Navigation system initiating conversation with driver

• US 9,234,764 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2014
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yuan, Alvin, Vaghefinazari, Pedram
• Primary Examiner(s): FREJD, RUSSELL WARREN
• Application Number:
  US14/282,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20150338229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: 701/532, 701/533, 701/539, 701/426, 701/427, 701/419, 701/461, 707/E17.018, 707/999.003, 340/995.16
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3629 Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech text to speech systems per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3641 Personalized guidance, e.g. limited guidance on previously travelled routes
• 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 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

An in-vehicle system determines whether conditions are satisfied, including a favorite order being known and a current time of day being within a time period of a predefined time day. If the conditions are satisfied, a conversation is initiated to ask whether the favorite order is desired. When a response indicates that the favorite order is desired, the favorite order is placed and navigation guidance is provided for driving to a vendor. In some embodiments, when second conditions are met, including a monitored portion of a current route matching a previously monitored portion of a route when an order was placed and a monitored time of day matching a previously monitored time of day, within a predefined time period, a speech conversation is initiated to ask whether the order is desired. If the driver indicates the desire for the order, the order is placed.

Claims

1. A method for an in-vehicle system to initiate a conversation with a driver of a vehicle that includes the in-vehicle system, the method comprising:

determining, by the in-vehicle system, whether a predefined favorite order of the driver exists and whether a current time of day is within a predefined time period of a predefined time of day;

when the in-vehicle system determines that the predefined favorite order of the driver exists and the current time of day is within the predefined time period of the predefined time of day, performing;

initiating, by the in-vehicle system, a speech conversation with the driver of a vehicle having the in-vehicle system to ask the driver whether the driver wants to order the predefined favorite order,

receiving, by the in-vehicle system, a verbal response from the driver indicating whether the driver desires to order the favorite order, and

when the verbal response of the driver indicates that the driver desires to order the predefined favorite order, performing;

ordering, by the in-vehicle system, the predefined favorite order from a vendor, and

providing navigation guidance to the driver for driving the vehicle to a location of the vendor;

wherein the method further comprises;

receiving, by the in-vehicle system via a second speech conversation with the driver, a second order from the driver, the second order including a second vendor from which the order is to be placed; and

placing, by the in-vehicle system, the second order with the second vendor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before ordering the predefined favorite order from the vendor, performing;

determining at least one vendor to which the favorite order can be placed,

asking the driver to select one of the at least one vendor from a list including the at least one vendor, and

receiving, responsive to the asking, the selected one of the at least one vendor as the vendor to which the favorite order will be placed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor is predefined.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining the predefined favorite order via a website.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, by the in-vehicle system, a route of the vehicle and an associated time of day;

saving, by the in-vehicle system, at least a portion of the route of the vehicle and the associated time of day when the second order is placed;

when a portion of the current route of the vehicle matches the saved at least the portion of the route of the vehicle and the saved associated time of day matches a current time of day, associated with the portion of the current route of the vehicle, within a predefined time period, performing;

initiating, by the in-vehicle system, a third speech conversation with the driver to ask the driver whether the driver desires to place the second order again, and

placing, by the in-vehicle system, the second order again when the driver responds to the initiated third conversation by indicating the desire to place the second order again.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising performing the initiating the third speech conversation and the placing the second order again only when the monitored portion of the current route of the vehicle matches a previously saved at least the portion of the route and the monitored current associated time of day matches a previously saved current associated time of day within a predefined time period, at least a preset number of times within a preset period of time.

7. An in-vehicle system comprising:

a transceiver for communicating with a communication device, the communication device being capable of communicating via at least one network;

a conversation initiator for initiating a speech conversation with a driver of a vehicle that includes the in-vehicle system;

a navigation component for tracking a route of the vehicle and for providing navigation guidance to the driver;

a speech recognition component for recognizing a speech utterance of the driver; and

a route monitor for monitoring a portion of a current route of the vehicle and an associated time of day, wherein;

the route monitor determines whether the monitored portion of the current route of the vehicle matches a previously monitored portion of a route of the vehicle before an order was placed with a vendor by the in-vehicle system and the monitored associated time of day matches, within a predefined timer period, a previously monitored time of day associated with the previously monitored portion of the route,

when the route monitor determines that the monitored portion of the current route of the vehicle matches the previously monitored portion of the route of the vehicle before the order was placed with the vendor by the in-vehicle system and the monitored associated time of day matches, within the predefined timer period, the previously monitored time of day associated with the previously monitored portion of the route;

the conversation initiator initiates the speech conversation with the driver of the vehicle to ask the driver whether the driver desires to place the order again with the vendor, and

the in-vehicle system places the order with the vendor again when the driver responds to the initiated speech conversation by indicating the desire to place the order again;

when the speech recognition component receives, from the driver, a second speech utterance including a second order and a second vendor from which the second order is to be placed;

the speech recognition component recognizes the second speech utterance including the second order and the second vendor; and

after the speech recognition component recognizes the second speech utterance, the transceiver contacts the second vendor by sending the second order to the second vender via a first wireless connection between the in-vehicle device and the communication device, which has a second wireless connection to a network.

8. The in-vehicle system of claim 7, wherein after the in-vehicle system places the order with the vendor, the navigation component provides navigation guidance for the driver to drive to a location of the vendor.

9. The in-vehicle system of claim 7, wherein the first wireless connection is a Bluetooth®

connection.

11. The in-vehicle system of claim 9, wherein after the in-vehicle system places the favorite order, the navigation component automatically provides navigation guidance to the driver to drive to a location of the associated vendor.

10. An in-vehicle system comprising:

a transceiver for communicating with a communication device, the communication device being capable of communicating via at least one network;

a conversation initiator for initiating a speech conversation with a driver of a vehicle that includes the in-vehicle system;

a navigation component for tracking a route of the vehicle and for providing navigation guidance to the driver;

a time monitor for monitoring a current time of day;

a speech recognition component for recognizing a speech utterance of the driver; and

a route monitor for monitoring a portion of a current route of the vehicle and an associated time of day, wherein;

the route monitor determines whether the monitored portion of the current route of the vehicle matches a previously monitored portion of a route of the vehicle before an order was placed with a vendor by the in-vehicle system and the monitored associated time of day matches, within a predefined timer period, a previously monitored time of day associated with the previously monitored portion of the route,

when the route monitor determines that the monitored portion of the current route of the vehicle matches the previously monitored portion of the route of the vehicle before the order was placed with the vendor by the in-vehicle system and the monitored associated time of day matches, within the predefined timer period, the previously monitored time of day associated with the previously monitored portion of the route;

the conversation initiator initiates the speech conversation with the driver of the vehicle to ask the driver whether the driver desires to place the order again with the vendor, and

the in-vehicle system places the order with the vendor again when the driver responds to the initiated speech conversation by indicating the desire to place the order again;

when a favorite order is predefined, an associated vendor is predefined, and a predefined time to order is predefined;

the time monitor determines whether the current time of day is within the predefined time period of the predefined time to order, and

when the time monitor determines that the current time of day is within the predefined time period of the predefined time to order;

the conversation initiator initiates a second speech conversation with the driver of the vehicle to ask the driver whether the driver desires to place the favorite order again with the associated vendor,

the speech recognition component recognizes a second utterance of the driver in response to the conversation initiator initiating the second conversation to ask the driver whether the driver desires to place the favorite order, and

the in-vehicle system places the favorite order with the associated vendor when the driver responds to the initiated speech conversation by indicating the desire to place the favorite order.

12. An in-vehicle system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory communicatively attached to the at least one processor, the memory including instructions for the at least one processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

determining, by the in-vehicle system, whether a predefined favorite order of the driver exists and whether a current time of day is within a predefined time period of a predefined time of day;

when the in-vehicle system determines that the predefined favorite order of the driver exists and the current time of day is within the predefined time period of the predefined time of day, performing;

initiating, by the in-vehicle system, a speech conversation with the driver of a vehicle having the in-vehicle system to ask the driver whether the driver wants to order the predefined favorite order,

receiving, by the in-vehicle system, a verbal response from the driver indicating whether the driver desires to order the predefined order, and

when the verbal response of the driver indicates that the driver desires to order the predefined favorite order, performing;

ordering, by the in-vehicle system, the predefined favorite order from a vendor;

wherein the method further comprises;

receiving, by the in-vehicle system via a second speech conversation with the driver, a second order from the driver, the second order including a second vendor from which the order is to be placed; and

placing, by the in-vehicle system, the second order with the second vendor.

13. The in-vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises automatically providing navigation guidance to the driver for driving the vehicle to a location of the vendor after performing the ordering the predefined favorite order from the vendor.

14. The in-vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

before ordering the predefined favorite order from the vendor, performing;

determining at least one vendor to which the favorite order can be placed, asking the driver to select one of the at least one vendor from a list including the at least one vendor, and

receiving the selected one of the at least one vendor as the vendor to which the favorite order will be placed.

15. The in-vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the vendor is predefined and the method further comprises

obtaining, by the in-vehicle system, the predefined vendor via a website.

16. The in-vehicle system of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises obtaining, by the in-vehicle system, the predefined favorite order via the website.

17. The in-vehicle system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises automatically providing navigation guidance for the driver to drive to a location of the second vendor.