Method of operating vehicular, hands-free telephone system

• US 20050135573A1
• Filed: 12/22/2003
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Inventors: Harwood, Jody K., Rudnick, Kenan Robert, Bauman, Jason G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,801,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.30
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface

Abstract

A hands-free, Bluetooth™ enabled telephone system for a vehicle is configured to enable an operator such as the driver of the vehicle to say multiple voice commands at one time in order to control the operation of the telephone system. Such multiple commands include “Dial <name>”, “Dial <name location>”, “Dial <number>”, and “Send <account number>.” The hands-free, Bluetooth™ enabled telephone system enables the pairing between Bluetooth™ enabled cell phones and a Bluetooth™ communications module of the telephone system to be conducted in a human friendly manner. The hands-free, Bluetooth™ enabled telephone system enables the telephone system to generate DTMF tones corresponding to a numeric account number or password in response to the driver vocally saying an account name associated with the numeric account number or password during a call between the driver and a voice-automated, menu-driven system for receipt by the menu-driven system.

Claims

1. A hands-free telephone system for a vehicle, the system comprising:

a portable phone located in the vehicle, the portable phone being operable for wirelessly making a call with a phone external to the vehicle;

a vehicle appliance having a microphone for receiving vocal communications including voice commands from an operator of the vehicle, the vehicle appliance being connected to a speaker of the vehicle for outputting vocal communications to the operator;

the vehicle appliance further including a controller, a voice recognition module, a communications module, memory, and a voice synthesizer;

the voice recognition module being operable for receiving and recognizing multiple voice commands stated by the operator into the microphone at one time;

the communications module being operable for wirelessly communicating with the portable phone;

the memory being operable for storing a list of entities and associated telephone numbers, and for storing a list of account names and associated account numbers and passwords;

the voice synthesizer being operable for generating vocal communications for output by the vehicle speaker;

wherein the controller is operable to control operation of the vehicle appliance in accordance with multiple voice commands stated by the operator at one time.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the portable phone is a Bluetooth™

enabled portable phone and the communications module is a Bluetooth™

enabled communications module.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the multiple voice commands stated by the operator is “

Dial <

name>

” and

, in response, the controller accesses the memory to locate a stored telephone number associated with the <

name> and

causes the communications module to wirelessly communicate the digits of the associated telephone number to the portable phone for the portable phone to dial to make a call to the phone having the associated telephone number.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein:

the voice synthesizer generates vocal communications including the <

name>

for output by the vehicle speaker for the driver to hear prior to the portable phone dialing the digits of the telephone number associated with the <

name>

.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the multiple voice commands stated by the operator is “

Dial <

name>

at <

location>

” and

, in response, the controller accesses the memory to locate a stored telephone number associated with the <

name> and

<

location> and

causes the communications module to wirelessly communicate the digits of the associated telephone number to the portable phone for the portable phone to dial to make a call to the phone having the associated telephone number.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein:

the voice synthesizer generates vocal communications including the <

name> and

<

location>

for output by the vehicle speaker for the driver to hear prior to the portable phone dialing the digits of the telephone number associated with the <

name> and

<

location>

.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the multiple voice commands stated by the operator is “

Dial <

number>

” and

, in response, the controller causes the communications module to wirelessly communicate the digits of the <

number>

to the portable phone for the portable phone to dial to make a call to the phone having the associated <

number>

.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein:

the voice synthesizer generates vocal communications including the <

number>

for output by the vehicle speaker for the driver to hear prior to the portable phone dialing the digits of the <

number>

.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein:

during a call between the portable phone and an external phone the controller is operable to respond to the operator'"'"'s vocal command “

Send <

account name>

”

by accessing the memory to locate a stored account number associated with the <

account name> and

causing the communications module to wirelessly communicate DTMF tones corresponding to the digits of the account number to the portable phone for the portable phone to transfer to the external phone during the call.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the voice synthesizer generates vocal communications including the <

account name>

for output by the vehicle speaker for the driver to hear prior to the portable phone transferring the DTMF tones to the external phone.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein:

during a call between the portable phone and an external phone the controller is operable to respond to the operator'"'"'s vocal command “

Send <

account name>

”

by accessing the memory to locate a stored password associated with the <

account name> and

causing the communications module to wirelessly communicate DTMF tones corresponding to the digits of the password to the portable phone for the portable phone to transfer to the external phone during the call.

12. A hands-free telephone system for a vehicle, the system comprising:

a portable phone located in the vehicle, the portable phone being operable for wirelessly making a call with a phone external to the vehicle;

a vehicle appliance having a microphone for receiving vocal communications including voice commands from an operator of the vehicle, the vehicle appliance being connected to a speaker of the vehicle for outputting vocal communications to the operator;

the vehicle appliance further including a controller, a voice recognition module, a communications module, memory, and a voice synthesizer;

the voice recognition module being operable for receiving and recognizing multiple voice commands stated by the operator into the microphone at one time;

the communications module being operable for wirelessly communicating with the portable phone;

the memory being operable for storing a list of names and associated numbers;

the voice synthesizer being operable for generating vocal communications for output by the vehicle speaker;

wherein during a call between the portable phone and an external phone the controller is operable to respond to the operator'"'"'s vocal command “

Send <

name>

”

by accessing the memory to locate a stored account number associated with the <

name> and

causing the communications module to wirelessly communicate DTMF tones corresponding to the digits of the number to the portable phone for the portable phone to transfer to the external phone during the call.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein:

the portable phone is a Bluetooth™

enabled portable phone and the communications module is a Bluetooth™

enabled communications module.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein:

the controller is operable to control operation of the vehicle appliance in accordance with multiple voice commands stated by the operator at one time.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the multiple voice commands stated by the operator is “

Dial <

name>

” and

, in response, the controller accesses the memory to locate a stored telephone number associated with the <

name> and

causes the communications module to wirelessly communicate the digits of the associated telephone number to the portable phone for the portable phone to dial to make a call to the phone having the associated telephone number.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the multiple voice commands stated by the operator is “

Dial <

name>

at <

location>

” and

, in response, the controller accesses the memory to locate a stored telephone number associated with the <

name> and

<

location> and

causes the communications module to wirelessly communicate the digits of the associated telephone number to the portable phone for the portable phone to dial to make a call to the phone having the associated telephone number.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the multiple voice commands stated by the operator is “

Dial <

number>

” and

, in response, the controller causes the communications module to wirelessly communicate the digits of the <

number>

to the portable phone for the portable phone to dial to make a call to the phone having the associated <

number>

.

18. A method of pairing a Bluetooth™

enabled devices including a portable phone with a Bluetooth™

communications module of a vehicular, hands-free telephone system, the method comprising;

using vocal communications to prompt an operator of the portable phone to enter a given PIN number into the portable phone;

searching for the presence of any Bluetooth™

enabled devices within the vicinity of the Bluetooth™

communications module;

using vocal communications to prompt the operator to vocally state a name for the portable phone;

using vocal communications to prompt the operator to vocally state a pairing priority to be assigned to the portable phone; and

if the assigned pairing priority is not assigned to another Bluetooth™

enabled device, then associating the name and the pairing priority to the portable phone.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

enabling communications between the Bluetooth™

communications module and the portable phone if the portable phone has the highest pairing priority amongst all of the Bluetooth™

enabled devices present within the vicinity of the Bluetooth™

communications module.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

if the assigned pairing priority is assigned to another Bluetooth™

enabled device, then using vocal communications to prompt the operator to vocally state another pairing priority to be assigned to the portable phone.