Automotive head unit that verbally administers quizzes

• US 9,656,158 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2015
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Walby, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen, Jason
• Application Number:
  US14/975,106
• Time in Patent Office: 522 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8017 Driving on land or water; Flying
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8064 Quiz
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/183 electric
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

An automotive head unit wirelessly retrieves quiz questions and quiz answers from a quiz server; receives data from vehicle sensors regarding whether the vehicle is in a low-risk-driving situation. When the vehicle is in a low-risk-driving situation, the head unit: verbally administers a quiz by playing one or more quiz questions through a speaker associated with the head unit; receives, via a microphone associated with the head unit, one or more quiz answers spoken by one or more vehicle occupants; and checks the quiz answers for accuracy.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an automotive head unit configured to be installed in a vehicle and configured to;

wirelessly retrieve quiz questions and quiz answers from a quiz server;

receive data from vehicle sensors regarding whether the vehicle is in a low-risk-driving situation;

when the data received from the vehicle sensors indicates that the vehicle is in a low-risk-driving situation;

verbally administer a quiz by reciting one or more quiz questions via an audio speaker associated with the automotive head unit receive, via a microphone associated with the automotive head unit, one or more quiz answers spoken by one or more vehicle occupants; and

check the quiz answers for accuracy, and wherein the quiz is automatically initiated based on driving conditions.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the automotive head unit is further configured to:

wirelessly provide quiz scores to the quiz server for posting by the quiz server.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle sensors are selected from the group consisting of:

one or more cameras, radar, lidar, pedestrian detection, night vision, blind spot detection, drowsiness detection, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warning.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the low-risk-driving situation includes driving on a highway while using cruise control in low traffic volume, and the low-risk-driving condition excludes congested traffic on urban or suburban streets.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the head unit is further configured to establish a plurality of wireless data links to a plurality of data-enabled wearable devices worn by vehicle occupants thereby allowing multiple quiz participants to raise their hands to indicate to the head unit that the vehicle occupants are ready to answer a question.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the head unit is further configured to identify a person answering a quiz question via speech recognition.

7. A method comprising:

initiating a quiz in a vehicle;

determining whether the vehicle is in a low-risk-driving situation;

if the vehicle is in a low-risk-driving situation;

asking a user to specify subject matter for the quiz;

wirelessly retrieving quiz questions and quiz answers from a quiz server;

administering quiz questions to one or more vehicle occupants via one or more audio-system speakers in the vehicle;

receiving spoken quiz answers via a microphone in the vehicle;

checking the quiz answers for correctness;

maintaining one or more quiz scores based on at least one of;

number of correct answers, question difficulty, and response times; and

wirelessly sending the one or more quiz scores to the quiz server, and wherein the quiz is automatically initiated based on driving conditions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the quiz is initiated in response to a verbal request from a vehicle occupant.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the quiz is initiated for either a single quiz taker or multiple quiz takers based on a number of quiz participants specified in the verbal request.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the driving conditions are selected from a user-selectable group consisting of:

driver drowsiness, highway driving, low-traffic volume, and cruise control activated.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein determining whether a low-risk-driving situation exists further comprises using vehicle sensors selected from the group consisting of:

one or more cameras, radar, lidar, pedestrian detection, night vision, blind spot detection, drowsiness detection, adaptive cruise control, and lane departure warning.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

if there are multiple quiz participants, determining an identity of the person answering the quiz question.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the identity of the person answering the quiz question is performed by speech recognition.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein identification of the person answering the quiz question is performed by quiz participants wearing smart watches and raising their hands such that the order in which participants raise their hands determines an order in which quiz participants are allowed to offer answers to the quiz question.

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

deactivating the quiz upon detecting that the low-risk-driving situation no longer exists.