Systems and methods for providing input suggestions via the head unit of a vehicle

• US 9,109,917 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2013
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Foster, Andrew, Wang, Zheng, Pelly, Nicholas Julian
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Application Number:
  US14/038,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20150088420A1
• Time in Patent Office: 691 Days
• Field of Search: 701/537, 455/41.3, 455/456.2, 726/4, 340/995.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/55 Remote control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/573 Mobile devices controlling vehicle functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/589 Wireless data transfers
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/592 Data transfer involving external databases
• 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: B60K 35/80 Arrangements for controlling instruments
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/85 Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback

Abstract

To assist a driver with requesting navigation data via a head unit of a vehicle, partial user input provided to the head unit is received via a short-range communication link and suggested input corresponding to the partial user input is generated. The partial user input includes a sequence of alphanumeric characters. The suggested input includes the sequence of alphanumeric characters and one or more additional characters and corresponds to a set of one or more geographic locations. The suggested input is provided to the head unit via the short-range communication link.

Claims

1. A method in a portable device for providing input suggestions for requesting navigation data via a head unit of a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, via a short-range communication link, partial user input provided to the head unit, wherein the partial user input includes a sequence of alphanumeric characters;

transmitting the partial user input to a suggestions server via a long-range communication link;

receiving a set of suggestions via the long-range communication link;

generating, by one or more processors, suggested input corresponding to the partial user input, based on the set of suggestions, wherein the suggested input includes the sequence of alphanumeric characters and one or more additional characters, and wherein the suggested input corresponds to a set of one or more geographic locations; and

providing, by the one or more processors, the suggested input to the head unit via the short-range communication link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the suggested input to the head unit includes:

receiving the set of suggestions from the suggestions in a first format, and

causing the set of suggestions to be converted to the second format specific to the head unit to generate the suggested input.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of one or more geographic locations includes a plurality of geographic locations, the method further comprising:

receiving, from the head unit via the short-range communication link, a selection of one of the plurality of geographic locations, and

generating navigation directions from a current location of the vehicle to the selected geographic location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the suggested input to the head unit includes generating audio announcements for the one or more names of geographic locations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the suggested input is personalized for a user of the portable device.

6. A portable device comprising:

one or more processors;

a first network interface to communicate with a head unit of a vehicle via a first communication link;

a second network interface to communicate with a suggestions server via a second communication link; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the portable device to;

receive, via the first communication link, partial user input provided to the head unit,

cause the partial user input to be transmitted to the suggestions server,

receive a set of suggestions from the suggestions server, generate suggested input based on the set of suggestions, and

cause the suggested input to be transmitted to the head unit.

7. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the set of suggestions received from the suggestions server conforms to a first format, wherein the suggested input transmitted to head unit conforms to a second format, and wherein the instructions further cause the portable device to convert the set of suggestions from the first format to the second format to generate the suggested input.

8. The portable device of claim 7, wherein the instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium include:

a first set of instructions that implement a navigation service application that provides the partial user input to the suggestions server and receives the set of suggestions from the suggestions server, and

a second set of instructions that implement an application programming interface (API) which, when invoked by a companion application, provides the set of suggestions to the companion application for conversion to the second format.

9. The portable device of claim 8, wherein the second format is a proprietary format specific to the head unit.

10. The portable device of claim 8, wherein the navigation service application is native to an operating system.

11. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the partial user input includes a sequence of alphanumeric characters consistent with a plurality of geographic locations, and wherein the suggested input includes names of the plurality of geographic locations.

12. The portable device of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the portable device to:

provide the names of the plurality of geographic locations to the head unit,

receive a selection of one of the plurality of geographic locations, and

generate navigation directions to the selected geographic location.

13. The portable device of claim 6, wherein to cause the suggested input to be transmitted to the head unit, the instructions cause the portable device to:

generate an audio announcement based on the received suggested input, and

provide the generated audio announcement to the head unit.

14. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the instructions further cause the portable device to personalize for a user of the portable device.

15. The portable device of claim 6, wherein:

the first network interface is a short-range communication interface, and

the second network interface is a long-rage communication interface.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon a plurality of instructions that implement an application programming interface (API) for use by a software application executing on a portable device, wherein the API, when invoked by the software application, is configured to:

receive partial user input from an external device operating independently of the portable device, via a first communication link;

provide the partial user input to a suggestions server via a second communication link;

receive, from the suggestions server, one or more suggestions that correspond to a set of one or more geographic locations;

generate suggested input based on the one or more suggestions, and

provide the suggested input to the external device.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the partial user input includes a sequence of alphanumeric characters, and wherein each geographic location included in the one or more suggestions includes the sequence of alphanumeric characters and one or more additional characters in its name.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the API is further configured to:

receive the one or more suggestions from the suggestions server in an alphanumeric format, and

generate an audio announcement based on the one or more suggestions to generate the suggested input.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the API further causes the one or more suggestions to be personalized for the user of the portable device.