The scope of today’s 5G mobile communication technology application is no longer limited to smartphones. The functions of automobile vehicle display panels have become more intelligent, such as manual operation buttons that have become voice control-operated and cars with personalized user interfaces. In recent years, with the development of internet in vehicles (V2X, vehicles-to-everything), electric vehicles (EV), and artificial intelligence (AI), major mobile phone chip manufacturers have begun to focus on automotive chips for vehicle smart cockpits, thus propelling the vehicle peripherals industry. Smart cockpit technology is more mature now and appears to be a selling point in the vehicle market, and major global automobile manufacturers have included smart cockpits in their patent layout. Due to the huge automobile market, the innovation and technology development of smart cockpits and their patent filing trends have drawn more attention nowadays.
Recently the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) made a report on vehicle smart cockpit patents. By analyzing the publication/published patent cases from 2004 to 2022 based on global patent searches, smart cockpit patents can be categorized into four technologies: vision, sound, entertainment experience, and intelligent interaction. These four categories are described as follows:
- Visual technology mainly refers to head-up display (HUD), and its technical fields cover TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display), DLP (Digital Light Processing), LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon), MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), curved mirrors, and windshields.
- Audio technology relates to vocal interaction (natural language analysis and recognition, language data conversion processing), acoustic input/output, and environment.
- Entertainment experience technology involves the rear seat entertainment (passenger entertainment experience and ride experience) and immersive experience (the combination and interaction of the virtual environment inside the vehicle and the real environment outside the vehicle).
- Intelligent interactive technology includes the driving assistance systems (ADAS, vehicle identity verification, image and rearview mirror components, control modules, smart parking systems, etc.), sleep fatigue detection (driver identity verification, alarm system, sensing device, etc.), occupant monitoring (vital signs, seat detection, head recognition and posture detection, etc.), electric vehicle range anxiety (path selection, mileage estimation, range extender and method, V2V power trading, battery module design).
The number of applications for smart cockpit patents in various countries/regions:
| Four major technologies (IPC International Classification) | Major countries/regions and filing number of patent cases |
|---|---|
| Vision/HUD (G02B, B60K, B60R,G09G, G08G, G09F) | Japan 3,895 cases, United States 2001 cases, Mainland China 1,707 cases, Germany 1,605 cases, South Korea 1,199 cases, France 748 cases from France, Europe 526 cases, United Kingdom 421 cases, WO 311 cases, Taiwan 162 cases |
| Hearing (G10L, B60R, H04R G06F, G01C, G08G H04M, H04W, H04L, B60W) | Mainland China 1,377 cases, United States 1,243 cases, Japan 962 cases, South Korea 433 cases, Germany 433 cases, Europe 354 cases, WO 334 cases, Taiwan 69 cases, Canada 56 cases, France 43 cases |
| Entertainment experience (B60R, G06F, H04N, B60K, B60W, H04W, H04L, G01C, G02B, G06T) | United States 1,871 cases, Mainland China 823 cases, WO 466 cases, Europe 426 cases, South Korea 410 cases, Japan 372 cases, Germany 342 cases, Taiwan 69 cases |
| Intelligent Interaction (B60W, B60R, G06F, H04N, G08B, G08G, B60K, G06K, B60Q, A61B) | Mainland China 2,921 cases, United States 1,883 cases, Japan 850 cases, Germany 528 cases, Europe 497 cases, WO 476 cases, South Korea 422 cases, United Kingdom 114 cases, Canada 103 cases, and India 9 cases |
For the technologies of smart cockpit patents, visual and audio technologies are hardware applications, while the entertainment experience and intelligent interactive technologies are software applications. However, many invention patents are the integration and combination of technologies. Since smart cockpit patents often combine different technologies, when applying for a patent, it is important to note that the combined technical features should achieve interactive functions, not simply being the assembly of separate functions. Per TIPO Patent Examination Guidelines for Computer Software Related Inventions, an invention shall meet the enablement requirements of cooperative operation between the computer software and hardware resources, and a patent specification should concretely describe the processing steps or means of data input and output, rather than simply stating the purpose or result of information process.
Overall, the global smart cockpit patents are led by Mainland China, United States, Japan, Europe, and South Korea. As the automotive display panel suppliers are mostly from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, the smart cockpit patents filed by Taiwanese manufacturers are currently focused on HUD visual technology. Taiwan is not a big market for car makers but has manufacturing and integration capabilities related to semiconductor chips and automotive components. Along with the advantages of a complete IT industry chain, Taiwan can still play a role in supplying various software and hardware products of the global smart car market.
