hands-free vehicle system

Abstract

hands-free vehicle system - with a radio interface designed to connect at least one first mobile phone and one second mobile phone to the vehicle hands-free device, in particular in parallel or simultaneously, and - with a control device that is set up in such a way, - that mobile phone address book entries from the first mobile phone and mobile phone address book entries from the second mobile phone are transferred to the vehicle hands-free system via the radio interface, that a common vehicle hands-free system address book is generated based on the mobile phone address book entries of the first mobile phone and the mobile phone address book entries of the second mobile phone, - that, in addition to mobile phone address book entries, messages, calendar entries, tasks and / or notes are transferred from the mobile phones to the vehicle hands-free system via the radio interface, - that based on the transferred messages, calendar entries, tasks and / or notes, a shared message list, a shared calendar, a shared task list and / or a shared notes list is generated, and that, triggered by the user, a speaker device and a microphone device of the vehicle hands-free system are switched from a communication connection established via the first mobile phone to a communication connection established via the second mobile phone and vice versa.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a motor vehicle hands-free system.

[0002] The rapid spread of mobile communications technology in recent years has led, among other things, to the development and provision of hands-free car kits that interact with mobile phones. Particularly advanced are car hands-free kits that interact or communicate wirelessly, particularly based on the Bluetooth standard, with a mobile phone located in or near the vehicle.

[0003] It is known that a motor vehicle hands-free system automatically establishes a Bluetooth connection to a mobile phone assigned to the motor vehicle hands-free system, or vice versa, as soon as the mobile phone is within range of the motor vehicle hands-free system and vice versa. The mobile phone and the motor vehicle hands-free system can then exchange data via the Bluetooth connection. By exchanging voice data, voice communication based on the motor vehicle hands-free system and the mobile phone can be realized via a mobile radio system. By exchanging control data, the mobile phone can be controlled by a motor vehicle user interface.

[0004] Motor vehicle hands-free systems are already known from DE 102008007868A1, DE102009009696A1 and US2008 / 0045274A1.

[0005] The invention is based on the object of providing a technical teaching with which two mobile telephones can be conveniently operated via a motor vehicle hands-free system.

[0006] This object is achieved by the features of independent claim 1. Advantageous developments of the invention can be found in the dependent claims.

[0007] According to the invention, a motor vehicle hands-free device comprises a radio interface, such as a Bluetooth interface, which is designed so that at least a first mobile phone and a second mobile phone are connected to the motor vehicle hands-free device, in particular in parallel or simultaneously.

[0008] "Connected" preferably means that a connection is actually established and / or data is actually being transferred, in particular that the mobile phones are considered "connected" to the vehicle hands-free system within the meaning of the Bluetooth specification. A connection is preferably only possible with mobile phones that have previously been linked or "paired" with the vehicle hands-free system.

[0009] In addition, a control device is provided which is configured such that mobile phone address book entries from the first mobile phone, for example from a subscriber identification module (SIM) memory and / or from a telephone memory, and mobile phone address book entries from the second mobile phone are transferred to the motor vehicle hands-free system via the radio interface.

[0010] Based on the mobile phone address book entries of the first mobile phone and the mobile phone address book entries of the second mobile phone, a common, in particular combined, motor vehicle hands-free system address book is automatically generated. The term "address book" also includes the term "phone book."

[0011] This allows a user of a car hands-free system to access the mobile phone address book entries of two mobile phones quickly, easily, safely, conveniently and without being distracted by the traffic while driving.

[0012] Preferably, the motor vehicle hands-free device address book can be stored in a memory device of the motor vehicle hands-free device and / or output in whole or in part on a display unit coupled to the motor vehicle hands-free device.

[0013] In a further development of the invention, an identity identifier (source ID) of the mobile phone (source mobile phone) from which the address book entry(s) originate can be transferred to the motor vehicle hands-free system, associated with the address book entries. The identity identifier or information derived therefrom can be stored together with the associated address book entry(s) in the memory device of the motor vehicle hands-free system and / or output together with the associated address book entry(s) on the display unit coupled to the motor vehicle hands-free system.

[0014] Alternatively or in addition to this further development, it can be provided that the motor vehicle hands-free system automatically assigns an identity identifier generated by the motor vehicle hands-free system to the address book entries originating from a specific mobile phone.

[0015] This provides the car hands-free system with information about the sources of the address book entries. Furthermore, a user can identify the source (first or second mobile phone) of various address book entries.

[0016] A further development of the invention provides that address book entries of the shared motor vehicle hands-free system address book can be sorted jointly, for example, alphabetically, by source ID, or by access frequency, or can be filtered jointly, for example, by source ID or address book entry type (private, business). This enhances the aforementioned advantages.

[0017] In addition to the mobile phone address book entries, messages, calendar entries, tasks, and / or notes are transferred from the mobile phones to the motor vehicle hands-free system via the radio interface. Based on the transferred messages, calendar entries, tasks, and / or notes, a common, in particular summarized, message list, a common calendar, a common task list, and / or a common notes list are generated. Further developments of this embodiment analogous to the further developments of the address book variant mentioned above and below are also within the scope of the invention.

[0018] It is also a further development of the invention that a call can be or is automatically established via the mobile phone whose identity identifier is assigned to a selected address book entry. The selection of an address book entry is made, for example, using an input unit assigned to the motor vehicle hands-free system. Alternatively, a user can manually select the connected mobile phone via which a call should be established to a telephone number of a selected address book entry in the shared motor vehicle hands-free system address book.

[0019] It is provided that, in a user-triggered manner (for example in response to a corresponding user input on an input unit coupled to the motor vehicle hands-free device), a loudspeaker device and a microphone device of the motor vehicle hands-free device are switched from a communication connection established via the first mobile phone to a communication connection established via the second mobile phone, in particular by the motor vehicle hands-free device sending a hold command to the first mobile phone via the radio interface and / or a call activation command to the second mobile phone, or vice versa.

[0020] In another development, it is provided that a loudspeaker device and a microphone device of the motor vehicle hands-free device can be switched, in a user-triggered manner, simultaneously to a communication connection established via the first mobile phone and to a communication connection established via the second mobile phone.

[0021] In the following, the invention is explained in more detail by means of examples with reference to the following figure: Fig. 1 shows a simplified schematic diagram of a motor vehicle hands-free system with two mobile phones.

[0022] Fig. 1 shows a motor vehicle hands-free device FE in a vehicle, which comprises a control unit STE, a storage device SPE, a microphone MIC, a loudspeaker LS and a Bluetooth transmission device BT.

[0023] In addition, the vehicle hands-free system (FE) is equipped with or coupled to an MMI user interface, which includes a display device (ANZ), such as a graphic display, and an input device (IN), such as a switch or a menu control and menu item selection element. The MMI user interface can also be used to control other vehicle systems. It may, but does not have to, be part of the vehicle hands-free system (FE).

[0024] The motor vehicle hands-free system (FE) including the MMI user interface is controlled by the STE control unit, which can be implemented as a program-controlled processor device. The STE control unit can be implemented centrally or distributed; it can be implemented as part of the MMI user interface and / or the motor vehicle hands-free system (FE), and / or it can be implemented separately from the MMI user interface and / or the motor vehicle hands-free system (FE). The STE control unit can also be used to control other vehicle systems.

[0025] The components of the FE vehicle hands-free system are connected to each other via a data bus or analogue lines.

[0026] Two mobile phones MT1,MT2 are connected in parallel to the vehicle hands-free system FE via the Bluetooth interface BT.

[0027] The mobile phones MT1 and MT2 are also each equipped with a Bluetooth interface BT1 and BT2. Furthermore, the mobile phones MT1 and MT2 each have an address book memory, which can be implemented as part of the mobile phone memory and / or as part of the subscriber identification module (SIM) memory.

[0028] The control device STE of the motor vehicle hands-free system FE and the mobile telephones MT1, MT2 are configured in such a way that, immediately or indirectly after the mobile telephones MT1, MT2 are connected to the motor vehicle hands-free system FE, the address book entries from the address book memory of the mobile telephones MT1, MT2 are automatically transferred via the Bluetooth interface BT, BT1, BT2 to the memory device SPE of the motor vehicle hands-free system FE (if necessary after user confirmation).

[0029] The address book entries originating from the first mobile phone MT1 are assigned a source mobile phone ID in the motor vehicle hands-free system FE that points to the first mobile phone MT1. The address book entries originating from the second mobile phone MT2 are assigned a source mobile phone ID in the motor vehicle hands-free system FE that points to the second mobile phone MT2. The corresponding source mobile phone IDs can be transferred to the motor vehicle hands-free system during the transfer of the address book entries or can be generated by the motor vehicle hands-free system itself.

[0030] Based on the address book entries from both mobile phones MT1 and MT2, a consolidated address book is generated in the vehicle hands-free system FE, which can be sorted and filtered according to various criteria. This consolidated address book can be displayed on the ANZ display. The individual address book entries can be shown along with the corresponding source mobile phone ID.

[0031] If a user initiates a call to a subscriber by selecting a corresponding address book entry, the call is automatically made to the mobile phone to which the source mobile phone ID assigned to the address book entry refers.

[0032] If a communication connection is established via both mobile phones MT1, MT2, a user is able to use the MMI user interface to switch the motor vehicle hands-free system FE, in particular the microphone MIC and the loudspeaker LS, specifically to only one of the two communication connections or to both communication connections.

[0033] A preferred embodiment provides that - if an address book entry, in particular an address book entry name (e.g. surname), is present both in the first mobile phone MT1 and on the second mobile phone MT2 - either the address book entry is transferred to the combined address book which originates from a preferred mobile phone - previously selected by the user - or which is manually selected by the user after a corresponding input prompt by the motor vehicle hands-free system.

[0034] Another preferred embodiment provides that - if an address book entry, in particular an address book entry name (e.g. surname), occurs more than once - a check is carried out to determine whether the address book entries are duplicates or not. If they are duplicates, only one of the address book entries is adopted. If they are not duplicates, the address book entries are combined into one "large" address book entry. If, for example, the address book entry "Müller" is located in the SIM card memory and the mobile phone memory of a mobile phone, only one address book entry is displayed in the combined list. If, for example, the address book entry "Mayer" with work number and private number and another address book entry "Mayer" with mobile phone number is located in the mobile phone memory, then both address book entries are combined into one address book entry.

[0035] Further embodiments, analogous to the embodiments just described, provide that in addition to the mobile phone address book entries, messages, calendar entries, tasks and / or notes can be transferred from the mobile phones to the motor vehicle hands-free system via the radio interface in order to generate and, if necessary, filter a summarized message list, a summarized calendar, a summarized task list and / or a summarized note list.

Claims

[1] Motor vehicle hands-free system - with a radio interface which is designed to connect at least a first mobile telephone and a second mobile telephone to the motor vehicle hands-free system, in particular in parallel or simultaneously, and - with a control device designed in such a way - that mobile phone address book entries from the first mobile phone and mobile phone address book entries from the second mobile phone are transferred to the motor vehicle hands-free device via the radio interface, that a common motor vehicle hands-free device address book is generated based on the mobile phone address book entries of the first mobile phone and the mobile phone address book entries of the second mobile phone, - that in addition to the mobile phone address book entries, messages, calendar entries, tasks and / or notes are transferred from the mobile phones to the car hands-free system via the radio interface, - that based on the transferred messages, calendar entries, tasks and / or notes, a common message list, a common calendar, a common task list and / or a common notes list are generated, and that, upon user triggering, a loudspeaker device and a microphone device of the motor vehicle hands-free system are switched from a communication connection established via the first mobile phone to a communication connection established via the second mobile phone and vice versa. [2] Motor vehicle hands-free device according to claim 1, wherein the motor vehicle hands-free device address book can be stored in a memory device of the motor vehicle hands-free device and / or can be output in whole or in part on a display unit coupled to the motor vehicle hands-free device. [3] Motor vehicle hands-free device according to one of the preceding claims, in which an identity identifier of the mobile telephone from which the address book entries originate can be transferred to the motor vehicle hands-free device, associated with the address book entries, and in which the identity identifier or information derived therefrom can be stored together with the associated address book entries in the memory device of the motor vehicle hands-free device and / or can be output together with the associated address book entries on the display unit coupled to the motor vehicle hands-free device. [4] Motor vehicle hands-free device according to one of the preceding claims, in which address book entries of the common motor vehicle hands-free device address book can be sorted or filtered together. [5] Motor vehicle hands-free device according to one of the preceding claims, in which a call setup based on the selection of an address book entry via an input unit assigned to the motor vehicle hands-free device can be carried out automatically via the mobile telephone whose identity identifier is assigned to the selected address book entry. [6] Motor vehicle hands-free device according to one of the preceding claims, in which a loudspeaker device and a microphone device of the motor vehicle hands-free device can be switched simultaneously to a communication connection established via the first mobile telephone and to a communication connection established via the second mobile telephone, triggered by the user.

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