GB2512313A

GB2512313A - A system for controlling functions of a vehicle by speech

Info

Publication number: GB2512313A
Application number: GB201305435A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christoph Schmidt; Volker Grutzmacher; John Capp; Stefan Eckl; Martin Petermann; Peter Kahler; Marten Wittorf
Original assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
Current assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
Priority date: 2013-03-26
Filing date: 2013-03-26
Publication date: 2014-10-01
Also published as: GB201305435D0

Abstract

A system for controlling functions of a vehicle by speech comprises a microphone 2, 3, key detection means 15 and a speech processor 1. The speech processor is adapted to recognize a plurality of instructions in speech recorded by the microphone and, if an instruction is recognized, to control execution thereof. Each instruction has a restriction level assigned to it, defining a set of conditions which must be fulfilled in order to enable execution of the instruction. At least one first instruction is assigned to at least one low security restriction level which allows execution of said first instruction without a key being detected by the key detecting means. The first instruction with a low security level may control the lights, entertainment or navigation system. The first instruction may also control the display of data relating to the operating status of the vehicle. Said data may comprise the range of the vehicle which can be displayed on an external device. A second instruction, such as locking/unlocking or opening/closing the vehicle may be assigned a higher security restriction level which requires the key to be detected.

Description

A SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING FUNCTIONS OF A VEHICLE BY SPEECH

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a system which allows a user to control functions of a vehicle by means of spoken instructions.

A system of this type is known from DE 10038803 Al. According to this prior art system, a speech processor on board the vehicle is adapted to recognize instructions such as "open doors or "open trunk", and to control actuators of a vehicle door or of a trunk lid according to these instructions, provided that the speaker carries a radio transponder which proves that he is authorized to open the vehicle. In this way, a user does not have to use his hands for opening the vehicle, and he can therefore comfortably load the vehicle with goods which must be carried in both hands. However, this conventional system will not work for a user who fails to carry with him an appropriate transponder.

The object of the invention is to provide a system for controlling functions of a vehicle by speech which offers an improved level of comfort without having to cUt back on safety.

The object is achieved by a system for controlling functions of a vehicle by speech, comprising a microphone, key detection means and a speech processor adapted to recognize a plurality of instructions in speech recorded by the microphone, and, if an instruction is recognized, to control execution thereof, wherein each instruction has a restriction level assigned to it, defining a set of conditions which must be fulfilled in order to enable execution of the instruction, characterized in that at least one first instruction is assigned to at least one low security restriction level which allows execution of the instruction without a key being detected by the key detecting means.

While safety-relevant functions such as unlocking vehicle doors may be enabled only upon detection of a key, functions which cannot jeopardize the safety of the vehicle, its occupants or persons in its environment can be made available more generally In most cases, by said first instruction an electric consumer of the vehicle will be activated. In order to avoid premature exhaustion of the vehicle's batteries by misuse or by inadvertence, the speech processor should be adapted to de-activate said consumer after a predetermined time.

Typically, a consumer which may conveniently be controlled by said first instruction is a light of the vehicle. At least while the vehicle is standing still, no risk is incurred if persons that do not have a key to the vehicle are allowed to control the lights. A notable increase of comfort is achieved if such persons can control the lights of the vehicle, e.g. in order to find an object in an else unlit garage, or to avoid stepping into a puddle in a dark parking lot.

It can further be useful if said first instruction or a further first instruction controls an infotainment system or a navigation system of the vehicle. In this way1 persons in a parked vehicle, in particular children, can use such an infotainment system without having to detain a key.

It may further be useful if the first instruction or still another first instruction controls the display of data relating to the operating status of the vehicle.

In this way, by summoning vehicles in a company car park to display such data, a user can quickly check whether a given vehicle is suited for his displacement needs, and when he has found one, he can fetch a key for it.

The first instruction may also control the transfer of data between the vehicle and an external device, such as a smartphone or a mobile computer carried by a user. In particular, if vehicle status characteristics are transferred from the vehicle to the external device, the external device can help the user to find an appropriate vehicle for his needs.

Specifically, the data mentioned above can be indicative of an operating range of the vehicle, i.e. of the distance the vehicle can be driven before its battery needs to be re-charged or its tank re-filled.

The set of conditions to be fulfilled in order to enable execution of the first instruction may be an empty set, in the simplest of cases. Preferably it comprises at least one of the following conditions: -the vehicle is unlocked, -the vehicle is standing still, -the engine of the vehicle is off, -a park brake of the vehicle is engaged, -voice operation has been enabled previously in presence of a key, Is -the key detection means fails to detect a key.

There may be various low security restriction levels associated to different first instructions, which have different condition sets associated to them.

Among the instructions recognized by the speech processor, there should be at least one second instruction, the security restriction level of which allows execution of the second instruction only if a key is detected by the key detecting means.

Typically, such a second instruction may control the locked/unlocked and/or open/closed status of at least one closure member of the vehicle body. Such a closure member may be a vehicle door, a trunk lid or a sliding roof.

The object of the invention is further achieved by a computer o program product comprising program means which enable a computer to operate as the speech processor in the system described above, and by a computer-readable data carrier having program instructions stored on it which enable a computer to operate as a speech processor.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the subsequent description of embodiments thereof referring to the appended drawings. The description and the drawings disclose features which are not mentioned in the claims. Such features may be embodied in other combinations than those specifically disclosed herein. From the fact that two or more such features are disclosed in a same sentence or in some other kind of common context it must not be concluded that they can only appear in the combination specifically disclosed; rather, any feature of such a combination may appear without the others, unless the description gives positive reason to assume that in that case the invention would be inoperable.

to Fig. I is a schematic view of a motor vehicle which is equipped with a voice control system according to the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a control process carried out in the speech processor of the system.

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a motor vehicle in which certain functions are controlled by a voice control system. The voice control system comprises a speech processor 1, typically a microcomputer, connected to at least one, preferably more than one microphone. The system of Fig. 1 comprises an internal microphone 2 within the passenger cothpartment of the vehicle and a plurality of external microphones 3. Depending on the set of instructions the speech processor shall be able to process, a smaller set of microphones may be sufficient.

Multiple microphones of a same type enable the speech processor ito detect not only speech as such, but, based on phase and/or intensity differences between sounds detected by different microphones, also a direction from which it is received, which may be advantageous particularly in case of instructions received by the external microphones 3..

The speech processor I is further connected to various devices it is capable of controlling, such as front and rear lights 4, 5, a door lock 6, a boot lock 7, actuators 8 for opening and closing any of vehicle doors 9, trunk lid 10 and slidable roof 11, an infotainment system 12 and a navigation system 13. The speech processor 1 may further be connected to sensors 14 for detecting operating characteristics of the vehicle, in particular the filling level of a fuel tank and/or the loading level of a battery and/or the operating state of a parking brake and/or the status of the vehicle's engine, and to a wireless communication interface 15, which enables the speech processor I to communicate with some external device such as a smartphone or a mobile PC by some conventional communication standard.

Fig. 2 is an outline flowchart of an operating method of the speech processor 1. The speech processor 1 may be busy with the process of Fig. 2 continuously, regardless of whether the vehicle is moving or not, but preferably, execution of the process is disabled while the vehicle is moving.

While is process is active, the speech processor 1 is continuously listening for spoken instruction by its various microphones 2, 3. If a detected sound is found to comprise an instruction in step 82, the speech processor determines in step 53 whether the instruction was detected by internal microphone 2 or an external microphone 3. If the instruction was received by an external microphone, it may be appropriate to provide a step S4 of identifying the external microphone by which the instruction was received or of determining in some other way the direction from which the instruction originated, since the way in which an instruction is carried out may depend on its direction of origin, as will be explained in more detail later on.

Next, the speech processor 1 retrieves in step S5 a set of conditions associated to the identified instruction and, if applicable, to its direction of origin. If all these conditions are found to be fulfilled in step 86, speech processor 1 controls execution of the instruction in step Si, else, the instruction is rejected, and the speech processor 1 directly returns to step Si.

For example, the instruction recognized in step S2 might be "lights on". In that case, a decision whether the lights to be switched on are front and rear lights 4, 5 on the one hand, or lights of the passenger compartment, on the hand, depends on whether the instruction was received by one of the external microphones 3 or the internal microphone 2. If received by the external microphones 3, a decision which one of front and rear lights 4, 5 is switched on might depend on whether the instruction was received from before or behind the vehicle.

A condition for allowing the lights to be switched on might simply be that the vehicle is at rest, since, while it is moving, the lights should be under exclusive control by the driver. A further condition might be that a parking brake is activated. In most cases, it is not necessary to use a parking brake when parking in a garage or a parking lot. Under such circumstances, by engaging or not engaging the parking brake, a driver has a possibility of controlling whether he wants to enable voice control of the lights or not.

Another possible instruction might be "open roof or "open side window". Here, conditions for allowing execution of the instruction depend on whether the instructions are given from inside or from outside the vehicle. If it is given inside the vehicle, execution can be allowed under the same conditions as the "lights on' instruction discussed above. If it is received from outside, execution may be enabled under the same conditions as an instruction to unlock one of the doors 6 or the trunk lid 10, namely if the wireless communication interface 15 detects the presence of a transponder key to the vehicle in its close vicinity.

In case of an instruction directed to the infotainment system 12, a condition for its execution might be that the instruction is received by internal microphone 2, and that the vehicle is standing still.

A further practical instruction to be handled by the process of Fig. 2 is an instruction to display the battery charging level in case of an electrically powered vehicle. Since charging the batteries of an electric vehicle takes considerably more time than filling the tank of a combustion-powered vehicle, such an electric vehicle may have temporarily have a rather limited operating range if it has recently been used and its batteries are not yet recharged.

If a potential user enters a company car park and addresses the instruction to display battery charging levels to vehicles parked there, he may then inspect the battery gauges and thus quickly find a vehicle whose charging level is sufficient for his transportation needs. Having found the appropriate vehicle, he can go and fetch the keys for it. Here, the only condition for execution of the instruction may be that the vehicle is at rest, or there may be no condition at all, since no disturbance is to be feared if the battery charging level is displayed while the vehicle is being driven.

According to a more advanced version of the same concept, a user might give an instruction to upload battery charging data, which causes the speech processor of any vehicle receiving the instruction to transmit its battery charging level and data identifying the vehicle, e.g. its license plate data, to a nearby portable S device, typically a smartpbone or a mobile PC of the user giving the instruction by wireless interface 15. When giving the instruction, the user will typically have a program running on his mobile device which collects the charging data from all vehicles that respond to the instruction, and displays these to the user in a list, associated with the identifying data provided by each vehicle. The user can then identify an appropriate vehicle simply by looking at the list on his mobile device, instead of having to walk all over the car park and look at the displays of the vehicles.

According to a further embodiment, the speech processor is capable of recognizing instructions containing numbers. In that case, the user can simply address the vehicles in a car park by an instruction such as "I need a car for going xx miles'. When perceiving such an instruction, the speech processors 1 of the cars in the car park will obtain tank filling viz, battery charging levels from their respective sensors 14, estimate the distance their respective car can go on that level, and output a message, e.g. by turning on their flashing indicators for some time, if the level is sufficient. With this embodiment, the user neither has to walk from one car to the other, nor does he need a mobile device in order to instantly find a car which suits his needs.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 speech processor 2 internal microphone 3 external microphone 4 front lights rear lights 6 door lock 7 boot lock 8 actuator 9 vehicle door trunk lid 11 slidable roof.

12 infotainment system 13 navigation system 14 sensor.

wireless communication interface

Claims

CLAIMS1. A system for controlling functions of a vehicle by speech, comprising a microphone (2, 3), key detection means (15) and a speech processor (1) adapted to recognize a plurality of instructions in speech recorded by the microphone (2, 3), and1 if an instruction is recognized, to control execution thereof, wherein each instruction has a restriction level assigned to it, defining a set of conditions which must be fulfilled in order to enable execution of the instruction, characterized in that at least one first instruction is assigned to at least one low security restriction level which allows execution of said first instruction without a key being detected by the key detecting means (15).
2. The system of claim 1 wherein, if said first instruction involves activation of an electric consumer of the vehicle, the speech processor is adapted to de-activate said consumer after a predetermined time.
3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein said first instruction controls lights of the vehicle.
4 The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein said first instruction controls an infotainment system or a navigation system.
5. The system of claim 1 cr2, wherein said first instruction controls the display of data relating to the operating status of the vehicle.
6. The system of claim I or 2, wherein said first instruction controls transfer of data between the vehicle and an external device.
7. The system of claim 5 or 6, wherein said data are indicative of an operating range of the vehicle.
8. The system of any of the preceding claims, wherein said set of conditions comprises at least one of: -the vehicle being unlocked, -the vehicle standing still, -10 - -the engine of the vehicle being off, -a park brake being engaged, -voice operation having been enabled in presence of a key, -the key detection means failing to detect a key.S
9. The system of any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one second instruction is assigned a security restriction level which allows execution of the second instruction only if a key is detected by the key detecting means.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein said second instruction controls the locked/unlocked and/or open/closed status of at least one closure member of the vehicle body.
ii. A computer program product comprising program code means which enable a computer to operate as the speech processor in the system of any of the preceding claims
12. A computer-readable data carrier, having program instructions stored on it which enable a computer to operate as the speech processor in the system of any of claims ito 10.