Audiovisual assistance system and method for supporting a user in a motor vehicle

Abstract

Audiovisual assistance system (31) in a motor vehicle (30) comprising a control unit (32), a memory coupled to the control unit (32) in which assistance information to be output is stored, output means (37) coupled to the control unit (32) via which assistance information is output depending on operating and / or system status information from other systems, wherein the output means (37) comprise at least one visual output unit (38) and one acoustic output unit (39), wherein the assistance information is designed such that, upon its output, an anthropomorphic animated character (51) is displayed on the visual output unit (38), which outputs speech via the acoustic output unit (39), that the assistance information exists in several different versions with the same assistance information content, which are assigned to different spatial areas of the world, and the control unit (32) is configuredas system status information to acquire position information from a position detection device (41) and to determine a current area in which the current position of the motor vehicle (30) is located, and to select the version of the assistance information to be used for output depending on the currently determined area, characterized in that the control unit (32) is configured, when the current position changes to another of the areas, to issue a user query via the output means (37) asking whether the selection of the version of the assistance information should be adjusted, and to acquire a user response via operating means coupled to the control unit (32) and to select the version to be output depending on the user response.

Description

The invention relates to an audio-visual assistance system in a motor vehicle having a control unit, a memory coupled to the control unit, in which assistance information to be output is stored, output means coupled to the control unit, via which assistance information is output as a function of operating information and / or system state information of other systems, wherein the output means comprise at least one visual output unit and one acoustic output unit, and wherein the assistance information is designed such that, when it is output, an an anthropomorphic animated character is displayed on the visual output unit and speech is output via the acoustic output unit. The invention further relates to a method for supporting a user in a motor vehicle via audio-visual output of assistance information using an anthropomorphic character.Modern motor vehicles are very complex systems that offer a user a large number of functionality. In order to be able to correctly operate all functions and / or systems of a motor vehicle, it is necessary to provide a user with a large number of items of information. Often, a user cannot notice the abundance of the information, thus repeatedly relying on information switching.Classically, the information necessary and / or helpful for operating a motor vehicle is provided in a printed boarding book. Acceptance of the users to search the necessary information from the boarding book is, however, quite low. Therefore, information systems have been developed that output the necessary information to a user upon user input via output means in the vehicle. An embodiment of such an information system and a method for providing information is described, for example, in post-published DE 10 2007 012 828 A1. In some embodiments, information delivery to the user is supported by an animated anthropomorphic character displayed on a display device, which additionally outputs at least a portion of the information in the form of voice via an audio output unit.In addition to the information that is statically linked to the motor vehicle, a user of a motor vehicle frequently also requires additional supporting information that depends on the respective driving state of the vehicle, an environment of the vehicle, a state of the user, etc. Such non-static information includes, for example, driving direction notice information of a navigation system that actively assists a driver in driving a destination. A large number of further systems and functions are conceivable, for the operation and / or use of which assistance information is meaningfully output to the user.EP 0 893 308 A2 describes a device of a vehicle which outputs information with the aid of a personalized agent whose appearance changes depending on a state of the vehicle.In principle, there is a need to configure an information exchange such that the assistance information can be acquired by the user quickly, reliably and easily. The invention is therefore based on the technical object of improving an assistance system in a motor vehicle and a method for outputting assistance information in a motor vehicle via audio-visual output of assistance information in such a way that information transmission to the user is improved.The technical object is achieved by an assistance system having the features of patent claim 1 and a method for assisting a user in a motor vehicle having the features of patent claim 8. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are evident from the dependent claims.Information delivery to the user is facilitated and accelerated if a graphical, acoustic, haptic or otherwise configured output is well matched to the assistance information to be delivered. Further, information communication is improved as far as user's attention is generally increased by the assist system. Therefore, an audio-visual assistance system in a motor vehicle is provided, which comprises a control unit, a memory coupled to the control unit, in which assistance information to be output is stored, output means coupled to the control unit, via which assistance information is output as a function of operating information and / or system state information of other systems, wherein the output means comprise at least one visual output unit and one acoustic output unit, and wherein the assistance information is configured such that, when it is output, an anthropomorphic animated character is displayed on the visual output unit, the language of which is output via the acoustic output unit. To achieve the object, it is provided that the assistance information exists in a plurality of different versions which are identical in assistance information content and are assigned to different regions, i.e. different spatial regions of the world, and the control unit is designed to acquire position information of a position detection device as system state information and to ascertain a current region in which the current position of the motor vehicle is located, and to carry out a selection of the version of the assistance information to be used in the output depending on the currently ascertained region. By providing the assistance information in a plurality of different versions that are the same as the assistance information content, it is possible to select a version of the assistance information assigned to this area depending on the area in which the motor vehicle is currently located and to use this version in the output of the assistance information. The versions can each be adapted such that the information is output to the user in an optimally adapted manner for the area in which the motor vehicle is located.In order to enable the user to avoid a change to another language, another dialect, etc., or even a change of the display characteristics, i.e. a change of the versions when the areas are changed, the control unit according to the invention is designed to output a user query via the output means, when the current position is changed to another of the areas, is detected, whether a selection of the version of the assistance information is to be adapted, and to detect or receive a user response via control elements coupled to the control unit and to make a selection of the version to be output depending on the user response. If a user selects the option not to customize the version, the original version currently selected is maintained. Likewise, in some embodiments, it is possible that a user may make a general selection concerning each change in area during a drive cycle. In a vehicle used for rental, it can be provided that the vehicle checks at the beginning of a driving cycle whether the latest version selected is assigned to the area in which the motor vehicle is currently located and, accordingly, in an embodiment not claimed, automatically or according to the claims, carries out an adaptation after a query. This greatly simplifies voice adaptation in rental vehicles used in different states. It is thus possible to save on the outlay for service personnel to manually adapt the assistance system. Likewise, in some embodiments, a user profile can be used to define whether a version change should take place, not as claimed, automatically, after interrogation or never. Of course, embodiments can also be realized in which the determination of differentiated, for example area-related, can be carried out.In a preferred embodiment, the assistance information is provided in versions that differ in terms of rendering expression features when rendering the assistance information content. Reproduction expression features are those features which influence and / or define a graphical, acoustic, haptic or other form of information reproduction, but do not contain or change the actual assistance information content. The assistance information is preferably designed such that even when assistance information dynamically influenced by other vehicle systems is output, the underlying information content is output in each case with correspondingly adapted reproduction expression features.In a preferred embodiment, it is provided, for example, that the display embodiment features are typical for the field, its residents or urein residents. As a result, when changing from one area to another area, attention is increased by adapting the assistance information which is output to the corresponding version assigned to this area, in that the information is output to the user in a changed graphical, acoustic or haptic or other manner.The assistance information can differ, for example, with regard to the reproduction expression features speech and / or dialect which the anthropomorphic animated character uses in order to acoustically convey the assistance information to the user. The language can also be used, of course, in a manner adapted to the respective area in order to output information displayed textually on the display area.In an embodiment of the invention which is not claimed, it is provided that the control unit is designed, in the event of a detected change of the current position into another of the regions to which a version of the assistance information which is different from the currently selected version is assigned, to automatically select the version of the assistance information which is assigned to this other (current) region. In such a case, for example, a user more easily perceives a change from one area to another area because he detects the different reproduction expression features in addition to the information content of the assist information. If the driver changes from a state to the neighboring state, for example, this can ensure that the driver is aware of this fact and is thus reminiscent of it without this being explicitly output directly as an information content, of keeping on changed legal constraints, for example a deviating general speed limitation, etc. In this case, the reproduction expression feature language does not necessarily have to change into the respective country language. Rather, it is also possible that, in the case of a transition from one area to the other area, the accent-free mother tongue of the user is changed to an accent-bound pronunciation of the mother tongue of the user, wherein the accent is typical for the occupants, ureinees, etc. of the other area to which the motor vehicle is changed.Regions may be any spatial regions. In particular, the areas can be defined and selected oriented in states or countries, country circles, regions, districts, circles, cities, locations, city parts, other area bodies or in an environmental condition, an association with a national park, reserva, etc.In addition to language, dialect, or pronunciation accent, symbols and / or legal signs may be different for the different versions as rendering salient features in some embodiments, each version having the usual or legally specified symbols and / or signs in the associated area. This is advantageous in particular for traffic signs which differ slightly, for example in color, in the individual areas, for example states, with the same content of bid information or bids. If the reproduction of the assistance information is similar to that of the actually observed traffic signs and / or other symbols, this facilitates the orientation of the motorist and user and deflects him less from the road traffic, which generally increases the driving safety.In other embodiments, it is contemplated that the versions may alternatively and / or additionally differ in terms of the display appearance characteristics appearance and / or name of the anthropomorphic character, in particular in terms of an ethnic lineage, its clothing, its fashion, its style or the like, which are typical for the population or ural population of the respective area. For example, the anthropomorphic character can respectively carry a country- or district-typical landscape-mannual tress and thus inform the user that the user is located in a new area. The variation of the display characteristics enhances attention and thus information communication. In still other embodiments, the assistance information regarding the rendering expression features may differ in characters and / or numbers and / or number formats. It is likewise possible for speed data and / or temperatures to be output, for example, in a measurement system of the relevant area used in country-typical fashion.As a rule, at least a part of the plurality of different versions of the assistance information will be stored in a vehicle-internal memory. The in-vehicle memory may be flash memory, a removable medium such as a CD, DVD, a magneto-optical storage medium, a USB stick, an SD card, or any other removable storage medium in common. In other embodiments, it is provided that the control unit is designed to retrieve all or part of the selected version of the assistance information from a vehicle-external memory, in particular a server, provided that this is not present in the memory of the motor vehicle. This also makes possible a simple central adaptation of the assistance information. It can thus also be provided in some embodiments that retrieval of the assistance information is carried out if a more up-to-date version is provided on a vehicle-external memory.In order to determine in which area the user is located and which version of the assistance information is assigned to the respective area, it is provided in one embodiment of the invention that an area information file is provided, with the data of which the control device can respectively determine the current area in which the motor vehicle is located. Furthermore, a determination of the version assigned to the area is made possible. To minimize memory requirements, the different versions may be implemented as subversions of single generalized versions. Here, the sub-versions differ only with respect to a subset of expression features, while a part of the reproduction expression features of the different sub-versions of a general version are uniform.The features of the method according to the invention have the same advantages as the corresponding features of the assistance system.The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of a preferred embodiment with reference to a drawing. The following are shown here: FIG. 1 shows a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method for supporting a user in a motor vehicle via audio-visual output of assistance information; FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a motor vehicle having an audio-visual assistance system; and FIGS. 3a, 3b are schematic representations of outputs of the same information content using different display embodiment features.FIG. 1 schematically shows a flow diagram of a method for supporting a user in a motor vehicle via audio-visual output of assistance information. The method begins in method step 1 with the reading in of area information, which is preferably stored in an area information file in a memory in the motor vehicle. The area information or the area information file contains information, on the basis of which a control device can ascertain an associated current area for a current position. Furthermore, it is possible to determine a version of assistance information assigned to the area on the basis of the area information. Each area is assigned a version of the assistance information. However, a version of assistance information may be associated with different areas.In step 2, operating information and / or system state information are repeatedly detected or received. The operation information is provided by operation elements that detect an operation action of a user. The operating elements can be configured as desired. For example, these can be rotary actuators, pushbutton switches, touch-sensitive position detection units, for example in a touchscreen, a speech recognition unit, but also other systems, for example viewing direction detection systems, etc. The system state information is output and provided by one of the in-vehicle and / or out-vehicle or only temporarily coupled systems to the vehicle. As the system state information, for example, information indicating a state of a vehicle system, a vehicle function, or the like is considered. Furthermore, measured values acquired by a vehicle system are understood as system state information. Likewise, for example, position information which is detected by a position detection device which is designed, for example, as a satellite navigation system is system state information. Satellite navigation systems are known, for example, as so-called GPS systems (Global Positioning System). These provide a three-dimensional coordinate of the current motor vehicle position in a global coordinate system of the earth.In a method step 3, it is queried whether the detected or received operating and / or system state information is position information. If this is the case, then the current area to the current position represented by the position information is subsequently ascertained 4.In a method step 5, it is checked whether the area just currently determined has a different version of the assistance information assigned to it than was used to output assistance information. Other embodiments may be configured such that, on the basis of the currently ascertained area, it is first checked whether it corresponds to the previously ascertained current area. In the case that each region is assigned a different version than the adjacent regions, this is equivalent to first checking whether a change of region has taken place at all. Only in such a case can an automatic change, not claimed, of the version of the assistance information to be output take place. If no other version of the assistance information is assigned to the current area, i.e. no area change has taken place or if the same version of the assistance information is assigned to the two areas, the method continues with method step 2 of capturing and receiving operating and / or system state information.If, on the other hand, a different version of the assistance information is assigned to the current area, then a check is made in a method step 6 in an execution as to whether a change of the version of the assistance information is permitted in accordance with stored attributes. For example, a driving cycle attribute and / or a user profile attribute can be provided as attributes. These attributes each indicate whether or not a change should be permitted. A driving cycle attribute indicates, for example, whether or not a change in the version of the assistance information should be permitted in the current driving cycle. A user profile attribute, on the other hand, indicates whether a change in the version of the assistance information is permitted in a currently used user profile. If a change according to an attribute is not permitted, the method is likewise continued with method step 2 of acquiring and / or receiving operating and / or system state information. In other embodiments, it can be provided that the attributes are prioritized, so that an attribute with a higher priority is first evaluated. Only if this attribute is not set or, for example, allows a change, are low-ranking attributes evaluated. Still other embodiments may provide that the individual different attributes are linked together via logical operations. Thus, complex scenarios can also be created in which an approval of a change can be evaluated and decided depending on different attributes, which may possibly conflict with one another.In one specific embodiment according to the present invention, it is provided that in a method step 7, a query is issued as to whether a change of the version of the assistance information is to be made. The output can be visual, audible or any other manner. A response is then detected or received 8.Yes, the change is to be made;the change should not be made this time;a change should never be made in this driving cycle;A change should never be made in this user profile.In a method step 9, a check is made as to whether the answer is "yes, the change is to be made". In such a case, in a method step 10, the version of the assistance information assigned to the current area is selected as the current version. In an embodiment not claimed, the method step is also continued with this method step 6 in which no user query is provided, but instead a selection of a new version of the assistance information is automatically carried out according to the claims. Subsequently, in a method step 11, it is checked whether the current version of the assistance information is present in an in-vehicle memory. If this is the case, the process continues with the acquisition / reception of operating and / or system state information in method step 2. If, on the other hand, the current version is not present in a vehicle-internal memory, the current version of the assistance information is called up by a server, for example a server of the manufacturer of the motor vehicle. For this purpose, any information exchange method that is available in a motor vehicle can be used. For example, a cellular telephone connection may be used. It is also possible to use an Internet connection. Other possible methods may use vehicle-to-vehicle communication links or the like. Subsequently, the method is also continued with method step 2 of acquiring and / or receiving operating and / or system state information.If the response detected in method step 8 is "A change is not to be made this time", which is checked in method step 13, the process continues with method step 2 of detecting and / or receiving operating and / or system state information. In the other case, a check is made in a method step 14 as to whether the answer is "In this drive cycle a change should never be made". If the answer is so, a driving cycle attribute is set to the value no in a method step 15. The method then continues with the capturing and / or receiving of operating and / or system state information 2.In the event that the response was not "a change should never be made in this driving cycle", a check is made in a method step 16 as to whether the response is "never make a change in this user profile". If the answer is not so, then there is a fault 17; in the other case, the user profile attribute is set to the value no 18. the method is then continued with the capturing and / or receiving of operating and / or system state information 2. The last query of method step 16 can of course be omitted, provided that incorrect inputs are intercepted when detecting the user responses. The method step is only shown here for better illustration of the method.If in method step 2 an operating information item and / or a system state information item was received and / or acquired which is not position information item, then in method step 3 the method branch is made to method step 19 which represents an output of assistance information item corresponding to the acquired operating and / or system state information item with the reproduction expression features according to the current version of the assistance state information item. The assistance system state information is output visually and audibly, i.e., audio-visually, using an anthropomorphic character, also called avatar. The use of such an avatar offers the advantage that human users are accustomed to having information from other people declared. Therefore, explanations issued supported by an avatar are easier for a user to grasp. The avatar is generally designed as an animated object which, when outputting the assistance information, carries out movements which are synchronized with a voice output which takes place via an audio system. The output of the information by means of the avatar and also an output of text information, graphical and / or symbolic information etc. can be effected in each case by means of different form features. This means that the same information content can be represented to the user in different ways. In particular, the avatar can change its graphic appearance, i.e. its appearance, clothing etc., without this directly concerning the information content it conveys. Also, a font, etc. may be changed. The symbols can be displayed, for example, in a version as used in the area in which the motor vehicle is currently located. For example, in different states there are traffic signs which differ from one another only slightly in terms of their color design, but otherwise convey the same information content. For a user, the information is easier to acquire if, for example, the traffic signs are each represented in the version, i.e. are reproduced with the salient features used in the area in which the motor vehicle is currently located. However, it is also possible to increase the attention of the user if the avatar adjusts its language in each case to the area in which the motor vehicle is currently located. For example, the same information can be output in a local dialect. Further, in other embodiments, it is possible that the same information is output in a different language. The assistance information is preferably designed such that it can likewise provide dynamic assistance information, for example driving direction instructions of a navigation system's route guidance function, by means of different display embodiment features. The directional instructions are output in dialect fashion, for example, in accordance with the area. The avatar's appearance is also region adjusted.FIG. 2 schematically shows a motor vehicle 30 having an audio-visual assistance system 31. The assist system 31 includes a control unit 32 and a memory 33 coupled thereto. the memory 33 includes at least one in-vehicle memory 34, and may also include an out-of-vehicle memory 35 in some embodiments. The in-vehicle storage 34 may be any information storage. For example, it may be a flash memory, a memory card, a CD, DVD, a magneto-optical memory, etc. Preferably, the in-vehicle memory 34 also includes so-called random access memory (RAM memory) serving as a working memory for the control unit 32. The control unit preferably executes a software-based program which provides the functionality explained above in connection with FIG. 1. The control unit 32 is linked to a vehicle data bus 36. Further coupled to the vehicle data bus 36 are output means 37, which comprise at least one visual output unit 38, which can be designed, for example, as an LCD display, as a TFT display, etc. Furthermore, the output means 37 comprise at least one acoustic output unit 39, which will generally be an audio system of the motor vehicle 30. Furthermore, control elements 40, a position detection device 41 and further vehicle systems 42 are coupled to the vehicle data bus 36, of which, for example, one performs a target-guided navigation. The output means 39 and the operating elements 40, the position detection device 41 or the remaining vehicle systems 42 can each also be directly coupled to the control unit 32 in terms of information technology. The control elements 40 can comprise any desired control elements which are used in motor vehicles. For example, the control elements can comprise a touch-sensitive position detection unit, which is configured as a touchscreen 43 with the visual output unit 38.The position detector 41 is a unit that can determine a current vehicle position within an off-vehicle coordinate system. The position detection device 41 is preferably designed as a satellite navigation unit, for example as a GPS unit. This supplies position information to the control unit 32 as system state information. On the basis of this, the control unit 32 determines, as described above, a current area in which the motor vehicle 30 is located and an associated version of the assistance information which is stored in the memory 33.It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the method for providing the assistance information may be varied. For example, in an un-claimed embodiment, a version change may be made automatically without inquiring the user beforehand whether to allow a change. The assistance information is configured such that the information is output via the output means using the visual output unit 38 and the acoustic output unit 39 to represent an anthropomorphic character (avatar). When the control unit determines that the version of the assist information that is selected is not present in the in-vehicle memory 34, the required data of the version of the assist information is retrieved from the in-vehicle memory 35 via a vehicle interface 44 and an out-vehicle interface 45.FIGS. 3 aand 3 b show each a schematic output of assistance information which has the same assistance information content. The issue differs in terms of display design features. The information is output using an anthropomorphic character 51 that is displayed on a display surface 52 of a visual output unit 38. In addition, brache 53 and other acoustic signals are output via acoustic output unit 39. The information content conveyed, which is exemplarily referred to herein as "help", is outputted to the user using different rendering expression features. The various display appearance features include, for example, a style, an ethnic lineage appearance, clothing, a fashion of being make-up, etc. Further, the auxiliary information outputted acoustically is made different in terms of a landing language, a dialect, etc. While in one version the anthropomorphic character is a female person with long hairs, coated with a cloth that is speaking deutsche, in the other version, which is shown in FIG. 3 b, the female person is shown with a short hair style and a pant suit that is speaking English. The information content help is output as "help" in FIG. 3 aand as "help" in FIG. 3 b. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that a further number of other characteristics of expression is possible, for example, a use of the symbols typical of location or country.The salient features used for the reproduction are preferably chosen in the respective version to correspond to the salient features that an average user would see as typical for the respective area. This does not necessarily have to do with a real form. For example, historical landing loads that are only rarely worn by the occupants today are considered typical. Similarly, a linguistic differentiation can also be effected in that although the actually used language, for example German, English, etc., is not changed, the German language is changed when changing to an area in which English is the landing language in such a way that the German language is spoken with an English accent. This can likewise be done with dialects spoken in a country.It is understood by those skilled in the art that the described embodiments are merely exemplary and that individual method steps can be omitted and other method steps can be supplemented without changing the concept of the invention.List of reference characters1-20 Method steps 30 Motor vehicle 31 Audio-visual assistance system 32 Control unit 33 Memory 34 In-vehicle memory 35 Out-of-vehicle memory 36 Vehicle data bus 37 Output means 38 Visual output unit 39 Acoustic output unit 40 Operator control elements 41 Position detection device 42 Vehicle systems 43 Touchscreen 44 Vehicle interface 45 Out-of-vehicle interface 51 Anthropomorphic character (avatar) 52 Display area 53 Speech

Claims

Audio-visual assistance system (31) in a motor vehicle (30) comprising a control unit (32), a memory coupled to the control unit (32), in which assistance information to be output is stored, output means (37) coupled to the control unit (32), via which assistance information is output as a function of operating and / or system state information of other systems, wherein the output means (37) comprise at least one visual output unit (38) and one acoustic output unit (39), wherein the assistance information is configured such that, when output, an an anthropomorphic animated character (51) is displayed on the visual output unit (38), which outputs speech via the acoustic output unit (39) that the assistance information exists in a plurality of different versions that are the same as the assistance information content, the different spatial regions of the world are assigned and the control unit (32) is designed to acquire position information of a position detection device (41) as system state information and to ascertain a current region in which the current position of the motor vehicle (30) is located, and to undertake a selection of the version of the assistance information to be used in the output depending on the currently ascertained region, characterized in that the control unit (32) is designed, in the event of a detected change of the current position into another of the regions, to output a user query via the output means (37) whether a selection of the version of the assistance information is to be adapted, and to acquire a user response via operator means coupled to the control unit (32) and to undertake the selection of the version to be output depending on the user response.The audio-visual assistance system (31) according to claim 1, characterized in that the versions of the assistance information differ in terms of reproduction expression features upon reproduction of the assistance information content.Audio-visual assistance system (31) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display characteristics are typical of the area, its homes or the home.Audio-visual assistance system (31) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the versions of the assistance information differ with regard to the reproduction expression features speech and / or dialect in which the assistance information content is reproduced, and / or with regard to symbols and / or legal signs, each version having the symbols and or signs customary or legally predefined in the associated area, and / or with regard to the appearance and / or name of the anthropomorphic character (51), in particular with regard to its ethnic derivation, its clothing, its mode, its style, which are typical of the population or population of the respective area, and / or with regard to characters and / or numbers and / or numerical format.Audio-visual assistance system (31) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the memory (33) comprises in-vehicle memory (34).Audio-visual assistance system (31) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control unit (32) is designed to retrieve all or part of the selected version of the assistance information from a vehicle-external memory (35), in particular a server, provided these are not present in the vehicle-internal memory (34) of the motor vehicle (30).Audio-visual assistance system (31) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an area information file is provided, with the data of which the control unit (32) can determine in each case the current area in which the motor vehicle (30) is located.Method for assisting a user in a vehicle (30) via audio-visual output of assistance information, wherein the assistance information is retrieved from a memory (33) as a function of operating and / or system state information of other vehicle systems (41, 42) and output audio-visual via output means (37) which comprise at least one visual output unit (38) and one acoustic output unit (39), wherein, when output, an an anthropomorphic animated character (51) is displayed on the visual output unit (38), which outputs speech via the acoustic output unit (39), characterized in that the assistance information is provided in a plurality of different versions which are identical to the assistance information content and are assigned to different spatial regions of the world, Position information of a position detection device (41) is detected or received as system state information and a current area is determined in which the current position of the motor vehicle (30) is located, and a selection of the version of the assistance information to be used in the output is carried out depending on the currently determined area, characterized in that, in the event of a detected change of the current position into another of the areas, a user query is output via the output means (37) as to whether a selection of the version of the assistance information is to be adapted, and a user response is detected and the selection of the version to be output is carried out depending on the user response.Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the assistance information is provided in versions which differ with respect to display characteristics when the assistance information content is displayed.Method according to either of Claims 8 and 9, characterized in that the display characteristics of a version are typical of the area to which the version whose residents or urein residents are associated.Method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterised in that the assistance information is provided in versions which differ with regard to the reproduction expression features speech and / or dialect in which the assistance information content is reproduced and / or with regard to symbols and / or legal signs, each version having the symbols and or signs customary or legally predefined in the associated area, and / or with regard to the appearance and / or name of the anthropomorphic character (51), in particular with regard to its ethnic derivation, its clothing, its mode, its style, which are typical for the population or population of the respective area, and / or characters and / or with regard to numbers and / or numerical format.Method according to one of Claims 8 to 11, characterized in that the assistance information is called up wholly or partly from a vehicle-external memory (35), in particular a server, provided that said assistance information is not present in the vehicle-internal memory (34) of the motor vehicle (30).Method according to one of Claims 8 to 12, characterized in that an area information file is used to determine the current area in which the motor vehicle (30) is located in each case using the data thereof.

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