Vehicle navigation apparatus

• US 8,060,301 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2008
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsuda, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): To; Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US12/060,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20080249711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 701/209, 701/211, 704/200, 704/231, 704/246, 704/251, 379/88.01
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition

Abstract

A disclosed vehicle navigation apparatus enables the issuance of an accurate and quick guidance. Voice uttered by an occupant of a vehicle is collected by a voice collecting unit and transmitted to an external facility by a voice transmitting unit. The external facility generates destination information based on the received voice, and transmits the destination information back to a destination information receiving unit of the apparatus. Based on the received destination information, the apparatus issues a guidance. The apparatus further includes a destination extracting unit by which the voice collected by the voice collecting unit is subjected to voice recognition in order to extract a destination from the collected voice. A tentative guidance is then issued based on the extracted destination until the destination information is received by the destination information receiving unit from the external facility.

Claims

1. A vehicle navigation apparatus comprising:

a voice collecting unit configured to collect voice uttered by an occupant of a vehicle;

a voice transmitting unit configured to transmit the voice collected by the voice collecting unit to a facility outside the vehicle;

a destination information receiving unit configured to receive destination information from the external facility, the destination information being generated at the external facility based on the voice transmitted by the voice transmitting unit; and

a destination extracting unit configured to extract a destination from the voice collected by the voice collecting unit by subjecting the voice collected by the voice collecting unit to voice recognition;

wherein the vehicle navigation apparatus issues a first guidance based on the destination extracted by the destination extracting unit following the collection of the voice by the voice collecting unit, until the destination information is received by the destination information receiving unit,

wherein the vehicle navigation apparatus issues a second guidance based on the destination information received by the destination information receiving unit,

wherein the first guidance and the second guidance are based on the same voice uttered by the occupant of the vehicle,

wherein the first guidance is visual or audible instructions issued by the navigation apparatus to the occupant to instruct the occupant how to guide the vehicle from a current position of the vehicle to the destination extracted by the destination extracting unit, along a first route, and

wherein the second guidance is visual or audible instructions issued by the navigation apparatus to the occupant to instruct the occupant how to guide the vehicle from the current position of the vehicle to the destination based on the destination information received by the destination information receiving unit along a second route.

2. The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the destination extracting unit is configured to convert the voice collected by the voice collecting unit into a text, and configured to extract text information located before or after a specific keyword in the text as the destination.

3. The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a current position identifying unit that identifies the current position of the vehicle.

4. The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle navigation apparatus issues the first guidance until the second guidance is issued.

5. A method for controlling a vehicle navigation apparatus including a voice collecting unit configured to collect voice of an occupant of a vehicle, the method comprising:

transmitting the voice collected by the voice collecting unit to a facility outside the vehicle;

extracting a destination from the voice collected by the voice collecting unit by subjecting the voice collected by the voice collecting unit to voice recognition;

receiving destination information from the facility;

issuing a first guidance based on the destination extracted from the voice following the collection of the voice by the voice collecting unit, until the destination information is received; and

issuing a second guidance based on the destination information received,

wherein the first guidance and the second guidance are based on the same voice uttered by the occupant of the vehicle,

wherein the first guidance is visual or audible instructions issued by the navigation apparatus to the occupant to instruct the occupant how to guide the vehicle from a current position of the vehicle to the destination extracted from the voice along a first route, and

wherein the second guidance is visual or audible instructions issued by the navigation apparatus to the occupant to instruct the occupant how to guide the vehicle from the current position of the vehicle to the destination based on the destination information received along a second route.

6. The method for controlling a vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the extracting the destination includes

converting the voice collected by the voice collecting unit into a text, and

extracting text information located before or after a specific keyword in the text as the destination.

7. The method for controlling the vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

identifying the current position of the vehicle.

8. The method for controlling the vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the vehicle navigation apparatus issues the first guidance until the second guidance is issued.

9. A vehicle navigation system comprising:

an external facility; and

a vehicle navigation apparatus including

a voice collecting unit configured to collect voice uttered by an occupant of the vehicle,

a voice transmitting unit configured to transmit the voice collected by the voice collecting unit to the external facility,

a destination information receiving unit configured to receive destination information from the external facility, and

a destination extracting unit configured to extract a destination from the voice collected by the voice collecting unit by subjecting the voice collected by the voice collecting unit to voice recognition,

wherein the external facility is configured to generate the destination information based on the voice transmitted by the voice transmitting unit and configured to transmit the destination information to the vehicle navigation apparatus,

wherein the vehicle navigation apparatus issues a first guidance based on the destination extracted by the destination extracting unit following the collection of the voice by the voice collecting unit, until the destination information is received by the receiving unit,

wherein the vehicle navigation apparatus issues a second guidance based on the destination information received by the destination receiving unit,

wherein the first guidance and the second guidance are based on the same voice uttered by the occupant of the vehicle,

wherein the first guidance is visual or audible instructions issued by the navigation apparatus to the occupant to instruct the occupant how to guide the vehicle from a current position of the vehicle to the destination extracted by the destination extracting unit along a first route, and

wherein the second guidance is visual or audible instructions issued by the navigation apparatus to the occupant to instruct the occupant how to guide the vehicle from the current position of the vehicle to the destination based on the destination information received by the destination information receiving unit along a second route.

10. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 9, wherein the destination extracting unit is configured to convert the voice collected by the voice collecting unit into a text, and configured to extract text information located before or after a specific keyword in the text as the destination.

11. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 9, further comprising:

a current position identifying unit that identifies a current position of the vehicle.

12. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 9, wherein the vehicle navigation system issues the first guidance until the second guidance is issued.