Systems and methods for off-board voice-automated vehicle navigation

• US 20060058947A1
• Filed: 01/05/2005
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sirius XM Connected Vehicle Services Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Agero Connected Services, Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Schalk, Thomas Barton
• Granted Patent: US 7,373,248 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09685 where the complete route is computed only once and not updated
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096872 where instructions are given per voice
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096894 where input is assisted by the navigation device, i.e. the user does not type the complete name of the destination, e.g. using zip codes, telephone numbers, progressively selecting from initial letters
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/06 Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence

Abstract

A method of providing navigational information to a vehicle operator includes processing destination information spoken by a vehicle operator with an on-board processing system on a vehicle. The processed voice information is transmitted via a wireless link to a remote data center and analyzed with a voice recognition system at the remote data center to recognize components of the destination information spoken by the vehicle operator. The accuracy of the recognition of the components of the destination information is confirmed via interactive voice exchanges between the vehicle operator and the remote data center. A destination is determined from confirmed components of the destination information, route information to the destination is generated at the remove data center, and the route information transmitted to the on-board processing system from the remote data center via the wireless link.

Claims

1. A method of providing navigational information to a vehicle operator comprising:

processing destination information spoken by a vehicle operator with an on-board processing system on a vehicle;

transmitting the processed voice information via a wireless link to a remote data center;

analyzing the processed voice information with a voice recognition system at the remote data center to recognize components of the destination information spoken by the vehicle operator;

confirming the accuracy of the recognition of the components of the destination information via interactive voice exchanges between the vehicle operator and the remote data center;

determining a destination from confirmed components of the destination information;

generating route information to the destination at the remove data center; and

transmitting the route information to the on-board processing system from the remote data center via the wireless link.

2. The method of claim 1, where confirming the accuracy of the recognition of the desired destination comprises:

transmitting a computer-generated representation of at least one component of the destination information to the vehicle operator via the wireless link; and

prompting the vehicle operator via the wireless link to aurally confirm the accuracy of the component of the destination information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein confirming the accuracy of the recognition of the desired destination comprises:

transmitting at least one recorded component of the destination information spoken by the vehicle operator to the vehicle operator via the wireless link; and

prompting the vehicle operator via the wireless link to aurally confirm the accuracy of the component of the voice destination information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein confirming the accuracy of the recognition of the desired destination comprises:

determining if a confidence level of the recognition of a destination component is above a selected threshold; and

computer generating a representation of the destination component for transmission to the vehicle operator when the confidence level is above the selected threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the destination comprises providing data center operator assistance to recognize the desired destination.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein confirming the accuracy of the recognition of the desired destination via interactive voice exchanges comprises transmitting aural representations of components of the destination information to the vehicle operator, the components of the destination information selected from the group consisting of aural representations of the destination address number, street name, city, state, and point of interest.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein providing data center operator assistance comprises:

playing back recorded representations of the destination information spoken by the vehicle operator to the data center operator for analysis by the data center operator; and

receiving information from the data center operator identifying the destination.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving information from the data center operator comprises:

providing a list of potential destinations to the data center operator based on recognition confidence levels assigned to the confirmed destination components; and

entering a choice from the list of potential destination components from the data center operator.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating route information comprises generating route information from global positioning system information received by the data center from the on-board processing system.

10. A system for providing navigational information to a vehicle operator comprising:

an on-board system disposed on a vehicle for processing and transmitting via a wireless link spoken requests from a vehicle operator for navigational information to a selected destination; and

a data center for processing the spoken requests for navigational information received via the wireless link and operable to;

perform automated voice recognition processing on the spoken requests for navigational information to recognize destination components of the spoken requests;

confirm the recognized destination components through interactive speech exchanges with the vehicle operator via the wireless link and the on-board system; and

download navigational information to the desired destination for transmission to the on-board system derived from the confirmed destination components.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center is further operable to download the navigational information in response to position information received from the on-board system via the wireless link.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center is further operable to:

generate a list of possible destination components s corresponding to the spoken requests;

assign a confidence score for each of the possible destination components on the list;

determine if a possible destination component with a highest confidence score has a confidence score above a threshold; and

computer-generate an aural representation of the destination for transmission to the on-board system for confirmation by the vehicle operator if the confidence score is above the threshold.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center is further operable to:

determine that at least one destination component of the spoken request has a recognition confidence value below a threshold; and

playback a recording in the voice of the vehicle owner of at least the component with the recognition confidence value below the threshold to the vehicle owner via the on-board system for confirmation.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data center further comprises a data center operator facility for playing-back the destination components for assisting in identifying the desired destination.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein a selected spoken request comprises a spoken request for point of interest information.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the point of interest information includes information selected from the group consisting of names and categories.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the spoken request a selected spoken request comprises location information selected from the group consisting of information identifying state, city, street name, and address number.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center is further operable to record the spoken requests as normalized audio wave fields for subsequent playback.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the data center is further operable to present a list of possible destinations listed by confidence scores to the data center operator for selection as the desired destination.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the data center is further operable to allow the data center operator to vary the order of the possible destinations in the list.