JP2003125454A - Call control system dependent on driving state - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device that allows a call without excessively preventing smooth speech on a mobile communication equipment or degrading confortableness in driving a car, by appropriately judging a reserve capacity in operation of a driver. SOLUTION: The call control system controls a call on a portable telephone installed in a passenger cabin of a car according to driving state of the car. It comprises a voice input/output part which is connected to the portable telephone and delivers the voice of the other side from a speaker during a call while collecting the voice in a passenger cabin and transmitting it to the other party, a driving state acquiring part which acquires behavior of the car and the information of a road the car is running on, a reserve capacity calculating part which calculates the reserve capacity of the driver in operation based on the acquired information, and a call control part which decides holding, resumption, or recording of a call based on the calculated reserve-capacity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for controlling a driver's call using a mobile phone installed in a vehicle compartment, and more specifically, to hold a call according to the driver's margin. The present invention relates to a call control system that performs operations such as resuming and recording / playing messages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the widespread use of mobile communication, mobile communication devices such as mobile phones, PHSs and PDAs are increasingly used in automobiles. Recently, a hands-free device has been proposed which enables a call without holding these communication devices by hand.

However, even if these devices are used, when talking on a car or operating buttons etc. while the vehicle is driving, the driver's attention is directed to other than driving, so that a heavy load is applied especially to driving operations such as turning and traffic congestion. Therefore, there is a need for a system to ensure driving comfort.

[0004] For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-304464, when a driving operation becomes a heavy load on the driver during a call, or when it is predicted that a heavy load will soon occur, the fact is notified. There is disclosed a method for controlling a hands-free device that allows a driver to concentrate on driving by holding a call.

[0005]

However, in the above method, the call holding is judged based on the road map data from the navigation system, the vehicle speed, and the operation status of various devices (steering wheel, wiper, back lamp, etc.). Since the call is held, the call may be put on hold even in a situation where the driver does not need to pay much attention to driving, the call may be cut off more than necessary, and the inherent advantages of mobile communication may be impaired.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the driver's driving margin is appropriately determined, and the smoothness of the call using the mobile communication device is not unduly disturbed and the driving comfort of the vehicle is impaired. It is an object of the present invention to provide a call control device that enables a non-call.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is mounted on an automobile to quantitatively calculate a driver's driving margin, and drive comfortably in accordance with the value of the margin. A call control system according to the driving situation of a vehicle, which controls the call between the driver and the other party so as to enable the communication.

A call control system of the present invention is a call control system for controlling a call by a mobile phone installed in a vehicle compartment of a car according to a driving condition of the car. A voice input / output unit that outputs the voice from the speaker through the speaker and also outputs the voice in the vehicle interior to the other party, and a driving condition acquisition unit that acquires the behavior of the vehicle and the information of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, A margin calculating unit that calculates the driver's driving margin from the acquired information, and a call hold based on the calculated margin,
And a call control unit for determining resumption and recording.

According to the present invention, the behavior of the vehicle and the information on the road are acquired, the margin is calculated, and the hold or resumption of the call is decided based on the calculated margin, so that the continuity of the call is significantly impaired. Therefore, it is possible to ensure both the driver's concentration on driving and the smoothness of communication.

In another aspect of the present invention, the call control system obtains and records a voice from the other party via the voice input / output unit according to the determination of the call control unit and records a predetermined voice. The configuration further includes a recording / playback unit for sending to the other party.

According to this aspect, the driver or the other party is given voice guidance to perform an operation such as holding, and the other party's message is recorded and the call control is performed such that the message is reproduced to the driver. It will be possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the driving condition acquisition unit includes means for detecting a current position of the vehicle to determine a road section on which the vehicle is traveling, and the margin calculation unit is a driver for each road section. It is provided with a first template for storing the average speed of the vehicle under load and a second template for storing the average speed of the vehicle for no road driver for each road section, which corresponds to the determined road section. The average speed when the driver is loaded and the average speed when the driver is not loaded are respectively searched from the first template and the second template, and the value obtained by dividing the searched average speed when the driver is loaded by the current speed and the current acceleration. Is divided by the maximum acceleration to calculate a first value, and the difference between the retrieved average speed when the driver is loaded and the average speed when the driver is not loaded is calculated as Calculate a second value is a value obtained by dividing the larger value, configured to calculate a margin as the product of the first value and said second value.

According to this aspect, the margin is calculated by using the average value of the vehicle speed when the driver is not loaded and the vehicle speed when the driver is loaded and the current vehicle speed corresponding to the road section that has been traveled in the past. The margin can be calculated appropriately and quantitatively without depending only on the road condition or the driving operation of the driver. Here, “during driver load” refers to a state in which the driver is driven under a pseudo load. Examples of this load include visual and auditory tasks and simple tasks. “No driver load” refers to a state in which the vehicle is traveling at an increased speed and the load is very low. For example, when the weather is good, there is little congestion and congestion, the road conditions are good, and the driver's condition is good. Also, the "first template" corresponds to the "average traveling template" described later,
The "second template" corresponds to the "high-speed average travel template".

In another aspect of the present invention, the call control unit determines that the driver's allowance is low when the allowance calculated by the allowance calculating unit is below a predetermined threshold value, and puts the call on hold. The recording / playback unit is configured to transmit a voice to the effect that the hold is started to the other party at the start of the hold and record a voice from the other party.

According to this aspect, when it is determined from the allowance that the driver's operation load is large during a call, the call is put on hold and a voice to start holding is sent. The other party can know that the driver is in a situation where he / she needs to be careful in driving, and can record a message while the driver is on hold.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the call control unit ends the call in response to the line disconnection button provided on the telephone of the other party being pressed when the call is held, and the telephone of the other party is called. It decides to start recording the message sent by the other party in response to the pressing of a predetermined button on the other side, and when there is no input from the other party's telephone, the call is held on hold and the recording / playback is performed. The section is configured to start recording the message in response to the recording decision.

According to this aspect, when the holding time becomes long, the other party can stop the call and record a message, and the driver can listen to the recorded message after the margin is restored.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the driving condition acquisition unit determines a road section ahead a predetermined distance from the current position of the vehicle, and the margin calculation unit determines a future margin corresponding to the determined road section. The call control unit compares the calculated future margin with a predetermined threshold value, and if the future margin is less than the threshold value, the call control unit puts the call on hold after a certain time. The recording / playback unit is configured to send a warning sound to the driver and the other party in response to the decision to execute the hold notice.

According to this form, in the near future (for example, 10
If it is predicted that the driving operation will be a heavy load for the driver (0 m ahead), the driver and the other party will feel in advance by executing a hold notice notifying the driver and the other party that the driver will be put on hold. By preparing for, the anxiety of being put on hold is eliminated.

In another aspect of the present invention, the driving condition acquisition unit determines a plurality of road sections ahead of a current position of the vehicle by a predetermined distance, and the margin calculation unit corresponds to the plurality of determined road sections. Then, the call control unit compares each of the calculated future margins with a predetermined threshold value and puts the call on hold in a road section in which the future margin is below the threshold value. The recording / playback unit is configured to send a warning sound to the driver and the other party in response to the decision.

According to this aspect, since the call control is executed by utilizing a plurality of margins in front of the current point, the driver and the other party are informed of the hold at the point where a truly high load is expected. Will be possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the call control unit is configured to cancel the hold announcement or hold and return to a normal call when the allowance exceeds the threshold during hold announcement or hold. To be done.

According to this aspect, if it is determined that the margin is increased after the call is put on hold and the driving operation is in a light load state, the hold is released and the call is resumed. You can allow the call to the driver.

In another aspect of the present invention, the call control unit is configured not to connect when the incoming call is received and the margin is below a predetermined threshold.

According to this aspect, whether or not to connect is determined based on the margin even when an incoming call is received, so that the driver does not have to connect the telephone when the load of driving operation is large, and the driving comfort is maintained.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a database storing a telephone number and a name in association with each other is provided, and when the call is received, the telephone number of the other party is acquired and the database is searched to retrieve the telephone number of the other party. A telephone number matching unit for acquiring a name, and a voice synthesis recognition unit for voice-synthesizing the acquired name and sending the synthesized voice to the driver via the voice input / output unit and voice-recognizing the voice of the driver's response The call control unit is configured to connect or hold the call based on a result of the voice recognition when it is determined that the driver is in a callable state based on the margin when the call is received.

According to this aspect, the driver can know the name of the other party who called before the connection, so that the driver can select the connection according to the importance of the other party. Here, the database may be an address book stored in a mobile phone or PDA, or may be stored in an external registration center or the like.

In another aspect of the present invention, the recording / playback unit records a message sent by the other party when the telephone number of the other party cannot be acquired by the telephone number matching unit, and the recorded message is sent to a driver. Is configured to be sent to.

According to this aspect, even if the telephone number is not notified or the incoming call is from a telephone number not registered in the database, the driver listens to the recorded name and determines the connection. Can be defeated.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a threshold value changing unit for replacing the threshold value with a second threshold value for a preset telephone number based on the acquired telephone number, and the call control is provided. The section is configured to compare the margin with the replaced threshold.

According to this aspect, the threshold value can be changed according to the telephone number. Therefore, even if the driver receives an incoming call from a person whom the driver thinks is important, the connection operation is performed even when the margin is relatively low, and the driver receives an incoming call from an unimportant person. The incoming call can be prevented from being connected unless the margin is high.

In another aspect of the present invention, the threshold value changing unit is configured to change the second threshold value according to a history of whether or not the driver can respond.

According to this aspect, for example, if a call is refused when a driver is requested to determine whether or not a telephone number can be connected, the threshold value of the margin for the telephone number is increased. Since the connection operation will not be performed unless there is a comparatively high margin at the time of incoming calls after the next time, it is possible to reduce the frequency of requesting the driver to determine whether or not connection is possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a call control system for controlling a call between a person-to-speech system using a mobile phone installed in a passenger compartment of an automobile according to a driving condition of the automobile. A voice input / output unit that is connected to a mobile phone and sends a voice from the voice compatible system through a speaker during a call and collects a voice in a vehicle compartment and sends the voice to the voice compatible system; Driving status acquisition unit that acquires information about existing roads, margin calculation unit that calculates the driving margin of the driver from the acquired information, and hold, resume, and record a call based on the calculated margin A call control unit for performing a call, a recording / playback unit for acquiring and recording a voice from the voice compatible system via the voice input / output unit according to the determination of the call control unit, Distillate, restart, the voice response system to send a signal corresponding to the voice response system to notice composed of a signal transmitting unit to dynamically change the sequence in response to said signal.

According to the present invention, call control can be executed even if the call partner is not a person but a system such as a voice guidance system. By transmitting the signal of the reservation notice to the voice-enabled system, it is possible to avoid the suspension during the question and answer or the information notification. Further, by notifying the voice-supporting system of the hold signal, it is possible for the voice-supporting system to know up to what information the driver has been notified.

In another form of the invention, the signal is a PB signal.

According to this aspect, the cost can be reduced by using the PB sound that can flow through the same line as the call voice, and the conversation voice and the PB sound reach the voice compatible system in the order in which they are generated. Can be easily synchronized.

In another aspect of the present invention, the signal is a packet.

According to this aspect, by using the packet, it becomes possible to transmit more information to the voice compliant system.

[0040]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of the embodiment of FIG.

The operation status acquisition unit 10 includes a sensor (not shown),
And the navigation system, the speed of the car,
Acquire data such as acceleration, road environment, and topography. The allowance calculation unit 12 calculates the allowance for driving the driver based on the acquired data. The margin calculating unit 12 calculates the margin of the current point and also calculates the future margin of the point a predetermined distance away. These calculation methods will be described later.

The call controller 14 compares the allowance calculated by the allowance calculator 12 when an incoming call is received with a predetermined threshold,
It is determined whether the driver's conversation does not affect driving comfort. This predetermined threshold value is set in advance by experiments or the like in consideration of the load of the call on the driver. The threshold may be variable as described later. Further, the call control unit 14 transmits a signal corresponding to the start, hold, restart, etc. of the call to the voice processing unit 16 and the input / output unit 18 based on this determination result. Specifically, when receiving a call,
When the driver has a call, if there is a margin that does not impair the driving comfort, the call is started. If the margin decreases during the call, a hold notice is given, and the call is put on hold after a lapse of a predetermined time. Also, when the margin is restored during the hold, the hold is released and the call can be resumed.

While on hold, a signal for instructing to record a message is transmitted to the voice processing unit 16 in response to a predetermined operation on the other party's telephone (for example, pressing a hook button or a numeric button). To do. When the hold is released, a signal is transmitted to the voice processing unit 16 so that the message recorded during the hold is played back to the driver.

The call control unit 14 entrusts the driver with the decision as to whether or not to answer when receiving a call. At this time, the voice processing unit 16
A signal for sending a predetermined guidance voice is sent to the driver, and it is determined whether or not to make a connection according to the result of recognition by the voice synthesis recognition unit 24, which will be described later, of the driver's switch (not shown) operation or the voice produced by the driver. .

The voice processing unit 16 includes a recording / playback unit 22 and a voice synthesis recognition unit 24. The recording / playback unit 22 sends a predetermined guide voice to the voice input / output unit 20 in response to a signal from the call control unit 14. The guidance voice is a voice such as "I will hold for a while" at the time of holding. This voice data is created by selecting voice data stored in a memory (not shown) according to a signal from the call control unit 14. Alternatively, it is created by voice-synthesizing a pre-recorded sentence by the voice-synthesis recognition unit 24 according to a signal from the call control unit 14.

The recording / playback unit 22 also receives and records a message from the other party via the voice input / output unit 18 in response to a signal from the call control unit 14. The recorded message is sent to the voice input / output unit 18 according to the signal from the call control unit 14.
Played to the driver via.

The communication section 20 carries out a dialogue between the driver and the other party through a telephone line. Specifically, mobile phones, PH
It is a mobile communication terminal such as S or PDA.

The input / output unit 18 causes the voice from the communication unit 20 to flow into the vehicle compartment through a speaker (not shown), collects the voice emitted by the driver with a microphone (not shown), and sends the voice to the communication unit 20. Further, the guidance voice from the recording / playback unit 22 is sent to the communication unit 20, or is played through the speaker into the vehicle interior.
The message that the other party inputs while the call is on hold
Passed to.

The telephone number matching unit 26 includes a database that stores telephone numbers and names in association with each other. When the call is received, the telephone number of the other party is acquired, and the name of the other party is acquired by searching the database. The acquired name of the other party is passed to the voice synthesis recognition unit 24, where the voice is synthesized and sent to the driver.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a concrete vehicle mounting of the call control system 2.

The input / output unit 48 is installed in the passenger compartment of the automobile, and includes a microphone 42 for collecting the driver's voice, a speaker 44 for transmitting the call voice and ringtone of the mobile phone 40, a recorded message and the like to the driver. Are connected. Input / output section
The 48 is provided with a hands-free unit 50 for connecting the mobile phone 40 so that it can be connected and disconnected. Hands-free unit 50
Has a function of performing operations such as answering, holding, resuming, and disconnecting according to a signal from the call control unit 74, without using button operations of the mobile phone 40. This allows the driver 38
Can answer the phone call without manually operating the mobile phone 40.

The vehicle-mounted computer 80 is, for example, a computer such as a personal computer or a microcomputer, and has a navigation system as a part of its function.
Including 82. The navigation system 82 can detect the current position of the vehicle from the GPS signal received from the antenna (not shown) and the map data stored in the memory (not shown), and can prefetch the map data in the traveling direction of the vehicle. It is configured.

The control unit 70 and the voice processing unit 84 are computers such as personal computers and microcomputers, and these are mounted on the in-vehicle computer 80 via the in-vehicle LAN.
Connected with.

The control unit 70 includes a call control unit 74 and a telephone number matching unit 76. The functions of the call control unit 74 and the telephone number matching unit 76 are the same as those described with reference to FIG.

The telephone number matching unit 76 includes a database of telephone numbers and their corresponding names. In another embodiment, it may be configured to reference the address book data in the cell phone 40. Alternatively, the database may be stored in a data center outside the vehicle and referred to by data communication. By using the data registered in the center, cooperation with other systems such as a scheduler can be realized.

The voice processing unit 84 is connected to the input / output unit 48 so as to be able to transmit and receive a voice signal. The voice processing unit 84 includes a recording / playback unit 86 and a voice synthesis recognition unit 86, and their functions are the same as those described with reference to FIG.

A switch 46 is provided on the steering of the automobile. When the driver 38 operates this, a signal is sent to the input / output unit 48, so that the call control unit 74 can answer the question of whether or not to answer the incoming call. The switch can be arranged at any place in the vehicle compartment other than the steering wheel.

The driver 38 can answer the question asked by the call control unit 74 through the microphone 42 in addition to operating the steering switch 46. The voice collected by the microphone 42 is sent to the voice synthesis recognition unit 88 via the input / output unit 48 and is voice recognized. The voice synthesis recognition unit 88 determines the driver's intention from the voice recognition result, and transmits the result to the call control unit 74.

Steering sensor 64, brake sensor 6
The six- and three-axis acceleration sensor 66 is connected to the margin calculating unit 60, and provides the margin calculating unit 58 with signals corresponding to the steering angle of the steering wheel, the brake depression amount, and the vehicle acceleration, respectively. Furthermore, electronic control unit (ECU) 62
Is connected to the margin calculation unit 58 and provides data such as the vehicle speed of the automobile.

The margin calculating section 58 uses the signals from the respective sensors and the data from the navigation system 82 to drive the driver at the current position and the future position of the vehicle.
Calculate the margin for driving 38.

The margin calculation section 58 has a margin template 60 which stores vehicle speed data on a certain road section once the vehicle travels on a certain road. The margin template 60 includes a high-speed average traveling template and an average traveling template.

The high-speed average traveling template is used when the vehicle is traveling at a high speed and the load is very low (for example, the weather is good, there is little congestion or congestion, the road conditions are good, and the driver's condition is This is a template in which the average speed of the vehicle speed data of the vehicle when the driver drives the vehicle is recorded when the driver drives the vehicle. The average travel template is a template in which the average speed of the vehicle speed data of the vehicle when the driver is driven by applying a certain pseudo load (hereinafter referred to as “when the driver is loaded”) is recorded. Examples of pseudo loads include tasks for sight and hearing and simple tasks.

Vehicle speed data with no driver and with driver load are recorded in a high-speed average travel template and an average travel template, respectively, in association with the distance from the start point of the section for each appropriately divided road section. .
Generally, when traveling on the same road section, the vehicle speed data of the high speed average travel template is larger than the vehicle speed data of the average travel template.

When the navigation system 82 detects the current position of the automobile and determines the road section on which the vehicle is traveling, the margin calculation unit 58 determines the average speed when the driver is loaded and the driver-free average speed corresponding to the road section. The average speed is retrieved from the average travel template and the high speed average travel template, respectively, and the driver's margin is calculated by the formula described later.

The configuration shown in FIG. 2 is an example, and it goes without saying that another configuration can be adopted. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the control unit 70, the in-vehicle computer 80, and the voice processing unit 84
Although configured separately, they can be integrated into a single computer. Further, the sensor information used for calculating the margin is not limited to the above, and a sensor for detecting the driver's tension or the like may be provided, for example.

<Margin Calculation Method> The margin A is calculated by the margin calculator 12 by the following equation.

[0068]

[Equation 1] Here, f _c is an environmental factor determined by static factors including road map data and traveling history and dynamic factors including weather, road surface conditions, and driving conditions of other vehicles, and f _h is an individual driving factor. It is a human factor determined by the degree of experience and concentration of driving,
f _m is a vehicle-specific factor that is determined from the difference of vehicle behavior due to vehicle type. However, in the present embodiment, only static factors among environmental factors are considered, and f _h and f _m are considered to be 1.

In this case, the margin A is defined by the following equation.

[0070]

[Equation 2] Here, V is the actual vehicle speed, Vh is the vehicle speed of the high-speed average travel template, Va is the vehicle speed of the average travel template,
G represents the acceleration of the automobile, and the subscript c represents the current position.

In the equation (2), the first term represents the road environment factor term, the second term represents the vehicle behavior factor term, and the third term represents the road environment prefetch factor term. Hereinafter, these terms will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the vehicle speed Vh of the high-speed average travel template, the vehicle speed Va of the average travel template, and the actual vehicle speed V of the vehicle in a certain road section. The vertical axis represents speed (km / h), and the horizontal axis represents the reaching distance (m) from the start point of the road section.

The road environment factor term takes into consideration fixed factors such as road width, slope, road surface condition, and line-of-sight. In equation (2), the difference between the speeds of the high-speed average traveling template and the average traveling template is calculated. Maximum value (max (Vh- in Figure 3
And va)), expressed as the ratio of the difference between the present point speed of the current point speed and the average running template (Vh _c -Va c in FIG. ₃₎ of the fast average running templates. For example, A in FIG.
At the point, the road environment factor term becomes large because the difference between Vh and Va is large, and at point B, the road environment factor term becomes small because Vh and Va do not change much.

The point where this term is large (point A) corresponds to a straight line section or the like, and at such a point, the difference between the vehicle speeds when the driver is not loaded and when the driver is loaded is large, so the margin is increased. Acts like. On the other hand, a point where the road environment factor term is small (point B) is specifically a steep curve or a place where visibility is poor and driving load increases. Since the difference in vehicle speed under load is considered to be small, it acts to reduce the margin.

The vehicle behavior factor term represents how much speed is currently traveling in a fixed road environment. In equation (2), the average traveling template and the current actual vehicle are used. Expressed as a ratio to speed. When the actual vehicle speed V increases with respect to the average traveling template speed Va at point A,
The margin decreases. This is because it is considered that the actual vehicle speed becomes higher than the average traveling template speed when the vehicle is in a hurry.

The road environment prefetch factor term is the acceleration that the driver operates according to the road condition ahead obtained from the visual information.
It is a ratio with the maximum acceleration in the road section. When the driver determines that the road is not crowded, it is considered that the acceleration is increased by stepping on the accelerator (for example, point A). Therefore, this term becomes large and acts to increase the margin. On the contrary, when the driver determines that caution is required because the road is congested or there are obstacles, etc., the brake pedal is depressed to decrease the acceleration (for example, B
Point), this term becomes smaller and acts to reduce the margin.

Therefore, the margin increases when the road is straight, when the road is not in a hurry, or when the road is thin. On the contrary, when the road is curved, the speed is high, or the road is congested. The margin value becomes smaller.

FIG. 4 shows the calculation result of the margin when the data shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. It can be seen from FIG. 4 that the margin at the point A is large and the margin at the point B is small. As described above, by using the equation (2), it is possible to appropriately quantify the driver's margin for driving at the present location.

Next, a method for estimating the future margin at a point a predetermined distance ahead will be described. Performing a hold notice to notify the driver and the other party of the call beforehand that the call may be put on hold in the future by estimating the margin at a predetermined distance (for example, when reaching 100 m). Will be possible.

The margin x [m] ahead is calculated by the following equation.

[0081]

[Equation 3] Here, the subscript c + x represents a point x [m] ahead of the current point.

[0082] formula (3), with respect to the second term, the driver would be considered a also maintains future traveling pace of current, placing a _{Va c + x / V c +} x = Va c / V c. Regarding the third term, since the road environment prefetch factor cannot be considered at the current location, G _{c + x} / max (G) = 1
And put. Therefore, the margin A _{c + x} ahead of x [m] is expressed by the following equation.

[0083]

[Equation 4]

Calculating the margin degree quantitatively as described above has the following advantages. That is, even if the road has a steep curve as judged from the map data, if the traveling speed under load does not decrease much from the speed under no load, the margin is increased and the call is not put on hold. If there is an obstacle or the like that is not recorded in the map data, the acceleration is reduced and the margin is reduced. As described above, the call control can be performed more appropriately than the method of determining the hold of the call only by comparing the fixed condition.

When the threshold value of the margin calculated as described above is judged, if the judgment is made only by the margin at a certain point, the threshold value is momentarily dropped for a very short period, but otherwise the threshold value is greatly exceeded. In such cases, the call may be controlled against the driver's intention. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a plurality of margins of a road section that is a predetermined distance ahead from the current point and perform a threshold determination for each margin. With this configuration, it is possible to give advance notice to the driver that the vehicle will be suspended at a point where a high load is expected. In addition, in a driving environment in which the margin frequently goes up and down around the threshold, in order to avoid re-entering the hold announcement or hold as soon as the call is resumed, multiple future margins are also used in the judgment of resumption. Can be used.

<Description of Operation> Next, the operation of the call control system 2 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. Referring to FIG. 2 together, the case where the caller 32 uses the telephone 34 to call the mobile phone 40 in the vehicle driven by the driver 38 will be described below.

In FIG. 5, when an incoming call to a mobile phone is detected (101), the telephone number of the person who made the call (caller 32) is recorded (103), and the name of the caller is retrieved from the recorded telephone number. Yes (104). Next, the margin of the driver 38 at the local point calculated by the margin calculating device 60 is acquired (105). Then I told my partner "Yes XX. I am driving now. Please wait for a while until connecting "and give a voice guidance saying" 107 ".

The obtained margin is compared with a predetermined threshold value to judge whether the driver 38 can currently make a call (109). If the call cannot be made, the process proceeds to step 163 in FIG. 7 to hold the call. If the call is available, the process proceeds to step 111.

The caller name retrieved in step 104 is voice-synthesized, and a voice saying "I'm calling from Mr. XX" is played through the speaker in the car (111). When the driver 38 accepts the response by operating the steering switch 46 or by recognizing the voice of the driver 38 (113), the call is established and the driver 38 talks to the caller 32 (115). ). Caller 3 if driver rejects response
To record the second message, proceed to step 187 of FIG.

During a call, the allowance determination unit 74 acquires the allowance from the allowance calculation unit 60 in a fixed cycle, and determines whether or not the hold preparation should be performed (11
7). If the margin is not low and it is not necessary to prepare for the hold, the call continues (115). When it is determined that the reserve is low and it is necessary to prepare for hold (preliminary notice of hold), a warning sound that warns that the hold may be executed in the near future is sent to both the driver 38 and the caller 32. Yes (119). This warning sound becomes louder as time passes. An appropriate message may be played instead of the warning sound.

If it is determined that the margin increases and exceeds the threshold value before the predetermined time elapses (for example, less than 10 calls) and the call can be resumed (121), the sending of the warning sound is stopped. (123), the call is resumed (115). If the margin remains below the threshold even after the lapse of a predetermined time, the comfort of driving is reduced and the call is put on hold (125). This only cuts off the voice between the passenger compartment and the caller, and does not disconnect the telephone line. Then, it progresses to step 127 in order to perform a holding operation.

From the continuous future allowance estimated by the allowance calculator 60, the pending duration time T is predicted, and it is determined whether this time becomes a predetermined time, for example, 60 seconds or more.
(127). If the predicted holding time T is less than 60 seconds, the sender 3
2 "I will hold for a while. You can record a message by pressing the "1" button "(129).
When the estimated holding time T is 60 seconds or more, "Hold for a considerable time. You can record a message by pressing the "1" button. "(131).

It is determined whether or not the allowance has become higher than the threshold value during the hold (133). When the margin is higher than the threshold, the process proceeds to step 123, the hold is released and the call is resumed. If the margin remains low, it is determined whether the "1" button indicating the intention of the sender 32 to record the message has been pressed (135). When the "1" button is pressed, the message shown in FIG.
Proceed to step 139 of. If the "1" button has not been pressed, it is determined whether the caller 32 has disconnected the telephone line (137). If the line is disconnected, the call is ended, and if not disconnected, the process returns to step 133 and the hold is continued.

When recording a message, the caller 32 hears a voice saying "please insert message within 20 seconds" (FIG. 5, 139). Then, the caller's message is recorded (141).

The recorded message is reproduced by the driver 38. First, it is determined whether or not the driver's margin is high enough to listen to the message (143). If the margin is not high, this determination is repeated. When the margin becomes high, it is judged whether or not the message is recorded (145). If it is recorded, the driver is given a voice guidance saying "Play Mr. ○○ 's message". The message is played (147), the recorded message is reproduced (149), and the process proceeds to step 151. If the message is not recorded, the process goes directly to step 151.

A judgment is made as to whether or not to resume the call (15
3) Therefore, "Do you call again?" ”” Is played (151). Driver 38 has steering switch 4
If the driver decides not to redial by operating 6 or by recognizing the voice of the driver 38, the call ends. If the driver chooses to redial,
Release the hold between the passenger compartment and the caller 32 (155), send a voice saying "I'm calling Mr. XX" to the driver 38 (157), and see if the connection is possible. Judgment of (15
9). If connection is possible, proceed to step 115 in FIG.
The call is resumed. If the specified time-out period has elapsed, or if the caller 32 has already disconnected the line, the connection cannot be established. Therefore, the driver saying "Mr. XX cannot answer the call" is output to the driver. (161) and terminate the process.

If it is determined in step 109 of FIG. 5 that the driver cannot currently make a call, the holding operation is started in step 163 and thereafter.

From the continuous future allowance estimated by the allowance calculator 60, the pending duration time T is predicted, and it is determined whether this time becomes a predetermined time, for example, 60 seconds or more.
(163). If the predicted holding time T is less than 60 seconds, the sender 3
2 "I will hold for a while. You can record a message by pressing the "1" button "(165).
When the estimated holding time T is 60 seconds or more, "Hold for a considerable time. You can record a message by pressing the “1” button ”(167).

It is judged whether or not the allowance has become higher than the threshold value during the hold (169). If the margin is higher than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step 111 described above, and the driver is asked to confirm the acceptance of the call. If the margin remains low, it is determined whether or not the "1" button indicating the intention of the sender 32 to record the message has been pressed (171). When the "1" button is pressed, the process proceeds to step 175 to execute the message recording. If the "1" button has not been pressed, it is determined whether the caller 32 has disconnected the telephone line (173). If the line is disconnected, the call is ended, and if not disconnected, the process returns to step 169 and the hold is continued.

When recording a message, the caller 32 hears a voice saying "please insert message within 10 seconds" (175). Then, the message of the caller 32 is recorded (177).

The recorded message is reproduced to the driver 38. First, it is determined whether or not the driver's margin is high enough to listen to the message (179). If the margin is not high, this determination is repeated. When the margin is recovered, it is judged whether or not the message is recorded (181), and if it is recorded, "Mr. ○○ has called you. There will be a message, so I will play it. "
(183) Then, the recorded message is reproduced (185), and the process proceeds to the above-mentioned step 151 in order to confirm the intention of reconnection to the driver 38. If the message is not recorded, the process goes directly to step 151.

If the driver rejects the response at step 113 of FIG. 5, the caller 32 is sent to the caller 32 at step 187 of FIG.
"I can't connect now. You can record a message by pressing the "1" button "(187).
Then, it is determined whether or not the "1" button indicating the intention of the sender 32 to record the message has been pressed (189).
When the "1" button is pressed, the process proceeds to step 175 and the message is recorded. When the "1" button is not pressed, it is determined whether the caller 32 gives up the call and disconnects the telephone line (191). If the line is not disconnected, it is confirmed again whether the PB has been pushed (1
89), if the line is disconnected, end this process.

Although the process when the call is received from the caller 32 is shown above, the call control system of the present invention is
It has the same function when making a call from the driver 38 side. In this case, the call is started without the steps 101 to 113 in FIG. However, the subsequent operations such as reservation notice, reservation, message recording / playback, and reconnection are performed in the same manner as the above process.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the execution status of the above process in time series.

When there is a call request from the other party (t1) and the telephone number is notified (t2), the margin is acquired (t3). If the margin is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the driver is asked by voice guidance whether or not to respond (t4). When the driver gives an affirmative reply (or an answer by the steering switch) (t6), the call control system connects the telephone line with the other party (t7) and the call is made. The call control system compares the margin with the threshold in a fixed cycle, and when the margin falls below the threshold and some caution is required, the alarm sound starts to be sent (t8). During this period, the warning sound to the other party of the call gradually increases (t8 to t9). If the margin becomes lower or a predetermined time (for example, 10 calls) elapses, the hold is started (t9). When the margin becomes higher than the threshold within a predetermined time (t10), the call is restarted (t11).

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 9 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the embodiment of FIG. Figure 1
In addition to the above configuration, the second embodiment includes a threshold value changing unit 28. The threshold changing unit 28 is a telephone number matching unit when receiving a call.
A telephone number (or caller name) is acquired from 26, and for the telephone number (or name) preselected by the driver, a second threshold value lower than the normal threshold value for margin determination is set to the call control unit. Providing to 14. The call control unit 14 determines whether or not to accept the response based on the provided threshold value.

With this configuration, an incoming call from the other party considered important by the driver can be connected even when the margin is relatively low, and conversely, a telephone number that is not registered in the database or is not so important even if it is registered. For an incoming call, it is possible to prevent the connection unless the margin is relatively high.

In FIG. 9, the threshold changing unit 28 may change the threshold according to the result of the response confirmation of the driver. Specifically, the threshold changing unit 28 monitors the process from the incoming call to the confirmation of acceptance of the driver's response, and when the driver rejects the response to a certain telephone number, the threshold value of the margin for that telephone number. Is increased by a predetermined value. The threshold changing unit 28 has learned the threshold for each telephone number that has arrived in the past, and next time when there is an incoming call from a telephone number that has received an incoming call, the learned threshold is used to determine whether or not to respond (Fig. 5, step 109).

With this configuration, an incoming call from a telephone number that the driver determines is not important will not be connected unless the margin is relatively high.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a concrete example of the third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the other party system control signal transmitting unit 90 is included, and the other party of the call is not only a person as described above, but also a voice portal or a CT.
A voice-enabled system 92 such as I is included.

[0111] The partner system control signal transmitter 90 sends a signal notifying the partner system that holding or notice of holding is being performed, when controlling the call of the partner of the voice compatible system. As a result, the other party's voice-enabled system can dynamically change the sequence such as holding the state to prepare for resumption, or putting the state on hold after finishing the question and answer being executed.

An example of the signal sent by the partner system control signal sending section 90 is a PB sound. In this case, the operation on the call control system side in advance (hold notice, hold, resume, etc.)
And a specific PB sound are associated with each other, and this correspondence relationship is also stored in the partner system. When an event such as a hold notice occurs while the driver is conducting a voice conversation with the system on the other side, the control signal transmitting unit 90 calls the PB sound corresponding to the occurred event to the system on the other side. Send to the same telephone line that you are using. Then, the PB sound and the dialogue voice reach the partner system in the order in which they are generated. Therefore,
Since the other party system knows at what timing during the dialogue the event corresponding to the PB sound occurred, it can decide where to hold the dialogue sequence and in what state to wait for the dialogue restart. it can.

The use of PB sound has the advantage that only a telephone line is required between the call control system and the partner system, and both systems need not consider the synchronization of signal transmission / reception.

Another example of the signal transmitted by the counterpart system control signal transmitting section 90 is a packet. In this case, a data line is required in addition to the telephone line between the mobile phone and the voice compatible system of the other party. Events on the call control system side (preliminary notice of hold, hold, resumption, etc.) and data contents sent in packets are associated in advance, and this correspondence relationship is also stored in the partner system. When an event such as an advance notice of hold occurs while the driver is conducting a voice conversation with the system on the other side, the control signal transmitting section 90 causes the packet on the other side to send a packet of data content corresponding to the generated self-proclaim through the data line. Stream to system. Then, voice arrives on the telephone line and packets arrive on the other side system on the data line. At this time, a time stamp is added to the packet or a dialogue state number at the time of occurrence of an event is added so that the voice and the packet can be synchronized with each other at the receiving system.

The use of packets requires both a telephone line and a data line, but much information can be sent to the partner system.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to these embodiments, and appropriate modifications and substitutions can be made within the scope of the present invention.

[0117]

According to the present invention, by providing means for appropriately quantifying the driver's margin based on the driving situation, the continuity of a call is not significantly impaired.
It is possible to ensure both the driver's concentration on driving and the smoothness of calls. In addition, at the time of holding, a voice to start holding is sent out, and recording and disconnection can be performed according to the operation of the other party's telephone, so the other party is in a situation where the driver needs to be careful when driving. You can find out, stop the call or record a message when the hold time is long. The driver can listen to the recorded message after the room is restored.

Further, by providing a means for predicting the future margin, it is possible to give a notice of holding that the holding is planned to be put on hold in the near future, so that the driver and the other party prepare in advance for feelings. You can

Further, by providing a means for changing the threshold value for the margin determination according to the telephone number of the other party, it becomes possible to perform the call control according to the importance of the other party.

Further, by providing a means for transmitting a signal corresponding to an operation such as holding or notice of holding to the other party system, even if the other party is a voice response system such as a voice portal or CTI, the call control of the present invention is performed. The system can be used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a call control system.

FIG. 3 is a graph for explaining the concept of margin.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing an example of a margin calculation result.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an embodiment of the call control system of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart continuing from FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart continuing from FIGS. 5 and 6;

8 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence when a call is resumed after being held in the call control system of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an example of the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Operation status acquisition unit 12, 58 Margin calculator 14, 74 Call control unit 16, 84 Voice processing unit 18, 48 I / O section 20 Communications department 22,86 Recording / playback section 24, 88 Speech synthesis recognition section 28 Threshold change unit 38 driver 40 mobile phones 42 microphone 44 speaker 46 steering switch 50 handsfree unit 60 Margin Template 62 ECU 68 Accelerometer 70 Control unit 80 Onboard computer 82 navigation system 90 Opponent system control signal transmitter 92 audio support system

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hiroshi Uematsu             1-4-1 Chuo Stock Market, Wako City, Saitama Prefecture             Inside Honda Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Kentaro Yamada             1-4-1 Chuo Stock Market, Wako City, Saitama Prefecture             Inside Honda Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Yukari Tsuji             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Yosuke Arakane             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 3D020 BA07 BC03 BD03 BE03                 5K027 AA11 AA16 DD00 HH26                 5K067 AA35 BB03 EE02 FF03 FF32                       FF35 FF36 FF38 FF40 GG06                       JJ51 LL01

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A call control system for controlling a call by a mobile phone installed in a vehicle compartment according to a driving condition of the car, wherein the speaker is connected to the mobile phone to output a voice from the other party during a call. A voice input / output unit that transmits and collects the voice in the vehicle compartment and sends it to the other side, a driving status acquisition unit that acquires the behavior of the vehicle and information about the road on which the vehicle is running, and a driver from the acquired information. A call control system that includes a allowance calculation unit that calculates a driving allowance and a call control unit that determines whether to hold, resume, or record a call based on the calculated allowance. 2. The call control system according to claim 1, further comprising a recording / playback unit that acquires and records a voice from the other party via the voice input / output unit and sends a predetermined voice to the other party. . 3. The driving condition acquisition unit includes means for detecting a current position of the vehicle to determine a road section on which the vehicle is traveling, and the margin calculation unit is an average of the vehicle when a driver is loaded for each road section. It is provided with a first template for storing the speed and a second template for storing the average speed of the vehicle when the driver is not loaded for each road section, and the average speed when the driver is loaded corresponding to the determined road section. And the average speed when the driver is not loaded is searched from the first template and the second template respectively, and the value obtained by dividing the searched average speed when the driver is loaded by the current speed and the current acceleration by the maximum acceleration A first value that is a product of the calculated values is calculated, and is a value obtained by dividing the difference between the retrieved average speed when the driver is loaded and the average speed when the driver is not loaded by the maximum value of the difference. The 2 value is calculated, to calculate the margin as the product of the first value and said second value, the call control system of claim 2 that. 4. The call control unit determines that the driver's allowance is low when the allowance calculated by the allowance calculator is below a predetermined threshold, and puts the call on hold. The call control system according to claim 2, wherein when the holding is started, a voice indicating that the holding is started is transmitted to the other party and a voice from the other party is recorded. 5. The call control unit terminates the call in response to the line disconnection button provided on the other party's telephone being pressed when the call is held, and a predetermined number provided on the other party's telephone. When the button on the other side is pressed, it decides to start recording the message sent by the other party, and when there is no input from the other party's telephone, the call is kept on hold, and the recording / playback unit decides the recording. The call control system according to claim 4, wherein the recording of the message is started in response to the call. 6. The driving condition acquisition unit determines a road section that is a predetermined distance ahead of the current position of the automobile, the margin calculation unit calculates a future margin corresponding to the determined road section, The call control unit compares the calculated future margin with a predetermined threshold value, and if the future margin is less than the threshold value, decides to execute a hold notice to put the call on hold after a certain period of time. The call control system according to claim 3, wherein the recording / playback unit sends a warning sound to the driver and the other party according to the determination. 7. The driving condition acquisition unit determines road sections ahead of the current position of the vehicle by a predetermined distance, and the margin calculation unit calculates future margins corresponding to the plurality of determined road sections. Each of them is calculated, and the call control unit compares the calculated future margins with a predetermined threshold value and executes a reservation notice to put the call on hold in a road section where the future margin level is below the threshold value. 4. The call control system according to claim 3, wherein the recording / playback unit sends a warning sound to the driver and the other party according to the determination. 8. The call controller releases the hold announcement or hold and returns to a normal call when the margin exceeds the threshold during hold announcement or hold.
The call control system according to any one of 5, 6, or 7. 9. The call control unit does not connect when the incoming call is received and the margin is below the threshold value.
The call control system according to claim 3. 10. A telephone number having a database that stores a telephone number and a name in association with each other, the telephone number of the other party being obtained by acquiring the telephone number of the other party when a call arrives and searching the database. The call control unit further includes a matching unit and a voice synthesis recognition unit that performs voice synthesis of the acquired name and sends the synthesized voice to the driver via the voice input / output unit, and voice-recognizes the voice of the response of the driver. The call control system according to claim 9, wherein when the driver determines that the driver is in a callable state based on the margin when receiving the call, the call is connected or held based on the result of the voice recognition. 11. The recording / playback unit records a message issued by the other party when the telephone number of the other party cannot be obtained by the telephone number matching unit, and sends the recorded message to a driver. 10. The call control system according to item 10. 12. A threshold changing unit for replacing the threshold value with a second threshold value for a preset telephone number based on the acquired telephone number, and the call control unit has the replaced threshold value. The call control system according to any one of claims 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, wherein the call control system is compared with a margin. 13. The call control system according to claim 11, wherein the threshold value changing unit changes the second threshold value according to a history of whether or not the driver can respond. 14. A call control system for controlling a call between a person-to-voice correspondence system by a mobile phone installed in a vehicle compartment of an automobile in accordance with a driving situation of the automobile, wherein the call control system is connected to the mobile phone to make a call during the call. A voice input / output unit that outputs voice from a voice-enabled system through a speaker and collects voice in the vehicle interior and sends it to the voice-enabled system; driving for acquiring behavior of the vehicle and information on a road on which the vehicle is running A situation acquisition unit, a margin calculation unit that calculates the driver's driving margin from the acquired information, a call control unit that determines whether to hold, resume, or record a call based on the calculated margin, A recording / playback unit for acquiring and recording a voice from the voice compatible system via the voice input / output unit according to the decision of the call control unit, and a call holding / resume / notification for the call. Call control system signals are transmitted to the voice-enabled system voice response system including, a signal transmitting unit to dynamically change the sequence in response to the signal to. 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the signal is a PB tone. 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the signal is a packet.