DISAMBIGUING OF LANGUAGE RECOGNITION COMMANDS FOR A VEHICLE

Abstract

A method for speech recognition in a vehicle (12), comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a voice command at the vehicle (12) via a microphone (32) in the vehicle (12); (b) obtaining a recognition result from speech recognition performed on the received voice command, wherein the recognition result represents the voice command and indicates each of two or more available vehicle commands; and (c) selecting one of the two or more available vehicle commands based on a secondary feature and an attribute of the selected vehicle command, characterized in that the secondary feature includes a time at which the voice command is received at the vehicle (12), and wherein selecting one of the two or more available vehicle commands includes comparing the time with an expected availability period associated with the selected vehicle command.

Description

TECHNICAL AREA The present invention relates to methods for speech recognition and speech recognition in vehicles. A method for speech recognition with the features of the preamble of claim 1 is known from DE 10 2012 019 178 A1. BACKGROUND Speech recognition technology has been increasingly used in vehicles in recent years to allow drivers to interact with vehicle systems while remaining aware of their surroundings and controlling the vehicle as much as possible. Numerous vehicle subsystems now offer at least some degree of user interaction via speech recognition. Consequently, the accuracy of these systems has become increasingly important for ensuring customer satisfaction. Speech recognition systems can allow an action to be performed based on a command relating to a person, such as calling that person from a vehicle. Additionally, if multiple contact numbers are available for a given contact, the user can give instructions to call the contact "at work" or at another specific location. However, speech containing a general instruction, such as calling a specific person without specifying whether the contact should be called at home, at work, etc., can periodically be misinterpreted as a command to call the person at a specific location. This inaccuracy of the system can be frustrating for the customer, especially if the specific location was not defined by the user. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved speech recognition system that eliminates the aforementioned shortcomings. In particular, it is an object of the invention to improve the accuracy of speech recognition. To solve the problem, a method with the features of claim 1, a method with the features of claim 6 and a vehicle with the features of claim 9 are provided. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One or more embodiments of the invention are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein identical designations denote identical elements, and wherein: Fig. 1 is a block diagram representing an embodiment of a communication system capable of using the exemplary method disclosed herein; and Fig. 2 is a process flow diagram of an exemplary method for speech recognition. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED FORM(S) Exemplary illustrations of a vehicle and associated procedures for speech recognition within a vehicle are described herein. The various exemplary approaches can generally improve the recognition of intended voice commands, for example, when the voice commands can be interpreted as two or more different available commands. For instance, vehicle commands might include instructions for the vehicle to initiate a telephone call, such as "Call Dave." In another example, a vehicle command might instruct a vehicle to provide directions, such as "Show me directions to Birmingham city center." In still other examples, other types of communication might be initiated by a voice command, such as "Send a text message to Chris." As described below, available vehicle commands can be provided in a voice menu that can be activated by a user, for example, by pressing a button in the vehicle while saying a specific phrase aloud, which the vehicle hears, or by any other suitable and convenient method. A variety of vehicle commands can be available in the voice menu, each with an associated phrase, such as "call," "text," "show me directions," etc. When spoken aloud by the user along with an operand, this phrase initiates an action by a vehicle system or subsystem via the voice recognition system. The voice menu commands can thus be recognized by the vehicle, enabling the initiation of one of the voice menu commands based on the spoken operand.Exemplary operands may include a contact name, a location, or any other applicable object of a voice menu command merely as examples. Secondary features can be used to improve the accuracy of speech recognition results based on attributes of the voice commands. For example, if a user says "Call Dave" and more than one phone number is known to the system, secondary features can be used to determine which number is appropriate for the vehicle to call. As just one example, the day of the week and / or time of day of the voice command can indicate whether a home or work phone number should be used. More specifically, if it is during weekday evenings, weekends, or holidays, it may be more likely that the user intends to call "Dave" on their home phone number. Conversely, if the command is given during normal business hours, it may be more likely that the user intends to call "Dave" on their work or office number. Another example of a secondary feature could be the user's proximity to the operand. For instance, if a location-based operand has multiple potential matches, it can be selected based on its closer proximity to the user. For example, if a user currently in Michigan requests directions to "downtown Birmingham," the vehicle can provide directions to Birmingham, Michigan, but not to Birmingham, Alabama. Other secondary features, such as recent use by the user or the user's relationship to the contact (e.g., spouse), can be used to guide a speech recognition system to the most appropriate phone number or other contact information. Other examples of secondary features might include the primary or current voice command. For instance, a voice command to call a specific contact without explicitly stating whether they should be contacted at home, at work, or on a mobile phone number could be interpreted as an instruction to call the contact on their most recent number, or the number the user calls that contact most frequently. While the preceding examples of secondary features are directed at information not typically included in the voice command spoken by the user, other examples of secondary features may be included in the voice command. For instance, if a user requests the vehicle to “send a text message to Dave,” the fact that the user wishes to communicate via text can be used to determine that the text should be sent to a mobile phone number associated with the contact, rather than a personal or work phone number. Secondary properties, as mentioned above, can be used to adapt a voice command to a specific vehicle command. For example, the time of day at which the user issues the command can be used to adapt the voice command based on an attribute of a vehicle command. Thus, an example of an attribute used to adapt a voice command to a vehicle command could be the vehicle command's use of a phone number during normal business hours, such as a business phone number. In other words, it is likely that an attribute of a vehicle command is intended for use during normal business hours and can be used to adapt a voice command during those hours to that vehicle command.Alternatively, an attribute of a vehicle command on weekends, holidays, or during non-business hours may be an intended command on those days / times, e.g., a private telephone number or mobile phone number that can be used to adapt the vehicle command to the voice command. Communication system - With reference to Fig. 1, an operating environment is shown that includes a mobile vehicle communication system 10, which can be used to implement the method disclosed herein. The communication system 10 generally includes a vehicle 12, one or more wireless carrier systems 14, a fixed network 16, a computer 18, and a call center 20. It is understood that the disclosed method can be used with any number of different systems and is not specifically limited to the operating environment shown herein. The architecture, construction, configuration, and operation of the system 10 and its individual components are also generally known in the art. Thus, the following paragraphs merely provide a brief overview of such a communication system 10; however, other systems not shown here could also employ the disclosed methods. Vehicle 12 is depicted as a passenger car in the illustrated embodiment; however, it should be noted that any other vehicle, including motorcycles, trucks, SUVs, recreational vehicles (RVs), watercraft, aircraft, etc., can also be used. A portion of the vehicle electronics 28 is generally shown in Fig. 1 and includes a telematics unit 30, a microphone 32, one or more buttons or other control inputs 34, an audio system 36, a visual display 38, a GPS module 40, and a number of vehicle system modules (VSMs) 42. Some of these devices may be directly connected to the telematics unit, such as the microphone 32 and the button(s) 34, while others may be indirectly connected using one or more network connections, such as a communication bus 44 or an entertainment bus 46.Examples of suitable network connections include a Controller Area Network (CAN), a Media-Oriented System Transfer (MOST), a Local Area Network (LIN), a Local Area Network (LAN), and other suitable connections such as Ethernet or others that conform to, among others, the well-known ISO, SAE, and IEEE standards and specifications. The telematics unit 30 can be an OEM-installed (embedded) or aftermarket device installed in the vehicle, enabling wireless voice and / or data communication via the mobile network system 14 and wireless networking. This allows the vehicle to communicate with call centers 20, other telematics-enabled vehicles, or any other entity or device. The telematics unit preferably uses radio transmissions to establish a communication channel (a voice channel and / or a data channel) with the wireless carrier frequency system 14, enabling voice and / or data transmissions to be sent and received over the channel. By providing both voice and data communication, the telematics unit 30 enables the vehicle to offer a number of different services, including those related to navigation, long-distance telephony, emergency assistance, diagnostics, infotainment, and so on.are connected. Data can be transmitted either via a data connection, such as packet data transmission over a data channel, or via a voice channel using techniques known in the field. For combined services that include both voice communication (e.g., with a live advisor or a speech output unit in call center 20) and data communication (e.g., to provide GPS location data or vehicle diagnostic data to call center 20), the system can use a single call over a voice channel and switch between voice and data transmission over the voice channel as needed, using techniques known to those skilled in the art. According to one embodiment, the telematics unit 30 uses cellular communication according to either the GSM, CDMA, or LTE standards and therefore includes a cellular standard chipset 50 for voice communication, such as hands-free calling, a wireless modem for data transmission, an electronic processing device 52, one or more digital storage devices 54, and a dual antenna 56. It is understood that the modem can either be implemented by software stored in the telematics unit and executed by the processor 52, or it can be a separate hardware component located inside or outside the telematics unit 30. The modem can operate using any number of different standards or protocols, such as LTE, EVDO, CDMA, GPRS, and EDGE. Wireless networking between the vehicle and other networked devices can also be achieved using the telematics unit 30.For this purpose, the Telematics Unit 30 can be configured to communicate wirelessly according to one or more protocols, including Short Range Wireless Communication (SRWC), such as any of the IEEE 802.11 protocols, WiMAX, ZigBee™, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, or Near Field Communication (NFC). When the Telematics Unit is used for packet-switched data communication such as TCP / IP, it can be configured with a static IP address or set up to automatically obtain an assigned IP address from another device on the network, such as a router or network address server. The processor 52 can be any type of device capable of processing electronic instructions, including microprocessors, microcontrollers, host processors, controllers, vehicle communication processors, and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). It can be a dedicated processor used only by the telematics unit 30, or it can be shared with other vehicle systems. The processor 52 executes various types of digitally stored instructions, such as software or firmware programs stored in memory 54, which enable the telematics unit to provide a wide variety of services. For example, the processor 52 can execute programs or process data to perform at least part of the procedure described herein. The telematics unit 30 can be used to provide a diverse range of vehicle services involving wireless communication to and / or from the vehicle. Such services include: directions and other navigation-related services provided in conjunction with the GPS-based vehicle navigation module 40; airbag deployment notification and other emergency call or breakdown service-related services provided in conjunction with one or more crash sensor interface modules, such as a vehicle control module (not shown); diagnostic messages using one or more diagnostic modules; and infotainment-related services, whereby music, web pages, movies, television programs, video games, and / or other information are downloaded and stored for present or later playback by an infotainment module (not shown).The services listed above are by no means a complete list of all the capabilities of the telematics unit 30, but are simply an enumeration of some of the services that the telematics unit can offer. Furthermore, it should be understood that at least some of the aforementioned modules could be implemented in the form of software commands stored inside or outside the telematics unit 30, they could be hardware components located inside or outside the telematics unit 30, or they could be integrated and / or shared with each other or with other systems located in the vehicle, to name just a few possibilities. In the event that the modules are implemented as VSM 42 located outside the telematics unit 30, they could use the vehicle bus 44 to exchange data and commands with the telematics unit. The GPS module 40 receives radio signals from a constellation 60 of GPS satellites. From these signals, the module 40 can determine the vehicle's position, which is used to provide navigation and other position-related services to the driver. Navigation information can be displayed on the screen 38 (or another display within the vehicle) or presented verbally, as is the case, for example, with turn-by-turn navigation. The navigation services can be provided using an associated vehicle navigation module (which may be part of the GPS module 40), or some or all of the navigation services can be provided via the telematics unit 30, with the position information being sent to a remote location for the purpose of equipping the vehicle with navigation maps, map annotations (points of interest, restaurants, etc.), route calculations, and the like.The position information can be provided to Call Center 20 or another remote computer system, such as Computer 18, for other purposes, such as fleet management. Additionally, new or updated map data for GPS Module 40 can be downloaded from Call Center 20 via Telematics Unit 30. Apart from the audio system 36 and the GPS module 40, the vehicle may include 12 other vehicle system modules (VSMs) 42 in the form of electronic hardware components located in the vehicle. These typically receive input from one or more sensors and use the acquired input to perform diagnostics, monitoring, control, reporting, and / or other functions. Each of the VSMs 42 is preferably connected to the other VSMs and the telematics unit 30 via the communication bus 44 and can be programmed to perform vehicle system and subsystem diagnostic tests. For example, a VSM 42 may be an engine control module (ECM) that manages various aspects of engine operation, such as…One VSM 42 controls fuel ignition and ignition timing; another can be a powertrain control module that regulates the operation of one or more components of the vehicle's powertrain; and another can be an onboard electrical system control module that manages various electrical components in the vehicle, such as the vehicle's central locking system and headlights. According to one embodiment, the engine control unit is equipped with integrated onboard diagnostic (OBD) functions that provide a wealth of real-time data, such as data obtained from various sensors, including vehicle emission sensors, and deliver a standardized set of diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) that enable a technician to quickly identify and rectify malfunctions within the vehicle.Experts in the field will recognize that the aforementioned VSMs are only examples of some of the modules that can be used in vehicle 12, but numerous other modules are also possible. The vehicle electronics 28 also includes a number of vehicle user interfaces that provide vehicle occupants with a means of providing and / or receiving information, including microphone 32, button(s) 34, audio system 36, and optical display 38. As used herein, the term “vehicle user interface” broadly encompasses any suitable form of electronic device that includes both the hardware and software components located in the vehicle and enables a vehicle user to communicate with or through a component of the vehicle. The microphone 32 provides audio input to the telematics unit to enable the driver or other occupants to provide voice controls and to operate hands-free communication via the mobile network operator system 14.For this purpose, it can be connected to an integrated automatic speech processing unit, which uses human-machine interface (HMI) technology well-known among experts in the field. The button(s) 34 enable manual user input into the telematics unit 30 to initiate wireless telephone calls and provide other data, responses, or control input. Separate buttons can be used to initiate emergency calls as opposed to regular service support calls to the call center 20. The audio system 36 provides audio output to a vehicle occupant and can be an associated standalone system or part of the primary vehicle audio system. According to the specific embodiment shown here, the audio system 36 is operationally coupled to both the vehicle bus 44 and the entertainment bus 46 and can provide AM, FM, and satellite radio, CD, DVD, and other multimedia functionality.This functionality can be provided in conjunction with the infotainment module described above or independently. The optical display 38 is preferably a graphic display, such as a touchscreen on the instrument panel or a warning display reflected from the windshield, and can be used to provide a variety of input and output functions. Various other vehicle user interfaces can also be used, as the interfaces shown in Fig. 1 serve only as an example of a particular implementation. The mobile network operator system 14 is preferably a smartphone system comprising several mobile masts 70 (only one shown), one or more mobile switching centers (MSCs) 72, and any other network components required to connect the mobile network operator system 14 to the fixed network 16. Each mobile mast 70 includes transmit and receive antennas and a base station, with the base stations of different mobile masts being connected to the MSC 72 either directly or via intermediate devices, such as a base station control unit. The cell system 14 can implement any suitable communication technology, including, for example, analog technologies such as AMPS or newer digital technologies such as CDMA (e.g., CDMA2000) or GSM / GPRS. Those skilled in the art will recognize that various mobile mast / base station / MSC arrangements are possible and could be used with the wireless system 14.For example, the base station and the cell tower could be located in the same place or far apart, each base station could be responsible for a single cell tower, or a single base station could serve several cell towers, and several base stations could be coupled to a single MSC, to name just a few of the possible arrangements. Apart from using the wireless carrier system 14, a different wireless carrier system in the form of satellite communication can be used to provide unidirectional or bidirectional communication with the vehicle. This can be done using one or more telecommunications satellites 62 and an up-facing transmitting station 64. Unidirectional communication could, for example, involve satellite radio services, where programmed content data (news, music, etc.) is received from the transmitting station 64, packaged for uploading, and then sent to satellite 62, which broadcasts the programming to subscribers. Bidirectional communication could, for example, involve satellite telephony services using satellites 62 to relay telephone communications between the vehicle 12 and station 64.When in use, this satellite telephone can be used either in addition to or instead of the wireless carrier frequency system 14. The fixed network 16 can be a conventional landline telecommunications network connected to one or more landline telephones and linking the wireless carrier system 14 to the call center 20. For example, the fixed network 16 can be a public switched telephone network (PSTN) such as the one used to provide landline telephony, packet-switched data communications, and internet infrastructure. One or more segments of the fixed network 16 could be implemented using a standard wired network, a fiber optic or other optical network, a cable network, power lines, other wireless networks such as wireless local area networks (WLANs) or networks providing wireless broadband access (BWA), or any combination thereof.Furthermore, the call center 20 does not need to be connected via the landline 16, but could include radio telephony equipment so that it can communicate directly with a wireless network, such as the wireless carrier system 14. The computer 18 can be one of a number of computers accessible via a private or public network, such as the Internet. Each of these computers 18 can be used for one or more purposes, such as a web server, accessible from the vehicle via the telematics unit 30 and the wireless carrier system 14.Other such accessible computers 18 may include, for example: a customer service center computer where diagnostic information and other vehicle data can be uploaded from the vehicle via the telematics unit 30; a client computer used by the vehicle owner or another subscriber for purposes such as accessing or receiving vehicle data, setting or configuring subscriber preferences, or controlling vehicle functions; or a third-party storage location to which or from which vehicle data or other information is provided either by communicating with the vehicle 12, the call center 20, or both. A computer 18 may also be used to provide internet connectivity, such as DNS services, or as a network address server that uses DHCP or another suitable protocol to assign an IP address to the vehicle 12. The call center 20 is designed to provide the vehicle electronics 28 with a number of different system back-end functions and, according to the embodiment shown here, generally includes one or more switches 80, servers 82, databases 84, live advisors 86, and an automated speech-to-speech system (VRS) 88, all of which are known in the field. These various components of the call center are preferably interconnected via a wired or wireless local area network 90. ​​The switch 80, which may be a private branch exchange (PBX) switch, forwards incoming signals so that voice transmissions are usually sent either to the live advisor 86 via the regular telephone or automatically to the speech-to-speech system 88 using VoIP. The live advisor telephone may also use VoIP, as indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 1.VoIP and other data communication through the switch 80 are implemented via a modem (not shown) connected between the switch 80 and network 90. ​​Data transmissions are passed through the modem to the server 82 and / or the database 84. The database 84 can store account information, such as subscriber authentication information, vehicle identifiers, profile records, behavioral patterns, and other relevant subscriber information. Data transmissions can also occur through wireless systems, such as 802.11x, GPRS, and the like. Although the illustrated embodiment has been described as being used in conjunction with a manned call center 20 employing the live advisor 86, it is evident that the call center could instead use VRS 88 as an automated advisor, or a combination of VRS 88 and the live advisor 86 could be used. Procedure - Referring to Fig. 2, an exemplary process flow diagram is shown, as described below in conjunction with exemplary illustrations of a method for speech recognition in a vehicle. The method 200 can begin at block 202, where a voice command can be received. For example, a voice command can be given by a driver or occupant of a vehicle, which is received at the vehicle 12 via microphone 32. For illustrative purposes only, the received voice command can include a command to call a contact, e.g., "Call Dave." The process 200 can then proceed to block 204. Block 204 enables speech recognition of the vehicle's voice command. For example, speech recognition by the vehicle's electronics, such as the telematics unit 30 or the processor 52, can be performed on the voice command received in block 202. Accordingly, the vehicle can generally identify the words uttered by the user. Continuing with Block 206, a recognition result can be obtained from speech recognition. For example, the recognition result can be obtained from speech recognition performed on the received voice command, or it can represent the voice command in some other way. The recognition result can correspond to or represent the voice command and display any one of two or more available vehicle commands. For example, if a user says "Call Dave," and two or more phone numbers are known for "Dave," there may be ambiguity as to which number the user intends to call. In general, voice commands can include a voice menu command associated with a specific vehicle subsystem or function, and an operand that identifies a target or object of the voice command. Exemplary voice menu commands might be phrases such as "call," "show me directions," or "text," and these are merely examples. Operands can include name tags associated with contacts, cities, or points of interest, such as "Dave," "Chris," or "Birmingham." Name tags can also display a database field containing information about the contact, target, etc., such as "on vehicle 12." In some exemplary approaches, an identifier that can assist in determining whether the name tag is appropriate for a particular secondary feature of a voice command can be stored in the database field.For example, if a name tag is "Dave at Home," this may indicate that the phone number associated with that name tag is stored in a "Home" database field linked to the contact. Operands can therefore contain multiple name tags, each representing a different phone number associated with a contact, such as "Home," "Office," "Mobile," etc. Procedure 200 can then proceed to block 208. Block 208 allows one of the two or more available vehicle commands to be selected based on a secondary feature and an attribute of the chosen vehicle command. Accordingly, if a voice command is unclear as to whether it can be intended for two or more different operands, process 200 can determine which of the two or more different operands is the intended target. A revised recognition result can then be generated that includes the voice menu command and the intended target. This is merely an example where a secondary feature of the voice command is the time / day of the voice command, and vehicle commands with an association to this time / day can be selected and thus become part of the revised recognition result. Accordingly, in this example, selecting one of the two or more available vehicle commands involves adjusting the day / time of the voice command, e.g.,during normal business hours, within an expected availability period associated with the selected vehicle command, such as a business telephone number. In other examples, a secondary feature might be a user's relationship to an operand included in the voice command, such as being the user's spouse or relative. In still other examples, the vehicle's approach to a location identified by the operand, either alone or in combination with the user's relationship to the operand, could be used as a secondary feature. Accordingly, Method 200 can generally disambiguate the recognition result at the vehicle by determining, based on the current date and / or time of day, which of the two or more available vehicle commands is the intended command.Selecting one of the two or more vehicle commands that may be applicable to the voice command can involve determining a relative probability for each of the multitude of vehicle commands corresponding to the voice command, based on at least the secondary feature. In this way, process 200 can determine which of the two or more different operands contains an intended target. Based on this determination, a revised recognition result can be generated that includes the voice menu command and the intended target. Conveniently, attributes and / or secondary features do not need to be spoken as part of the voice commands. As mentioned above in the examples, where a date / time is used in the voice command, this information does not need to be spoken aloud by the user, as the vehicle may have access to an independent display of the day / time. Accordingly, voice command disambiguation and increased accuracy of the speech recognition system can generally occur without requiring additional information from the user. Continuing with Block 210, the revised recognition result or the disambiguated result can be presented to the user. In some exemplary approaches, confirmation for the user may be provided, e.g., an audible indication so that the user can hear it via the vehicle's audio system 36. In another example, the intended or disambiguated vehicle command may be initiated without requiring any further confirmation or action from the user. It is understood that the foregoing is a description of one or more embodiments of the invention. The invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed herein, but is defined exclusively by the following claims. Furthermore, the statements made in the foregoing description refer to specific embodiments and are not to be understood as limitations on the scope of the invention or the definition of the terms used in the claims, except where a term or expression has been expressly defined above. Various other embodiments and various changes and modifications to the disclosed embodiment(s) are obvious to those skilled in the art. All such other embodiments, changes, and modifications should be understood to fall within the scope of the appended claims. As used in this specification and the claims, the terms "e.g.", "for example", "such as", and "as" and the verbs "comprising", "including", "possessing" and their other verb forms, when used in conjunction with a list of one or more components or other elements, are each to be interpreted as open, meaning that the list does not exclude other additional components or elements. Other terms are to be interpreted in their broadest reasonable sense unless used in a context that requires a different interpretation.

Claims

A method for speech recognition in a vehicle (12), comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a voice command at the vehicle (12) via a microphone (32) in the vehicle (12); (b) obtaining a recognition result from speech recognition performed on the received voice command, wherein the recognition result represents the voice command and indicates each of two or more available vehicle commands; and (c) selecting one of the two or more available vehicle commands based on a secondary feature and an attribute of the selected vehicle command, characterized in that the secondary feature includes a time at which the voice command is received at the vehicle (12), and wherein selecting one of the two or more available vehicle commands includes comparing the time with an expected availability period associated with the selected vehicle command. Method according to claim 1, wherein each of the vehicle commands comprises a voice menu command and at least one operand, and wherein the operand includes a name tag specifying a database field in which an identification of one of the two or more available vehicle commands is stored. Method according to claim 1, wherein the secondary feature includes a user's association with an operand included in the voice command, the proximity of the vehicle (12) to a location identified by the operand, or both. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a disambiguation of the recognition result on the vehicle (12) by determining, based on the current date and / or time of day, which of the two or more existing vehicle commands is an intended command; and displaying the disambiguation of the recognition result to the user. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognition result corresponds to a voice menu command and two or more different operands, and further comprising: determining which of the two or more different operands comprises an intended target and generating a revised recognition result comprising the voice menu command and the intended target; and presenting the revised recognition result to the user. A method for speech recognition in a vehicle (12), comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a voice command at the vehicle (12) from a user via a microphone (32) in the vehicle (12); (b) performing speech recognition on the voice command at the vehicle (12); (c) obtaining a recognition result from the speech recognition, which represents the voice command, wherein the recognition result corresponds to each of two or more available vehicle commands; (d) performing disambiguation of the recognition result at the vehicle (12) by determining, based on the current date and / or time of day and a comparison of the current date and / or time of day with an expected availability period associated with each vehicle command, which of the two or more available vehicle commands is an intended command; and (e) presenting the disambiguation of the recognition result to the user. The method of claim 6, wherein the recognition result corresponds to a voice menu command and two or more different operands, and wherein step (d) further comprises determining which of the two or more different operands comprises an intended target and generates a revised recognition result comprising the voice menu command and the intended target, and wherein step (e) comprises displaying the revised recognition result to the user. Method according to claim 7, wherein the voice menu command comprises a telephone dialing command and the operands comprise different name tags, each name tag representing a different telephone number. Vehicle (12) with vehicle electronics (28) installed in the vehicle (12), the vehicle electronics (28) comprising: a microphone (32) located inside the vehicle (12) and configured to receive a voice command from a user located inside the vehicle (12);and a controller that communicates with the microphone (32), wherein the controller is configured to perform speech recognition on the voice command and to obtain a recognition result from the speech recognition that represents the voice command, wherein the recognition result corresponds to each of two or more available vehicle commands, and wherein the controller is configured to determine which of two or more available vehicle commands is an intended command, based at least on the current date and / or time of day and a comparison of the current date and / or time of day with an expected availability period associated with a respective vehicle command.

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