VEHICLE-BASED METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING PERSONAL INFORMATION AND EVENTS

• US 20120010805A1
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Wilkerson, Brian Y.
• Granted Patent: US 10,163,074 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Various embodiments may include a vehicle-based system and method for managing a user'"'"'s personal information and events. A user'"'"'s personal communications (such as verbal and non-verbal communications) may be monitored to identify one or more unscheduled personal events. A determination may be made whether the unscheduled personal events conflict with one or more previously scheduled personal events or personal events pending for scheduling. The scheduled personal events or pending personal events may be obtained from recorded conversations, emails, text messages, social networking messages, and the like. Based on the determination, one or more actions may be taken on the unscheduled personal events. A determination may also be made whether to add the contact with whom the user is having a personal communication to the user'"'"'s address book based on whether a personal relationship exists with the contact.

Claims

1. A personal event management system for managing a personal schedule, the system comprising:

a vehicle computer configured to;

monitor at least one personal communication to identify one or more unscheduled personal events;

identify the one or more unscheduled personal events;

determine at the vehicle computer whether the unscheduled personal event conflicts with one or more previously scheduled personal events or personal events pending for scheduling;

if a conflict exists, notify the user of the conflict; and

if a conflict does not exist, query the user to determine if the personal event should be scheduled.

2. The personal event management system of claim 1 wherein the personal communication is a verbal communication.

3. The personal event management system of claim 1 wherein the personal communication is a non-verbal communication.

4. The personal event management system of claim 1 wherein the vehicle computer is further configured to:

determine from the at least one personal communication if the personal communication is with a contact unlisted as an address book contact on a nomadic device;

if unlisted, determine if a personal relationship exists with the contact;

receive instructions to add the contact to the address book if a personal relationship exists.

5. The personal event management system of claim 4 wherein the vehicle computer is further configured to query the user to determine if the contact should be added.

6. The personal event management system of claim 4 wherein the personal relationship is determined based on information from a social networking information source.

7. The personal event management system of claim 1 wherein the vehicle computer is further configured to:

communicate with one or more information sources having the scheduled personal events or personal events pending for scheduling; and

receive the previously scheduled personal events or personal events pending for scheduling from the one or more information sources.

8. The personal event management system of claim 7 wherein the information sources include at least one of an electronic calendar, voicemail, recorded verbal conversations, electronic mail conversations, SMS conversations, and social networking messages.

9. The personal event management system of claim 1 wherein the vehicle computer is further configured to notify the user of the conflict audibly or visually.

10. A method comprising:

receiving on a vehicle computer scheduled personal events or pending personal events;

detecting a personal communication to or from a user;

identifying on the vehicle computer unscheduled personal events from the at least one personal communication;

performing a determination to identify if the unscheduled personal events conflict with the scheduled personal events or pending personal events; and

taking an action on the unscheduled personal event based on the determination.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the scheduled and unscheduled personal events include information identifying one or more locations for the scheduled and unscheduled personal events, the method further comprising:

identifying the locations;

generating a navigation schedule based on the scheduled events and the unscheduled events; and

using the locations, routing a navigation route for the unscheduled and scheduled personal events according to the navigation schedule.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein taking an action includes:

if a conflict is present, querying the user to identify the action to take on the conflict; and

if a conflict does not exist, scheduling the unscheduled personal event.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein scheduling the unscheduled personal event including querying the user to determine if the unscheduled personal event should be scheduled.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein identifying the unscheduled personal events includes receiving on the vehicle computer from the at least one personal communication one or more triggers for identifying the unscheduled personal events.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the one or more triggers are selected from the group consisting of keywords, keyphrases, abbreviations, graphics, acronyms, dates, times, and numbers.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving one or more decision factors used in determining an action to take; and

taking the action on the unscheduled personal events based on the one or more decisions factors.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the one or more decision factors are selected from the group consisting of personal relationships and affiliations, historical behavior, voice inflection, and frequency of behavior.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the personal communication is a telephonic conversation or a verbal conversation between two or more people inside a vehicle.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the personal communication is a social networking message.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the personal communication is an electronic mail or a text message.

21. A method for managing one or more personal events of a user, the method comprising:

receiving one or more personal communications to or from a user including one or more unscheduled activities for user participation, the one or more activities comprising information identifying a location;

receiving scheduled activities comprising

information identifying a location for each scheduled activity;

identifying the locations;

generating a navigation schedule based on the scheduled activities and the unscheduled activities; and

using the locations, routing a navigation route for the unscheduled and scheduled activities according to the navigation schedule.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the one or more personal communications further include notifications of the user'"'"'s tardiness, the method further comprising updating the navigation schedule based on the user'"'"'s tardiness.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein receiving the one or more personal communications includes monitoring the one or more personal communications.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

communicating with one or more information sources having the scheduled personal activities; and

receiving the scheduled personal activities from the one or more information sources.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the information sources include at least one of an electronic calendar, voicemail, recorded verbal conversations, electronic mail conversations, SMS conversations, and social networking messages.

26. The method of claim 24 further comprising receiving a user input defining instructions to communicate with the one or more information sources, wherein communicating with the one or more information sources is based on the instructions.