I had the greatest idea today, but something tells me it may already exist.

Does anyone know if there is an aftermarket navigation/stereo unit that has a built-in hard drive to store music on AND has WIFI? How cool would it be to park your car in the garage, and have your AVIC D3 type unit show up as a removable device in when you open My Computer in Windows? Just send your new music (or movies) to your car and be done with it: No CDs, no Flash drives, no iPod connectors, nothing other than you and your music.

Is there something like this already? (And Im not talking about carputers that happen to have a wireless card - I mean a true in-dash wireless media center.)

Get the patent man! Good idea.

i think the pioneer avic Z series has an internal hard drive

THAT WOULD BE SIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!

get the patent

that would be terrific. I hate to burst the bubble though. It would need a constant connection to the battery and that could cause some problems with dead or dying batteries or if someone lets their car sit for a while. If you could find a way around that that'd be a terrific idea. Definitely get ahold of Pioneer...

what about a small solar panel mounted on the rear deck, or above the rear view mirror, with a battery supply in the glove box or under one of the seats!?!?! could this keep up the power supply?...maybe not if its parked in the garage for too long

you can use a old tablet pc to use as a media server and connect its hard drive through USB to a HU with a USB input, and use ^^^^'s solar panel idea to charge the tablet pc's battery can install a small linux on a flash srive and use it to boot the tablet so it boosts fast and won't over heat
Modified by D_roc at 3:34 PM 3/24/2008

wyntka wrote:Get the patent man! Good idea.

I have an apointment with a patenting company in chicago that matches people with ideas (similar to this) with companies looking product ideas. Apparently, there will also be a patent attorney at the meeting as well.

When I called, they said I'd need to write 2-3 sentences explaining what the product is, 2-3 sentences explaining what it does, and another 2-3 saying why anyone would want a product like it.

If a company (such as Pioneer or the like) wants to put my idea into production, I'll get a call from the company for an interview. They'll work with me to form a final product for production.

(I'll have to figure out a way to make the unit power on when a computer wants to connect to it - good thinking, whoever said that!)

Well, my suggestion to you would be to let the unit have a capacitor of sorts so that it can store power every time the car is turned on. Maybe like a lithium ion battery or something that can recharge easily and then it'll run off that for say, 8-24 hours so that you have time to connect and do your thing. It'd have to be a secure connection too, you wouldn't want someone to be able to just go in and start altering stuff on the hard drive.

Wireless chips are getting smaller and smaller these days. It shouldn't be too hard to do it the only unfortunate thing is that wireless doesn't have an amazing distance so the car would have to be pretty close to the house. Maybe a bluetooth connection so it can link up with a laptop would be another good idea... *shrug* Good luck. Becareful that that company doesn't screw you over, I've heard some shady things about them.

Darktide wrote:that would be terrific. I hate to burst the bubble though. It would need a constant connection to the battery and that could cause some problems with dead or dying batteries or if someone lets their car sit for a while. If you could find a way around that that'd be a terrific idea. Definitely get ahold of Pioneer...

You wouldn't need constant power with non-volatile memory. Just use Flash memory. It's getting faster and cheaper all the time. It is also much more compact than magnetic memory. Then there's the additional bonus of needing less power while in use (as well as not needing power when not in use).The big drawback with Flash is that common formats don't come in very large capacities compared to hard drives.BUT that should be changing, soon. Manufacturers are starting to see the potential of modern high-speed Flash memory as an alternative to compact hard drives. It's only a matter of time until ultra-high-capacity flash modules hit the market. Once you've got a 250GB flash drive (and I'm not talking about some industry-standard flash CARD in need of a decoder chip and card slot, I mean a real flash DRIVE that's one single integrated unit that's free of goofy portable-media and DRM restriction horsepucky), you'll be able to store all your music in a totally non-volatile, power-efficient setting.

In the mean time, a few cheap 2 or 4 GB flash cards could stand in.

Darktide wrote:Well, my suggestion to you would be to let the unit have a capacitor of sorts so that it can store power every time the car is turned on. Maybe like a lithium ion battery or something that can recharge easily and then it'll run off that for say, 8-24 hours so that you have time to connect and do your thing. It'd have to be a secure connection too, you wouldn't want someone to be able to just go in and start altering stuff on the hard drive.

Wireless chips are getting smaller and smaller these days. It shouldn't be too hard to do it the only unfortunate thing is that wireless doesn't have an amazing distance so the car would have to be pretty close to the house. Maybe a bluetooth connection so it can link up with a laptop would be another good idea... *shrug* Good luck. Becareful that that company doesn't screw you over, I've heard some shady things about them.

Bluetooth has already been integrated into aftermarket stereos, which is why I cant even use the term "Bluetooth" in my presentation to the company. It would be an infringment of the Bluetooth trademark. However, WIFI has not been used in conjunction with any type of car stereo equipment.

Also, I believe Bluetooth is meant for short distances (10-20 feet or less) - which is why if you've got a bluetooth headset for your cell, and you put your phone down and walk away while using the headset, you quickly get static in your ear instead of the other person on the line.

And about the battery idea... Headlights can be turned on anytime - with or without a key. Im sure there's some way to make the unit power on (or at least the hard drive power on) when it receives a signal from a computer.

NEW THOUGHT!! Maybe the unit can also be setup to receive mapquest maps/directions. If I can make some sort of a deal with Mapquest to put a button on their webage that says "beam maps to device" that would be cool, too. No more trying to enter addresses on a VERTICAL 7" screen (that in some cars, can sometimes be located inconveniently beind the shifter). Talk about a pain the a$$.

ZGadson wrote:Also, I believe Bluetooth is meant for short distances (10-20 feet or less) - which is why if you've got a bluetooth headset for your cell, and you put your phone down and walk away while using the headset, you quickly get static in your ear instead of the other person on the line.

Bluetooth is also VERY low bandwidth; not adequate for streaming media.

by sharing your media through wifi with the unit it would open up lines for hackers, thats the problem with wifi, make sure you have a good firewall. you wouldnt want someone to hack into your stereo and implant a virus in your hard drive.

blazncypher wrote:by sharing your media through wifi with the unit it would open up lines for hackers, thats the problem with wifi, make sure you have a good firewall. you wouldnt want someone to hack into your stereo and implant a virus in your hard drive.

That's why WEP and WPA encoding for wireless networks were invented. Units could be setup with a user name and password to gain wireless access, which could then give multiple drivers the ability to setup their own playlist if they wanted to.

soooooooooooooooooi was looking on the official nissan website and it said something like the new max is ipod ready and has 9.3 gig integrated music box or something. anyone knows somethin about that? maybe they copy songs automatically from your ipod. just sayin. kinda bout that integrated memory etc....

Yeah, the QX has 9.3 GB hdd for music. It also has a CF card slot (Why CF of all formats I can't fathom...but it's better than nothing I guess).

I HIGHLY doubt any in-car audio system will be able to copy songs from an ipod. It's hard enough to get them off an iPod and onto a PC or Mac. Apple doesn't like the idea.

Using the flash card slot, though, you could move music to the car pretty easily (supports MP3 and WMA). And it'll rip from CD as well.

MinisterofDOOM wrote:Yeah, the QX has 9.3 GB hdd for music. It also has a CF card slot (Why CF of all formats I can't fathom...but it's better than nothing I guess).

I HIGHLY doubt any in-car audio system will be able to copy songs from an ipod. It's hard enough to get them off an iPod and onto a PC or Mac. Apple doesn't like the idea.

Using the flash card slot, though, you could move music to the car pretty easily (supports MP3 and WMA). And it'll rip from CD as well.

The whole purpose of this in-dash system is to eliminate the need for such devices. iPods, USB drives, and the like are a hassle, as are all the wires hanging from your dash.

(Think about it: Would a 40 year old single mom want to tear apart her dash and remove the stereo just to hide wires to her iPod? Not a chance. )
Modified by ZGadson at 8:29 AM 3/28/2008

Tweeter used to cary something a lot like that, can't remember the name of it right now though

Edit: It was Omnifi (sticker was on my tool box)

ECLIPSE MAKE A DD UNIT THAT HAS A HD THAT WILL COPY THE MUSIC FROM YOUR CD WHEN PLAYED. IT WILL THEN CREATE A PLAYLIST OF THE MUSIC STORED ON THE HD

I thought that got canned before it made it to market due to copyright issues because it would have been able to record off radio and satellite.

blazncypher wrote:ECLIPSE MAKE A DD UNIT THAT HAS A HD THAT WILL COPY THE MUSIC FROM YOUR CD WHEN PLAYED. IT WILL THEN CREATE A PLAYLIST OF THE MUSIC STORED ON THE HD

(Must we yell? Easy on the caps key, bud.)

Thanks for the input, however, this Eclipse unit you speak of still requires the use of a CD. There are many players today that currently allow you to store music on an internal hard drive, but having to bring a CD with you to the car negates the whole idea.

The sole purpose of this unit is to allow important steps to happen (and in this order):

1) Get in the car.2) Press play.3) Drive.

I dont want to d!ck around with CDs, iPods, USB drives, or any of that. I want my music ready to play before I even open the car door.

The omnifi had 802.11b for wireless updates.

do it!!! Get the patent it may be worth it

Got my meeting with the US Patent Office coming up soon...

wow why does everyone freak out about caps, whatever.......i was talking with my buddy who is a program designer and he thinks he knows how to make this work. the thing i found out about patents is you cant patent an idea only a technology so you would need to show them how this works and you would have to know how to make it work not just have the idea to do it.

blazncypher wrote:wow why does everyone freak out about caps, whatever.......i was talking with my buddy who is a program designer and he thinks he knows how to make this work. the thing i found out about patents is you cant patent an idea only a technology so you would need to show them how this works and you would have to know how to make it work not just have the idea to do it.

Thats part of why I have to physically go and present my idea to the US Patent Office. Although you're right about not being able to patent an idea, I can patent the use and combination of certain term. For example, say Pioneer wants to make a GPS system with WiFi capabilities - because this has not yet been done, I can pattent the use of the terms "GPS" and WiFi" so that they cannot be legally used together by Pioneer.

The meeting will setup lists of terms, such as WiFi, GPS, Navigation, music, wireless, ect, that my patent will not allow to be used in combination with eachother when describing my certain type of product. Pioneer will have to ask my permission (pay for the use of my patent) in order to create a product using such terms.

Whether or not I have a working model, I still have to give a short presentation to the patent office explaining what my product is, and show them what it could look like (with an AutoCAD drawing or similar) before they'll even allow me to purchase a patent - that is, if nothing else like it exists yet.

Although there are similar automotive products that offer WiFi, the WiFi part of them is strictly for connecting to wireless devices such as palm pilots, cell phons, iPods, etc. Some even use the WiFi for hardware updates. This is also why I plan to add Microsoft Windows terms to my patent. Computer connectivity is the ultimate goal.

NOTE: With all this open chatter of my product idea, I was able to buy a temporary patent to proctect my idea until the meeting with the office to apply for a real patent. Not that I don't trust anyone, but with this being on the internet, ANYONE can see it.

I've been wondering whether or not you had protected yourself on that front, always good to have your own back. Good luck with the presentation, hope you remember to give the people who helped you recognize the wonderful potential for this when you make it big