Apparatus for providing information for vehicle

• US 8,190,434 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2009
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kameyama, Shogo
• Primary Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US12/476,421
• Publication Number:
  US 20090318777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/02 Measuring pulse or heart rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/488 involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/227 of the speaker; Human-factor methodology

Abstract

The apparatus detects a mental condition of a user when a conversation content is inputted. The apparatus further collects service information based on a keyword extracted from conversation and a detected mental condition. For example, a user'"'"'s interest is determined by considering a mental condition, i.e., a user'"'"'s feeling, when the conversation containing the keyword is held. For example, the apparatus provides information collected based on the keyword which the user expresses a good feeling. As a result, it is possible to collect information reflecting the user'"'"'s interest and hobby more exactly from a user'"'"'s conversation in the vehicle. It is possible to provide the apparatus for providing information for vehicles which can respond to a variety of user tastes.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing information for vehicle comprising:

conversation inputting means for inputting contents of a conversation of a user in a vehicle;

speech-recognition means for recognizing the contents of the conversation by using a speech recognition;

keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword to be used for a user'"'"'s interest determination from the contents of the conversation recognized by the speech recognition;

mental condition detecting means for detecting a mental condition of a user when the contents of the conversation is inputted by detecting at least one of a heart rate, a breathing rate and a blood flow velocity of the user, the mental condition being shifted to either a good feeling state or a poor feeling state in speaking;

mental condition quality determining means for determining quality of the detected mental condition,

base data accumulating means for handling the result of mental condition quality determination as mental condition information that is linked with the keyword, and for accumulating a pair of the result of the mental condition quality determination and the linked keyword as interest determining base data;

user interest information extracting means for extracting a keyword reflecting a user'"'"'s present interest based on the mental condition information as user interest information from the interest determining base data;

service information collecting means for collecting service information to be served to the user by searching based on the keyword extracted as the user interest information; and

service information output means to output the collected service information in a form of an image, audio, or those combination, wherein;

the mental condition quality determining means includes mental point converting means for converting the mental condition detected by the mental condition detecting means into a mental point which is defined to have a larger numerical value as the mental condition becomes better;

the base data accumulating means accumulates the interest determining base data which is provided by handling the mental point as the mental condition information to be associated and linked with the keyword; and

the user interest information extracting means analyzes a frequency of occurrence of the keyword accumulated in the base data accumulating means, and gives a higher ranking of priority for searching the service information to the keyword which has a higher occurrence frequency and better result of the mental condition quality determination, wherein

the base data accumulating means accumulates only the keyword extracted within a latest predetermined period, and deletes the keyword accumulated for the predetermined period.

2. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 1, wherein the service information output means is configured to output the service information in response to acquiring a predetermined service trigger information.

3. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 1, wherein the service information output means is configured to include a car-navigation system, and wherein the information collection means searches and collects destination information which suits the user interest information as the service information on the car-navigation system.

4. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 1, wherein the service information output means includes a wireless access device to website on the Internet, and wherein the service information collecting means searches and collects website information on the Internet as the service information which suits the user interest information.

5. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 1, wherein the service information collecting means selects a keyword which the user has a good feeling based on the mental condition detected by the mental condition detecting means, and collects the service information only based on the selected keyword.

6. An apparatus for providing information for vehicle comprising:

conversation inputting means for inputting contents of a conversation of a user in a vehicle;

speech-recognition means for recognizing the contents of the conversation by using a;

speech recognition;

keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword to be used for a user'"'"'s interest determination from the contents of the conversation recognized by the speech recognition;

mental condition detecting means for detecting a mental condition of a user when the contents of the conversation is inputted by detecting at least one of a heart rate, a breathing rate and a blood flow velocity of the user, the mental condition being shifted to either a good feeling state or a poor feeling state in speaking;

mental condition quality determining means for determining quality of the detected mental condition,

base data accumulating means for handling the result of mental condition quality determination as mental condition information that is linked with the keyword, and for accumulating a pair of the result of the mental condition quality determination and the linked keyword as interest determining base data;

user interest information extracting means for extracting a keyword reflecting a user'"'"'s present interest based on the mental condition information as user interest information from the interest determining base data;

service information collecting means for collecting service information to be served to the user by searching based on the keyword extracted as the user interest information; and

service information means to output the collected service information in a form of an image, audio, or those combination, wherein;

the mental condition quality determining means includes mental point converting means for converting the mental condition detected by the mental condition detecting means into a mental point which is defined to have a larger numerical value as the mental condition becomes better;

the base data accumulating means accumulates the interest determining base data which is provided by handling the mental point as the mental condition information to be associated and linked with the keyword; and

the user interest information extracting means analyzes a frequency of occurrence of the keyword accumulated in the base data accumulating means, and gives a higher ranking of priority for searching the service information to the keyword which has a higher occurrence frequency and better result of the mental condition quality determination, wherein

the base data accumulating means accumulates only the keyword extracted within a latest predetermined period, and deletes the keyword accumulated for the predetermined period in an orderly fashion, wherein

the user interest information extracting means is configured so that the keyword which is linked with the result of the mental condition quality determination poorer than a predetermined level in the interest determining base data is not adopted for searching the service information in the service information collecting means.

7. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 6, wherein the user interest information extracting means sums the mental point for each classification of the keywords accumulated in the base data accumulating means, and gives the higher ranking of priority for searching the service information in the service information collecting means to the keyword as the totaled point of the mental point for the keyword becomes higher.

8. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 7, herein the mental point converting means sets a value of zero or negative to the mental point linked with the keyword that is contained in a conversation when the mental condition is poorer than a predetermined level.

9. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 8, wherein the user interest information extracting means withdraws the keyword having zero or negative totaled point of the mental point from the searching of the service information in the service information collecting means.

10. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 7, further comprising service trigger information output means for outputting service trigger information for providing information when the totaled point of the mental point exceeds a threshold value defined beforehand about the extracted keyword, wherein the service information output means outputs the service information by acquiring the service trigger information.

11. An apparatus for providing information for vehicle comprising:

conversation inputting means for inputting contents of a conversation of a user in a vehicle;

speech-recognition means for recognizing the contents of the conversation by using a speech recognition;

keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword to be used for a user'"'"'s interest determination from the contents of the conversation recognized by the speech recognition;

mental condition detecting means for detecting a mental condition of a user when the contents of the conversation is inputted by detecting at least one of a heart rate, a breathing rate and a blood flow velocity of the user, the mental condition being shifted to either a good feeling state or a poor feeling state in speaking;

mental condition quality determining means for a determining quality of the detected mental condition,

base data accumulating means for handling the result of mental condition quality determination as mental condition information that is linked with the keyword, and for accumulating a pair of the result of the mental condition quality determination and the linked keyword as interest determining base data;

user interest information extracting means for extracting a keyword reflecting a user'"'"'s present interest based on the mental condition information as user interest information from the interest determining base data;

service information collecting means for collecting service information to be served to the user by searching based on the keyword extracted as the user interest information; and

service information output means to output the collected service information in a form of an image, audio, or those combination, wherein;

the mental condition quality determining means includes mental point converting means for converting the mental condition detected by the mental condition detecting means into a mental point which is defined to have a larger numerical value as the mental condition becomes better;

the base data accumulating means accumulates the interest determining base data which is provided by handling the mental point as the mental condition information to be associated am linked with the keyword; and

the user interest information extracting means analyzes a frequency occurrence of the keyword accumulated in the base data accumulating means, and gives a higher ranking of priority for searching the service information the keyword which has a higher occurrence frequency and better result of the mental condition quality determination, wherein

the base data accumulating means accumulates only the keyword extracted within a latest predetermined period, and deletes the keyword accumulated for the predetermined period in an orderly fashion, wherein

the mental condition detecting means includes an echo measuring unit which performs an echo measurement on the heart or the lung of the user who is sitting on the seat of the vehicle for detecting at least one of the heart rate, the breathing rate and the blood flow velocity of the user, and detects the mental condition based on the echo measurement result.

12. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 11, wherein the echo measuring unit has an ultrasonic supplying section and an ultrasonic receiving section both embedded in a seat back portion of a seat to perform the echo measurement of the user.

13. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 12, wherein the mental condition detecting means includes:

a first echo measuring section including an ultrasonic transmission part and a reflection ultrasonic receiving part both made for a first measuring target including one of a heart and a lung, a second echo measuring section including an ultrasonic transmission part and a reflection ultrasonic receiving part both made for a second measuring target that includes human body portions other than the first measuring target, and a differential calculation section which calculates and outputs a differential waveform between an output waveform from the reflection ultrasonic receiving part of the first echo measuring section and an output waveform from the reflection ultrasonic receiving part of the second echo measuring section, and wherein the mental condition detecting means determines at least one of the heart rate, the breathing rate, and the blood flow velocity based on the differential waveform.

14. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 11, wherein the mental condition detecting means further includes a pleasant degree detecting means, disposed separately from the echo measuring unit, for determining a pleasant degree that is determined separately by a living body parameter other than the echo measurement, wherein the mental condition detecting means determines a degree of the mental activity based on the result of the measurement of the echo measuring unit, and wherein the mental condition detecting means determines the mental condition based on a combination of the degree of the mental activity and the pleasant degree.

15. The apparatus for providing information for vehicle in claim 14, wherein the pleasant degree detecting means detects the pleasant degree based on at least one of an expression, a sight direction, and a posture of the user.