JPWO2014049719A1 - Audio output device - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the voice output device of the present invention, it is automatically determined whether or not a voice output of a sentence (text) is possible based on not only various conditions in the vehicle (vehicle state) but also the source of the text information from the outside and its contents. Therefore, the privacy of the driver during driving can be protected and information transmission can be realized safely and in a desirable state for the driver.

Description

  The present invention relates to a voice output device having a function of reading out characters (text) by voice.

A conventional general TTS (Text to Speech) function is a method in which characters (text) are read out by a synthesized voice set in advance, and may be installed in a multifunctional car multimedia device in recent years. It is done.
However, the conventional general TTS function does not take into account the driving state of the vehicle and the driving situation of the driver, and is read out unconditionally even during high-speed movement, driving on a curve or on rough roads. There was a problem of distracting attention and that it could cause accidents due to complicated operations, and the driver's safety was not considered.

  In order to solve such a problem, for example, Patent Document 1 includes a vehicle riding state, a vehicle running state, a vehicle accessory operation state, a weather state, a driver driving state, a vehicle position, and the like. Accordingly, a car navigation device capable of ensuring driving safety by notifying the driver in an appropriate notification form is disclosed, and according to the above conditions, for example, a function of reading a mail is read out. It is described that it has.

  Further, for example, in Patent Document 2, in an information communication device that provides information such as e-mail, news, weather, traffic information, etc., depending on the presence / absence of a passenger, the display of the contents of the mail is displayed as only the incoming mail information. It is disclosed that reading can be prohibited and output can be limited depending on who the passenger is.

JP 2001-141475 A JP 2004-213175 A

  However, in conventional devices such as Patent Documents 1 and 2, only whether or not to read out e-mails or the like is determined according to the presence or absence of a passenger, the running state of the vehicle, etc. For a user who uses the TTS function, whether or not he / she wants to read a text such as an email often depends on the sender of the email and the content of the email. That is, in the conventional apparatus, there is a problem that the sender of the mail and the content of the mail are not considered, and the reading is not necessarily performed in a state desirable for the user.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and based on not only various conditions in the vehicle (vehicle state) but also the text information from the outside and the content of the text ( An object of the present invention is to provide an audio output device capable of automatically determining whether or not (text) audio output is possible and reading it out.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a passenger information acquisition unit for acquiring presence / absence of a passenger and a text information acquisition unit for acquiring external text information in an audio output device mounted on a vehicle device. A control unit that instructs the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit to be read out by voice; a dictionary storage unit that stores a source of the read-out “no” by the voice or a keyword of “no” to be read out; A voice output unit that reads out the text information by voice in accordance with an instruction from the control unit, wherein the control unit is a case where an acquisition result by the passenger information acquisition unit is a passenger, and the text information The source of the text information acquired by the acquisition unit is included in the source of the reading “No” stored in the dictionary storage unit, or When the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit includes the keyword “No” read out stored in the dictionary storage unit, the text information is voiced to the voice output unit. The process is terminated without giving an instruction to read out.

  According to the voice output device of the present invention, it is automatically determined whether or not a voice output of a sentence (text) is possible based on not only various conditions in the vehicle (vehicle state) but also the source of the text information from the outside and its contents. Therefore, the privacy of the driver during driving can be protected and information transmission can be realized safely and in a desirable state for the driver.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an internal configuration of the audio output device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the audio output device according to Embodiment 1. It is an example of a transmission source list of reading “No”.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a sound output apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. This audio output device is mounted on an in-vehicle device, and includes a vehicle information acquisition unit 1, an audio information acquisition unit 2, an analog signal acquisition unit 3, a passenger information acquisition unit 4, a text information acquisition unit 5, and an input unit. 6, the dictionary memory | storage part 7, the display part 8, the audio | voice output part 9, and the control part 10 are provided. Then, it is not necessary for the driving driver to check the display unit 8 or the like from the external text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit 5, and information transmission is realized safely to the driver. Is.

The vehicle information acquisition unit 1 acquires various types of vehicle information such as a vehicle speed, a steering state, a parking state, a brake state, a window state, and the like based on, for example, a CAN (Controller Area Network) signal from the vehicle.
The audio information acquisition unit 2 acquires sound source information from an audio device such as a CD or a DVD.
The analog signal acquisition unit 3 acquires an analog signal from FM / AM or the like.

In addition, the vehicle information acquisition unit 1, the audio information acquisition unit 2, and the analog signal acquisition unit 3 constitute a vehicle state acquisition unit 11.
That is, the vehicle state acquisition unit 11 has various vehicle conditions such as various vehicle information, sound source information from audio equipment, analog signals from FM / AM, and the like, such as a running state of the vehicle and a noise state in the vehicle. Is something to get.

The passenger information acquisition unit 4 acquires the presence / absence information of a passenger detected by a sensor such as a load sensor or a camera built in the back of the seat or the seat.
The text information acquisition unit 5 acquires text information from an e-mail, a website, or the like via the Internet.
The input unit 6 acquires an input signal input by a user via an operation key, an operation button, a touch panel, or the like. The user can perform various operations via the input unit 6.

The dictionary storage unit 7 holds a source list (see FIG. 3) of text reading “No” and an NG word dictionary (not shown) set in advance via the input unit 6.
The display unit 8 is composed of a display or the like, and in accordance with instructions from the control unit 10 to be described later, in addition to guidance such as navigation information, information from e-mails and websites is displayed in text, and notification by display to the user And provide information.
The voice output unit 9 is composed of a speaker or the like, and reads out information from an e-mail or a website by voice according to instructions from the control unit 10 to be described later, in addition to guidance such as navigation information.

  The control unit 10 performs various controls such as arithmetic processing by a CPU or the like, and has a TTS function (speech reading function) in addition to a function control of a general navigation apparatus. That is, the dictionary storage unit 7 is referred to using information from the vehicle information acquisition unit 1, the audio information acquisition unit 2, the analog signal acquisition unit 3, the passenger information acquisition unit 4, the text information acquisition unit 5, and the input unit 6. However, various conditions are determined, and based on the determination, whether voice output (text reading) is possible and its output timing are determined, and the display unit 8 and the voice output unit 9 are instructed to output. Specifically, this will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing of the audio output device according to the first embodiment.
First, when the text information acquisition unit 5 receives text information serving as a trigger for reading a character (text) by e-mail reception, SMS (Short Message Service), SNS (Social Network Service), Web browsing, or the like (Step S1). In the case of YES in ST1, control unit 10 determines whether or not voice output is possible for the text information (steps ST2 to ST4).

  As the determination of whether voice output is possible, first, the presence / absence of a passenger acquired by the passenger information acquisition unit 4 is determined. If there is a passenger (in the case of YES in step ST2), the transmission of the information is performed. The origin is determined (step ST3). When the text information that triggers reading a character (text) is an email, SMS, SNS, etc., the sender is the name, email address, telephone number, etc. of the sender who created the sentence. In the case of Web browsing, it is the URL of the Web site.

  FIG. 3 is an example of a source list of “No” to be read out. As shown in FIG. 3, the dictionary is set by the user through the input unit 6 in advance for the sender of e-mail, SMS, SNS, Web browsing, etc. that are not desired to be read out when there is a passenger. The storage unit 7 stores a read-out “No” sender list. Then, in step ST3, the source of the text information serving as a trigger for reading out a character (text) while the control unit 10 refers to the reading “no” source list stored in the dictionary storage unit 7 is shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not it is included in the senders stored as the “no” reading source list as shown.

  Here, when the source of the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit 5 is included in the source stored in the read-out “no” source list (in the case of NO in step ST3), the text is read out. The processing is terminated without generating a sound for the purpose. On the other hand, if the sender is not stored in the read-out “No” sender list, that is, if the sender is OK (YES in step ST3), the character (text) is further updated. It is determined whether or not an NG word is included therein (step ST4). The NG word is a keyword that is not desired to be read out when there is a passenger. For example, “NG”, “secret”, “secret”, etc. are set by the user through the input unit 6 in advance. It is stored in the dictionary storage unit 7 as a word list (not shown).

  If the NG word stored in the NG word list is included in the text information (NO in step ST4), the process is terminated without generating a speech for reading. On the other hand, when the NG word is not included (in the case of YES in step ST4), the control unit 10 further performs the processing after step ST5 and reads out the text information to the voice output unit 9 by voice. Give instructions.

In this way, not only output control is performed by setting in advance whether or not to use the TTS function (speech reading function), but also voice based on the presence or absence of a passenger and the source and content of the text (text). By determining whether or not output is possible, it is possible to protect the privacy of the driver while driving and to transmit information in a state desirable for the driver.
Here, although it has been described that both the sender check (step ST3) and the NG word check (step ST4) are performed, either one of them may be used. However, privacy can be more securely protected by doing both.

  At this time, when the source of the acquired text information is included in the source stored in the read-out "No" source list (in the case of NO in step ST3), or when the text contains an NG word (In the case of NO in step ST4), the fact that the e-mail was not read out because the sender was not OK or the fact that the NG word was included did not read out the text. In order to make the driver aware of the fact that an e-mail or the like has been received, for example, some characters or marks may be displayed on the display unit 8 or may be displayed so as to light or blink them.

  On the other hand, when performing voice output, it is common to read aloud using a preset voice, but in order to convey it to the driver without a sense of incongruity, the type of voice to be read out is selected (step ST5). Voices to be read include preset fixed voices (fixed synthesized voices such as male voices and female voices), voices generated based on recorded voices, while watching radio / TV and audio. Various sounds such as voices generated based on the voice being played, voices generated considering the male / female / adult / child / dialect, etc. based on the personal information (age / sex, address, etc.) of the sender Things are possible.

  Therefore, when the caller's voice is recorded in advance, the voice generated based on the recorded voice, and when not recorded, the voice generated based on the personal information of the caller, radio / While watching TV / audio, a voice to be read out is selected based on conditions such as a voice generated based on the voice being played back. It is assumed that the priority order when the conditions overlap is also set in advance.

As a result, it is read out by the voice of the caller who actually created the e-mail, etc., or read out by the voice based on the personal information of the caller, so that the driver does not feel uncomfortable, There is an effect that it is not necessary for the passenger to notice that the TTS function is executed during radio / TV / audio viewing.
In the case of voice intended for information transmission in an emergency, the voice that is most easily heard may be selected, and control such as stopping the output of music or the like may be performed.

  Next, the content of the text (text) to be read out is determined, and the sound is adjusted (step ST6). For example, when reading an e-mail containing an emoticon or emoticon, based on the emoticon or emoticon, the voice may be raised to indicate a bright emotion or a dark emotion Adjustments such as low speech, adjustments of reading speed such as reading slowly in the case of sentences in other languages (text), adjustments such as reading out by converting to the native language, etc. As a result, it is possible to output a voice that is more comfortable and easy to hear.

  Then, it is determined whether or not the audio output timing is OK (step ST7). This is to determine the timing of reading in consideration of the driver's safety and whether it can be heard comfortably. When judging the reading timing in consideration of the driver's safety, for example, the vehicle information acquisition unit 1 includes various vehicle information such as the vehicle speed, the steering state, the parking state, the brake state, and the window state. Based on this, it is determined whether or not it is time for the driver to focus on driving. Then, when it is time to focus on driving (in the case of NO in step ST7), the process is terminated without forcibly reading out.

  Note that the timing to focus on driving is, for example, when the engine speed is high and it can be determined that the vehicle is accelerating during a gear change, when the brake is stepped on, or when turning a curve from the steering state Such as when it can be determined. Conversely, the timing at which audio output is possible is, for example, when there is no gear change and the rotational speed is stable, or when it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling straight from the steering state.

  Further, when the reading timing is determined in consideration of whether or not it can be heard comfortably, for example, between the tracks of the music being reproduced by the audio information acquisition unit 2 or the analog signal acquisition unit If 3 is between the acquired TV / radio music and audio, it is determined that the audio output timing is OK; otherwise, it is determined that it is not OK. Then, when it is not in the interval of music or the like (in the case of NO in step ST7), the process is terminated without forcibly reading out.

  At this time, if it is determined that the voice output timing is not OK (in the case of NO in step ST7), there is a voice that has not been read out because the timing is not OK. For example, some characters or marks may be displayed on the display unit 8 or may be displayed so as to light or blink.

  In the above description, the process is forcibly terminated when it is determined that the sound output timing is not OK (in the case of NO in step ST7). You may make it read aloud after waiting until it becomes the timing which can output audio | voice, or until it waits in the interval of music.

  If the voice output timing is OK (YES in step ST7), the voice output unit 9 such as a speaker reads out text by voice (step ST8). Note that the output destination of the audio can be an output device (for example, a hands-free headset or a wireless headphone) that can be connected to an in-vehicle device as well as a speaker in the vehicle. Thereby, safer and more comfortable information transmission can be performed to the driver.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to secure a large amount of information received from outside the vehicle while protecting privacy by using a connectivity function that is expected to become a standard for in-vehicle devices or in cooperation with a smartphone. In addition, information can be transmitted to a driver who is driving comfortably.

  In the above embodiment, the audio output device mounted on the vehicle-mounted device has been described. However, the audio output device of the present invention is mounted on a device that can be brought into the vehicle, such as a navigation device for a vehicle. Any device can be applied as long as it is a vehicle device.

  In the present invention, any constituent element of the embodiment can be modified or any constituent element of the embodiment can be omitted within the scope of the invention.

  The audio output device of the present invention can be applied by being mounted on an in-vehicle device or a vehicle navigation device.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle information acquisition part, 2 Audio information acquisition part, 3 Analog signal acquisition part, 4 Passenger information acquisition part, 5 Text information acquisition part, 6 Input part, 7 Dictionary storage part, 8 Display part, 9 Voice output part, 10 Control part, 11 Vehicle state acquisition part.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a passenger information acquisition unit for acquiring presence / absence of a passenger and a text information acquisition unit for acquiring external text information in an audio output device mounted on a vehicle device. A control unit that instructs the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit to be read out by voice; a dictionary storage unit that stores a source of the read-out “no” by the voice or a keyword of “no” to be read out; A voice output unit that reads out the text information by voice in accordance with an instruction from the control unit, wherein the control unit is a case where an acquisition result by the passenger information acquisition unit is a passenger, and the text information The source of the text information acquired by the acquisition unit is included in the source of the reading “No” stored in the dictionary storage unit, or When the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit includes the keyword “No” read out stored in the dictionary storage unit, the text information is voiced to the voice output unit. Instructs that the text information from the outside is acquired but cannot be read out by voice, by a display output including characters, marks, lighting or flashing of light, and ends the process. It is characterized by that.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a passenger information acquisition unit for acquiring presence / absence of a passenger and a text information acquisition unit for acquiring external text information in an audio output device mounted on a vehicle device. A control unit that instructs the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit to be read out by voice; a dictionary storage unit that stores a source of the read-out “no” by the voice or a keyword of “no” to be read out; A voice output unit that reads out the text information by voice in accordance with an instruction from the control unit, wherein the control unit is a case where an acquisition result by the passenger information acquisition unit is a passenger, and the text information The source of the text information acquired by the acquisition unit is included in the source of the reading “No” stored in the dictionary storage unit, or When the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit includes the keyword “No” read out stored in the dictionary storage unit, the text information is voiced to the voice output unit. Exit processing without instruction without an instruction read aloud by, when read aloud the text information by voice, radio, television, or when in the audio listening is generated based on the audio being played The text information is read out by voice .

Claims (3)

In an audio output device mounted on a vehicle device,
A passenger information acquisition unit for acquiring the presence or absence of a passenger,
A text information acquisition unit for acquiring text information from the outside;
A control unit that instructs to read out the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit by voice;
A dictionary storage unit for storing a source of the reading “NO” by the voice, or a keyword of the reading “NO”,
A voice output unit that reads out the text information by voice in accordance with an instruction from the control unit;
When the acquisition result by the passenger information acquisition unit is a passenger, the control unit reads out “No” when the sender of the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit is stored in the dictionary storage unit Or the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit includes a keyword of “No” read out stored in the dictionary storage unit, A voice output device characterized in that the processing is terminated without giving an instruction to read out the text information by voice to the voice output unit. A vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires the vehicle state;
The controller is
When the acquisition result by the passenger information acquisition unit is no passenger,
Or
In the case where there is a passenger, the source of the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit is not included in the source of the reading “No” stored in the dictionary storage unit, and the text information When the text information acquired by the acquisition unit does not include the keyword “No” read out stored in the dictionary storage unit,
If it is determined that the vehicle state acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit is a state where the driver should focus on driving, the processing is performed without instructing the voice output unit to read out the text information by voice. The audio output device according to claim 1, wherein the audio output device is terminated. A vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires the vehicle state;
The controller is
When the acquisition result by the passenger information acquisition unit is no passenger,
Or
In the case where there is a passenger, the source of the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit is not included in the source of the reading “No” stored in the dictionary storage unit, and the text information When the text information acquired by the acquisition unit does not include the keyword “No” read out stored in the dictionary storage unit,
If it is determined that the vehicle state acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit is a state where the driver should focus on driving, wait until the vehicle state is not a state where the driver should focus on driving, The voice output device according to claim 1, wherein the voice output unit is instructed to read out the text information by voice.

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