In-vehicle communication through mobile device

• US 10,587,995 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2019
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pony.ai, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pony.ai, Inc.
• Inventors: Dingli, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Sivji, Nizar N
• Application Number:
  US16/355,608
• Time in Patent Office: 361 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/043 Identity of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/021 specially adapted to land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media may be configured to facilitate communication with a passenger of a vehicle. A communication event for a passenger inside a vehicle may be detected. Responsive to a detection of the communication event, communication with the passenger may be facilitated via a mobile device of the passenger.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising;

detecting a communication event for a passenger inside a vehicle; and

responsive to detection of the communication event, facilitating communication with the passenger via a mobile device of the passenger, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes providing, via an output functionality of the vehicle, an instruction to the passenger to launch an application on the mobile device that has access to and that enables one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device,

wherein the one or more communication functionalities comprises a button functionality enabled by one or more physical or virtual buttons of the mobile device, and

wherein the mobile device is configured to associate a respective response with each of the one or more buttons to a question presented to the passenger via the output functionality of the vehicle or an output functionality of the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device further includes one or more of a microphone functionality, a speaker functionality, or a display functionality.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is a first application, and wherein the instruction instructs the passenger to switch from a second application currently executing on the mobile device to the first application.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes remotely controlling the mobile device to enable one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes curtailing operation of one or more communication devices of the vehicle.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more communication devices of the vehicle include one or more of a microphone, a speaker, or a display.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein curtailing operation of the one or more communication devices of the vehicle includes at least one of lowering a volume of at least one of one or more communication devices, muting the at least one of the one or more communication devices, or turning off the at least one of the one or more communication devices.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

9. A method implemented by a computing system including one or more processors and storage media storing machine-readable instructions, wherein the method is performed using the one or more processors, the method comprising:

detecting a communication event for a passenger inside a vehicle; and

responsive to detection of the communication event, facilitating communication with the passenger via a mobile device of the passenger, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes providing, via an output functionality of the vehicle, an instruction to the passenger to launch an application on the mobile device that has access to and that enables one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device,

wherein the one or more communication functionalities comprises a button functionality enabled by one or more physical or virtual buttons of the mobile device, and

wherein the mobile device is configured to associate a respective response with each of the one or more buttons to a question presented to the passenger via the output functionality of the vehicle or an output functionality of the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device further includes one or more of a microphone functionality, a speaker functionality, or a display functionality.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the application is a first application, and wherein the instruction instructs the passenger to switch from a second application currently executing on the mobile device to the first application.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes remotely controlling the mobile device to enable one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes curtailing operation of one or more communication devices of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more communication devices of the vehicle include one or more of a microphone, a speaker, or a display.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein curtailing operation of the one or more communication devices of the vehicle includes at least one of lowering a volume of at least one of one or more communication devices, muting the at least one of the one or more communication devices, or turning off the at least one of the one or more communication devices.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform:

detecting a communication event for a passenger inside a vehicle; and

responsive to detection of the communication event, facilitating communication with the passenger via a mobile device of the passenger, wherein facilitating communication with the passenger via the mobile device of the passenger includes providing, via an output functionality of the vehicle, an instruction to the passenger to launch an application on the mobile device that has access to and that enables one or more communication functionalities of the mobile device,

wherein the one or more communication functionalities comprises a button functionality enabled by one or more physical or virtual buttons of the mobile device, and

wherein the mobile device is configured to associate a respective response with each of the one or more buttons to a question presented to the passenger via the output functionality of the vehicle or an output functionality of the mobile device.