Driving support method, vehicle, and driving support system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10759447-B2
Application number	US-201916272244-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2019
Priority date	Feb 27, 2018
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

A driving support method for a vehicle includes: acquiring a sound of a sound source placed outside the vehicle; and displaying, on a display portion, driving support information corresponding to an utterance content of the sound, the utterance content of the sound being recognized by a sound recognition process, in a display mode suggesting a relative position of the sound source from the vehicle, the relative position being specified based on the sound.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A driving support method for a vehicle, the driving support method comprising:
acquiring a sound of a sound source placed outside the vehicle;
extracting verbal information from the sound with a voice recognition process;
determining a relative position of the sound source relative to the vehicle based on the acquired sound; and
displaying, on a display in a field of view of a driver of the vehicle, driving support information corresponding to the verbal information, the display also suggesting the relative position of the sound source, wherein:
the driving support information comprises a text string corresponding to the verbal information.

2. The driving support method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the display is a head-up display; and
the displaying of the driving support information on the display portion includes displaying the driving support information such that at least a part of the driving support information is superimposed on the sound source.

3. The driving support method according to claim 1 , wherein the driving support information displayed on the display includes a first display element representing the sound source.

4. The driving support method according to claim 1 , wherein the driving support information displayed on the display includes a second display element indicating a direction of the sound source from the vehicle.

5. The driving support method according to claim 1 , wherein whether or not the driving support information is displayed on the display portion is determined based on at least one of:
i) a word included in the verbal information;
ii) a context of the verbal information; and
iii) an execution result of an image recognition process using one or more captured images of the sound source.

6. The driving support method according to claim 1 , further comprising displaying, on the display, information suggesting accuracy of an execution result of the voice recognition process.

7. The driving support method according to claim 1 , wherein the driving support information includes an image, the image corresponding to the verbal information.

8. The driving support method according to claim 7 , wherein the driving support information includes a second text string obtained by shortening the text string.

9. A vehicle comprising:
microphones configured to acquire a sound of a sound source placed outside the vehicle;
a memory and processor programmed to perform the following:
extract verbal information from the sound with a voice recognition process;
determine a relative position of the sound source relative to the vehicle based on the acquired sound; and
display on a display in a field of view of a driver of the vehicle, driving support information corresponding to the verbal information, the display also suggesting the relative position of the sound source, wherein:
the driving support information comprises a text string corresponding to the verbal information.

10. A driving support system comprising:
a vehicle; and
a server configured to communicate with the vehicle, wherein:
the vehicle is configured to acquire a sound of a sound source placed outside the vehicle;
the vehicle or the server is configured to determine a relative position of the sound source from the vehicle based on the sound;
the vehicle or the server is configured to recognize a verbal content of the sound by a voice recognition process; and
the vehicle is configured to display, on a display in a field of view of a driver of the vehicle, driving support information corresponding to the verbal content, in a display mode suggesting the relative position of the sound source, wherein:
the driving support information comprises a text string corresponding to the verbal information.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Inaba Chihiro

Classifications

• G06V10/22 Primary

  by selection of a specific region containing or referencing a pattern; Locating or processing of specific regions to guide the detection or recognition · CPC title

• G06V20/58

  Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads · CPC title

• B60W50/14 Primary

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60K35/23

  Head-up displays [HUD] (optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01) · CPC title

• B60K35/28

  characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver · CPC title