Autonomous vehicle media control

• US 9,335,765 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2013
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Pilutti, Thomas Edward, Rupp, Matthew Y., Trombley, Roger Arnold, Waldis, Andrew T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Shelley
• Application Number:
  US14/050,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20150105960A1
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• Field of Search: 701/23
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa

Abstract

An event is detected arising during autonomous operation of a vehicle. An index in media content associated with the event is identified. At least one instruction is provided to a media module to pause or modify play of the media content based on the event.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a computer comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the computer is configured to:

provide instructions for autonomous operation of a vehicle;

detect an event indicating transition from autonomous operation of the vehicle to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle;

identify an index in media content associated with the event indicating the transition from autonomous to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle; and

provide at least one instruction to a media module to pause or modify play of the media content based on the event indicating the transition from autonomous to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further configured to identify an index in the media content for resuming play of the media content.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further configured to instruct the media module to pause play of the media content upon cessation of autonomous operation of the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further configured to provide a message via a human machine interface related to the event.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction to the media module is an instruction to mute sound associate with the media content.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the event is related to at least one of a route, a road condition, a weather condition, and a vehicle component malfunction.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction to the media module is based in part of a location of media playback in the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the media module is included in the computer.

9. A computer-readable medium having tangibly embodied thereon instructions executable by a computer processor, the instructions comprising instructions to:

provide instructions for autonomous operation of a vehicle;

detect an event indicating transition from autonomous operation of the vehicle to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle;

identify an index in media content associated with the event indicating the transition from autonomous to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle; and

provide at least one instruction to a media module to pause or modify play of the media content based on the event indicating the transition from autonomous to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle.

10. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to identify an index in the media content for resuming play of the media content.

11. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to instruct the media module to pause play of the media content upon cessation of autonomous operation of the vehicle.

12. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to provide a message via a human machine interface related to the event.

13. The medium of claim 9, wherein the instruction to the media module is an instruction to mute sound associate with the media content.

14. The medium of claim 9, wherein the event is related to at least one of a route, a road condition, a weather condition, and a vehicle component malfunction.

15. The medium of claim 9, wherein the instruction to the media module is based in part of a location of media playback in the vehicle.

16. A method, comprising:

providing instructions for autonomous operation of a vehicle;

detecting an event indicating transition from autonomous operation of the vehicle to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle;

identifying an index in media content associated with the event indicating the transition from autonomous to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle; and

providing at least one instruction to a media module to pause or modify play of the media content based on the event indicating the transition from autonomous to non-autonomous operation of the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 16, the instructions further comprising instructions to identify an index in the media content for resuming play of the media content.

18. The method of claim 16, the instructions further comprising instructions to instruct the media module to pause play of the media content upon cessation of autonomous operation of the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the event is related to at least one of a route, a road condition, a weather condition, and a vehicle component malfunction.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the instruction to the media module is based in part of a location of media playback in the vehicle.