Method for controlling functional devices in a vehicle during voice command operation

• US 9,466,314 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2012
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Wischhof, Lars, Bezold, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): SINGH, SATWANT K
• Application Number:
  US14/238,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20140200898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,571 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0373 Voice control in general G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/16 Transforming into a non-visible representation devices or methods enabling ear patients to replace direct auditory perception by another kind of perception A61F11/04

Abstract

For retrofitting an infotainment system of a motor vehicle which has the option of operating using voice commands, such voice commands are subsequently defined in an SCXML file. The voice commands are assigned state transitions, which are intended to run through the functional devices after the corresponding voice command is received. The SCXML file is interpreted by an interpreter.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a functional device in a vehicle and for controlling a mobile radio device external to the vehicle, comprising:

receiving, by the vehicle, a file having data, the file being received from a source external to the vehicle;

interpreting, by the vehicle, the data of the file, to obtain a plurality of application voice commands, each application voice command having a corresponding method of control for an application stored on the mobile radio device;

storing the application voice commands;

storing vehicle voice commands, each vehicle voice command having a corresponding method of control for a functional device in the vehicle;

receiving, by the vehicle, a first voice input;

comparing, by the vehicle, the first voice input with voice commands selected from the group consisting of the application voice commands and the vehicle voice commands;

matching the first voice input with a selected application voice command when a correspondence is found;

controlling the application stored on the mobile radio device in accordance with the method of control corresponding to the selected application voice command;

receiving, by the vehicle, a second voice input;

comparing, by the vehicle, the second voice input with voice commands selected from the group consisting of the application voice commands and the vehicle voice commands;

matching the second voice input with a selected vehicle voice command when a correspondence is found; and

controlling the functional device in the vehicle in accordance with the method of control corresponding to the selected vehicle voice command,

wherein the comparing the first voice input comprises;

comparing the first voice input with only those application voice commands which have a state which is the same as a current state of the mobile radio device; and

comparing the first voice input with voice commands having no specific state allocated.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

state change commands are included in the voice commands selected from the group consisting of the application voice commands and the vehicle voice commands,

each state change command corresponds to a method of control in which an old state is altered to produce a new state,

a functional device state change command corresponds to a method of control in which the functional device is changed from a first state to a second state, and

the method further comprises:

performing state investigation to determine that a current state of the functional device is different from the first state; and

excluding the functional device state change command when comparing the second voice input with the voice commands.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

state change commands are included in the voice commands selected from the group consisting of the application voice commands and the vehicle voice commands,

each state change command corresponds to a method of control in which an old state is altered to produce a new state,

an application state change command corresponds to a method of control in which the application is changed from a first state to a second state, and

the method further comprises:

performing state investigation to determine that a current state of the application is different from the first state; and

excluding the application state change command when comparing the first voice input with the voice commands.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data specifies a pronunciation for each application voice command.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data specifies a notation for each application voice command which infers a pronunciation of the corresponding application voice command.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the file is generated by a server, and

the file is conveyed from the server to the vehicle over a wireless network.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the file is received from the mobile radio device,

the mobile radio device is a mobile radio telephone,

the mobile radio device is coupled to the vehicle via at least one of a Bluetooth®

interface, a WLAN interface, a USB cable or an Iphone®

cable.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the file is received from the mobile radio device,

the mobile radio device functions as a mobile radio telephone via a mobile radio link, and

the file is received via a wireless link different from the mobile radio link.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the file has an XML format.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the file has an SCXML format.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the file is received from the source through the internet.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the file includes a new voice command different from voice commands stored for voice control in the vehicle, and the new voice command included in the file provides a new method of control for the mobile radio device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the vehicle, a table which allocates the application voice commands from the file to a method of control to be implemented by the mobile radio device.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the file is generated by the mobile radio device, and

the file is conveyed from the mobile radio device to the vehicle.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the vehicle has a plurality of functional devices,

a first vehicle voice command is used to control a first functional device,

a second vehicle voice command is used to control a second functional device.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

controlling the application stored on the mobile radio device comprises sending a signal from the motor vehicle to the mobile radio device.

17. A method for controlling a mobile radio device, comprising:

storing an application on the mobile radio device;

transmitting a file having an SCXML format from the mobile radio device to a motor vehicle, the file having data specifying;

a plurality of voice commands, each voice command having a corresponding method of control for the application stored on the mobile radio device,

a corresponding pronunciation for each voice command for selecting the voice command using a voice input, and

a state indicating a current state of the mobile radio device for selecting the voice command using the voice input;

receiving at the mobile radio device, an instruction signal from the motor vehicle, the instruction signal instructing the mobile radio device to implement the method of control corresponding to a voice command selected based on a comparison of the voice input with only voice commands from the file which have a state which is the same as the current state of the mobile radio device and with voice commands having no specific state allocated; and

controlling the application to implement the method of control corresponding to the selected voice command.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein

a plurality of applications are stored on the mobile radio device, and

for each voice command, the data of the file specifies a target application stored on the mobile radio device which the method of control is to be performed.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein

the voice commands comprise state change commands, each state change command corresponding to a method of control in which an old state is altered to produce a new state,

a first state change command corresponds to a method of control in which the application is changed from a first state to a second state, and

the method further comprises:

performing state investigation, at the mobile radio device, to determine that a current state of the application is different from the first state; and

sending a feedback signal from the mobile radio device to the motor vehicle, the feedback signal informing the motor vehicle that the current state of the application is different from the first state.

20. A method for controlling functional devices in a vehicle by a device which can be operated via voice commands, comprising:

receiving a file with data which specify at least one voice command and, in association therewith, specify a method of controlling a functional device from a device different from the vehicle by the vehicle,

receiving a voice input by the device,

comparing the voice input with at least one voice command from the file and, if a correspondence with one of the voice commands is found in accordance with a predetermined criterion,

controlling the functional device in accordance with the method of control belonging to the one of the voice commands with which a correspondence is found,

wherein

the file has an SCXML format, and is interpreted by an interpreter of the device,

the file is generated by a mobile radio device and conveyed to the vehicle, and

applications stored on the mobile radio device, where they can be executed, are accessed via voice commands,

wherein the comparing the voice input comprises;

comparing the voice input with only application voice commands from the file which have a state which is the same as a current state of the mobile radio device; and

comparing the voice input with voice commands having no specific state allocated.