JP7767199B2 - Vehicle interior control device - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to an in-vehicle control device that recognizes a user's speech and controls in-vehicle equipment installed in the vehicle cabin to an operating level that corresponds to the numerical value contained in the recognized speech.

Conventionally, in speech recognition devices that recognize speech uttered by people (users), as described in Patent Document 1, for example, when recognizing speech uttered by a user, vowels and consonants are estimated through speech recognition using two-dimensional images of the area around the user's mouth and three-dimensional images, thereby improving the accuracy of speech recognition.

Incidentally, some vehicle air conditioning systems (hereinafter also referred to as "air conditioners") are designed to allow the vehicle user to control the air conditioning within the vehicle cabin using their voice. An example of this type of system is one that includes a voice recognition unit, as described in Patent Document 1, and a control unit that controls the air conditioning in accordance with the operation instructions recognized by the voice recognition unit.

In recent years, vehicles have begun to be equipped with car audio systems equipped with displays known as display audio (hereinafter referred to as DA). These DA systems allow tuners to receive FM and AM radio broadcasts and output them from speakers, display videos stored on USB devices on the display, play and output music, and even connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth (registered trademark) and output selected apps from speakers. Some systems even offer features such as voice control of compatible smartphone navigation apps, displaying navigation images on the display and providing voice guidance for navigation routes. Because the above-mentioned DA systems can also be operated via voice input, it is conceivable that the voice input function of such DAs could also be used to control the air conditioning in the vehicle cabin.

In this case, a communication system based on the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol, which is commonly installed for in-vehicle communication, is used, and serial communication is carried out at a predetermined communication cycle via a communication bus between the DAECU (Electronic Control Unit), which controls the DA, and the air conditioning ECU, which controls the air conditioning in the vehicle cabin, to control the air conditioning temperature to the voice input.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-60693

However, in voice recognition for controlling an air conditioner to a temperature input based on voice, even if misrecognition is suppressed by estimating different consonants with the same vowel components from two-dimensional and three-dimensional images of the user's mouth, as described in Patent Document 1 above, misrecognition can still occur due to the ambiguity of Japanese pronunciation and reading.

For example, because the pronunciation and reading of "10" and "20" are confusing, even with two-dimensional and three-dimensional images of the mouth area, the voice input "17°C (17°C)" will be mistaken for "27°C (27°C)" and "16°C (16°C)" will be mistaken for "26°C (26°C)."

In addition, some in-vehicle air conditioners limit the controllable air conditioning temperature to a predetermined temperature range (e.g., 18°C to 32°C) and are equipped with a local voice recognition device with a simpler configuration than the voice recognition device described in Patent Document 1, simplifying the configuration of air conditioners that can be controlled based on input voice. In this type of local voice recognition device, to control the air conditioner to an operating level corresponding to each numerical value in the predetermined temperature range of 18°C to 32°C, spoken commands for each of the numerical values 18 to 32 corresponding to each of multiple operating levels are stored in a memory unit in advance, the numerical value contained in the user's utterance is acquired, and a comparison is made to determine whether the numerical value contained in the acquired user's utterance matches any of the numerical values 18 to 32 stored in the memory unit. If it is determined that the numerical value matches any of the values, the air conditioner is controlled to the operating level corresponding to the numerical value (air conditioning temperature) that is determined to match.

However, in the case of vehicles equipped with air conditioners that have control functions using a local voice recognition device, users in the vehicle are often unaware that the vehicle's air conditioner can only control the temperature within a specified temperature range. Therefore, when a user vocally specifies an air conditioning temperature that is above or below the specified temperature range, the voice input may be misinterpreted, and the air conditioner may be controlled to an incorrect air conditioning temperature that the user did not intend.

Specifically, when the temperature inside the vehicle is high due to the outside air temperature and a user in the vehicle wants to quickly cool the interior, they utter "17°C" to lower the air conditioning temperature to 17°C, which is lower than 18°C, the lower limit of the specified temperature range. However, as mentioned above, "17°C" and "27°C" are confusingly similar, and the local speech recognition device's memory only stores spoken commands corresponding to the controllable temperature range of 18°C to 32°C. Therefore, the local speech recognition device erroneously determines that the "17°C" uttered by the user is "27°C," which is similarly pronounced and read, and is stored in the memory. As a result, the air conditioner is controlled to 27°C instead of the 17°C intended by the user. This causes the interior temperature to not drop at all, which can lead the user to suspect a malfunction in the air conditioner or cause discomfort.

The same problem occurs when a user in the car wants to lower the air conditioning temperature to 16°C, 15°C, or 14°C, which is lower than the lower limit of the specified temperature range of 18°C, and speaks "16°C," "15°C," or "14°C."

The present invention aims to control in-vehicle equipment to multiple operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range in response to user speech, so as to execute control that does not deviate from the operation levels of the numerical values contained in the user's speech, thereby preventing the user from feeling uncomfortable.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the in-vehicle control device of the present invention recognizes a user's utterance and controls an in-vehicle device installed in the vehicle cabin to an operation level corresponding to a numerical value contained in the recognized utterance. In order to control the in-vehicle device to a plurality of operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range, the in-vehicle control device includes: a memory unit that stores numerical spoken commands corresponding to each of the plurality of operation levels; a determination unit that acquires the numerical value contained in the user's utterance and compares and determines whether the numerical value contained in the acquired user's utterance matches any of the numerical values of the plurality of spoken commands stored in the memory unit; and, when it is determined that the numerical value contained in the user's utterance acquired by the determination unit matches any of the numerical values of the plurality of spoken commands stored in the memory unit, a control unit that controls the in-vehicle device to a plurality of operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range. and a control unit that controls the in-vehicle device to an operation level corresponding to the first threshold, wherein the storage unit stores a speech command for each of a plurality of numerical values smaller than a first threshold, which is the lower limit numerical value of the predetermined range, and a speech command for each of a plurality of numerical values larger than a second threshold, which is the upper limit numerical value of the predetermined range. The control unit executes at least one of a first control that controls the in-vehicle device to an operation level corresponding to the first threshold when the determination unit determines that a numerical value included in the acquired user utterance matches any of the numerical values smaller than the first threshold stored in the storage unit, and a second control that controls the in-vehicle device to an operation level corresponding to the second threshold when the determination unit determines that a numerical value included in the acquired user utterance matches any of the numerical values larger than the second threshold stored in the storage unit.

With this configuration, the memory unit stores speech commands corresponding to multiple numerical values smaller than a first threshold, which is the lower limit of a predetermined controllable range, and speech commands corresponding to multiple numerical values larger than a second threshold, which is the upper limit of the predetermined range. When the determination unit determines that the numerical value included in the acquired user utterance matches any of the numerical values smaller than the first threshold stored in the memory unit, the control unit executes at least one of the following controls: a first control that controls the in-vehicle device to an operating level corresponding to the first threshold; and a second control that controls the in-vehicle device to an operating level corresponding to the second threshold, when the determination unit determines that the numerical value included in the acquired user utterance matches any of the numerical values larger than the second threshold stored in the memory unit.

As a result, based on the result of the comparison by the determination unit, the control unit executes at least one of the first control and the second control. This makes it possible to execute control that does not deviate from the numerical operation levels included in the user's speech when controlling the in-vehicle device to multiple operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range, preventing inconveniences such as the user suspecting a malfunction of the in-vehicle device or feeling uncomfortable. In this case, the control unit may execute both the first control and the second control.

The control unit may also be configured to perform at least one of the following: a third control, instead of the first control, for controlling the in-vehicle device to an operating level corresponding to a predetermined numerical value smaller than the first threshold when the determination unit determines that a numerical value included in the acquired user utterance matches any numerical value smaller than the first threshold stored in the memory unit; and a fourth control, instead of the second control, for controlling the in-vehicle device to an operating level corresponding to a predetermined numerical value larger than the second threshold when the determination unit determines that a numerical value included in the acquired user utterance matches any numerical value larger than the second threshold stored in the memory unit.

With this configuration, as a result of the comparison determination by the determination unit, the control unit executes at least one of the third control and the fourth control instead of the first control and the second control. Therefore, when controlling the in-vehicle device to multiple operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range, it is possible to execute control that does not deviate from the operation levels of the numerical values included in the user's utterance, preventing the user from feeling uncomfortable. In this case, the control unit may execute both the third control and the fourth control.

Furthermore, the in-vehicle device may be an air conditioning unit, and the numerical values corresponding to the plurality of speech commands stored in the memory unit may be the temperature of the air conditioning in the vehicle cabin set by the air conditioning unit.

In this way, when controlling the vehicle air conditioner to multiple operating levels corresponding to successive numerical values representing temperatures within a predetermined temperature range, even if the numerical value representing the temperature contained in the user's speech is below the lower limit or above the upper limit of the predetermined temperature range, the vehicle air conditioner can be controlled to a state that does not deviate from the numerical value representing the air conditioning temperature contained in the user's speech.

According to the present invention, when in-vehicle equipment is controlled to multiple operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range in response to user speech, even if the numerical value contained in the user's speech is below the lower limit or above the upper limit of the predetermined range, control can be executed that does not deviate from the operation level corresponding to the numerical value contained in the user's speech, preventing the user from feeling uncomfortable.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a vehicle interior control device according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG. 1; 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of FIG. 1 .

One embodiment of the vehicle interior control device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Figures 1 to 4.

(composition)
The vehicle interior control device 1 according to this embodiment is configured as shown in Fig. 1. Specifically, the vehicle interior control device 1 includes a microcomputer-based DAECU 2 serving as a DA control unit for controlling the display audio (hereinafter referred to as DA), a microcomputer-based air conditioner ECU 3 serving as an air conditioner control unit for controlling the air conditioner, and a communication bus 4 for performing serial communication (hereinafter also referred to as CAN communication) between the DAECU 2 and the air conditioner ECU 3 at a predetermined communication cycle (60 msec) using the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol. The temperature control range of the air conditioner (vehicle air conditioner) is limited to 18°C to 32°C, and the air conditioner ECU 3 controls the air conditioner so that the air conditioner temperature is within the range of 18°C to 32°C in 1°C increments.

The DAECU 2 also includes a voice recognition unit 21 (corresponding to the "determination unit" in this invention) that recognizes the user's speech input through the microphone 6 and compares and determines the numerical value of the air conditioning temperature included in the speech, a memory 22 (corresponding to the "storage unit" in this invention) that pre-stores speech commands for each numerical value corresponding to the air conditioning temperature, a voice output unit 23 that outputs synthesized voice via the speaker 7, and a DA communication unit 24 that performs CAN communication using the CAN protocol to send and receive information via the communication bus 4. The microphone 6 can be activated by operating a microphone switch located on the steering wheel or the like of the vehicle.

As shown in Figure 2, memory 22 pre-stores spoken commands for each numerical value corresponding to 1°C increments within the air conditioning temperature control range of 18°C to 32°C. When the user speaks through microphone 6, including the numerical value of the air conditioning temperature to be controlled, the voice recognition unit 21 recognizes the numerical value of the air conditioning temperature included in the speech and determines whether it matches any of the numerical values of the spoken commands stored in memory 22. If the numerical value (air conditioning temperature) is determined to match, it is transmitted by the DA communication unit 24 via communication bus 4 as transmission information for CAN communication.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, memory 22 stores commands 18 to 32, which are spoken commands for the air conditioning temperature control range of 18°C to 32°C, as well as commands 17 to 10, which are spoken commands for 17 to 10, which are smaller than the first threshold value of 18, which is the lower limit of the control range, and commands 33 to 39, which are spoken commands for 33 to 39, which are larger than the second threshold value of 32, which is the upper limit of the control range. Note that the spoken commands may be configured with multiple bits, such as 16 bits, and are not necessarily limited to spoken commands configured with multiple bits.

The air conditioner ECU 3 corresponds to the "controller" in this invention, and is equipped with an AC communication unit 31 that performs serial communication using the CAN protocol to send and receive information via the communication bus 4. This AC communication unit 31 receives information regarding the numerical value (air conditioning temperature) of the comparison result by the voice recognition unit 21 transmitted from the DA communication unit 24, imports temperature information detected by the temperature sensor 9 that detects the temperature inside the vehicle, and controls the air conditioning unit 11, which corresponds to the on-board air conditioner, an on-board device, in response to switch operation of the air conditioning operation unit 10 located on the instrument panel or the like. In addition, the voice recognition unit 21 recognizes the numerical value of the air conditioning temperature contained in the user's speech, and when the numerical information (air conditioning temperature) is transmitted from the DA communication unit 24 to the AC communication unit 31, the AC communication unit 31 controls the air conditioning unit 11 in accordance with the received numerical information (air conditioning temperature).

DAECU2 basically controls the audio system 8, including audio control, which plays music and outputs it from the speaker 7, and displays audio information on the display 8a of the audio system 8; navigation control, which outputs navigation voice guidance from the speaker 7 and displays the navigation route on a map on the display 8a; and other audio output and screen display control.

Incidentally, the information transmitted from the AC communication unit 31 to the DA communication unit 24 includes audio feedback information regarding the set temperature of the air conditioning unit 11, as shown in Figure 3. For example, if the user utters "23°C" to control the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioning unit 11 to 23°C, the air conditioning ECU 3 controls the air conditioning unit 11 to set the air conditioning temperature to 23°C, and based on the feedback audio information transmitted from the AC communication unit 31 to the DA communication unit 24, the audio output unit 23 synthesizes a feedback audio message saying "Setting it to 23°C" and outputs it from the speaker 7.

When the vehicle interior control device 1 configured as described above controls the air conditioning unit 11 based on the user's speech, for example, if the user utters "20°C" to set the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioning unit 11 to 20°C, the voice recognition unit 21 determines whether any of the spoken commands stored in the memory 22 match the spoken command for the numerical value "20" included in the utterance. If the numerical value "20" (air conditioning temperature) matches, information regarding the numerical value "20" is sent from the DA communication unit 24 to the AC communication unit 31. When the AC communication unit 31 receives information regarding the numerical value "20" (air conditioning temperature), if the vehicle interior temperature measured by the temperature sensor 9 is not 20°C, the air conditioning ECU 3 controls the air conditioning unit 11 to set the air conditioning temperature to 20°C. Feedback audio information stating "Set to 20°C" is sent from the AC communication unit 31 to the DA communication unit 24. The feedback audio stating "Set to 20°C" is synthesized by the audio output unit 23 and output to the user from the speaker 7.

Furthermore, when the user utters "18°C" to control the air conditioning temperature by the air conditioning unit 11 to 18°C, which is the first lower threshold, the air conditioning unit 11 controls the air conditioning temperature to 18°C, which is the lowest temperature it can control, in the same way as the control of "20°C" described above, and the audio output unit 23 synthesizes a voice saying "Setting to the lowest temperature" and outputs it to the user from the speaker 7. Furthermore, when the user utters "32°C" to control the air conditioning temperature by the air conditioning unit 11 to 32°C, which is the second threshold, in the same way as the control of "20°C" described above, the air conditioning unit 11 controls the air conditioning temperature to 32°C, which is the highest temperature it can control, and the audio output unit 23 synthesizes a voice saying "Setting to the highest temperature" and outputs it to the user from the speaker 7.

On the other hand, if the user utters "17°C" to control the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioning unit 11 to, for example, 17°C, which is lower than the first lower limit threshold of 18°C, the voice recognition unit 21 determines whether any of the voice commands stored in the memory 22 match the voice command for the number "17" included in the utterance. Since the number "17" (air conditioning temperature) matches, information regarding the number "17" is sent from the DA communication unit 24 to the AC communication unit 31. When the AC communication unit 31 receives information regarding the number "17" (air conditioning temperature), the received air conditioning temperature number "17" is lower than the first threshold of 18°C, which is the lower limit of the controllable temperature range. Therefore, the air conditioning ECU 3 executes the first control of the air conditioning unit 11 to set the air conditioning temperature to 18°C, the lowest controllable temperature. At the same time, the voice output unit 23 synthesizes a feedback voice saying "Setting to the lowest temperature" and outputs it to the user from the speaker 7, as shown in FIG. 3 .

In addition, even if the user utters "16°C," "15°C," ..., "10°C" to control the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioner to 16°C, 15°C, 14°C, ..., 10°C, which are lower than the first lower limit threshold of 18°C, the first control to control to 18°C is executed, just as when "17°C" is uttered above, and the audio output unit 23 synthesizes a feedback voice saying "Setting to the lowest temperature" and outputs it to the user from the speaker 7.

Furthermore, if the user utters "33°C" to control the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioning unit 11 to, for example, 33°C, higher than the upper second threshold of 32°C, the voice recognition unit 21 determines whether any of the voice commands stored in the memory 22 match the voice command containing the numerical value "33" included in the utterance. Since the numerical value "33" (air conditioning temperature) matches, information regarding the numerical value "33" is transmitted from the DA communication unit 24 to the AC communication unit 31. When the information regarding the numerical value "33" (air conditioning temperature) is received by the AC communication unit 31, the received numerical value "33" for the air conditioning temperature exceeds 32°C, which is the upper second threshold below the controllable temperature range. Therefore, the air conditioning ECU 3 executes the second control of the air conditioning unit 11 to set the air conditioning temperature to the maximum controllable temperature of 32°C. At the same time, the voice output unit 23 synthesizes a feedback voice stating "Setting to maximum temperature" and outputs it to the user from the speaker 7, as shown in FIG. 3 .

In addition, even if the user utters "34°C," "35°C," ..., "39°C" to control the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioning unit 11 to 34°C, 35°C, 36°C, ..., 39°C, which are higher than the upper second threshold of 32°C, the second control to control the temperature to 32°C is executed, just as when "33°C" is uttered above, and the audio output unit 23 synthesizes a feedback voice saying "Setting to maximum temperature" and outputs it to the user from the speaker 7, as shown in Figure 3.

(operation)
The control procedure of the air conditioner by the vehicle interior control device 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in Figure 4, when a user speaks to control the air conditioning temperature of the air conditioning unit 11, the voice recognition unit 21 recognizes the voice spoken by the user (step S1), and determines whether the user's speech contains a numerical value representing the air conditioning temperature (step S2). If the user's speech does not contain a numerical value representing the air conditioning temperature and the determination result in step S2 is NO, the process returns to step S1. If the user's speech contains a numerical value representing the air conditioning temperature and the determination result in step S2 is YES, a comparison is made to determine whether the numerical value representing the air conditioning temperature is equal to or greater than the first threshold value of "18", which corresponds to the lower limit of the controllable temperature range among the spoken commands stored in memory 22 (step S3).

If the numerical value determined in step S2 is equal to or greater than the first threshold value of "18", which is the lower limit of the controllable temperature range, the determination result in step S3 becomes YES, and the process proceeds to the next step S4, where it is determined whether the numerical value determined in step S2 is equal to or less than the second threshold value of "32", which is the upper limit of the controllable temperature range (step S4).If the numerical value determined in step S2 is equal to or less than the second threshold value of "32", which is the upper limit of the controllable temperature range, the determination result in step S4 becomes YES, and the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, a determination is made as to whether the vehicle interior temperature detected by the temperature sensor 9 is the air conditioning temperature desired and spoken by the user (step S5). If the determination result is YES, meaning that the current vehicle interior temperature is the user's desired temperature, there is no need to control the air conditioning, so no air conditioning control is performed and the operation ends.

On the other hand, if the current cabin temperature measured by the temperature sensor 9 is not the user's desired temperature, the judgment result in step S5 will be NO, and the air conditioning unit 11 will be controlled by the air conditioning ECU 3 so that the air conditioning temperature will be set to the user's desired temperature, for example 25°C (step S6), feedback audio information will be sent from the AC communication unit 31 of the air conditioning ECU 3 to the DA communication unit 24 of the DAECU 2, and a feedback audio such as "Setting to 25°C" will be output from the speaker 7 (step S7), after which the operation will end.

However, if the value determined in step S2 is smaller than the first threshold value of "18", which is the lower limit of the controllable temperature range, and the determination result in step S3 is NO, the process proceeds to step S8, where the air conditioning ECU 3 controls the air conditioning unit 11 so that the air conditioning temperature becomes 18°C (first threshold value), which is the lowest temperature in the controllable temperature range. After the first control is executed (step S8), the process proceeds to step S7, where feedback audio information is sent from the AC communication unit 31 of the air conditioning ECU 3 to the DA communication unit 24 of the DAECU 2, and a feedback audio message saying "Setting to the lowest temperature" is output from the speaker 7 (step S7), after which the operation ends.

Furthermore, if the value determined in step S2 is greater than the second threshold value of "32", which is the upper limit of the controllable temperature range, and the determination result in step S4 is NO, the process proceeds to step S9, where the air conditioning unit 11 is controlled by the air conditioning ECU 3 so that the air conditioning temperature becomes 32°C (second threshold value), which is the highest temperature in the controllable temperature range. After the second control is executed (step S9), the process proceeds to step S7, where feedback audio information is sent from the AC communication unit 31 of the air conditioning ECU 3 to the DA communication unit 24 of the DAECU 2, and a feedback audio message stating "Setting to the highest temperature" is output from the speaker 7 (step S7), after which the operation ends.

In this way, speech commands corresponding to a plurality of numerical values smaller than the first threshold "18", which is the lower limit of the temperature range (18°C to 32°C) in which the air conditioning unit 11 can be controlled, and speech commands corresponding to a plurality of numerical values larger than the second threshold "32", which is the upper limit, are stored in memory 22. When the voice recognition unit 21 determines that the numerical value contained in the user's utterance matches any of the numerical values smaller than the first threshold "18" stored in memory 22, a first control is executed to control the air conditioning temperature by the air conditioning unit 11 to the first threshold "18", i.e., the lowest temperature. When the voice recognition unit 21 determines that the numerical value contained in the user's utterance matches any of the numerical values larger than the second threshold "32" stored in memory 22, a second control is executed to control the air conditioning temperature by the air conditioning unit 11 to the second threshold "32", i.e., the highest temperature. Furthermore, when the voice recognition unit 21 determines that the numerical value contained in the user's speech matches a spoken command stored in the memory 22 within the range of the first threshold "18" to the second threshold "32", the air conditioning temperature set by the air conditioning unit 11 is controlled to be within the range of 18°C to 32°C.

Accordingly, according to the above-described embodiment, the first control and the second control are executed by the air conditioner ECU 3 as a result of the comparison determination by the voice recognition unit 21. Therefore, when controlling the air conditioner unit 11 to set the air conditioning temperature corresponding to each numerical value within the temperature range of 18°C to 32°C, control can be executed that does not deviate from the air conditioning temperature corresponding to the numerical value contained in the user's speech, making it possible to prevent inconveniences such as the user suspecting a malfunction of the air conditioner unit 11 or feeling uncomfortable.

In addition, as another embodiment of the present invention, instead of the first control and the second control described above,
(1) A third control in which, when the voice recognition unit 21 determines that a numerical value included in the user's utterance matches any of the numerical values smaller than the first threshold value "18" stored in the memory 22, the air conditioning temperature by the air conditioning unit 11 is controlled to a temperature of a predetermined numerical value (e.g., 16°C) smaller than the first threshold value "18";
(2) A fourth control in which, when the voice recognition unit 21 determines that a numerical value included in the user's utterance matches any of the numerical values greater than the second threshold value "32" stored in the memory 22, the air conditioning temperature by the air conditioning unit 11 is controlled to be a temperature of a predetermined numerical value (e.g., 34°C) greater than the second threshold value "32";
The following may be executed.

Furthermore, it is possible to execute only one of the first and second controls described above, or to execute only one of the third and fourth controls.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications other than those described above are possible as long as they do not deviate from the spirit of the invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the control target was an air conditioning unit 11, which corresponds to an in-vehicle air conditioner, which is an in-vehicle device. However, the control target is not limited to air conditioners. The present invention can also be applied to cases such as controlling the brightness of a lighting device inside the vehicle cabin, or controlling the volume of audio guidance for navigation provided by the DAECU 2.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the result of the control of the air conditioning unit 11 by the air conditioning ECU 3 is output to the user as a feedback sound such as "Setting to 20°C," but feedback to the user may also be provided in the form of a melody sound, a warning sound, or the like other than such feedback sound, or by displaying an indication on the display 8a.

Furthermore, the configuration of the vehicle interior control device 1 is not limited to that shown in Figure 1, and is not limited to voice recognition using DA.

The present invention can also be applied to an in-vehicle control device that recognizes a user's speech and controls in-vehicle equipment installed in the vehicle to an operating level that corresponds to the numerical value contained in the recognized speech.

1 ... Vehicle interior control device 3 ... Air conditioner ECU (control unit)
11...Air conditioning unit (vehicle equipment)
21...Speech recognition unit (determination unit)
22...Memory (storage unit)

Claims (3)

An in-vehicle control device that recognizes a user's utterance and controls an in-vehicle device installed in a vehicle interior to an operation level corresponding to a numerical value included in the recognized utterance,
a storage unit that stores speech commands of numerical values corresponding to a plurality of operation levels in order to control the in-vehicle device to a plurality of operation levels corresponding to successive numerical values within a predetermined range;
a determination unit that acquires a numerical value included in the user's utterance and compares and determines whether the numerical value included in the acquired user's utterance matches any of the numerical values of the plurality of speech commands stored in the storage unit;
a control unit that, when it is determined that a numerical value included in the user's utterance acquired by the determination unit matches any one of the numerical values of the plurality of speech commands stored in the storage unit, controls the in-vehicle device to an operation level corresponding to the numerical value included in the user's utterance acquired by the determination unit,
The storage unit
storing a speech command for each of a plurality of numerical values smaller than a first threshold value, which is a lower limit numerical value of the predetermined range, and a speech command for each of a plurality of numerical values larger than a second threshold value, which is an upper limit numerical value of the predetermined range;
The control unit
a first control that controls the in-vehicle device to an operation level corresponding to the first threshold when the determination unit determines that a numerical value included in the acquired utterance of the user matches any one of the numerical values smaller than the first threshold stored in the storage unit;
and,
An in-vehicle control device characterized in that, when the judgment unit determines that the numerical value contained in the acquired user utterance matches any of the numerical values greater than the second threshold value stored in the memory unit, the control unit executes at least one of second controls that control the in-vehicle equipment to an operating level corresponding to the second threshold value. The control unit
a third control that, when the determination unit determines that a numerical value included in the acquired utterance of the user matches any one of the numerical values smaller than the first threshold value stored in the storage unit, controls the in-vehicle device to an operation level corresponding to a predetermined numerical value smaller than the first threshold value, instead of the first control;
and,
The vehicle interior control device described in claim 1, characterized in that when the judgment unit determines that the numerical value contained in the acquired user utterance matches any of the numerical values greater than the second threshold value stored in the memory unit, at least one of a fourth control is executed instead of the second control, which controls the vehicle equipment to an operating level corresponding to a predetermined numerical value greater than the second threshold value. the in-vehicle device is an air conditioning device,
3. The vehicle interior control device according to claim 1, wherein the numerical values corresponding to the plurality of speech commands stored in the storage unit are air-conditioned temperatures in the vehicle interior controlled by the air conditioner.