Toyota Trademarks Inductive Charging, Touch Panels Names

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Touch and is definitely making its way much deeper into cars. Car and Driver spotted two trademarks submitted by Toyota that hint toward touch-sensitive panels as well as inductive charging features.

Intellitouch is described as “electronic touch sensitive controllers, sold as an integral part of motor vehicles; electronic touch sensitive panels, sold as an integral part of motor vehicles.” It is rather unlikely that this trademark refers to a new navigation screen. This sounds much more like other types of panels on the dash, doors or even on the outside of cars. Could doors and the trunk be opened via touch? Probably. Chevrolet has a touch solution for the dash in its Volt electric vehicle, by the way.

Another trademark is Ebin, which is described as “Storage containers for handheld electronic devices, sold as an integral part of motor vehicles; storage containers with built in inductive battery charges for handheld electronic devices, sold as an integral part of motor vehicles.” We are not quite sure how such containers could look like and where they could be located, even if we know that advances in miniaturization and digitization of many features that used to clutter the dash are being integrated into complex infotainment systems is freeing up lots of space in dashboards and could make room for such "containers".

Wireless charging of electronic devices is badly needed - and not just in minivans where even four power plugs are not enough on lengthy vacation trips.

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Wolfgang Gruener
Topics
Automotive
Cars
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • face-plants
    Sounds good to me. Always happy to see the automotive market bringing innovations from consumer electronics and other fields into their products.
    Having a cup holder or little cubby that could charge my phone by induction whenever it's sitting in there would be a dream come true. I wonder how they'll get customers to agree to purchase the other end of the charging system (the inductively charged battery for your phone for example.) Maybe every new car purchased will come with two of the special batteries for devices of your choice. As long as the support for a wide range of devices comes along with the system it sounds like a great step forward.

    As for the Intellitouch touch sensitive panels, that could be just about anything imaginable. Here's the implementation I'd love to see though:
    Imagine getting into a car and having your own personal preferences for the layout of all the essential controls being configured automatically for you...totally sweet!

    A touch sensitive steering wheel with fully programmable areas to control the nav/stereo/climate control would be a great start. One of my biggest complaints with adjusting to a new vehicle is dealing with all the controls in different places. Not a big deal when you only use 1-2 cars on a regular basis but my company has about 8 different makes/models as company cars. I'm always in a different one it seems.
    Reply
  • aftcomet
    This is fucking bullshit. Toyota didn't invent touchscreens in cars. They didn't even invent touchscreens!!

    This patenting of technologies that have been used forever is driving me insane!!!

    Inductive charging in cars??? Search for the Magne Charge interface for General Motors that was in 1998! NINETEEN NINETY FUCKING EIGHT.

    Bullshit. Oops, can't say that, Apple or some other asshole organization probably patented its use.

    Patents were about knowing you could invent something and not have someone steal it. Nowadays patents are about patenting everything you could possibly conceive and suing the ass off of everyone else with it. All that's doing is killing innovation.

    Speaking of which, what's this week's Apple Patent of the Week?
    Reply
  • aftcomet
    Re-reading this it seems that they've trademarked them and not patented them. So my previous comment seems to be in vain. What can I say? It's late, I'm tired, and I'm honestly used to seeing some crazy patent on Tom's all the time. But a good chunk of that post still applies, namely about how patents have gotten out of hand.
    Reply
  • face-plants
    That's another article...actually two new ridiculous patent stories today. So I guess your rant can be forgiven:

    "Microsoft Patents TV Video Conferences via a PC"
    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-patent-video-conferencing-tv,16557.html

    AND Apple trying to patent autosave: "Apple Claims Rights to ''Saveless'' Documents"
    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-patent-document-saving-automatic,16559.html
    Reply
  • WyomingKnott
    Is it really that much trouble to plug in a device to charge?
    Reply
  • Camikazi
    aftcometThis is fucking bullshit. Toyota didn't invent touchscreens in cars. They didn't even invent touchscreens!!This patenting of technologies that have been used forever is driving me insane!!!Inductive charging in cars??? Search for the Magne Charge interface for General Motors that was in 1998! NINETEEN NINETY FUCKING EIGHT.Bullshit. Oops, can't say that, Apple or some other asshole organization probably patented its use.Patents were about knowing you could invent something and not have someone steal it. Nowadays patents are about patenting everything you could possibly conceive and suing the ass off of everyone else with it. All that's doing is killing innovation.Speaking of which, what's this week's Apple Patent of the Week?Dude relax, a trademark is just making the name explusive to your company they did not patent anything.
    Reply
  • Camikazi
    CamikaziDude relax, a trademark is just making the name explusive to your company they did not patent anything.Meant exclusive not expulsive BTW :)
    Reply
  • vistaofdoom
    CamikaziMeant exclusive not expulsive BTW
    Expulsive sounds much better, like a Michael Bay comment kind of.
    Reply