Automatic control of adjustable elements associated with a vehicle

• US 20070038444A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Haulick, Tim, Buck, Markus, Schmidt, Gerhard
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0373 Voice control in general G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02165 Two microphones, one receiving mainly the noise signal and the other one mainly the speech signal

Abstract

A system for automatic adjustment of at least one element provided with at least one actuator and provided inside or outside a vehicular cabin is provided. The system includes at least one microphone array for detecting utterances of at least one speaker and for obtaining microphone signals corresponding to the utterances. A localization detector is configured to determine the position of the speaker on the basis of the microphone signals. The localization detector outputs a localization signal to a controller. The controller is configured to receive the localization signal and automatically controls the actuator of the element on the basis of the localization signal. A method for automatically adjusting at least one element provided with at least one actuator and provided inside or outside a vehicular cabin is also provided. The method includes detecting utterances of a speaker by a microphone array and obtaining microphone signals corresponding to the utterances. The method further includes determining the position of the speaker on the basis of the microphone signals and automatically controlling the actuator of the element on the basis of the determined position of the speaker to adjust the element.

Claims

1. A system for adjusting an adjustable element associated with a vehicle, the system comprising:

an actuator adapted to move the adjustable element;

an array of microphones for detecting speech from a speaker and generating speech signals corresponding to the detected speech;

a localization detector configured to determine the position of the speaker based on the speech signals and configured to output a localization signal representative of the determined position of the speaker; and

a controller for controlling the actuator, the controller adapted to receive the localization signal and to control the actuator to adjust the position of the adjustable element on the basis of the localization signal.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a speech recognition system, the speech recognition system configured to receive the speech signals and output a command signal based on content of the speech signals, the controller being configured to receive the command signal and to control the actuator in response to the command signal.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a beamformer configured to receive the speech signals and the localization signal, and to generate beamformed signals from the voice signals, where the beamformed signals exhibit a preference for voice signals in a direction determined by the localization signal, and where the speech recognition system is configured to receive the beamformed signals and output the command signal to the controller based on the beamformed signals.

4. The system of claim 3, where the localization detector is configured to calculate a confidence value relating to the positional accuracy of the localization of the speaker, and compare the confidence value to a predetermined confidence threshold such that the localization detector transmits a localization failure signal to the speech recognition system if the confidence value is below the predetermined confidence threshold.

5. The system of claim 4, where the speech recognition system is configured to output a repeat command prompt to the speaker when the speech recognition system receives a localization failure signal.

6. The system of claim 2, where the speech recognition system is configured to also receive the localization signal and to output command signal based on the localization signal and the content of the speech signals.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sensor, the controller being configured to receive a sensor output signal and to control the actuator associated with the adjustable element based on the received sensor output signal.

9. The system of claim 1, where the controller is configured to adjust the adjustable element by operating the actuator when the localization signal indicates a change in the position of the speaker greater than predetermined amount.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a manual re-adjustment mechanism for re-adjusting the adjustable element by the speaker.

11. The system of claim 1, where the microphone array includes at least one of a one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional assembly of microphones.

12. The system of claim 11, where the microphone array includes a directional microphone.

13. The system of claim 11, where the microphone array includes a plurality of directional microphones oriented in different directions.

14. The system of claim 1, where the adjustable element comprises at least one of an interior mirror;

an exterior mirror;

a head rest;

an arm rest;

a steering wheel/steering column;

a heating/air conditioning blower;

a display, an on-board navigation system, and a loudspeaker.

8. The system of claim 8, where the sensor comprises a daylight sensor.

15. A method of adjusting an adjustable element associated with a vehicle, the adjustable element including an actuator for moving the adjustable element, the method comprising:

providing an array of microphones;

detecting speech emanating from a first person by the array of microphones such that the microphones produce voice signals corresponding to the detected speech;

determining a position of the first person based on the voice signals; and

controlling the actuator of the adjustable element to move the adjustable element to a position commensurate with the determined position of the first person.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a speech recognition system adapted to recognized speech input commands uttered by the first person, and determining which adjustable element of a plurality of adjustable elements is to be adjusted based on the received input command.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising beamforming the microphone signals detected by a microphone array and providing the beamformed microphone signals to the speech recognition system.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

calculating a confidence value relating the accuracy of determination of the position of the first person;

comparing the confidence value to a predefined confidence threshold; and

generating a repeat command prompt when it is determined that the confidence value is below the predefined confidence threshold.

19. The method of claim 16, where the speech recognition system is adapted to receive localization information regarding the position of the person and to transmit the localization information to a controller that controls the actuator of the adjustable element to be adjusted.

20. The method of claim 15, where the actuator associated with the adjustable element is further controlled on the basis of data obtained by a sensor.

22. The method of claim 15, where the adjustable element is adapted to be manually re-adjusted.

23. The method of claim 15, where the position of the person is determined on the basis of microphone signals detected by a microphone array comprising at least one of a one-dimensional;

two-dimensional;

or three-dimensional assembly of microphones.

24. The method of claim 23, where the microphone array includes a directional microphone

25. The method of claim 23, where the microphone array includes a plurality of directional microphones oriented in different directions.

26. The method of claim 15, where the adjustable element comprises at least one of:

an interior mirror;

an exterior mirror;

a head rest;

an arm rest;

steering wheel/steering column;

a heater/air conditioner blower;

a display;

an on-board navigation system;

or a loudspeaker.

21. The method of claim 21, where the sensor is a daylight detecting sensor.