQUEST INDEX 1 INFO ANSWER INDEX 1 INFO REQUEST INDEX 2 INFO ANSWER INDEX 2 INFO
5. PIE obs ENN aE i i vi 5 VI D ALBUM 6 FIG 7C BROWSE PLAY LIST WINDOW LIBRARY Al US 8 548 617 B2 1 SOUND OUTPUT CONTROL DEVICE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application is based on Japanese Patent Appli cation No 2009 109151 filed on Apr 28 2009 disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sound output control device whichis configured to cause an external device to start one of applications for sound output and which is further configured to process audio data streamed from the external device 2 Description of Related Art In recent years there has been provided a technique for streaming audio data e g music data to an in vehicle appa ratus from a modern cellular phone which typically has mul tiple applications such as a media player a terrestrial digital TV application a radio application a game application and the like JP 2008 283569A discloses a configuration for connect ing devices to each other by using Audio Video Remote Con trol Profile AVRCP which is one of profiles defined in the Bluetooth registered trademark also referred to hereinafter as BT communications standards The inventor of the present application has studied a con figuration for connecting devices to each other by us
6. automatically start the selected start candidate application when a default application which 15 registered as a default in the external device among the plurality of applica tions has an audio function and a browsing function the control section automatically selects the default appli cation as the start candidate application and causes the external deviceto automatically start the selected default application and in response to establishment of a connection between the subject device and the external device the sound output controller of the subject device automatically without requiring a user manual operation 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 1 acquires the application information from the exter nal device i1 selects the start candidate application from the plu rality of applications ofthe external device according to the acquired application information and the pre determined selection criterion and iii causes the external device to start the selected start candidate application 2 The sound output controller of claim 1 wherein when the default application registered as the default in the external device does not have at least one of the audio function and the browsing function the control section selects a top level application as the start candidate application and causes the external device to start the top level application the top level application is registered in the ex
7. the determination YES is made at S2 and the process pro ceeds to S3 At S3 the controller 4 extracts the default player ID from the default player ID acquisition answer received from the cellular phone 3 and records the extracted player ID in the storage area of the storage medium 9 At S4 the controller 4 causes the BT communication device 5 to transmit an application acquisition request to the cellular phone 3 At S5 the controller 4 waits for the BT communication device 5 to receive an application acquisition answer and determines whether the BT communication device 5 receives the application acquisition answer from the cellular phone within a predetermined period after the trans mission ofthe application acquisition request When the cel lular phone 3 receives the application acquisition request from the in vehicle apparatus 2 the cellular phone 3 deter mines how many times the cellular phone 3 has received the application acquisition request from the in vehicle apparatus 2 Further the cellular phone 3 retrieves information on an application also called application information that has the registered index corresponding to the number of times the cellular phone 3 has received the application acquisition request from the in vehicle apparatus 2 as shown in FIG 3 The retrieved application information includes information on the player ID of the application whether the application has an audio function whether the application has
8. 13 the processes illustrated in FIG 2 are ended Through the above processes the in vehicle apparatus 2 can operate in the following way When the application reg istered in the cellular phone 3 as a default default applica tion has the audio function and the browsing function the in vehicle apparatus 2 selects the default application and causes the cellular phone 3 to start the default application When the application registered as the default in the cellular phone 3 is not an application having the audio function and the browsing function the in vehicle apparatus 2 selects the application having a small registered index in the cellular phone 3 i e the application having a high priority in the cellular phone 3 from among the applications having the audio function and the browsing function and the in vehicle apparatus 2 causes the cellular phone 3 to start the selected application Explanation is given below in more detail by using a spe cific example First it is assumed that the application regis tered as a default in the cellular phone 3 is the media player and the applications to which indexes are assigned include the media player In this case since the media player has the audio function and the browsing function the controller 4 records the media player as the start candidate application in the storage area and causes the cellular phone 3 to start the media player which is stored at this point as the candidate to be st
9. 7 and the process proceeds to S8 At S8 the controller 4 records the application having the index 1 as a start candidate application in the storage area ofthe storage medium 9 In the above the start candidate application is a candidate of an application to be started At S9 the controller 4 determines whether the default player ID recorded at S3 matches the player ID contained in the appli cation information recorded at S6 by comparing the default player ID to the player ID In the above the application information recorded at S6 is the latest one when the in vehicle apparatus 2 has receives the application information multiple times as shown in FIG 3 1 This is also the case in the below described processes When the controller 4 determines at S7 that the application information received from the cellular phone 3 is not the information on the application having the index 1 but the information on the application having the index equal to or larger than 2 the determination NO is made at 87 and the process proceeds to S9 In this case the controller 4 does not record the application as the start candidate application At S9 the controller 4 determines whether the default player ID recorded at S3 matches the player ID contained in the appli cation information recorded at S6 by comparing the default player ID to the player ID When the controller 4 determines that the default player ID recorded at S3 s identical t
10. RCP 1 4 may be triggered by another event For example the start of the connection procedure of the AVRCP 1 4 may be triggered by a user manual operation When finishing the connection pro cedure of the AVRCP 1 4 the controller 4 performs the pro cess illustrated in FIG 4 while the connection is made using the AVRCP 1 4 At S1 the controller 4 transmits a default player ID acqui sition request from the BT communication device 5 to the cellular phone 3 At S2 the controller 4 waits for the BT communication device 5 to receive a default player ID acqui sition answer from the cellular phone 3 and determines whether the BT communication device 5 receives the default player ID acquisition answer Within a predetermined period after the transmission of the default player ID acquisition request When the cellular phone 3 receives the default player ID acquisition request from the in vehicle apparatus 2 the cellular phone 3 retrieves a player ID of a default application which is an application registered as a default at the present time Further the cellular phone 3 transmits to the in vehicle apparatus 2 the default player ID acquisition answer contain ing the retrieved player ID as a default player ID When the controller 4 determines that the BT communica tion device 5 receives the default player ID acquisition answer from the cellular phone within the predetermined period after the transmission of the default player ID acquisition request
11. What is claimed is 1 A sound output controller in a subject device the sound output controller comprising a control section that is equipped in the subject device and configured to process audio data streamed from an exter nal device through causing the external device to auto matically start one of a plurality of applications for sound output wherein the plurality of applications are applications installed in the external device wherein the external device is external to the subject device and an application information acquisition section that is equipped in the subject device and configured to auto matically acquire application information from the external device wherein the application information is information on the plurality of applications installed in the external device wherein the control section of the subject device is provided with a predetermined selection criterion to automatically select a start candidate application from the plurality of appli cations of the external device the start candidate appli cation being the one of the plurality of applications that is to be automatically started in the external device according to the predetermined selection criterion and the application information acquired by the application information acquisition section from the external device the control section of the subject device auto matically selects the start candidate application and causes the external device to
12. a browsing function or the like The cellular phone 3 transmits the appli cation acquisition answer containing the retrieved application information to the in vehicle apparatus 2 The audio function herein a function of playback of music data which represents music In the present embodiment it is assumed the media player has the audio function but the multiple applications except the media player the TV appli cation the radio application and the game application do not have the audio function In this relation the browsing func tion herein is a function of transferring information on all music artist album play list and the like to the in vehicle apparatus 2 as shown in FIGS 6 and 7 In the present embodi ment it is assumed that the media player has the browsing function but the multiple applications except the media player 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 the TV application the radio application and the game appli cation do not have the browsing function As shown in FIG 3 when the number of times the cellular phone 3 has received the application acquisition request from the in vehicle apparatus 2 after the finish of the connection procedure of AVRCP 1 4 is one time the cellular phone 3 transmits to the in vehicle apparatus 2 the application acqui sition answer containing the application information on the application whose registered index is 1 When the number of times the cellul
13. ar phone 3 has received the application acquisition request from the in vehicle apparatus 2 after the finish of the connection procedure of the AVRCP 1 4 is two times the cellular phone 3 transmits to the in vehicle appa ratus 2 the application acquisition answer containing the application information on the application whose registered index is 27 When the controller 4 determines that the BT communica tion device 5 receives the application acquisition answer from the cellular phone 3 within the predetermined period after the transmission ofthe application acquisition request the deter mination Y ES is made at S5 and the process proceeds to S6 At S6 the controller 4 extracts the application information from the application acquisition answer and records the extracted application information in the storage are of the storage medium 9 At S7 the controller 4 determines whether the application information received from the cellular phone 3istheinformation on the application whose registered index is 1 In other words the controller 4 may determine whether the number of times the in vehicle apparatus 2 has received the application acquisition answer after the finish of the con nection procedure of the AVRCP 1 4 is one time When the controller 4 determines that the application information received from the cellular phone 3 is the infor mation on the application whose registered index is 1 the determination YES is made at S
14. arted Second it is assumed that the application regis tered as a default in the cellular phone 3 is other than the media player and is one of the TV application the radio application and the game application In this case when the applications to which the indexes are assigned include the media player since the media player has the audio function and the browsing function the controller 4 records the media player as the start candidata application in the storage area and causes the cellular phone 3 to start the media player which is stored as the start candiadata application As seen from the above when the applications to which the indexes are assigned include the media player the in vehicle apparatus 2 can cause the cellular phone 3 to start the media player and stream the audio data to the in vehicle apparatus 2 and the in vehicle apparatus 2 can process the audio data streamed by the media player of the cellular phone 3 regard less of which indexes are assigned to applications other than the media player Inthe present embodiment the in vehicle apparatus 2 per forms the followings in starting the media player In the below described illustrations a case of AVRCP 1 3 based connection is compared to a case of AVRCP 1 4 based con nection FIG 4 illustrates display transition in the case ofthe AVRCP 1 3 based connection according to a comparison example FIGS 5 to 7 illustrate display transition in the case ofthe AVRCP 1 4 based c
15. avigation apparatus having a navigation function or a handsfree sup porting in vehicle navigation apparatus having both of a handsfree function and a navigation function Furthermore a sound output control device is not limited to such in vehicle apparatuses For example a sound output control device may be applied to an information processing device to be placed installed inside a room In the above embodiment an external device is applied to a cellular phone Alternatively an external device may be applied to a portable information terminal Furthermore an external device is not limited to such portable devices For example an external device may be applied to an information processing device to be placed or installed inside a room Furthermore a sound output control device and an external device are not limited to the in vehicle apparatus and the cellular phone but may be information processing devices to be placed or installed inside a room In the above embodi ment a BT communication link is used to connect the in vehicle apparatus and the cellular phone and the application information is transmitted and received between the in ve hicle apparatus and the cellular phone via the BT communi cation link Alternatively the application information may be transmitted and received between the in vehicle apparatus and the cellular phone via wired communications A selection criterion for selection of one of multiple application is not
16. az United States Patent Ochi US008548617B2 10 Patent No US 8 548 617 B2 45 Date of Patent Oct 1 2013 54 SOUND OUTPUT CONTROL DEVICE 75 Inventor Hikaru Ochi Kariya JP 73 Assignee Denso Corporation Kariya JP Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this J y patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 430 days 21 Appl No 12 799 581 22 Filed Apr 27 2010 65 Prior Publication Data US 2010 0274370 A1 Oct 28 2010 30 Foreign Application Priority Data 28 2009 2009 109151 51 Int CI GO6F 17 00 2006 01 52 108 USC pue 700 94 58 Field of Classification Search 713 1 700 94 See application for complete search history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 898 653 B2 5 2005 Suetal 710 302 2007 0140187 1 6 2007 Rokusek et al 370 338 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS JP 2004 118437 4 2004 JP 2008 283569 11 2008 JP 2009 021670 1 2009 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Office action dated Apr 26 2011 in corresponding Japanese Appli cation No 2009 109151 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Andrew C Flanders Assistant Examiner Alexander Eljaiek 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Harness Dickey amp Pierce PLC 57 ABSTRACT A sound output control device is disclos
17. e aaaa where each is an arbitrary number The BT communication part 12 has a function to perform BT communications with the in vehicle apparatus 2 When communicating with the in vehicle apparatus 2 via the BT communication link the BT communication part 12 can have connection with the in vehicle apparatus 2 by using AVRCP 1 4 defined in BT communications standards Like the BT communication device 5 ofthe in vehicle apparatus 2 the BT communication part 12 of the cellular phone 3 may have connection using the HFP the PBAP and the like in addition to the AVRCP 1 4 and the to have the connection and the BT communication part 12 ofthe cellular phone 3 may be or may not be capable of simultaneously using these profiles The telephone communication part 13 has a function to perform wide area wireless communications via a communi cation network The operation reception part 14 includes a keyboard in which multiple keys such as a call key an answer key a numeric key a multi key and the like are arranged When detecting a user operation on one of keys the operation reception part 14 outputs an operation detection signal indica tive of content of the user operation to the control part 11 and the control part 11 analyzes the operation detection signal display part 15 includes for example a liquid crystal display panel When receiving a display control signal from the control part 11 the display part 15 displays variety of
18. ed The sound output control device includes an application information acquisi tion section and a control section The application informa tion acquisition section is configured to acquire application information from an external device having multiple applica tions for sound output The control section is configured to process audio data streamed from the external device through causing the external device to start one of the multiple appli cations The control section has a predetermined selection criterion to select a start candidate application from the plu rality of applications The control section is further config ured to select the start candidate application according to the application information acquired from the external device and the predetermined selection criterion and cause the external device to start the selected start candidate applica 2008 0126929 1 5 2008 Bykov 715 700 tion 2008 0168188 A1 7 2008 Yueetal 710 15 2009 0015433 A1 1 2009 James et al 2009 0017813 1 1 2009 Yuki 455 419 12 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets 2 IN VEHICLE APPARATUS CELLULAR PHONE 4 5 T wie BT BT COMMUNI CAT ON COMMUNI TON SOUND OUTPUT 9 STORAGE 10 OUTGOING VOICE INPUT 13 TELEPHONE COMMUN CAT ON 2 bbbb OPERATION RECEIVE dddd 15 DISPLAY 16 7 INCOMING VOICE QUTPUT US 8 548 617 B2 Sheet 1 of
19. evice 5 may have connection using Handsfree Profile for handsfree com munication Phone Book Access Profile PBAP for phone book data transfer and the like The BT communication device 5 may or may not be capable of simultaneously using these profiles to have connection 1 multi connection with the cellular phone 3 The above profiles means communica tion protocols defined based on respective functions In the above the BT communication link is an example of a local wireless communication link The operation reception device 6 includes for example a mechanical switch a touch sensitive button provided on a screen of the display device 7 and the like When detecting a user operation of the mechanical switch the touch sensitive button or the like the operation reception device 6 outputs an operation detection signal indicative of content of the user operation to the controller 4 and the controller 4 analyzes the inputted operation detection signal The display device 7 includes for example liquid crystal display panel When receiving a display control signal from the controller 4 the display device 7 displays an image on a screen or provides a touch sensitive button on the screen based on the display control signal The sound output device 8 receives a sound output control signal from the controller 4 and outputs a sound based on the sound output control signal In the present embodiment the display device 7 and the sound
20. hat an operation power is supplied from the in vehicle battery to limited one or ones ofthe functional blocks of the in vehicle apparatus 2 and the in vehicle apparatus 2 performs a low power consumption operation in a sleep mode 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 The cellular phone 3 includes a control part 11 a BT communication part 12 a telephone communication part 13 an operation reception part 14 a display part 15 an outgoing voice input part 16 and an incoming voice output part 17 control part 11 includes a microcomputer which has a CPU a RAM a ROM an I O bus and the like The control part 11 controls generally all of operation of the cellular phone 3 including a communications operation a data management operation and the like The control part 11 has multiple appli cations for sound output including a media player a TV application for mobile terrestrial digital audio video and data broadcasting service a radio application and a game appli cation or the like for example In the above the TV applica tion is used for broadcasting directed to a movable or mobile object such as a cellular phone and the like The broadcasting may be terrestrial digital media broadcasting The multiple applications are registered while indexes and player IDs ap plication IDs are being assigned thereto The player IDs are unique on an application by application basis As shown in FIG 1 the player ID may b
21. her objects features and advantages ofthe present invention will become more apparent from the fol lowing detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings In the drawings FIG 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an in vehicle apparatus and a cellular phone according to one embodiment FIG 2 is a flowchart illustrating processes performed by the in vehicle apparatus FIG 3 isa sequence diagram illustrating application acqui sition requests and application acquisition answers FIGS 4A to 4C are diagrams each illustrating a window in a case of AVRCP 1 3 FIG 5A isa diagram illustrating a unconnection window in a case of AVRCP 1 4 FIG 5B is a diagram illustrating a connection establishing window in a case of AVRCP 1 4 FIG 5C is a diagram illustrating a player starting window in a case of AVRCP 1 4 FIG 6A is a diagram illustrating a main window in a case of AVRCP 1 4 and FIGS 6B 6C 7A to 7C are diagrams each illustrating a browse window in a case of AVRCP 1 4 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS In one embodiment a sound output control device is applied to an in vehicle apparatus that is mounted to a vehicle and has a BT communication function In the followings it is assumed that a B T supporting cel lular phone having a BT communication function is carried into a compartment of the vehicle equipped with the in vehicle apparatus and the in vehicle apparatus and the cel
22. images and windows such as a standby window an incoming mail notification window and the like based on the display control signal When the cellular phone 3 1s in a telephone communication state the outgoing voice inputted via the outgoing voice input part 16 is processed in a voice process ing module ofthe control part 11 to create an outgoing voice and the outgoing voice is transmitted via the communication network The incoming voice received with the telephone communication part 13 is processed in the voice processing module of the control part 11 and is outputted from the incom ing voice output part 17 Operation of the in vehicle system 1 is illustrated below with reference to FIG 2 to FIG 7 FIG 2 a flowchart illus trating processes to be performed by the in vehicle apparatus 2 When the controller 4 of the in vehicle apparatus 2 deter mines that for example the ACC signal inputted from the key switch to the signal input device 10 is switched from OFF to ON state the controller 4 switches the in vehicle apparatus 2 from the sleep mode to the wake up mode establishes the BT communication link between BT communication device 5 and the cellular phone 3 and starts performing a connection procedure of the AVRCP 1 4 Although the switching of the US 8 548 617 B2 5 ACC signal from OFF to On triggers the start of the connec tion procedure of the AVRCP 1 4 in the above example the start of the connection procedure of the AV
23. ing the AVRCP Discussion is given below on such configuration as a related art It is assumed that an in vehicle apparatus receives audio data transferred from a cellular phone By using the AVRCP ver 1 4 referred to hereinafter as AVRCP 1 4 the in vehicle apparatus can acquire application information on multiple applications installed in the cellular phone How ever a technique for the in vehicle apparatus after acquiring the application information to automatically select a most suitable application to be started in the cellular phone has not been established It is thus difficult for in vehicle apparatus to optimally process the audio data streamed from the cellular phone Moreover unless the technique for automatically selecting a most suitable application to be started in the cel lular phone is not established a user is required to manually select the most suitable application In such cases operability is disadvantageously low SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above and other difficulties it is an objective of the present invention to provide a sound output control device that can automatically select a most suitable applica tion to be started in an external device can make user selec tion of the most suitable application unnecessary and can optimally process audio data streamed from the external device According to a first aspect of the present invention a sound output control device includes an application info
24. lication as the start candidate application and causes the external device to start the selected default application and when the default application which is registered as the default in the external device does not have at least one of the browsing function and the music playback func tion the control section of the external device selects one application having the browsing function and the music playback function as the start candidate application from the plurality of applications except the default application and causes the external device to start the selected start candidate application 10 The sound output controller of claim 7 wherein the browsing function is a function of transferring infor mation on tracks artist album and play list 11 The sound output controller of claim 7 wherein the subject device is an in vehicle navigation apparatus in a vehicle and the external device is a cellular phone carried in the vehicle 12 The sound output controller of claim 7 wherein the control section always automatically selects the default appli cation as the start candidate when the default application has the audio and the browsing function
25. lu lar phone are communicable with each other via a BT com munication link As shown in FIG 1 an in vehicle system 1 includes an in vehicle apparatus 2 and a cellular phone 3 The in vehicle apparatus 2 includes a controller 4 a BT communication device 5 and an operation reception device 6 a display device 7 a sound output device 8 a storage medium 9 and a signal input device 10 In the above the in vehicle apparatus 2 is an example of a sound output control device the cellular phone is an example of an external device the controller is an example of a control section or means The BT communica tion device 5 is an example of an application information acquisition section or means and an example of a communi cation link connection section or means US 8 548 617 B2 3 The controller 4 includes a microcomputer which has a CPU a RAM a ROM an I O bus and the like The controller 4 may control generally all of operations of the in vehicle apparatus 2 including a communications operation a data management operation and the like The BT communication device 5 has a function to perform BT communications with the cellular phone 3 When communicating with the cellular phone3 viaa BT communication link the BT communication device 5 can have connection with the cellular phone 3 by using Audio Video Remote Control Profile ver 1 4 AVRCP 1 4 for remote control of audio and or video In addition to the AVRCP 1 4 the BT communication d
26. n which is information on the application installed in the cellular phone 3 can be transmitted and received between the in vehicle apparatus 2 and the cellular phone 3 it is possible to improve freedom of arrangement of the in vehicle apparatus 2 and the cellular phone 3 The predetermined selection criterion includes a first selec tion criterion which is such that if the application registered as a default in the cellular phone 3 does not have the audio function or the browsing function the in vehicle apparatus 2 selects the application registered as a top level in the cellular phone 3 from among the applications having the audio func tion and the browsing function and causes the cellular phone 3 to start the selected application In the above the default application is excluded from the applications having the audio function and the browsing function According to this configuration it is possible to give priority to the application that is registered as a top level in the cellular phone 3 among the applications except the default application having the audio function and the browsing function The above embodiments can be modified and extended in various ways examples of which are described below In the above embodiment a sound output control device is applied to an in vehicle apparatus Alternatively a sound output con trol device may be applied to an in vehicle handsfree appa ratus having a handsfree function an in vehicle n
27. o and matches the player ID con tained in the application information recorded at S6 the determination YES is made at S9 and the process proceeds to S10 At S10 the controller 4 determines whether the appli cation corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 is an application having the audio function based on the applica tion information e g the player ID the existence or nonex istence of the audio function recorded at S6 US 8 548 617 B2 7 When the controller 4 determines that the application cor responding to the player ID recorded at S6 is an application having the audio function corresponding to YES at S10 the process proceeds to S11 At S11 the controller 4 deter mines whether the application corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 has the browsing function based on the appli cation information recorded at S6 the application informa tion including the player ID the existence or nonexistence of the browsing function When the controller 4 determines that the application cor responding to the player ID recorded at S6 has the browsing function corresponding to YES at S11 the process pro ceeds to 512 At S12 the controller 4 records the application corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 as the start candidate application In the above when one ofthe applica tions has been recorded as the start candidate application at this point the recorded start candidate application is over written
28. onnection according to the present embodiment In the case of the AVRCP 1 3 based connection as shown in FIG 4A the controller 4 can display a unconnection win dow 51 on the display device 7 to indicate that a portable device e g cellular phone is unconnected with the in ve hicle apparatus 2 The unconnection window 51 has a nect button 51a When the controller 4 determines that the connect button 51a of the disconnection window 51 15 pressed the controller 4 displays a connection establishing window 52 on the display device 7 to indicate that the con nection with a portable device is being established as shown in FIG 4B In response to completion of AVSLC audio video service level connection the controller 4 displays a main US 8 548 617 B2 9 window 53 on the display device 7 at all as shown in FIG 4C Thus after that a user is generally impossible to perform a browsing operation In the case of the AVRCP 1 4 based connection the con troller 4 displays a unconnection window 51 on the display device 7 to indicate that a portable device e g a cellular phone is unconnected with the in vehicle apparatus 2 as shown in FIG 5A The unconnection window 51 has nect button 51a When the controller 4 determines that the connect button 51a of the unconnection window 51 is pressed the controller 4 displays a connection establishing window 52 on the display device 7 to indicate that the con nec
29. output device 8 are illustrated as being built in the in vehicle apparatus 2 Alternatively the display device 7 and the sound output device 8 may be external with respect to the in vehicle appa ratus 2 For example when a display device corresponding to the display device 7 and a sound output device corresponding to the sound output device 8 are equipped in the vehicle the in vehicle apparatus 2 may be configured to use such display device and sound output device in order to provide the image and the touch sensitive button and in order to output the sound The storage medium 9 has storage areas for storing various data For example the storage medium 9 has a storage area for storing therein a telephone number and a BT device address ofthe cellular phone 3 with which the in vehicle apparatus 2 is communicable via the BT communication link The signal input device 10 inputs an accessory signal ACC signal from a key switch to the controller 4 While the ACC signal from the key switch is in ON 1 high level the controller 4 cause the in vehicle apparatus 2 to be in a power on state so that an operation power is supplied from an in vehicle battery to generally all of functional blocks of the in vehicle apparatus 2 and the in vehicle apparatus performs normal operation in a waking up mode While the ACC signal from the key switch is in OFF i e low level the controller 4 causes the in vehicle apparatus 2 to be in a power off state so t
30. r 4 determines that the artist button 565 of the browse window 56 is pressed the controller 4 displays a browse window 58 for artist on the display device 7 as shown in FIG 7A When the controller 4 determines that the album button 56c ofthe browse window 56 is pressed the controller 4 displays a browse window 59 for album on the display device 7 as shown in FIG 7B When the controller 4 determines that the play list button 56d of the browse window 56 is pressed the controller 4 displays a browse window 60 for album on the display device 7 as shown in FIG 7C Due to the above manners a user can easily browse music artists albums and playlists As described above according to one embodiment when the cellular phone 3 has the multiple applications for sound output including the media player the TV application the radio application and the game application the in vehicle apparatus 2 can establish the connection with the cellular phone 3 by using AVRCP 1 4 and can acquire the application information from the cellular phone 3 Further the in vehicle apparatus 2 can automatically select one of the applications and causes the cellular phone 3 to start the selected one ofthe applications According to this configuration it is possible to omit a user operation of manually selecting a most suitable application and it is possible to optimally process the audio data streamed from the cellular phone 3 In this relation the controller
31. rmation acquisition section and a control section The application information acquisition section is configured to acquire appli cation information from an external device having multiple applications for sound output the application information being information on the multiple applications of the external device The control section is configured to process audio data streamed from the external device through causing the exter nal device to start one of the multiple applications The con 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 trol section has predetermined selection criterion to select a start candidate application from the plurality of applications the start candidate application being the one of the multiple applications to be started in the external device The control section is further configured to select the start candidate application according to the application information acquired from the external device and the predetermined selection criterion and cause the external device to start the selected start candidate application According to the above sound output control device it is possible to automatically select a most suitable application to be started in the external device it is possible to make user selection of the most suitable application unnecessary and it is possible to optimally process audio data streamed from the external device BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and ot
32. rnal device and causes the external device to automatically start the selected start candidate application and in response to establishment of a connection between the subject device and the external device the sound output controller of the subject device automatically without requiring a user manual operation 1 acquires the application information from the exter nal device 11 selects the start candidate application from the plu rality of applications of the external device according to the acquired application information and the pre determined selection criterion and 11 causes the external device to start the selected start candidate application 8 The sound output controller of claim 7 wherein according to the predetermined selection criterion the con trol section of the subject device selects one application having a browsing function and a music playback func tion as the start candidate application from the plurality of applications and thereafter the control section causes the external device to start the start candidate applica tion having the browsing function and the music play back function 20 25 14 9 The sound output controller of claim 8 wherein when a default application which is registered as a default in the external device among the plurality of applica tions has the browsing function and the music playback function the control section of the subject device selects the default app
33. t controller in a subject device the sound output controller comprising a control section that is equipped in the subject device and configured to process audio data streamed from an exter nal device through causing the external device to auto matically start one of a plurality of applications for sound output wherein the plurality of applications are applications installed in the external device wherein the external device is external to the subject device and an application information acquisition section that is equipped in the subject device and configured to auto matically acquire application information from the external device wherein the application information is information on the plurality of applications installed in the external device wherein the control section ofthe subject device is provided with a predetermined selection criterion to automatically select a start candidate application from the plurality of appli cations of the external device the start candidate appli cation being the one of the plurality of applications that is to be automatically started in the external device US 8 548 617 B2 13 according to the predetermined selection criterion and the application information acquired by the application information acquisition section from the external device the control section of the subject device auto matically selects the start candidate application from the plurality of applications of the exte
34. ternal device as a top level among a predetermined group of applica tions the predetermined group of applications is a part of the plurality of applications of the external device and each application in the predetermined group of applica tions has the audio function and the browsing function 3 The sound output controller of claim 1 further compris ing a communication link connection section that is connect able with the external device via a local wireless com munication link wherein when the communication link connection section is con nected with the external device via the local wireless communication link the application information acqui sition section acquires the application information which is the information on the plurality of applications of the external device from the external device via the local wireless communication link 4 The sound output controller of claim 1 wherein the browsing function is a function of transferring infor mation on tracks artist album and play list 5 The sound output controller of claim 1 wherein the subject device is an in vehicle navigation apparatus in a vehicle and the external device is a cellular phone carried in the vehicle 6 The sound output controller of claim 1 wherein the control section always automatically selects the default appli cation as the start candidate when the default application has the audio and the browsing function 7 sound outpu
35. the application stored as the start candidate application at this point has the browsing function When the controller 4 deter mines that the application stored as the start candidate appli cation at this point does not have the browsing function corresponding to NO at S16 the process proceeds to S17 At S17 the application indicated by the application informa tion recorded at S6 is recorded as the start candidate applica tion After S17 the process returns to S4 so the processes S4 and later are repeatedly performed At S17 also if one ofthe applications has been already stored as the start target appli cation at this point the already stored start candidate appli cation is overwritten with the application corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 When the controller 4 determines at S5 that the BT com munication device 5 does not receive the application acqui sition answer from the cellular phone 3 within the predeter mined period after the transmission of the application acquisition request the determination NO is made at S5 and the process proceeds to S18 At S18 the controller 4 determines whether the start candidate application is stored at this point When the controller 4 determines that the start candidate application is stored at this point corresponding to YES at S18 the process proceeds to S13 At S13 the 40 45 50 8 controller 4 causes the start candidate application to be started After S
36. tion with a portable device is being established as shown in FIG 5B In addition the controller 4 acquires the applica tion information from the cellular phone 3 selects and starts the media player Then the controller 4 displays a player starting window 54 on the display device 7 to indicate that the media player is being started as shown in FIG 5C In response to completion of AVSLC audio video service level connection the controller 4 displays a main window 55 on the display device 7 as shown in FIG 6A The main window 55 for the AVRCP 1 4 is different from the main window 53 for the AVRCP 1 3 inthat the main window 55 for the AVRCP 1 4 further includes a play list button 55 and a library button 55b After display of the main window 55 a user can have a merit of an added value by pressing the play list button 55a and the library button 555 More specifically when the controller 4 determines that the library button 555 of the main window 55 is pressed the controller 4 displays a browse window 56 for browse on the display device 7 as shown in FIG 6B The browse window 56 has an all music button 56a an artist button 565 an album button 56c and a play list button 56d When the controller 4 determines that the all music button 56a of the browse window 56 is pressed the controller 4 displays a browse window 57 for all music on the display device 7 as shown in FIG 6C When the controlle
37. with the application corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 At S13 the controller 4 causes the cellular phone 3 to start the application corresponding to the start candidate application and the processes illustrated in FIG 2 are ended When the controller 4 determines at S9 that the default player ID recorded at S3 is not identical to or does not match the player ID contained in the application information recorded at S6 the determination NO is made at S9 and the process proceeds to S14 At S14 the controller 4 determines whether the application corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 has the audio function based on a piece of the application information recorded at S6 the piece indicating whether the applications has the audio function When the controller 4 determines that the application cor responding to the player ID recorded at S6 has the audio function corresponding to YES at S14 the process pro ceeds to S15 At S15 the controller 4 determines whether the application corresponding to the player ID recorded at S6 has the browsing function based on a piece of the application information recorded at S6 the piece indicating whether the applications has the browsing function When the controller 4 determines that the application cor responding to the player ID recorded at S6 has the browsing function corresponding to YES at S15 the process ceeds to S16 At S16 the controller 4 determines whether
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