Apple patent involves its devices easily operating with a vehicle infotainment system

Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (number US 11847375 B2) for  “Coordinating Adjustments To Composite Graphical User Interfaces Generated By Multiple Devices” that involves a vehicle (among other devices).

About the patent

In the patent Apple notes that some user devices (e.g., mobile devices, smartphones, tablet computers, etc.) are configured to interact with accessory devices (e.g., in-car infotainment systems) to provide mobile device functionality through the displays and/or speakers of the accessory devices. 

For example, a user device may generate and provide to the accessory device various user interfaces for accessing music features, navigation features, messaging features, etc., of the user device through the user interfaces of an accessory device. In some instances, the accessory device may be configured to present a graphical user interface of the accessory device simultaneously with the graphical user interface received from the user device.

The goal of the patent is for devices such as an iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to easily interact with a vehicle’s infotainment system. This would almost certainly be done via CarPlay. CarPlay is Apple’s tech that allows a car radio or head unit to be a display and controller for iPhones (model 5 and later) running iOS 7.1 or later. 

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “In some implementations, a user device can coordinate adjustments to a composite GUI [graphical user interface] generated in cooperation with an accessory device that presents the composite graphical user interface. For example, the user device can receive configuration data that defines the maximum GUI display area (e.g., size, dimensions) of the accessory device, various view areas within the GUI display area of the accessory device into which the user device can render GUIs, and/or transitions between the various view areas. 

“The user device can generate a display buffer based on the maximum GUI display area, generate a graphical user interface in an area of the buffer corresponding to a current view area specified by the accessory device, and send to the accessory device video frames corresponding to the display buffer. The accessory device can generate a composite GUI based on the received video frames that include the user device generated GUI.”

When might we see an Apple Car?

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that Apple’s work on the Apple Car has “lost all visibility at the current time. He has noted that if Apple does not adopt some kind of acquisition strategy to make inroads in the automotive market, it is unlikely that the ‌Apple Car‌ will be able to go into mass production “within the next few years.”

On. Nov. 18, 2021, Bloomberg reported that Apple was accelerating development on its “Apple Car.” The article said that the electric vehicle will be self-driving and could roll out in 2025. However, this doesn’t look like a feasible scenario.