Procedures for organizing a call taking place via mobile phone and motor vehicle

Abstract

Method for organizing a mobile phone call between a calling subscriber and a called subscriber, wherein the called subscriber is in a motor vehicle, in particular as the driver, and the calling subscriber uses a first subscriber device (Tg1) and the called subscriber uses a second subscriber device (Tg2), wherein the method comprises the steps: - Receiving a call request sent by the first subscriber device by the second subscriber device; - The vehicle gathers initial information necessary to determine the current complexity of the driving situation and additional information necessary to determine the complexity of a future driving situation; - Use at least the second and optionally also the first piece of information to determine a possible time or interval for making a call, whereby the time or interval for making a call is such that the time spent in the motor vehicle is used for the conversation; - Transmitting information about the possible call time or interval to a planning unit of the first subscriber device.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method for organizing a mobile phone call between a calling party and a party to be called, wherein the party to be called is in a motor vehicle, in particular as the driver, and wherein the calling party uses a first subscriber device and the party to be called uses a second subscriber device. The second subscriber device can be a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet computer, etc., carried by the party to be called, but it can also be integrated into the motor vehicle (installed SIM card with associated control unit).

[0002] It is known that incoming telephone calls are rejected in a motor vehicle when the driver is under high stress. EP 1 513 326 A1 describes such handling of an incoming call in or by a motor vehicle. DE 102 26 425 A1 also concerns the acceptance of calls, whereby the driving situation is examined to determine whether the call can be accepted within a predetermined time.

[0003] Furthermore, it is known to inform the caller. EP 1 524 833 B1 describes how a motor vehicle in which a hands-free device is activated sends a corresponding message to the caller. DE 60 210 164 T2 discloses the sending of a reply message by the motor vehicle in response to a call when answering the call would be dangerous. Information about the vehicle (navigation data) is also transmitted in this case.

[0004] DE 69 808 947 T2 describes the determination of the activity state of the motor vehicle and the sending of a waiting message to the caller until a safe state of the driver is reached.

[0005] US Patent 2016 / 0227028 A1 recognizes the ability to determine, while a motor vehicle is in motion, when a stop will be necessary to make a phone call. Route information, such as expected traffic density, can be taken into account during this planning process.

[0006] A disadvantage of the current state of the art is that, while it protects the driver of the motor vehicle from having to make a phone call in a situation that is detrimental to him, it neglects the interests of the caller in making the call as soon as possible, on the one hand, and of the vehicle occupant, who would also like to make the call under the most suitable conditions possible, on the other.

[0007] Accordingly, the purpose of the invention is to show a way in which security interests can be reconciled with the interests of both participants in carrying out the telephone call as soon as possible.

[0008] The problem is solved by a method for organizing a conversation taking place via mobile communication with the features according to claim 1 and by a motor vehicle with the features according to claim 11.

[0009] The inventive method for organizing a mobile phone call between a calling party and a party to be called, wherein the party to be called is in a motor vehicle, in particular as the driver, and wherein the calling party uses a first subscriber device and the party to be called uses a second subscriber device, comprises the following steps: - Receiving a call request sent by the first subscriber device by the second subscriber device; - To determine, by means of the motor vehicle, initial information necessary to determine the current complexity of the driving situation, and secondary information necessary to determine the complexity of a future driving situation; - Using at least the second piece of information and optionally also the first piece of information to determine a possible time or interval for making a call, whereby the time or interval is such that the time spent in the motor vehicle is used for the conversation; - Transmitting information about the possible call time or interval to a planning unit of the first subscriber device.

[0010] The invention introduces the concept of call scheduling, thus going far beyond the state of the art, in which incoming calls are merely blocked or delayed. In this way, the modern world can be taken into account, in which drivers and other vehicle occupants would like to use the time spent traveling by car for additional phone calls, video conferences, and the like.

[0011] According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the motor vehicle transmits the first and second pieces of information to the second subscriber device (located in it), in which a data processing device then performs the step of utilizing the at least second piece of information and optionally also the first piece of information, and wherein the second subscriber device wirelessly transmits the information (at the possible time of the call or the interval) to the first subscriber device.

[0012] By using a data processing unit in the second subscriber device, its potentially higher computing capacity can be utilized, which may not be available, or not to the same extent, in another control unit of the vehicle. As the vehicle ages, the computing capacity can be expanded by installing a more modern subscriber device.

[0013] Alternatively, the first and / or second pieces of information could be forwarded to the first subscriber device, where the calculation would then be performed outside the vehicle to determine the estimated call time or interval. The planning unit of the first subscriber device would then receive this information internally.

[0014] According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the second piece of information relates to the complexity of the driving situation during a planned call duration. The "future" driving situation complexity in the wording of the claim ideally refers not only to this driving situation complexity at a single point in the future, but to a plurality of future points in time within the planned call duration. It is understood that if the possible call time is postponed (or moved forward), the planned call duration itself shifts backward (or forward).For example, if the planned call duration is ten minutes, the second piece of information, after an initial determination of the possible call time one minute after receiving the call request, can refer to the period from one minute to eleven minutes after receiving the call request. Furthermore, the complexity of the driving situation can be predicted in half-minute increments, i.e., for one minute, one minute thirty, two minutes, two minutes thirty, three minutes, etc., after receiving the call request. Other intervals are, of course, conceivable (shorter: approximately ten-second intervals; longer: one-minute intervals; and so on).

[0015] According to another preferred embodiment, the call request includes information about the desired call duration, and this information is also used in the step of utilizing at least the second and optionally the first piece of information. This allows the possible call start time to vary depending on the desired or maximum call duration. For example, it might be possible to initiate a three-minute call after one minute, while a ten-minute call could begin only after five minutes.

[0016] An advantageous further development of this embodiment consists in transmitting information about an actually possible call duration, which optionally includes the provision of predefined interruptions or interruptions made according to certain criteria, to the planning unit of the first subscriber device.

[0017] This allows the caller to plan how long the call will last. If the actual possible call duration is shorter than the desired duration, the caller needs to shorten the conversation. If the actual possible call duration is the same as the desired duration, the call can proceed as planned. If the actual possible call duration is even longer than the desired duration, the caller can, if necessary, take their time.

[0018] According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, information on the complexity of the conversation is received with the call request, and this information is also used in the step of utilizing at least the second and optionally also the first piece of information.

[0019] Since the first and second pieces of information relate to the complexity of the driving situation, it is clear that with increased conversation complexity, the complexity of the driving situation must be lower than if the driver is only supposed to chat in a highly complex driving situation.

[0020] According to a beneficial further development, the vehicle or the second participant device receives an input to define a limit for the call complexity, and this limit is taken into account when setting the call duration. The driver can thus specify what is expected of them while driving. This can be important when setting the possible call time and / or the interval between call times and / or the call duration, so that the driver's wishes can be flexibly accommodated.

[0021] According to a further preferred embodiment, the first information relates to the position of the motor vehicle, the traffic density around the motor vehicle, the familiarity of the route taken by the party being called, the stress level of the party being called as measured by interior sensors of the motor vehicle, data measured by exterior sensors, equipment features of the motor vehicle, the occupancy of the motor vehicle's seats, and / or information on telephone calls being made by other occupants in the motor vehicle. This thus indicates how the motor vehicle is moving through its environment and what stress level is being measured directly within it, or which influencing factors may contribute to the stress level (other occupants, other vehicle occupants who may be making telephone calls).

[0022] According to a further preferred embodiment, the second information relates to a navigation route intended by the motor vehicle, traffic density on this navigation route and / or on alternative navigation routes, information on other vehicle occupants in the motor vehicle and telephone calls made and / or planned by other vehicle occupants.

[0023] This second piece of information serves to predict as much as possible about the complexity of future driving situations. High traffic density on the planned navigation route is predicted to result in a high stress level for the driver. If necessary, an alternative navigation route (detours of up to ten minutes) can be preferred, and the vehicle can be rerouted as part of the planning process for the conversation.

[0024] According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, a call is made from the first subscriber device to the second subscriber device, and the vehicle continuously checks whether the conditions for a telephone call still exist (i.e., whether the complexity of the driving situation exceeds a certain threshold, which may be influenced by a predefined call complexity, call duration, etc.). Corresponding information is transmitted to the planning unit or an output device (display, etc.) of the first subscriber device. In this way, the caller is regularly informed whether the call can continue according to the existing plan or whether it must be interrupted or shortened.

[0025] The motor vehicle according to the invention comprises sensors and an evaluation unit for detecting the current driving situation complexity, as well as a navigation device. The evaluation unit of the motor vehicle is designed to determine a future driving situation complexity based on navigation data in the navigation device and, depending on this, to pre-plan the reception of a telephone or video call in such a way that the time spent in the motor vehicle during transport is used for the conversation.

[0026] This applies in particular to the embodiment in which the motor vehicle influences the planning of the telephone call, video call or the like during the journey, by momentarily interrupting the conversation or planning a different navigation route and the like.

[0027] For use cases or application situations that may arise during the procedure and are not explicitly described here, it may be provided that, according to the procedure, an error message and / or a request for user feedback is issued and / or a default setting and / or a predetermined initial state is set.

[0028] The invention also includes the control device for the motor vehicle. The control device can include a data processing device or a processor unit configured to carry out an embodiment of the method according to the invention. The processor unit can be configured as a CPU (central processing unit) and / or a GPU (graphics processing unit) or comprise both. The processor unit can further comprise at least one microprocessor and / or at least one microcontroller and / or at least one FPGA (field programmable gate array) and / or at least one DSP (digital signal processor). Furthermore, the processor unit can include program code configured to carry out the embodiment of the method according to the invention when executed by the processor unit. The program code can be stored in a data memory of the processor unit. The processor unit can, for example,based on at least one circuit board and / or at least one SoC (System on Chip).

[0029] The invention also includes further developments of the motor vehicle according to the invention, which have features already described in connection with the further developments of the method according to the invention. For this reason, the corresponding further developments of the method according to the invention are not described again here.

[0030] The motor vehicle according to the invention is preferably designed as a motor vehicle, in particular as a passenger car or truck, or as a passenger bus or motorcycle.

[0031] As a further solution, the invention also includes a computer-readable storage medium comprising program code which, when executed by a computer or a computer network, causes it to execute an embodiment of the method according to the invention. The storage medium can be provided at least partially as a non-volatile data storage medium (e.g., as flash memory and / or as an SSD - solid state drive) and / or at least partially as a volatile data storage medium (e.g., as RAM - random access memory). The storage medium can be located within the computer or computer network. However, the storage medium can also be operated, for example, as an app store server and / or cloud server on the internet. The computer or computer network can provide a processor circuit with, for example, at least one microprocessor.The program code can be provided as binary code and / or as assembly code and / or as source code of a programming language (e.g. C) and / or as a program script (e.g. Python).

[0032] The invention also includes combinations of the features of the described embodiments. The invention therefore also includes realizations that each exhibit a combination of the features of several of the described embodiments, provided that the embodiments have not been described as mutually exclusive.

[0033] The following are described exemplary embodiments of the invention. The only embodiment shown here is the sole Figure shows steps of an embodiment of the method according to the invention involving all telephone calls.

[0034] The exemplary embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the invention. In these exemplary embodiments, the described components each represent individual features of the invention, which can be considered independently of one another and each further develops the invention independently. Therefore, the disclosure is intended to include combinations of features of the embodiments other than those shown. Furthermore, the described embodiments can also be supplemented by further features of the invention already described.

[0035] In the figures, identical reference symbols denote functionally equivalent elements.

[0036] The invention relates to conducting and organizing a telephone call or other conversation (video call or the like) from a first subscriber device Tg1 to a second subscriber device Tg2, which is located in a motor vehicle. The subscriber device Tg2 can, in particular, be a smartphone carried by the driver of the motor vehicle, or it can be permanently installed in the motor vehicle. While the method according to the invention has been described above from the perspective of the subscriber device Tg2, optionally in conjunction with the motor vehicle, and is also reproduced accordingly in the claims, the overall method encompassing the invention can be fully described by additionally presenting the steps of the first subscriber device Tg1.

[0037] In the first step, S10, the first subscriber device, Tg1, sends a request to the second subscriber device, Tg2, indicating a call request. The desired call duration and complexity can also be specified with the call request. The request can be sent from subscriber device 1 using an application (app) or other communication services (SMS, chat services, etc.). It is also possible to connect subscriber device Tg1 to a personal computer, which can then send an email to the account of the owner of subscriber device 2.

[0038] However, for the following, it is assumed that corresponding applications are used in participant device Tg1 and participant device Tg2.

[0039] The second participant device, Tg2, considered separate from the vehicle, receives the request according to step S10 and then, in step S12, transmits a command to a responsible control unit in the vehicle, which then begins collecting information no later than step S14. At this point, the driver's stress level is determined using a camera and / or microphone as interior sensors. Furthermore, the app on participant device 2 determines which other calls are currently being made or are planned by passengers. External sensors (cameras, microphones, etc.) monitor the traffic situation, and information from outside the vehicle, such as weather data, traffic data, and the like, is also collected, possibly via the internet, for which participant device Tg2 can provide the necessary connectivity.The complexity of the driving situation is derived from all this data, for which artificial intelligence can be used.

[0040] In step S16, the observed driving context and the current driving situation complexity are optionally stored in a backend, such as one with cross-user data storage. Technical approaches for implementing swarm intelligence include, for example, clustering or recommender algorithms.

[0041] In step S18, the relevant information is then transmitted from the vehicle to the second subscriber device Tg2. Alternatively, the information is processed directly in the vehicle's control unit, and in step S18a, the results of this processing are transmitted directly. In step S18b, the second subscriber device Tg2 transmits information about a possible call time or an interval in which a call can be initiated to the first subscriber device Tg1.

[0042] The actual call now takes place in step S20.

[0043] In step S22, the participant device Tg2 informs the motor vehicle that the call is being made, and in step S24 the motor vehicle takes over monitoring to further check the complexity of the driving situation.

[0044] In step S26a, relevant information or the result of its evaluation is transmitted to the second subscriber device Tg2, which, in this example, causes the second subscriber device Tg2 to terminate the call in step S26b. This is confirmed by the first subscriber device Tg1 in step S28a, and in step S28b, corresponding information is forwarded from the second subscriber device Tg2 to the vehicle.

[0045] In step S30, the vehicle now checks whether the complexity of the driving situation allows for a resumption of the conversation. The information stored in step S16 can be taken into account in accordance with step S29.

[0046] In step S32, relevant information or the result of an evaluation of such information is transmitted to the subscriber device Tg2, which in turn initiates a resumption of the call to the first subscriber device Tg1 in step S24.

[0047] The conversation then continues until step S36 ends the conversation and in step S38 the second participant device Tg2 informs the control unit in the motor vehicle of this in order to completely end the procedure.

[0048] The following may also be of interest regarding scheduling: If the caller specifies a desired timeframe, for example, a 20-minute call, it may be that due to the complexity of the driving situation at the recipient's location, a suitable timeframe for the call cannot be predicted. The second subscriber device (Tg2) / the vehicle then suggests a shorter call duration (e.g., "five minutes") and sends a corresponding message to the first subscriber device (Tg1). The caller must then decide whether this is sufficient and whether to initiate or decline the call.

[0049] This manual step can be avoided if the caller can optionally specify a minimum call duration in addition to the desired call duration (preferred time frame). The system (the second subscriber device Tg2 / the vehicle) will then indicate how long the call can last, provided it meets or exceeds the minimum call duration.

[0050] An additional optional approach involves using an intelligent system (AI algorithm) to which the caller can describe the intended content of the call. The intelligent system then decides or determines the minimum and maximum call duration required. This would save the caller from having to manually enter these parameters.

[0051] Overall, the examples show how a context-adapted call scheduler can be provided.

Claims

[1] Method for organizing a mobile phone call between a calling subscriber and a called subscriber, wherein the called subscriber is in a motor vehicle, in particular as the driver, and the calling subscriber uses a first subscriber device (Tg1) and the called subscriber uses a second subscriber device (Tg2), the method comprising the steps: - Receiving a call request sent by the first subscriber device by the second subscriber device; - The vehicle gathers initial information necessary to determine the current complexity of the driving situation and additional information necessary to determine the complexity of a future driving situation; - Use at least the second and optionally also the first piece of information to determine a possible time or interval for making a call, whereby the time or interval is such that the time spent in the motor vehicle is used for the conversation; - Transmitting information about the possible call time or interval to a planning unit of the first subscriber device. [2] Method according to claim 1, wherein the motor vehicle transmits the first and second pieces of information to the second subscriber device, in which a data processing device then performs the step of using the at least second and optionally the first pieces of information, and wherein the second subscriber device wirelessly transmits the information to the first subscriber device. [3] Method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second information relates to the driving situation complexity during a planned conversation duration. [4] Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the call request includes information on a desired call duration and this information is also used in the step of using at least the second and optionally the first information. [5] Method according to claim 4, wherein information on the actual possible call duration, which optionally includes the provision of interruptions, is transmitted to the planning unit of the first subscriber device. [6] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein information on the complexity of the conversation is received with the call request and this information is also used in the step of using the at least second and optionally the first information. [7] Method according to claim 6, wherein the motor vehicle or the second subscriber device receives an input to set a limit for the conversation complexity and this limit is taken into account when setting. [8] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first information relates to the position of the motor vehicle, the traffic density around the motor vehicle, the familiarity of the route driven by the participant to be called, a stress level of the participant to be called measured by means of interior sensors of the motor vehicle, data measured by exterior sensors, equipment features of the motor vehicle, the occupancy of seats and / or information on telephone calls made by other participants in the motor vehicle. [9] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the second information relates to a navigation route provided by the motor vehicle, a traffic density on the navigation route and / or a traffic density on at least one alternative navigation route, information on other vehicle occupants and / or information on telephone calls made and / or planned by other vehicle occupants in the motor vehicle. [10] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein a call is made from the first subscriber device to the second subscriber device and it is continuously checked, in particular by the motor vehicle, whether the conditions for a conversation continue to exist, and corresponding information is transmitted to the planning unit or an output device of the first subscriber device. [11] Motor vehicle with sensors and an evaluation unit for recording the current driving situation complexity and with a navigation device, wherein the evaluation unit is designed to determine a future driving situation complexity based on navigation data in the navigation device and, depending on this, to plan in advance the reception of a telephone call or video call in such a way that the time spent in the motor vehicle during transport is used for the conversation.

Images