Operating system, particularly for components in a motor vehicle using speech recognition

• US 6,411,934 B1
• Filed: 02/25/1997
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Daimler Chrysler Company LLC (Stellantis NV)
• Inventors: Möller, Carsten-Uwe, Reh, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan, Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US08/804,693
• Time in Patent Office: 1,946 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270-277, 345/161
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2003/008 with a haptic or a tactile feedback controlled by electrical means, e.g. a motor or magnetofriction
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 25/00 Switches with compound movement of handle or other operating part

Abstract

The invention describes an operating system which comprises a voice-operated device and an actuating device, various operating functions being assigned to the actuating device by means of the voice-operated device. According to the invention, the actuating device has several degrees of adjusting freedom and types of a haptic acknowledgment which can be set depending on the assigned operating function.

Claims

1. An operator system of a motor vehicle, comprising:

an actuation device having a plurality of degrees of adjusting freedom, said activation device receiving a first mechanical operator input and providing a corresponding first output, said actuation device receiving a second mechanical input for determining one of a plurality of values within a predetermined range of said plurality of degrees of freedom and providing a corresponding second output; and

a speech recognition device activated by said first output for receiving operator speech input in order to select one of a plurality of operating devices wherein the predetermined range of said plurality of degrees of adjusting freedom of said actuation device are set as a function of said selected operating device.

2. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein said actuation device is a manually operable actuating device.

3. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein said operating devices include a radio receiver, an air conditioning fan, and a vehicle part position adjusting device.

4. The operating system according to claim 3, wherein said vehicle part position adjusting device is a vehicle mirror adjusting device.

5. The operating system according to claim 3, wherein said vehicle part position adjusting device is a vehicle seat adjusting device.

6. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein said operating devices are devices of a motor vehicle.

7. The operating system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one visual display device which provide an operator with a visual acknowledgment dependent on the assigned operating device.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a voice output device for providing an operator with an acoustic acknowledgment depending on the assigned operating device.

9. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of degrees of adjusting freedom includes translation along each of an X, Y, and Z axis and rotation about the X, Y, Z axis.

10. An operator system, comprising:

an actuation device having a plurality of degrees of adjusting freedom, said actuation device receiving a first mechanical operator input and providing a corresponding first output, said actuation device receiving a second mechanical input for determining one of a plurality of values within a predetermined range of said plurality of degrees of freedom and providing a corresponding a second output; and

a speech recognition device activated by said first output for receiving operator speech input in order to select one of a plurality of operating devices, wherein the actuation device provides a plurality of forms of haptic acknowledgment to the operator, which can be set as a function of the selected operating device.

11. The operating system according to claim 10, wherein said plural forms of haptic acknowledgment include actuating device end stops, and variable resistance ranges of movement of said actuating device.

12. An operating system for operating components in a motor vehicle, said operating system comprising:

a voice-activated operating device; and

a manual actuating device, wherein the manual actuating device is assigned one of a plurality of operating functions as a result of output from said voice-activated operating device, and wherein said manual actuating device contains a plurality of degrees of adjusting freedom, including translation along a X-axis, translation along a Y-axis, translation along a Z-axis, rotation around the X-axis, rotation around the Y-axis and rotation around the Z-axis, wherein at least two of said plurality of degrees of adjusting freedom are blocked as a function of the assigned one of said plurality of operating functions to said actuating device by said voice-activated operating device.