CN117641291A - Vehicle with internal/external communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a vehicle, in particular a passenger vehicle, comprising an internal/external communication system for enabling communication between a vehicle occupant and a person outside the vehicle, comprising a directional external loudspeaker, an addressed identification device for the person outside and a control unit. The directional external speaker directs the output sound in a determined direction. The means for identifying the addressed outsider identifies the addressed outsider. Further, the control unit controls the output sound based on the identified position of the outside person.

Description

Vehicle with internal/external communication system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a vehicle having an internal/external communication system that facilitates communication between a vehicle occupant and an external person, i.e., a person outside the vehicle, such as a pedestrian.

Background

Basic internal/external communication systems are known. For example, patent document EP3121064A1 relates to a vehicle having a sound output unit, in which a driver can talk to an external person without opening a window, for example, when a drive-up restaurant orders a meal.

Further, patent document DE102018215010A1 discloses a vehicle adapted to output a warning sound in the direction of a pedestrian.

Furthermore, patent document WO2021/029860A1 describes an autonomous vehicle interaction system in which an autonomous vehicle can communicate via an audio output device with a person wanting to ride the vehicle.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle with an internal/external communication system, wherein the selective communication between the vehicle occupants and the vehicle exterior personnel is improved.

The object is achieved by a vehicle according to the invention.

According to the invention, a vehicle, in particular a passenger vehicle, comprises an internal/external communication system for enabling communication between a vehicle occupant and a person outside the vehicle, the internal/external communication system comprising: a directional external speaker, an identification device for the addressed external person, and a control unit. The directional external speaker directs the output sound in a determined direction. The means for identifying the addressed outsider identifies the addressed outsider. Further, the control unit controls the output sound based on the identified position of the outside person.

Thus, the internal/external communication system knows to whom the vehicle occupants are speaking, i.e. to the addressed external person, so that the sound output by the directional external speaker is directed only in the direction of the addressed external person. In other words, only the addressed external person can hear the sound output by the directed external speaker. Other persons outside the vehicle, spaced from the addressed outside person, cannot hear any sound from the directional external speaker. The system knows the addressed outsider due to the identification means of the addressed outsider. The directional speaker is adapted to output sound over a predetermined narrow range and a predetermined distance only in a predetermined direction. The vehicle occupant may be the driver of the vehicle or any other passenger in the vehicle.

The vehicle is a motor vehicle, for example a passenger car, bus or truck, and is a road user. The addressed outside person may be a pedestrian or a service person to be indicated.

According to a preferred embodiment, the means for identifying the addressed external person identifies the addressed external person by means of an internal sensor based on the viewing direction of the speaking vehicle occupant, for example the eye position and/or the head position and/or the face position. The internal sensor may also be denoted as a viewing direction sensor. For example, the internal sensor is a camera. If there is more than one vehicle occupant, the speaking vehicle occupant may be identified by a camera and/or microphone.

The addressed external person identification device may furthermore comprise an external sensor, in particular a camera, wherein the addressed external person identification device identifies the addressed external person by means of the external sensor. In other words, since the system knows who is speaking in the vehicle and in which direction the speaking vehicle occupant is speaking, the system can identify, by means of the external sensor, the vehicle exterior person who is in one direction to which the speaking vehicle occupant is looking. Also, the system may exclude vehicle outsiders that are not in the viewing direction of the speaking vehicle occupant from the addressed outsiders.

Thus, it can be ensured that only the addressed vehicle exterior person can hear what the speaking vehicle occupant is speaking.

The vehicle may include a plurality of directional external speakers, for example, on each side of the vehicle. The system thus also decides, based on the identified addressed outsider, which directional loudspeaker to control to output sound.

Furthermore, the directional external speaker may be a film speaker.

The membrane speaker is very thin and can be attached to any location on the body of the vehicle.

In particular, the directional external speaker may be attached to a window of the vehicle, such as a side window.

Furthermore, the internal/external communication system may further comprise at least one directional external microphone or a plurality of directional external microphones. The control unit is adapted to control the directional external microphone based on the identified location of the addressed external person and to output sound received by the directional external microphone via the vehicle internal speaker.

In addition, the internal/external communication system may further include an internal microphone. The control unit is adapted to directionally output sound received by the internal microphone to the identified external person via the directional external speaker.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a vehicle and some pedestrians outside the vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1.

As shown in the schematic plan view of fig. 1, a passenger car 1 as a vehicle according to the invention includes a passenger compartment. In the passenger compartment, the passenger 3, which may be the driver of the passenger car 1, sits on the left front seat 21. In addition, there is another occupant 31 on the rear seat 23. Outside the passenger vehicle 1 there is one pedestrian 5 and further pedestrians 51 and 53.

The passenger car 1 comprises an internal/external communication system comprising an external loudspeaker 7 at the front end of the passenger car 1, which is oriented, but other positions of the loudspeaker are also possible. Other directional external speakers may be arranged at other locations outside the passenger car 1 to cover the entire environment of the passenger car 1. The directional external loudspeaker 7 is adapted to direct the output sound in a determined direction, i.e. in a determined sector and at a determined distance. In particular, the directional external speaker 7 is adapted to direct the output sound to a determined location, for example the location of the pedestrian 5 as addressed external person. Thus, the output sound can only be heard in the desired sector or desired location. Furthermore, a directional external microphone 8 is arranged to selectively record the speech of the pedestrian 5. There may be further directional external microphones 8 arranged at further locations on the outside of the passenger car 1 so as to cover the entire environment of the passenger car 1 corresponding to the further directional external speakers.

On the other hand, the internal/external communication system comprises an internal speaker 13 (preferably a directional internal speaker) and an internal microphone 14 (preferably a directional internal microphone). Of course, a plurality of internal speakers and corresponding internal microphones may be provided. The internal speaker 13 and the internal microphone 14 may be part of an existing man-machine interface and/or entertainment system and/or communication system.

An internal camera 9 is also provided as an internal sensor within the passenger compartment. The interior camera 9 is adapted to capture an occupant in each seat in the passenger car 1. The internal camera 9 is arranged at a windshield near the roof of the vehicle, or at the roof near the windshield, so that the internal camera 9 can take a picture of the face of each occupant. Of course, a plurality of internal cameras may be arranged in the passenger compartment.

The passenger car 1 further comprises an external camera 11 as an external sensor. An external camera 11 is attached within the windscreen and arranged to record the front environment of the passenger car 1. Additional external cameras may be provided to record the entire environment of the passenger car 1.

Furthermore, the internal/external communication system comprises identification means for the addressed person and identification means for the speaking person. The identification means of the addressed person can identify the addressed person 5 outside the vehicle by means of the internal camera 9 and the external camera 11. The speaker's recognition means recognizes the person speaking through the internal camera 9 and/or the internal microphone 14. Further, by means of the internal camera 9, the speaking direction/viewing direction of the speaking occupant 3 may be determined based on the face direction of the occupant 3 and/or the eye position of the occupant 3.

The internal/external communication system operates as follows. Assuming that the passenger car 1 is parked somewhere and the occupant wants to talk to an outside person without leaving the passenger car 1 and without opening a window or door, the occupant uses the inside/outside communication system to communicate with the outside person. For example, if the occupant 3 wants to talk to the pedestrian 5, he looks in the direction of the pedestrian 5, which can be determined by the face position and/or the eye position. The addressed external person recognition means are thus able to recognize pedestrians by means of an internal camera 9, which determines the viewing direction of the occupant 3, and an external camera, which recognizes the pedestrian 5 within the viewing direction of the occupant 3. Thus, the inside/outside communication system records the speech of the occupant 3 through the inside microphone 14, and outputs the speech of the occupant 3 to the pedestrian 5 through the directional outside speaker 7. Other pedestrians 51 and 53 cannot hear the occupant 3 speaking due to the directional sound output. In contrast, if the pedestrian 5 speaks into the occupant 3, the internal/external communication system records the speech of the pedestrian 5 and outputs the speech of the pedestrian 5 to the occupant 3 through the internal speaker 13.

In summary, the internal/external communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention enables a fully automatic dialogue between the occupant 3 and the pedestrian 5 without opening any window or door of the passenger car 1, without any other activation action of the occupant 3, and without involving any other pedestrians, such as pedestrians 51 and 53, in the dialogue. Due to the directional output sound, the pedestrians 51 and 53 cannot hear the speech of the occupant 3. Of course, the internal/external communication system is also able to focus the conversation only on the occupant 3, i.e. excluding other occupants, not involved by the directional internal speaker 13 and the directional internal microphone 14.

Claims (7)

1. A vehicle (1), in particular a passenger vehicle, has an internal/external communication system for enabling communication between a vehicle occupant (3) and a vehicle exterior person (5), comprising a directional external loudspeaker (7), an addressed external person identification device and a control unit, wherein,

-the directional external speaker (7) is adapted to direct the output sound in a determined direction;

the addressed external person identification means are adapted to identify the addressed vehicle external person (5); and is also provided with

The control unit is adapted to control the output sound based on the identified location of the addressed vehicle exterior person (5).

2. Vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the addressed external person recognition means recognize the addressed vehicle external person (5) by means of an internal sensor (9), for example a camera, based on the direction of view, for example the eye position, of the speaking vehicle occupant (3).

3. Vehicle according to claim 2, characterized in that the addressed external person identification means further comprise an external sensor (11), in particular a camera, wherein the addressed external person identification means identify the addressed vehicle external person (5) by means of the external sensor (11).

4. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the directional external speaker (7) is a film speaker.

5. The vehicle according to claim 4, characterized in that the directional external speaker (7) is attached to a window, such as a side window, of the vehicle (1).

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the internal/external communication system further comprises a directional external microphone, wherein the control unit is adapted to control the directional external microphone based on the identified location of the external person and to output sound received by the directional external microphone via a vehicle internal speaker.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that the internal/external communication system further comprises an internal microphone, wherein the control unit is adapted to directionally output sound received by the internal microphone to the identified external person via a directional external speaker.