Vehicle agent device, vehicle agent system, and computer-readable storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12252133-B2
Application number	US-202117494214-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2021
Priority date	Oct 7, 2020
Publication date	Mar 18, 2025
Grant date	Mar 18, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle agent device receives a captured image and vehicle information from an on-board unit, identifies an occupant from the captured image, specifies attributes of the occupant it identified, searches for vehicle functions corresponding to the attributes it specified, and sends, as description information to an on-board unit, a moving image that introduces the vehicle functions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle agent device comprising:
a processor; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the vehicle agent device to:
identify an occupant who has gotten into a vehicle based on obtaining image information of the occupant from a camera, transmitting the image information to a server, and receiving a response from the server with information corresponding to the occupant;
specify one or more first attributes of the occupant identified based on the information corresponding to the occupant;
obtain, from the server, introduction information comprising a moving image that introduces, out of functions that the vehicle has, one or more first functions corresponding to the one or more first attributes, wherein the introduction information includes methods of operation for using the one or more first functions; and
convert the introduction information into adjusted introduction information having a playback time according to predetermined condition, by adjusting at least one of: (i) a playback speed of the introduction information or (ii) an amount of content of the introduction information to be played back,
wherein the predetermined condition is a temporal condition including at least one of a day of week or a time of day; and
output the adjusted introduction information to an on-board unit mounted in the vehicle.

2. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the on-board unit introduces the one or more first functions with the moving image based on the vehicle being in one or more situations predetermined to not affect driving, and
wherein the one or more situations comprise the vehicle being stopped.

3. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to output the introduction information relating to:
a third function of the one or more first functions whose frequency of use is equal to or less than a predetermined frequency of use, or
a fourth function of the one or more first functions that has not been used for a period of time equal to or greater than a predetermined period of time.

4. The vehicle agent device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to output the introduction information relating to:
a third function of the one or more first functions whose frequency of use is equal to or less than a predetermined frequency of use, or
a fourth function of the one or more first functions that has not been used for a period of time equal to or greater than a predetermined period of time.

5. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the processor specifies, as an attribute of the one or more first attributes, a history of vehicle models in which the occupant identified has ridden and, from the history, identifies historically unused functions out of the one or more first functions based on one or more second functions the occupant has never used including past vehicles, and outputs the introduction information relating to the historically unused functions.

6. The vehicle agent device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to specify, as an attribute of the one or more first attributes, a history of vehicle models in which the occupant identified has ridden and, from the history, output the introduction information relating to one or more second functions that the occupant has never used, including in past vehicles, out of the one or more first functions.

7. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to specify, as an attribute of the one or more first attributes, a history of vehicle models in which the occupant identified has ridden and, from the history, identify one or more updated functions out of the one or more first functions with first methods of operation that are different from second methods of operation of one or more second functions in the history, and output the introduction information relating to the one or more updated functions.

8. The vehicle agent device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to specify, as an attribute of the one or more first attributes, a history of vehicle models in which the occupant identified has ridden and, from the history, output the introduction information relating to one or more second functions of the one or more first functions with first methods of operation that are different from second methods of operation of one or more third functions in the history.

9. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to:
determine an intention of first content of an utterance of the occupant based on converting the utterance to text and processing the text; and
generate response information with respect to the first content based on the text.

10. The vehicle agent device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to:
determine an intention of first content of an utterance of the occupant based on converting the utterance to text and processing the text; and
generate response information with respect to the first content based on the text.

11. A vehicle agent system comprising:
the vehicle agent device of claim 1 ; and
the on-board unit,
wherein the on-board unit acquires information for the processor to identify the occupant, and receives and plays back the introduction information.

12. A vehicle agent system comprising:
the vehicle agent device of claim 2 ; and
the on-board unit,
wherein the on-board unit acquires information for the processor to identify the occupant, and receives and plays back the introduction information.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a vehicle agent program for causing a computer to function as the vehicle agent device of claim 1 .

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a vehicle agent program for causing a computer to function as the vehicle agent device of claim 2 .

15. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to:
based on identifying a low degree of awareness of one or more second functions of the vehicle as one or more second attributes of the one or more first attributes, obtain first introduction information that introduces the one or more second functions, and
wherein the degree of awareness is determined based on past usage of the one or more second functions by the occupant.

16. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first attributes comprise
an age of the occupant.

17. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the vehicle agent device to convert the introduction information into the adjusted introduction information based by adjusting the playback speed of the introduction information without adjusting the amount of content of the introduction information.

18. The vehicle agent device of claim 1 , wherein the introduction information comprises a first plurality of moving images, the first plurality of moving images comprising a second plurality of moving images,
wherein the second plur

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakano Keiko
• Kubo Chikage
• Maeda Eiichi
• Nishizawa Hiroyuki

Classifications

• B60W2420/403

  Image sensing, e.g. optical camera · CPC title

• G06V20/593

  Recognising seat occupancy · CPC title

• G10L15/22

  Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue · CPC title

• B60W2040/0881

  Seat occupation; Driver or passenger presence · CPC title

• G10L2015/223

  Execution procedure of a spoken command · CPC title