System and method for negotiating control of a shared audio or visual resource

A multifunction device, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memories storing an arbiter that is executable on the one or more processors to perform:
• receiving at the arbiter a request from one of a plurality of processes for control of a shared audio or visual resource of the vehicle, wherein the arbiter maintains
• existing state information for ownership of the shared audio or visual resource and
• ownership transition conditions of the shared audio or visual resource, wherein the ownership transition conditions are configured such that only one of the plurality of processes can claim ownership of the shared audio or visual resource at any given point in time;
• determining new state information regarding ownership of the shared audio or visual resource, wherein
• the determining the new state information comprises determining the new state information based at least in part on the request for control and the ownership transition conditions,
• the new state information indicates which of the processes controls output of the shared audio or visual resource of the vehicle;
• determining new ownership transition conditions of the shared audio or visual resource;
• and
• communicating to a controller interface of the shared audio or visual resource the new state information.

A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions executable on a computer to implement:

• receiving at an arbiter a request from one of a plurality of processes for control of a shared audio or visual resource of the vehicle, wherein
• the arbiter maintains
• existing state information for ownership of the shared audio or visual resource and
• ownership transition conditions of the shared audio or visual resource, wherein the ownership transition conditions are configured such that only one of the plurality of processes can claim ownership of the shared audio or visual resource at any given point in time, and
• the plurality of processes comprises:
• a process executing on an embedded system attached to the vehicle and
• a process executing on a mobile computing device temporarily communicating with the vehicle;
• determining new state information regarding ownership of the shared audio or visual resource, wherein
• the program instructions executable on the computer to implement determining the new state information comprise program instructions executable on the computer to implement determining the new state information based at least in part on
• the request for control and
• the ownership transition conditions,
• the new state information indicates which of the processes controls output of the shared audio or visual resource of the vehicle;
• determining new ownership transition conditions of the shared audio or visual resource;
• and
• communicating to a controller interface of the shared audio or visual resource the new state information.

A method for negotiating control of a shared resource, the method comprising:

• receiving at an arbiter a request from one of a plurality of processes for control of a shared resource, wherein
• the arbiter maintains
• existing state information for ownership of the shared resource and
• ownership transition conditions of the shared resource, wherein the ownership transition conditions are configured such that only one of the plurality of processes can claim ownership of the shared resource at any given point in time, and
• the plurality of processes comprises:
• a process executing on an embedded system attached to the shared resource and
• a process executing on a device temporarily communicating with the embedded system;
• determining new state information regarding ownership of the shared resource, wherein
• the determining the new state information comprises determining the new state information based at least in part on the request for control and the ownership transition conditions,
• the new state information indicates which of the processes controls output of the shared resource.