Systems and methods for automatically tuning a radio system to a preferred channel

• US 10,784,975 B1
• Filed: 08/15/2019
• Issued: 09/22/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Meyer, Scott, Babcock, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US16/541,457
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• Field of Search: 455 303
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/082 to be used in vehicles H04B1/086 takes precedence; holding or mounting accessories B60R11/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/71 Wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Computing devices are disclosed. For example, a computing device includes one or more processors and one or more databases. The computing device includes one or more non-transitory memory modules storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to: receive a plurality of event flags, wherein each event flag of the plurality of event flags is associated with a respective broadcasted audio signal of a plurality of broadcasted audio signals; compare the plurality of event flags to a user profile stored within the one or more databases, wherein the user profile comprises preference characteristics associated with a user; determine whether one or more event flags matches a set of preference characteristics of the user profile; and transmit a notification signal to a vehicle in response to the one or more event flags matching the set of preference characteristics of the user profile.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more databases; and

one or more non-transitory memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform at least the following;

receive a plurality of event flags, wherein each event flag of the plurality of event flags is associated with a respective broadcasted audio signal of a plurality of broadcasted audio signals;

compare the plurality of event flags to a user profile stored within the one or more databases, wherein the user profile comprises preference characteristics associated with a user;

determine whether one or more event flags of the plurality of event flags matches a set of preference characteristics of the user profile, wherein the plurality of event flags comprises at least two event flags;

select a first event flag of the set of event flags based on a degree of matching between the set of event flags and the set of preference characteristics of the user profile in response to determining that the set of event flags matches the set of preference characteristics of the user profile;

identify a first broadcasted audio signal associated with the first event flag; and

transmit a notification signal to a vehicle in response to the one or more event flags matching the set of preference characteristics of the user profile.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the notification signal is configured to cause the vehicle to generate a notification based on the one or more event flags.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the notification signal causes the vehicle to generate a notification based on the first broadcasted audio signal.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive radio system information from the vehicle, wherein the radio system information indicates a selected audio signal;

determine whether the radio system information matches the first broadcasted audio signal; and

transmit the notification signal to the vehicle in response to the first broadcasted audio signal not matching the radio system information.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the preference characteristics indicate a radio genre and an event associated with the radio genre.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the radio genre is one of a news category, a sports category, and a music category.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of event flags, wherein each event flag of the plurality of event flags is associated with a respective broadcasted audio signal of a plurality of broadcasted audio signals;

comparing the plurality of event flags to a user profile stored within one or more databases, wherein the user profile comprises preference characteristics associated with a user;

determining whether one or more event flags of the plurality of event flags matches a set of preference characteristics of the user profile, wherein the set of event flags comprises at least two event flags;

selecting a first event flag of the set of event flags based on a degree of matching between the set of event flags and the set of preference characteristics of the user profile in response to determining that the set of event flags matches the set of preference characteristics of the user profile;

identifying a first broadcasted audio signal associated with the first event flag; and

transmitting a notification signal to a vehicle in response to the one or more event flags matching the set of preference characteristics of the user profile.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the notification signal is configured to cause the vehicle to generate a notification based on the one or more event flags.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the notification signal causes the vehicle to generate a notification based on the first broadcasted audio signal.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving radio system information from the vehicle, wherein the radio system information indicates a selected audio signal;

determining whether the radio system information matches the first broadcasted audio signal; and

transmitting the notification signal to the vehicle in response to the first broadcasted audio signal not matching the radio system information.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the preference characteristics indicate a radio genre and an event associated with the radio genre.

12. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the radio genre is one of a news category, a sports category, and a music category.

13. A vehicle comprising:

a radio system configured to receive a plurality of broadcasted audio signals, wherein the plurality of broadcasted audio signals comprises a selected audio signal and one or more unselected audio signals;

one or more processors;

one or more databases; and

one or more non-transitory memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform at least the following;

compare one or more event flags to a user profile of the one or more databases, wherein;

each event flag of the one or more event flags is associated with a respective unselected audio signal of the one or more unselected audio signals; and

the user profile comprises preference characteristics of a user;

determine whether the one or more event flags matches a set of preference characteristics of the user profile;

select a first event flag of the one or more event flags in response to a determination that the one or more event flags matches the set of preference characteristics of the user profile, wherein the first event flag is selected based on a degree of matching between the one or more event flags and the set of preference characteristics;

identify a first unselected audio signal associated with the first event flag; and

generate a notification signal based on the first unselected audio signal.

14. The vehicle of claim 13, wherein the notification signal causes the vehicle to generate a notification based on the first unselected audio signal.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the notification comprises a user interface element that is configured to, in response to an interaction with the user interface element, cause the radio system to switch from the selected audio signal to the first unselected audio signal.

16. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the machine-readable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

switch the radio system from the selected audio signal to the first unselected audio signal in response to an interaction with the notification;

determine whether the first event flag changes from a first value to a second value;

determine whether the second value matches the set of preference characteristics of the user profile in response to determining that the first event flag changes from the first value to the second value; and

switch the radio system from the first unselected audio signal to the selected audio signal in response to the second value not matching the set of preference characteristics of the user profile.

17. The vehicle of claim 13, wherein the preference characteristics indicate a radio genre and an event associated with the radio genre.

18. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein the radio genre is one of a news category, a sports category, and a music category.