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The automobile world is witnessing the popularization of in-car information provision services that utilize the

Internet. NISSAN's "CARWINGS" service reached practical use in February 2002, followed by Honda's "internavi pre-

mium club" and TOYOTA's "G-BOOK" in October of the same year.

Upon receiving an order for a special in-vehicle G-BOOK browser for the 2003 commercialization of TOYOTA's

G-BOOK service, FUJITSU TEN developed the browser jointly with FUJITSU LIMITED, and perfected it for com-

mercial production.

The basis for the G-BOOK browser was FUJITSU LIMITED's proprietary Internet browser. This was developed

into the G-BOOK browser by modifying the user interface component so as to suit it for in-vehicle use (providing

functions to restrict the range of control operations and moving picture displays during travel in the interest of driver

safety), and adding a "navigation linkup component" that links information acquired from the G-BOOK Center with

the navigation functions.

This paper gives an overview of the G-BOOK service and presents the functions and features of this newly-developed

browser for receiving such service.

Abstract

Shinich Hayashi

Shinji Fukuda

Toru Osada

Masahiko Ogai

Overview of TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION's G-BOOK Service andFUJITSU TEN's Engagement with its Special In-vehicle Terminal

NOTE

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Overview of TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION's G-BOOK Service and FUJITSU TEN's Engagement with its Special In-vehicle Terminal

FUJITSU TEN TECH. J. No.23(2004)

R ecent years have seen in-car inform ation provision

services enter full-fledged use in the autom obile w orld.

Such services assist drivers w ith linking the positional

inform ation furnished by car navigation system s.

C urrently operational are T O Y O T A 's G-B O O K ser-

vice, N ISSA N 's Car W ings service and H onda's Internavi

service.

T O Y O T A M O T O R CO RPO RA T IO N launched its G-

B O O K C enter in O ctober 2002 and subsequently began

running inform ation provision services aim ed at cars, cell

phones and PC s. It is now proceeding to expand its ser-

vices by exploiting the G -B O O K Inform ation C enter as an

inform ation portal site for autom obiles.

T his technical note gives an overview of the G -B O O K

service and describes F U JIT SU T E N 's part in developingthe special in-vehicle G -B O O K term inal com m ercialized in

2003.

2. O verview of the G -B O O K service

T he G -B O O K service provides a continuous connec-

tion betw een the driver and the G -B O O K C enter during

driving, for the d river's safety, enjoym ent, and conve-

nience. T he concept of G -B O O K service is illustrated in

F ig. 1.

2.1 System Overview from the Center to the in-vehicle terminal

F ig. 2 is a schem atic outline of the G -B O O K service

and its system configuration. T he in-vehicle equipm ent

receives content transm itted from the G -B O O K C enter,

via a D C M (D ata C om m unication M odule) or the user's

cell phone. A lso, the G -B O O K term inal is able to share

inform ation w ith a P C , portable term inal, cell phone or

sim ilar via the G -B O O K C enter.

2.2 Overview of G-BOOK services

T he services that G -B O O K provides can be classified

into 6 categories. E ach category is briefly described

below in turn.

Live navigation

T his service enables drivers to check out the latest

hot and topical places using their navigation system s, and

to set them to destinations from the place search.

Information

T his service provides various inform ation that users

need to know at any tim e, such as new s, w eather fore-

casts, stock m arkets and bank account inform ation. Such

inform ation can be searched and displayed in real tim e.

W hat's m ore, it can be sim ultaneously read out by a syn-

thesized voice.

Entertainment

T his service perm its enjoym ent of gam es, horoscopes

and sim ilar entertainm ent inside the users' cars.

Communication

T his service enables users to send and receive e-m ails

from their hom e or office etc., and exchange inform ationw ith friends on m essageboards.

Safety and security

A variety of services are available in this category,

including road service introduction, parked car position

checking and insurance inform ation.

E-commerce

T his service m akes "G A ZO O " online shopping avail-

able from the users' cars.

2.3 Using G-BOOK inside a car

G -B O O K has the follow ing fun ctions to enable the

above services safely and easily in the car.MY REQUEST

M Y R E Q U E ST perm its inform ation to be requested

Picking peop le up is

easier with a

G-BO OK connection

A G - B O O K

connection can help

w ith da ting

Business can be

transform ed w ith aG-BO OK connection

A G - B O O K

connection m akes

things simpler

A G - B O O K

connection gets you

ou t of d ifficulties

C onven ience

En joy m ent

S afety

Fig.1 G -B O O K concept

G -B O O K

C enterC ontents

C ell phone

Internet

G -BO O K

C ell phone com pany

D C M C ell phone

G -B O O K term inal

Fig.2 O utline of G -B O O K service and system

Introduction1

Overview of the G-BOOK service2

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by m eans of sim ple operations even w hile driving. It also

enables requested inform ation to be read out by synthe-

sized voice and displayed on m aps in the form of icons.

T his function provides for safe use of the in-vehicle term i-

nal during w hile driving.

Vocal command

T his function enables the use of vocal com m ands to

give instructions regarding G -B O O K content and fun c-

tions. T his prom otes safe use of the term inal w hile dri-

ving, as it reduces the need for m anual operations.

Operator support service

T his enables users to con tact an operator at the

C enter hand s-free. T he operator can be requested to

m ake the in-vehicle term inal's settings or search the infor-

m ation, etc., and w ill transm it the results to the term inal.

T his perm its sim ple utilization of G -B O O K even by per-

sons unaccustom ed to operating the in-vehicle term inal.

3. G -B O O K brow ser functions

3.1 G-BOOK content display function

T he G -B O O K brow ser has a function for displaying

the content broadcast from the G -B O O K C enter. C ontent

is displayed on an H T M L basis, and various m anipula-

tions of the displayed content are possible, such as high-

lighting buttons by touching them ; jum ping to other con-

tent pages, etc. (R efer to F ig. 3).

3.2 Synthesized voice functions

O n receiving specially form atted text data w ith into-nation indications from the G -B O O K C enter, the G -B O O K

brow ser can read such data out via voice synthesis. Such

read-outs can be im plem ented autom atically, and w ith the

brow ser can jum p autom atically jum ping on to read out

another content autom atically after vocal recital item or

item s as soon as it has finished the first one. T hus this

function can, for exam ple, be used to have the brow ser

recite read out m ultiple new s item s from different pages

consecutively (R efer to F ig. 4).

3.3 Navigation linkup functions

G-memorized locations

G -m em orized locations are available for dow nloading

from the G -B O O K C enter. T hese m em orized locations can

be searched to find facilities in the n eighborhood of auser's current location or destination, etc. F acilities (loca-

tions) found through such searches can be displayed on

m aps. N ew additions can also be m ade to the m em orized

locations (refer to F ig. 5).

Destination setting

F acilities located in searches of the C enter can be set

to as destinations in the navigation system .

3.4 Automatic accessing function

T his is a function w hereby the term inal autom atically

accesses the G -B O O K C enter according to a schedule that

is set by the G -B O O K C enter in advance. T o users thisw ill seem as though inform ation is being received auto-

m atically from the G -B O O K C enter.

Fig.3 G -B O O K content

Fig.5 D isplaying of m em orized locations on n avigation m ap screen

Fig.4 D isplay w hile 1st item is being read out

W hen "M A P" button is touched

G-BOOK browser functions3

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FUJITSU TEN TECH. J. No.23(2004)

3.5 E-mail transmission/reception functions

T hese perm it e-m ails to be sent from and received by

the in-vehicle term inal. T he term inal does not have a

m ailbox. R ather, the system em ploys m ailboxes for indi-

vidual users w hich are installed at the G -B O O K C enter, in

a m anner sim ilar to w eb e-m ail setups. E -m ails can be

read out using the "voice read-out functions" described in

3.2 above.

3.6 Restrictions on displays and operationswhile driving

T hese functions restrict the range of brow ser displays

and operations that are possible w hile driving. T he pur-

pose is to ensure safe driving by blocking displays of

m ovies and content im ages that m ight distract the driver

(R efer to F ig. 7).

4. F U JIT SU G roup's engagem ent

In conjunction w ith F U JIT SU LIM IT E D , F U JIT SU

T E N developed a brow ser for the G -B O O K service com -

m ercialized in 2003. T his brow ser w as based on an

Internet brow ser developed by F U JIT SU LIM IT E D , w ith

the features listed below .

It introduces an "A bstractive Platform " that perm its it

to be easily installed to diverse C PU s and operating

system s.

It introduces a "B row ser Construction" w hich enables it

to easily accom m odate various different display resolu-

tions, supported languages an d text cod es, etc., to

m atch to the specifications of the installed equipm ent.

M ore detailed descriptions of these features are given

below .

(1) Abstract platformB roadly speaking, the G -B O O K brow ser's softw are is

divided into a brow ser core com ponent and a G -B O O K

specific com ponent. "A bstract" platform layers for absorb-

ing the parts that are platform -depen dent hav e been

introduced to serve as the low er-layers of these com po-

nents. T his m akes it possible for the softw are built on the

abstractive platform layers to be developed w ithout

regard to differences betw een platform s. In the present

developm ent w e installed the brow ser in 4 different types

of platform s sim ultaneously.

(2) Browser Construction functions

T he new ly-introduced "B row ser C onstruction" enables

the brow ser to easily accom m odate the differences in dis-

play resolution, sup ported languages and text codes

am ong different equipm ent. It further perm its additions

of new setting functions and changes to display resolutions,

etc.,. F ig. 8 gives a schem atic of B row ser C onstruction, and

T able 1 lists the custom ized functions that it provides.

Fig.6 E -m ail screen

Brow ser C onstruct

M odu le group forbrow ser proper

Com pactHTM L

S pecific to X H TM LB asic

JavaS cript engine

M odules for brow ser proper

Com pactH TM L

U I m odules,other m odules

B row ser of optim um com position isgen erated by selecting rang e o fop tion s it is to su pp ort

Tag s, attribu tes, m ed ia, scripts,etc., for system ge ne ration

Assem bler-developer com panies

C ustom ized product

S ettingfiles

Com pany'scustom ization

Com pany'scustom ization

S D K

Determ ination ofscreen resolution

Selection ofsupportedlang uag e(s)

S election of textcode(s)

Brow ser m odule group

M echanism for custom ization of

basic Internet brow ser m ade by FU JITS U

(N ot a com ponent m odule of G -B O O K brow ser)Fig.8 S chem atic of brow ser construction

Fig.7 Function for restricted displays during travel

W hen the vehicle is stopp ed

W hen the vehicle is m oving

FUJITSU Group's engagement4

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5. F uture endeavors

T he G -B O O K brow ser still has the follow ing 2 m ain

issues:

In order to assure driver safety, there are restrictions

on the extent to w hich the brow ser can be used w hiledriving (control operation restrictions). Such restrictions

m ean that the inform ation provided w hile driving is

also restricted.

T he volum e of com m unication betw een the C enter and

the in-vehicle equipm ent needs to be reduced.

R egarding w e w ill exam ine vocal control of the

equipm ent by m eans of voice synthesis and voice recogni-

tion, plus control m ethods that perm it a m ore flexible

approach for the operation restrictions w hile driving.

R egarding w e w ill study w ays of reducing the pro-

cedures used for com m unication betw een the C enter and

the in-veh icle equipm en t, plus efficien t utilization of

caches.

6. C onclusion

W e w ill be introducing various kinds of softw are to

m atch future m arket trends.

F or instance w e are looking at expanding the brow s-

er's service capability in new w ays such as: screendesign w ith sophisticated texture and sensibility appeal;

updating or adding the in-vehicle equipm ent's applica-

tions from the C enter upgrading the user interface in

line w ith and introducing m echanism s for softw are

version m anagem ent.

< T radem arks, registered tradem arks>

T he follow ing product nam es and proper nouns are

the tradem arks or registered tradem arks of their com pa-

nies:

Registered tradem arks

"G-BO O K " FU JIT SU T EN LIM IT ED

"C A R W IN G S" N issan M otor C o.,Ltd.

"internavi prem ium club" H onda M otor Co.,Ltd.

"G A ZO O " T oyota M otor C orporation

C ontent of custom ization

A lteration of brow ser's screen configuration

Specification of variou s data req uired for

brow ser's operation

N um ber of histories, etc., that can be stored

A m ount of m em ory used .

Specification of stan dard values for d ata

alterable from the brow ser

H om epage UR L

Size of displayed text

Specification of dialog box sizes, an d of

character strings displayed inside dialog boxes

Specification of m essage box sizes an d

types, and of character strings displayed in

them

Specification of options displayed in pop-up

m enus

F ile nam e

SM L file

C onfigura-

tion file

D efault

preference

file

D ialog

resource file

M essage

resource file

M enu

resource file

Table 1 Function for custom ization w ith brow ser construction

Future endeavors5

Conclusion6

Shinich Hayashi

Entered the company in 1989. Sincethen, has been involved in the develop-ment of the G-BOOK browser since2001, through the development of dis-plays for automobiles. Currently inthe G System Integration Departmentof Engineering Division 1 BusinessDivision Group.

Masahiko Ogai

Entered Toyota in 1991. Since then,has been involved in the developmentof catalysts for purifying exhaust gas,

and multimedia ECU for automo-biles. Currently in the 1st ElectronicEngineering Section.

Shinji Fukuda

Entered the company in 1979. Sincethen, has been involved in the devel-opment of automobile informationdevices. Currently the Manager of theR&D Department 1 of AdvancedR&D Department, Research &Development Group.

Toru Osada

Entered the company in 1977. Sincethen, has been involved in the devel-opment of K/G series EPOC familyand OASYS. Currently assigned tothe Development Planning ControlDepartment of the SoftwareDivision, where he is involved in thedevelopment of embedded browsers.