Dual-Mode Vehicular Controller

Abstract

A vehicular interface may include an electromechanical interface between a handheld electronic device and subsystems on a vehicular bus or network. In an illustrative embodiment, the interface may operate in a “master mode” when a handheld device, such as a tablet computer or smart-phone, is not inserted therein. In this mode, the interface may serve as a master controller and accesses and controls various subsystems on a vehicle (such as engine control subsystems, media controllers, navigation systems, sensors and transducers) as a master controller. In one embodiment, when a tablet device is inserted into the interface, the interface may automatically switch to “slave mode” in which it acts as an adapter or interface between the tablet device and the vehicular subsystems.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A maritime auxiliary control system comprising:
 means for receiving communications from a plurality of maritime auxiliary systems;   means for selectively routing communications from a local controller or a remote controller;   means for selectively receiving communications from the local controller or remote controller;   means for selectively transmitting commands from the local controller or remote controller to the plurality of maritime auxiliary systems.