In the beginning of the automobile era, the most important function of a vehicle was to move its owner from one point to another. Over a period of years, the desire for comfort has increased and vehicles have been equipped, first with simple car-radios, changing to hi-end audio systems in the present. A considerable fraction of today's vehicles are now equipped with telephones, and navigation units are joining. In the next couple of years TV, video, and multi-media PC will have increasing use in vehicles. Since all these components need to communicate with each other, the need for a common data bus is increasing. A suitable bus needs to be able to distribute audio data, video data, and also control signals, all on the same data bus. Then, with such an integrated system, easy communication between all connected components will offer new "crossfunctions". In order to define the above mentioned data bus, the project group CENTIS (Communication ENTertainment and Information System) was founded. This group has defined a modular system which can either be used as a simple basic system or as a complete mobile-media system. If the system is used as a basic system, only the audio components are connected to the optical data bus. However, the basic system can be extended at any time by adding various components. A common HMI (Human Machine Interface) is shared by all system functions for the basic system as well as for the complete mobile-media system.
Samenvatting