In embodiments of the present invention, a virtual phone is provided which includes a touch screen mounted on an enclosure that includes a processor, memory, wireless communication port, and a power port. The virtual phone further includes a software application executing on the processor to control image display on the touch screen and emulate features of a handheld device presented in the image in response to a user touching a presented feature. The virtual phone further includes a configuration of a user-specific handheld device that is derived from the user-specific handheld device is stored in a memory that is accessible to the processor; wherein the virtual phone presents a visual representation of the user-specific handheld device on the touch screen based on the configuration.

Embodiments are disclosed for providing voice calls to users of a motor vehicle. As an example, a method comprises: responsive to a voice call, routing the voice call to at least one phone zone of a plurality of phone zones based on at least one of a user input and a source of the voice call, the plurality of phone zones included in a cabin of a motor vehicle. In this way, sonic interference with a voice call may be reduced, while a main system audio may continue to play for unselected phone zones.

A system and method of generating an in-vehicle favorite contacts list includes pairing a first mobile device with an in-vehicle infotainment system, and transferring data from the first mobile device to the in-vehicle infotainment system. The data includes a contacts list from the mobile device. The transferred data is weighted, and an in-vehicle favorite contacts list is generated based on the weighted data. The generated in-vehicle favorite contacts list is displayed on a display in the vehicle.

Systems and methods for reducing interference between content play and video recording among multiple devices located proximate to each other. Microphones of devices recording video are muted, or content play is interrupted, according to the actions of a majority of nearby devices. For example, if most devices are recording video, content play may be interrupted to prevent the video from unintentionally recording unwanted sounds from play of the content. Conversely, if most devices are not recording video, only those devices which are may have their microphones muted. Actions to reduce interference may be taken according to the current behavior of a majority of proximate devices.

A vehicle control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to execute a command switching process according to the prediction node. In a transition prediction process, a node of the data for prediction corresponding to a current node of a vehicle is set to a start point node based on data for prediction, and at least one of candidate nodes is set to a prediction node specifying a future state of the vehicle. The electronic control unit is configured to execute a command generation process of generating a command for controlling the devices in the vehicle based on a correspondence relationship according to an input operation performed to the input device.

A cooperation system is a cooperation system including a mobile terminal and an in-vehicle apparatus that can be coupled according to a plurality of cooperation schemes by using one or more physical couplings, wherein the mobile terminal includes: an app that outputs at least one of an audio signal and an image signal as output data; a cooperation control section that determines the cooperation scheme to be used for transmission of the output data, based on the cooperation scheme that is operatively functioning; and a library that transmits the output data to the in-vehicle apparatus by using the cooperation scheme determined by the cooperation control section, and the in-vehicle apparatus includes: a protocol control section that receives the output data from the library by using the cooperation scheme; and an output section that reproduces the output data received by the protocol control section.

An acoustic system includes: a first terminal device including a first-terminal sound emitting unit, an earhole sound collecting unit configured to collect earhole echo sound, and a first-terminal control unit configured to perform authentication between the first terminal device and a user based on the echo sound collected by the earhole sound collecting unit; an onboard device including an onboard-device sound emitting unit and an onboard-device control unit configured to perform authentication between the onboard device and the user based on communication with the first terminal device; and a second terminal device includes a second-terminal control unit configured to set a destination of sound data to one of the first terminal device and the onboard device when the onboard-device control unit detects that a predetermined condition including a condition that the user has been authenticated is satisfied.

Vehicle safety systems may include a tag reader, a control unit, and an application executable on a mobile communication device. The tag reader attaches to a mounting mechanism deployed within a vehicle, and reads a tag attached to the mobile communication device in response to mounting the mobile communication device to the mounting mechanism. The control unit receives a verification signal from the tag reader in response to reading of the tag by the tag reader, and sends an activation signal to the mobile communication device in response receipt of the verification signal. The application switches operation of the mobile communication device from a first operational mode to a second operational mode by disabling touchscreen operation and enabling voice command operation in response to receipt of the activation signal by the mobile communication device.

In a sound signal processing apparatus, a communication part receives a far-end sound signal from a smartphone serving as a sound source. A correlation value calculator calculates a correlation value indicative of a correlation between the far-end sound signal and a sending sound signal that includes an echo signal deriving from the far-end sound signal. When the correlation value is equal to or smaller than a predetermined suppression threshold, a determiner determines to suppress the far-end sound signal. When the determiner has determined to suppress the far-end sound signal, a suppressor suppresses the far-end sound signal, and outputs the suppressed far-end sound signal to a sound volume adjuster.

An acoustic system includes: a first terminal device including a first-terminal sound emitting unit, an earhole sound collecting unit configured to collect earhole echo sound, and a first-terminal control unit configured to perform authentication between the first terminal device and a user based on the echo sound collected by the earhole sound collecting unit; an onboard device including an onboard-device sound emitting unit and an onboard-device control unit configured to perform authentication between the onboard device and the user based on communication with the first terminal device; and a second terminal device includes a second-terminal control unit configured to set a destination of sound data to one of the first terminal device and the onboard device when the onboard-device control unit detects that a predetermined condition including a condition that the user has been authenticated is satisfied.