Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE
VOICE kCTVATED VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a vehicle
speed control system and, in particular, to a vehicle speed
control system which can be vocally operated by the driver.
Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, vehicle speed or cruiSe controls have
become increasingly popular with automobile drivers. While
many automobiles include factory-installed cruise controls,
many other automobiles which do not include a
factory-installed cruise control have been retrofittec with
an after-market cruise control unit.
Conventional cruise control units are provided with
some type of manually actuated control switch which enables
the vehicle driver to control the operation of the cruise
control unit. Generally, the manually actuated switch
enables the driver to select the desired speed at which the
cruise control unit is to maintain the vehicle.
Additionally, the more sophisticated cruise control units
include a multi-function control switch for enabling the
cruise control unit to (1) resume the vehicle speed to a
previously set speed after de-actuation of the cruise
control, (2~ accelerate the vehicle to an increased set
speed, and (3) coast or decelerate the vehicle to a reduced
set speed. However, the manual operation of the cruise
control Switch tends to distract the vehicle driver from
steering efforts by often requiring him to take his eyes off
the road during actuation of the switch.
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S~MMARY OF THE INVENTION
-
The present-invention concerns a uni~ue vehicle speed
con~rol system which can be voice-actuated by the vehicle
operator. The speed control system includes a conventional
speed control unit for maintaining the speed of the vehicle
at an operator selected speed. The speed control unit is
responsive to a plurality of control signals generated by
either a voice control unit or a manually actuated switch.
The control signals cause the speed control unit to either
(l) maintain the vehicle speed at desired speed, 12) coast
or decelerate the vehicle to a reduced set speed, (3)
accelerate the vehicle to an increased set speed, or (4)
resume the vehicle speed to a previously set, but cancelled,
speed.
The voice control unit includes a voice recognizer
responsive to a plurality of vocal instructions from the
operator for causing the voice control unit to generate
the one control signal corresponding to the received vocal
instruction. The voice control unit also includes a voice
synthesizer for providing selected vocal announcements to
inform the operator of the present operating status of the
system.
The voice control unit of the present invention
includes several unique operating features. For example, in
order to generate a selected one of the control signals, the
voice control unit must receive two separate vocal
instructions from the operator in a predetermined order and
within a predetermined time period, thereby preventing
undesirable erroneous operation from extraneous noise.
Also, when generating a control signal which causes the
speed control unit to accelerate the vehicle, the voice
control unit will automatically discontinue the generation
of such a signal after a predetermined time period if the
signal has not been previously cancelled due to an operator
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command. This pre~ents uncontrolled acceleration of the
vehicle. Further, the voice control unit includ`es a unique
training program which is utilized to initially store voice
template signals corresponding to selected vocal
instructions required to operate the system. The training
program utilizes the voice synthesizer for prompting the
operator through the training program.
BRIEF D~SCRIPTION OF THE DRAI~I~GS
Figure l is a bloc~ diagram which illustrates a voice
actuated cruise control system accordin~ to the present
invention, wherein a voice control unit is coupled to
generate a plurality of control signals to a conventional
speed control unit;
Figure 2 is a diagram which defines the symbols
utilized in the state diagrams of Figures 3a through 3c; a~d
Figures 3a through 3C are state diagrams which
illustrate the operation of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF 'rHE PR~FERRED E~IBODI~lENT
Referring now to Figure 1, there is illustrated in
block diagram form a voice-actuated vehicle speed control
2s system 10 which lncludes a voice control unit 12 coupled to
a c~nventional speed control unit 14 for automatically
maintaining the speed of an associated vehicle at an
operator selected speed. The speed control unit 14 is
coupled to receive a signal representative of the actual
vehicle speed from a vehicle speed sensor 18 ~ ~nd is
mechanically coupled (as represented by dashed line 20) t~
control a vehicle throttle 22 in accordance With the control
signals received from either the VoiCe control unit 12 or a
manually actuated control switch 24. The specific types of
~5 control signals generated will be discussed in more detail
hereinafter.
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The voice control unit 12 includes a microphone 26 for
receiving vocal instructions from a vehicle ope~rator. The
microphone 26 generates a signal to an input circuit 28
which can include means for providing the desired filtering
of the input signal, for controlling the gain of the input
signal, and converting the analog input signal into digital
form prior to supplying the input signal to a voice
- recognition and synthesis unit 30. The operation of the
voice recognition and synthesis unit 30 is controlled by a
microcomputer 3~ which is connected to generate the required
control signals to the speed control unit 14. The
microcomputer 32 is connected to a memory circuit 34 which
is adapted to store the associated voice recognition
templates and speech synthesis data. The voice recognition
and synthesis unit 30 also provides a digital audio output
signal to an output circuit 36 which converts the output
signal to analog form, provides the desired filtering of the
; singal, and supplies the analog output signal to a speaker
, 38. As will be discussed, the speaker 38 produces a vocal
1 20 announcement to i~form the operator of the preSent operating
i status of the system. The voiCe reCognition and synthesis
unit 30 can be a SP1000 voice recognition/synthesis circuit
and the microcomputer 32 can be a VRSl 000 microcomputer, both
available from General Instrument Corporation.
The microcomputer 3 is also connected to a train switch
40 and an LED indicator 42. As will be discussed, the train
switch 40 is utilized by the operator to initiate a unique
training program wherein selected voice recognition
templates are stored in the memory 34. The LED indicator 42
can be used to provide the operator ~ith a visual indication
that the system is awaiting a vocal instruction or other
command from the operator.
The microcomputer 32 functions to analyze the incoming
vocal instructions from the vehicle operator and, if the
received instruction corresponds to a selected one of the
stored voice recognition templates, generates a selected one
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of four separate control signals to the speed control unit.
As will be discussed, in order to avoid undesirable
erroneous operation of the speed control unit as a result of
extraneous noise, the voice control unit must receive at
least two separate vocal instructions in a predetermined
order and within a predetermined time period prior to
generating any one of the control signals. These control
signals, as shown in Figure 1, include a SET SPEED signal, a
COAST signal, an ACCEL signal, and a RES~ME signal. Similar
control signals can be generated by the manual control
switch 24. While not shown in the drawings, the system 10
can include means for establishing priority between the
control signals in the event control signals are
simultaneously received from both the voice control unit and
the manual control switch.
When either the microcomputer 32 or the control switch
24 generates the SET SPEED signal, the speed control unit
will control the vehicle throttle such that the vehicle
speed is maintained at the speed the vehicle was traveling
at the time the SET SPEED signal was initiated. The speed
control unit is responsive to the COAST signal to disengage
the speed control unit such that the vehicle throttle is
retracted to cause the vehicle to decelerate. When the
ACCEL signal is generated, the speed control unit will
advance the vehicle throttle to accelerate the vehicle. As
will be discussed, in accordance with the present invention,
the ACC~L signal is generated for a predetermine time period
only, thus preventing uncontrolled acceleration of the
vehicle. A fourth control signal generated by either the
microcomputer of the voice control unit or the manual
control switch is the RESUME signal. I~ the speed control
unit had been previously set at a predetermined speed, and
has been subsequently disengaged by operation of the vehicle
brakes, for example, the ~ESUME signal causes the speed
control unit to return and maintain the vehicle at the
previously set speed.
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The operation of the voice control unit will now be
discussed in detail with reference to Figures 2 and 3a
through 3c. Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a diagram
which defines the symbols utilized in the state diagrams of
Figures 3a through 3c. As shown in Figure 2, a circle with
a statement in quotes represents a state which, when
entered, provides the vehicle operator with a vocal
announcement through the speaker 38. A rectangular box
indicates a state which, when entered, does not provide a
verbal respo~se to the operator~ An oval, wherein the
written portion therein iS contained within quotes,
representS a vocal instrUCtion by the operator which causes
the system to change states. However, an oval wherein the
wording therein is not in quotes, represents a non-vocal
command by an operator such as, for example, the actuation
of the train switch 40, which causes the system to change
states. Finally, a diamond-shaped box represents a decision
point in the program wherein, depending on the particular
operating conditions, the microcomputer 32 causes the system
to be routed to a selected one of several different states.
Referring now to Figure 3a, there is shown a state
diagram of the training program which must be performed by
the vehicle operator prior to utilizing the voice control
unit. sasically, the training program instructs the
operator to repeat the plurality of instruction phrases
which are required to operate the speed control unit. In the
preferred embodiment of the invention, the vocal
instructions required to operate the system include the
phrases "Set CrUise"~ "Coast down", "Accel-~ump", "Resume
30 speed", and "No". As these phrases are spoken by the vehicle
operator during the training program, the voice templates
generated thereby are stored in the associated memory
circuit 34. During the operation of the voice control
unit, a vocal instruction received from the operator is
converted to a voice template which is subsequently compared
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to each of the stored templates to determine which one, if
any, corresponds to the template of the received
instruction.
The training program of Figure 3a is initiated at a
state wherein the system has been turned on and initialized.
At this point, in order to proceed through the training
program, the vehicle operator momentarily actuates the train
switch 40. This causes the program to enter a state wherein
the voice control unit responds to the operator with
the phrase "Train driver 1". At this time~ the operator
must again momentarily aCtUate the train switch 40 to cause
the system to enter the next state. If the train switch is
not actuated again within a predetermined time period, the
system times out and returns to the initialized state.
However, once the train switch has been actuated, the
program enters a state wherein the voice control unit
responds with the phrase "Say word N" wherein N represents
one of a plurality of operator vocal instructions which must
be stored prior to operation of the system.
Once the voice control unit has instructed the driver
to say a specific word or phrase, the program enters a state
wherein the LED indicator 42 is lit. This provides the
driver wlth an indication that the voice control unit is
awaiting a response from the driver. At this time, the
driver repeats the word or phrase as requested by the
system. If the word or phrase is not repeated within a
particular time period, the program times out to the state
wherein the instruction is again given to the operator.
Once the driver has spoken the requested word, a voice
template representing the spoken word or phrase is stored in
the memory circuit 34. The program then enterS a decision
point to check whether or not all the required voice
templates have been stored by the microcomputer. If the
answer is no, the program branches to a state wherein the
microcomputer retrieves the next word which is to be spoken
by the operator.
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Once all the required voice templates have been stored,
the program enters a decision point wherein a co~parison is
made between all the individual voice templates which have
been stored during the training program. If the voice
templates which have been stored are sufficiently different
from one another, the program branches at "Yes" and enters a
state wherein the voice control unit responds with the
statement "Driver 1 trained" and then the system enters the
trained state. I the stored templates are not sufficiently
different from one another, this indicates that there ma~ be
a problem in the recognition of a particular vocal
instruction. Consequently, it is desirable to request the
! operator to repeat the training sequence.
The present system can be utilized to train more than
1 15 one driver. In the event it is desired to train a second
driver, the second driver, once the system is on and in the
initialized state, momentarily actuates the train switch 40
twice. The program then proceeds through a sequence which
is similar to the sequence in training the first driver. It
should be noted that the system could readily be adapted to
train more than two drivers.
Once the system iS in the trained state, selected vocal
instructions from the vehicle operator corresponding to the
stored voice templates can be utilized to control the speed
control. Referring to Figure 3b, there is shown the vocal
instructions and the associated system responses required to
cause the microcomputer 32 to generate ei~her the SET SPEED
signal or the COAST signal to the speed control unit. As
shown in Figure 3b, once the system is in the trained state,
a vocal instruction "Set cruise" by the operator causes the
system to enter a state wherein the voice control unit
responds with the phrase "Ready to set". At this time, in
order for the voice control unit 12 to generate the SET
SIGNAL, the operator must again respond with the phrase "Set
35 cruise" withln a predetermined time period. If the operator
responds with a "No", the SyStem retUrns tO the trained
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state. Also, if the operator does not respond with the
command "Set cruise" within a predetermined time period, the
system times out to the trained state condition.
If, h~wever, the operator responds with the second
command "Set cruise" within the allotted time period, the
system enters a state and responds with the phrase "Set
speed" and then enters a point wherein the microcomputer
generates the SET SPEED sisnal to the speed control and
cancels any other previous control signal.
As shown in Figure 3b, once the system is in the
trained state, a vocal instruction "Coast down" by the
operator causes the system to enter a state ~herein the
voice control unit responds with the phrase "Ready to coast
down1'. At this time, in order to cause the voice control
unit to generate the COAST signal to the speed control unit,
the operator must respond with the phrase "Coast down"
within a predetermined time period. If the operator
responds with a "No", the system returns to the trained
state. Also, if the operator does not respond wlth the
command "Coast down" within a predetermined time period, the
system times out to the trained state condition.
If, however, the operator responds with the second
command "Coast down" within the allotted time period, the
system enters a state and responds with the phrase
"Coasting" and then enters a state wherein the microcomputer
g~nerates the COAST signal to the speed control and cancels
any other previous control signals. After the COAST signal
has been generated, the program enters the state wherein the
voice control unit responds with the phrase "Ready to set".
At this point, the system is awaiting a "Set cruise" command
from the operator in order to establish a neW set speed by
generating the SET SPEED signal. If such a command is not
received within a predetermined time period, the system will
time out to the trained state ~unction and the vehicle will
continue to coast until otherwise commanded by the operator.
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Referring to Figure 3c, there is shown the vocal
instructions and the associated system responses~required to
cause the microcomputer to generate either the RESUME signal
or the ACCEL signal. As shown in Figure 3c, once the system
is in the trained state, a vocal instruction "Resume speed"
by the operator causes the system to enter a state wherein
the voice control Unit responds With the phrase "Ready to
resUme", At this time, in order to cause the system to
generate the RES~ME signal, the operator mUst respond a
second time With the phrase "Resume speed" within a
predetermined time period. If the operator responds with a
"No", the system returns to the trained state. Also, if the
operator does not respond with the phrase "Resume speed"
within a predetermined time period, the system times out to
the trained state condition. If, however, the operator
responds with the second "Resume speed" command within the
allotted time period, the system enters a state wherein the
RESUM~ signal is generated to the speed control unit and all
other control signals are cancelled.
Also, as shown in Figure 3c, the operator can instruct
the speed control system to accelerate the vehicle. This is
accomplished by first commanding the unit to "Accel-bump".
This causes the system to enter a state wherein the voice
control unit responds with the phrase "Ready to accel". At
this time, in order to generate the ACCEL signal, the
operator must again respond with the phrase "Accel-bump"
within a predetermined time period. If the operator
responds with a "No", the system returns to the trained
state. Also, if the operator does not respond with the
command "Accel-bump", within a predetermined time period,
the system times out to the trained state condition. If the
"Accel-bump" command is received within the allotted time
period, the system enters a state and responds with the
phrase "Accelerating". At this point, the system enters a
function wherein the voice control unit will generate the
ACCEL signal to the speed control Unit for a predetermined
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time period such as, for example, three seconds, and then
generate a SET SP~ED signal to set the speed at the
increased level. By limiting the time period the vehicle can
accelerate, uncontrolled acceleration is prevente~. If,
prior to the expiration of the predetermined time period,
the operator responds with a "No", the voice control unit
will automatically cancel the ACCEL signal and generate a
S~T SP~D signal to hold the speed at the level it was when
the ACC~ signal was cancelled.
In accordance with the provisions of the Patent
Statutes, the principles and mode of operation of the
present invention have been described in what is considered
to represent the preferred embodiment. However, it should
be noted that the present invention may be practiced
otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described
without departinq from the spirit or scope of the following
claims.
