METHODS AND APPARATUS TO CONVERT RECEIVED GRAPHICAL AND/OR TEXTUAL USER COMMANDS INTO VOICE COMMANDS FOR APPLICATION CONTROL

• US 20150279367A1
• Filed: 03/25/2014
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: HRABAK, ROBERT A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,368,119 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/10 Transforming into visible information

Abstract

A method for transmitting communications from a vehicle onboard computer system is provided. The method receives a graphical user command via a user interface; converts the user command into a voice instruction; and transmits the voice instruction to an electronic device, using machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting communications from a vehicle onboard computer system, the method comprising:

receiving a graphical user command via a user interface;

converting the user command into a voice instruction; and

transmitting the voice instruction to an electronic device, using machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

activating a voice recognition (VR) capability of the electronic device, prior to transmitting the voice instruction.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after transmitting the voice instruction to the electronic device,

receiving data in response to the voice instruction; and

performing an operation based on the received data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a communication link to the electronic device;

receiving a listing of applicable commands for the electronic device, via the communication link;

constructing a menu comprising the listing of applicable commands; and

displaying the menu on the user interface;

wherein the receiving step receives the graphical user command via the menu.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a plurality of graphical elements from the electronic device; and

displaying the plurality of graphical elements on the user interface;

wherein the receiving step receives the graphical user command via the plurality of graphical elements.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of selections via the plurality of graphical elements displayed on the user interface; and

creating the graphical user command based on the plurality of selections.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user command comprises an instruction to activate an application resident at the electronic device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the graphical user command comprises a second instruction to perform an operation using the activated application.

9. A system onboard a vehicle for performing machine to machine communication, the system comprising:

an electronic device, configured to activate and operate a plurality of applications, wherein the applications reside on the electronic device; and

an onboard computer system, communicatively coupled to the electronic device, the onboard computer system comprising;

a user interface, configured to receive a user input instruction associated with the electronic device;

a command conversion module, configured to convert the received user input into a speech command; and

a communication module, configured to transmit the speech command.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronic device is configured to:

receive the transmitted speech command;

interpret the speech command, utilizing a speech recognition algorithm;

execute the interpreted speech command; and

transmit data resulting from the executed speech command

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the onboard computer system further comprises an application counterpart module, configured to:

receive the transmitted data resulting from the executed speech command; and

present output based on the transmitted data.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the user interface is further configured to:

obtain a plurality of graphical elements from the communicatively coupled electronic device;

display the plurality of graphical elements; and

receive the user input via the plurality of graphical elements.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the user input instruction comprises a command to activate one of the plurality of applications resident on the electronic device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the user input comprises a second command to perform an operation using the activated one of the plurality of applications resident on the electronic device.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication module is further configured to activate a speech-recognition capability of the electronic device, prior to transmitting the speech command.

16. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium containing instructions thereon, which, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

translating a graphical user instruction into a form compatible with voice recognition (VR) technology, to obtain a VR instruction; and

transmitting the VR instruction, via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, to an VR-enabled electronic device.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

after transmitting the VR instruction,

receiving result data from the VR-enabled electronic device; and

presenting the result data.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

before translating the user instruction,

receiving a plurality of graphical elements from the VR-enabled electronic device;

presenting the plurality of graphical elements to a user, via a user interface; and

receiving the user instruction via the plurality of graphical elements.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

presenting menu options to the user;

receiving a plurality of selections of the menu options via the graphical elements; and

creating the VR instruction based on the plurality of selections.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the user instruction comprises:

a first command to execute a software application on the VR-enabled electronic device; and

a second command to perform a particular operation using the executed software application.