Controlling in-vehicle computing system based on contextual data

• US 9,188,449 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2013
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Biswal, Rajesh, Mukherjee, Debashis
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US14/099,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20150160019A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed for systems and methods for controlling operation of an in-vehicle computing system. In some embodiments, an in-vehicle computing system includes a processor, an external device interface communicatively coupleable to an extra-vehicle server, and a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to receive information from a navigation subsystem and one or more sensors of the vehicle. The information may include user information identifying one or more occupants of the vehicle with one or more accounts of a social media network. The instructions may also be executable to send the received information to the server, receive instructions from the server, and transmit control instructions to one or more vehicle systems based on the identified action. The instructions may identify an action to be performed based on the received information.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle computing system for a vehicle, comprising:

a processor;

an external device interface communicatively coupleable to an extra-vehicle server; and

a non-transitory storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to;

receive information from a navigation subsystem and one or more sensors of the vehicle, the information including user information identifying one or more occupants of the vehicle with one or more accounts of a social media network;

send the received information to the server;

receive instructions from the server, the instructions identifying an action to be performed based on the received information, the action being identified based on a context of the one or more occupants derived from social networking information received at the server from the social media network; and

transmit control instructions to one or more vehicle systems based on the identified action.

2. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the action comprises a command to control operation of the vehicle based at least on the context of the one or more occupants derived from the social networking information received at the server from the social media network, and the one or more vehicle systems includes a vehicle controller in communication with the in-vehicle computing system via a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus.

3. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, further comprising a display device, and wherein the action comprises a command to output a visual alert to the display device.

4. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the action comprises a command to output an audible alert to a speaker system of the vehicle.

5. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the external device interface communicatively connects the in-vehicle computing system to an external mobile device, and wherein the action comprises a command to transmit a message to the external mobile device.

6. A system for controlling an output of an in-vehicle computing system of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a data integration subsystem that receives data from the in-vehicle computing system and a content aggregator;

an analytics engine that analyzes the received data;

a data persistence subsystem that manages analytics results from the analytics engine;

a rules engine that invokes rules responsive to an occurrence of one or more events based on analysis of the received data by the analytics engine, the rules defining an instruction to control the output of the in-vehicle computing system, the instruction being identified based on a context of one or more occupants derived from social networking information received at a server from a social media network; and

a service application programming interface (API) that transmits, to the in-vehicle computing system, an indication of an action to be performed by the in-vehicle computing system.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a notification manager that triggers notifications to the in-vehicle computing system based on rules provided by the rules engine.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the content aggregator aggregates social networking data from one or more social media networks corresponding to a user account associated with a driver of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the analytics engine includes one or more machine learning models and libraries that model behavior of a driver of the vehicle and the vehicle based on data received from the in-vehicle computing system over a period of time.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the analytics engine includes a language processor engine that interprets speech input received at the in-vehicle computing system and transmitted to the data integration subsystem.

11. A method for controlling an output of an in-vehicle computing system of a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, navigational information from a navigation system of the vehicle;

receiving, at the server, aggregated social networking information from one or more user accounts of one or more social networking sites associated with a driver of the vehicle;

determining a cognitive load of the driver of the vehicle based on the navigational information and the aggregated social networking information, the aggregated social networking information including one or more of a social networking profile and social networking feed data of the one or more user accounts;

responsive to determining that the cognitive load of the driver is above a threshold, transmitting an instruction to the in-vehicle computing system to prevent an increase in cognitive load and/or decrease a cognitive load on the driver in accordance with a rule set, the instruction being identified based on a context of the one or more occupants derived from the aggregated social networking information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information from the navigation system comprises one or more of road conditions, traffic conditions, route complexity, and a travel time elapsed since a last vehicle shut down, and wherein the instruction comprises a command to control operation of the vehicle based at least on the context of the one or more occupants derived from the aggregated social networking information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the instruction to the in-vehicle computing system to prevent the increase in cognitive load and/or decrease the cognitive load on the driver comprises preventing the increase in cognitive load by selectively rejecting or suppressing incoming communications or alerts based on the rule set.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the instruction to the in-vehicle computing system to prevent the increase in cognitive load and/or decrease the cognitive load on the driver comprises decreasing the cognitive load by placing an active phone call on hold or terminating the active phone call.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the instruction to the in-vehicle computing system to prevent the increase in cognitive load and/or decrease the cognitive load on the driver comprises decreasing the cognitive load by reducing a volume of one or more speakers in the vehicle.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the instruction to the in-vehicle computing system to prevent the increase in cognitive load and/or decrease the cognitive load on the driver comprises decreasing the cognitive load by outputting one or more audible alerts based on image data received from a camera of the vehicle or the navigational information.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining whether the driver is fatigued based on the navigational information, data from wearable sensors and the aggregated social networking information.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising, responsive to determining that the driver is fatigued, presenting an alert to the driver suggesting a driving break and identifying nearby break locations, the nearby break locations being identified based on reviews or visitation data on the one or more social networking sites.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising, responsive to determining that the driver is fatigued, adjusting one or more vehicle systems to create a fatigue-reduction environment within the vehicle.