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Microsoft's New Windshield HUD
I was searching for a while where to get a new Saturn windshield wiper motor yesterday morning when I was unintentionally brought to an interesting article about an innovation made with a windshield.
I was astonished knowing that Microsoft has made something that would give a driver and its passengers an additional entertainment. It is a windshield that displays such things like the CD track one is listening to, the map, the weather, and even the nearest available parking space. Wouldn't that be so wonderful that everyone might crave for it? It offers additional convenience plus luxury - such an attractive creation.
As I have known from arstechnica.com, the thing is the "United States Patent Application 20070194902" from Microsoft. They have it titled as "adaptive heads-up user interface for automobiles." The device could be used in a variety of uses. Among those included are:
- Displaying navigational information
- Information about a driver's health
- Speed of the car
- Media such as iPods or CDs
That is not all - they are also looking over adding in controls for:
- Climate control system
- Communication system
- General input device
They have also provided variety of choices on how it can be displayed, seemingly adopted on how windows are being displayed on a Vista taskbar:
- Hidden state
- Collapsed state
- Preview state
- Full-view state
Along with its attractiveness is the possibility that the driver will be distracted. However, it is not what they have in vision. It has been created to improve the driver's awareness of the surroundings. It is through alerting the driver to information about road conditions or accidents ahead. For that convenience is overpowering the distraction.
As mentioned earlier, the heads-up display provides information about a driver's health. Personally, I see it as something very much important. For such element, "road rage" or over-tiring can be detected. For now, it is not clear how shall be worked out by the device. But, I'm sure they will come up with a great idea.
Let's just wait and see if this shall be integrated to the upcoming car models in the future. It might be another product of Microsoft's collaboration with automotive companies to bring it out to application, just like their "Ford Sync".