e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[cksla]

BOSE as in the bose audio in the ibm/delphi infotainment system--Imaj

The IBM Infotainment system consists of 3 * 12" LCD screens built into the seats of the vehicle in front of the 3 passengers. This gives the passenger access to : radio, audio player, video player (multiple videos with 3 seat cinema mode), fax, phone, e-mail, calculator, satellite mapping, local information, word processing, Web browser, calendar and is controlled by mouse or speech using a specially written version of IBM ViaVoice. The video is based on Mpeg II (DVD equivalent) and passes true 6 channel AC3 digital surround sound audio to the 15 speaker BOSE audio system

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intel and telematics from Oct.'96-

any of this sound familiar????

Car-Based Infotainment The first developer's conference for the initiative will take place in the first half of 1997, and Intel says its partners will have car PC products by the end of next year. According to Intel officials, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) technology will be the core of new car-based infotainment centers aimed at passengers. The company is also focusing on speech recognition apps that would allow drivers and passengers to interact with apps without the need of a keyboard. And according to Intel's white paper on the Connected Car PC initiative, a marriage of "the Internet with existing radio data broadcast technology can mean that information and entertainment content can be downloaded in small packets of text-based data, then converted to voice."

http://www.core.binghamton.edu/~crsovr/webdoc16.htm
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Cadillac's Infotainment system:
a first for production cars
When Cadillac unveiled its Infotainment system a few weeks ago, it became the first automaker to incorporate a PC in a production vehicle.

For Cadillac, the distinction didn't come easily, however. Starting in September, 1998, GM gave its engineers significantly less time to develop the system for production than to the three or four months that it would normally take. That meant that the giant automaker couldn't simply design the system from the ground up, as it ordinarily would. Instead, its engineers had to work closely with Delphi Automotive Systems, which developed much of the hardware, and Microsoft, which supplied the Windows CE operating system. It also teamed with makers of application software, hardware drivers, and interface software, so its engineers wouldn't waste time learning what others already knew.

The resulting system is indeed a PC, but it's one that doesn't incorporate the normal PC input devices, such as a mouse or keyboard. Instead, it employs a simple voice-activated interface. By talking directly to the in-dash voice—GM engineers refer to it as "Veronica"—drivers can use simple commands to activate the phone, radio, e-mail, navigation system, or other features. Drivers who forget the correct commands simply ask, "What can I do?" and Veronica offers advice.

Engineers from e-GM, the GM division responsible for web-related products, say that the interface will be the key to the system's success. "We had to rethink how we made interfaces and then we had to simplify everything," says Karenann Terrell, director of e-vehicle product management for e-GM. "It wasn't so much an exercise in engineering as it was in behavioral sciences."


Design News 10/02/2000