Allocation of Head Unit Resources to a Portable Device in an Automotive Environment

A method of managing access to output components in computing systems comprising portable devices head units of vehicles, the method comprising:

• providing access to an output component of a head unit of a vehicle to a portable device, the output component including at least one of a screen or a speaker;
• causing the portable device to provide geographic data via the output component of the head unit, via a short-range communication link;
• in response to detecting a safety-related event, (i) notifying the portable device of loss of the access to the output component, and (ii) automatically providing access to the output component to an application implemented in the vehicle;
• and
• in response to receiving an indication that the safety-related event has expired, automatically providing access to at least one of a screen or a speaker in the head unit of the vehicle to the portable device.

A head unit of a vehicle, the head unit comprising:

• one or more processors;
• an interface configured to couple the head unit to a portable device;
• a user interface including at least one of a screen or a speaker;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing thereon instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the head unit to:
• grant initial access to the user interface to the portable device,
• receive geographic data from the portable device,
• provide the geographic data via the user interface,
• in response to detecting a safety-related event, notify the portable device of loss of the access to the user interface and present safety-related information via the user interface;
• and
• in response to detecting expiration of the safety-related event, grant access to the user interface to the portable device.

A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing thereon instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• detect, at a portable device, communicative coupling between the portable device and a head unit of a vehicle;
• in response to detecting the communicative coupling, automatically request access of the portable device to an output component of the head unit, the output component including at least one of a screen or a speaker;
• generate, at the portable device, navigation directions;
• provide the navigation directions via the output component of the head unit;
• receive, at the portable device from the head unit, an indication that the access of the portable device to the output component of the head unit has been lost, in response to the head unit detecting a safety-related event;
• and
• stop providing the navigation directions via the output component of the head unit in response to the received indication.