System for providing vehicular hospitality information

• US 20070192038A1
• Filed: 01/11/2007
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kameyama, Shogo
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/19
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3641 Personalized guidance, e.g. limited guidance on previously travelled routes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/436 using biological or physiological data of a human being, e.g. blood pressure, facial expression, gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

In a system for providing vehicular hospitality information, biological characteristic information about a user using a vehicle is acquired. Then, in accordance with a predetermined correlation between the biological characteristic information and stored hospitality information, hospitality information matching the acquired biological characteristic information is retrieved and outputted. Accordingly, in accordance with a character, mental condition, or physical condition of each user, appropriate information can be provided timely and sensitively.

Claims

1. A system for providing vehicular hospitality information, comprising:

user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting at least one of a character, a mental condition, and a physical condition of a user, the means being provided to a vehicle of the user;

a hospitality information storage portion for storing hospitality information to assist use of the vehicle by the user, or to entertain the user;

hospitality information retrieval means for retrieving hospitality information matching the user biological characteristic information acquired by the user biological characteristic information acquisition means on the hospitality information storage portion in accordance with a predetermined correlation between the user biological characteristic information and the stored hospitality information; and

information output means for outputting the retrieved hospitality information, the means being provided to the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

the hospitality information retrieval means is a car navigation apparatus,

the hospitality information storage portion is constituted as a destination database used for setting a destination in the car navigation apparatus,

the hospitality information retrieval means retrieves a destination matching a user biological characteristic specified by the user biological characteristic information acquired by the user biological characteristic information acquisition means in accordance with the user biological characteristic information, and

the hospitality information output means outputs the retrieved destination on a display screen of the car navigation apparatus.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein

the user biological characteristic information acquisition means acquires hunger information reflecting a degree of hunger of the user as the user biological characteristic information, and

the hospitality information retrieval means retrieves a facility where eating is possible on the destination database when a content of the acquired hunger

information satisfies a predetermined condition.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

timing means; and

meal time determination means for determining a meal time predetermined in accordance with time information acquired by the timing means, wherein

the user biological characteristic information acquisition means acquires a determination result of a coming of the meal time as the hunger information.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

elapsed time timing means for timing an elapsed time after meal of the user, wherein

the user biological characteristic information acquisition means acquires the elapsed time as the hunger information.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein

classification information related to at least one of the character, the mental condition, and the physical condition of the user, and specifying information about each destination, are corresponded to each other, and stored in the destination database, and

the hospitality information retrieval means retrieves a destination classified by the classification information related to the user biological characteristic specified by the user biological characteristic information acquired by the user biological characteristic information acquisition means on the destination database in accordance with the user biological characteristic information.

7. The system of claim 6,

wherein the user biological characteristic information acquisition means includes:

a biological condition detecting portion for detecting a predetermined biological condition of the user as a biological condition parameter which is a value parameter reflecting the biological condition; and

mental/physical condition estimate means for estimating a mental or a physical condition of the user in accordance with a detection state of the detected biological condition parameter, and

wherein the hospitality information retrieval means finds the classification information corresponding to the estimated mental or physical condition, and retrieves a destination classified by the classification information on the destination database.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects the biological condition as a temporal change of the biological condition parameter which is a value parameter reflecting the biological condition, and

the mental/physical estimate means estimates the mental or physical condition of the user in accordance with the temporal change of the detected biological condition parameter.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects a waveform of a temporal change of the biological condition parameter, and

the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates the physical condition of the user in accordance with amplitude information of the waveform.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects a waveform of a temporal change of the biological condition parameter, and the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates the mental condition of the user in accordance with frequency information of the waveform.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects a temporal change of a body temperature of the user as the temporal change of the biological condition parameter.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion acquires a temporal change of at least one of a facial expression and a line-of-sight of the user as the temporal change of the biological condition parameter.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects a temporal change of the biological condition parameter while the user is driving.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion acquires a temporal change of a first biological condition parameter of one or more of blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, skin resistance, and perspiration as the temporal change of the biological condition parameter.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein

the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates that a mental condition of the user is abnormal when a waveform frequency of the first biological condition parameter is equal to or over a predetermined level.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects a temporal change of a second biological condition parameter of at least one of an attitude, a line-of-sight, and a facial expression of the user who is driving as the temporal change of the biological condition parameter.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein

the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates that a physical condition of the user is abnormal when a waveform amplitude of the second biological condition parameter is equal to or under a predetermined level.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein

the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates that a mental condition of the user is abnormal when a waveform frequency of the second biological condition parameter is equal to or over a predetermined level, or equal to or under a predetermined level.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein

the biological condition detecting portion detects a temporal change of a pupil size of the user as the temporal change of the biological condition parameter, and the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates that a physical condition of the user is abnormal when the detected pupil size changes by equal to or over a predetermined level.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein

the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates that a mental condition of the user is abnormal when the detected pupil size is enlarged by equal to or over a predetermined level.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein

a plurality of the biological condition detecting portions are provided, and

the mental/physical condition estimate means estimates a mental condition or a physical condition of the user in accordance with a combination of temporal changes of the biological condition parameters detected by the plurality of the biological condition detecting portions.

22. The system of claim 7, wherein

the user biological characteristic information acquisition means acquires hunger information reflecting a degree of hunger of the user as the user biological characteristic information, and

the hospitality information retrieval means retrieves a facility where eating is possible on the destination database when a content of the acquired hunger information satisfies a predetermined condition, and

the specifying information about the eating facilities is classified correspondingly with a quality of the estimated physical condition.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein

the hospitality information retrieval means retrieves an eating facility classified into eating facilities serving low-calorie foods or plain foods on the destination database when a content of the acquired hunger information satisfies a predetermined condition and the physical condition is estimated to be under a predetermined level.

24. A system for providing vehicular hospitality information, the system comprising:

first user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting a mental condition of a user, the means being provided to a vehicle of the user;

second user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting a physical condition of the user, the means being provided to the vehicle;

a hospitality information storage portion for storing hospitality information to be used for assisting the user in using the vehicle or for entertaining the user;

hospitality information retrieval means for retrieving hospitality information matching user biological characteristic information acquired by the first and/or second user biological characteristic information acquisition means in accordance with a predetermined correlation between two pieces of the user biological characteristic information and the stored hospitality information; and

hospitality information outputting means for outputting the retrieved hospitality information, the means being provided to the vehicle.

25. A system for providing vehicular hospitality information, the system comprising:

first user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting a mental condition of a user, the means being provided to a vehicle of the user;

second user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting a physical condition of the user, the means being provided to the vehicle;

a hospitality information storage portion for storing hospitality information to be used for assisting the user in using the vehicle or for entertaining the user;

hospitality information retrieval means configured to classify the two pieces of the user biological characteristic information into at least two or more of energy, stress, and damage so as to estimate a condition of the user, and thereby to retrieve hospitality information matching the user biological characteristic information acquired by the first and/or second user biological characteristic information acquisition means on the hospitality information storage portion in accordance with a predetermined correlation between the estimated condition of the user and the stored hospitality information; and

hospitality information output means provided to the vehicle for outputting the retrieved hospitality information.

26. A system for providing vehicular hospitality information, the system comprising:

character acquisition means for acquiring a character of a user, the means being provided to a vehicle of the user;

user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting at least one of a mental condition and a physical condition;

a hospitality information storage portion for storing hospitality information to be used for assisting the user in using the vehicle or for entertaining the user;

hospitality information retrieval means for retrieving hospitality information matching user biological characteristic information acquired by at least one of the character acquisition means and the user biological characteristic information acquisition means, on the hospitality information storage portion, in accordance with the character acquisition means and a predetermined correlation between the user biological characteristic information and the stored hospitality information; and

hospitality information output means provided to the vehicle for outputting the retrieved hospitality information.

27. A system for providing vehicular hospitality information, the system comprising:

character acquisition means for acquiring a character of a user, the means being provided to a vehicle of the user;

user biological characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring user biological characteristic information reflecting at least one of a mental condition and a physical condition;

a hospitality information storage portion for storing hospitality information to be used for assisting the user in using the vehicle or for entertaining the user;

hospitality information retrieval means for retrieving hospitality information matching a correction taste acquired by correcting a default taste, which is set based on a character acquired by the character acquisition means, by use of user biological characteristic information acquired by the user biological characteristic information acquisition means, on the hospitality information storage portion, in accordance with the character acquisition means and a predetermined correlation between the user biological characteristic information and the stored hospitality information, and

hospitality information output means provided to the vehicle for outputting the retrieved hospitality information.