The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 07, 2026
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2022
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Benjamin Piya Austin, Saline, MI (US);
George M. Evans, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Philip J. Babian, Canton, MI (US);
TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US);
TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Aichi-Ken, JP;
Abstract
A system and method employ vibration sensors on board a vehicle to effectively identify and implement voice commands. The vibration sensors provide vibration signals corresponding to the speech of vehicle occupants to a controller. The controller may verify the content of the voice commands and identify a speaker of the voice commands with the vibration signals. The voice command may be implemented by operating a controlled device in a specific passenger zone of the vehicle. In some implementations, the speech of a specific occupant may be designated as voice commands to be transmitted over a videoconference or voice call and the speech of surrounding vehicle occupants may be designated as noise to be excluded from transmission. Further, driver voice commands may be given priority when conflicting commands are given by other vehicle passengers.