(19) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication (io) Pub. No.: US 2004/0204192 Al
Holloway et al. (43) Pub. Date: Oct. 14,2004
(54) AUTOMOBILE DASHBOARD DISPLAY INTERFACE FOR FACILITATING THE INTERACTIVE OPERATOR INPUT/OUTPUT FOR A STANDARD WIRELESS TELEPHONE DETACHABLY MOUNTED IN THE AUTOMOBILE
(75) Inventors: Lane Thomas Holloway, Pflugerville, TX (US); Marques Benjamin Quiller,
Pflugerville, TX (US)
Correspondence Address:
Mark E. McBurney
International Business Machines Corporation
Intellectual Property Law Dept., Internal Zip
4054
11400 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78758 (US)
(73) Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
(21) Appl. No.: 10/232,252
(22) Filed: Aug. 29, 2002
Publication Classification (51) Int. CI.7 H04B 1/06; H05K 11/02;
H04M 1/00; H04B 1/38 (52) U.S. CI 455/575.1; 455/346; 455/566
(57) ABSTRACT
An arrangement whereby the standard wireless telephone can still retain all of its desirable light weight and size features while detached from and out of the automobile while still providing user interfaces with a minimum of distraction from driving while the wireless telephone is functionally attached within the automobile. There is a housing adjacent the dashboard for detachably receiving a separable wireless telephone with a display smaller than said dashboard display in combination with switching apparatus for bypassing the wireless telephone display with said dashboard display when said wireless telephone is received in said housing whereby the dashboard display functions as the wireless telephone display. The system may be set so that the switching apparatus automatically bypasses said wireless telephone display when said wireless telephone is inserted into said housing. The standard transceiver in the wireless cellular telephone continues to function normally in receiving and transmitting communications even when the telephone display is bypassed by the dashboard display. This arrangement gives the operator the benefit of having the numerals, text and other elements presented on the dashboard display enlarged from their normal size on the wireless telephone display.
