US-12621607-B2 - Operating acoustic signal transmitters of a motor vehicle

US12621607B2US 12621607 B2US12621607 B2US 12621607B2US-12621607-B2

Abstract

A method for operating a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters of a motor vehicle is disclosed, wherein booking information is obtained from an external computing unit by means of a control system of the motor vehicle. By means of the control system, a first part of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters is deactivated depending on the booking information. By means of the control system, a control signal is generated for each of the acoustic signal transmitters of a second part of acoustic signal transmitters to generate an acoustic output.

Inventors

Tobias Moll
Mark Bennemann

Assignees

VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
AUDI AG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220310
Priority Date: 20210318

Claims (19)

1 . A method for operating a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters of a motor vehicle, comprising: obtaining advance booking information from an external processor using a control system of the motor vehicle, wherein the advance booking information is in the context of reserving the motor vehicle and comprises passenger information; deactivating a first part of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters depending on the advance booking information using the control system; generating a control signal using the control system for each of the acoustic signal transmitters of a second part of acoustic signal transmitters of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, which includes at least two of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, to generate an acoustic output.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control signals are generated depending on the advance booking information and/or depending on a preset sound profile.
3 . The method of claim 2 , comprising: generating at least one sensor signal depending on a position and/or orientation of a seat of the motor vehicle using a sensor system of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the at least one sensor signal.
4 . The method of claim 1 , comprising: generating at least one sensor signal depending on a position and/or orientation of a seat of the motor vehicle using a sensor system of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the at least one sensor signal.
5 . The method of claim 4 , comprising: generating a rotary encoder signal depending on a rotational position of the seat by a rotary encoder of the sensor system; and generating the control signals depending on the rotary encoder signal.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the rotational position corresponds to a rotational angle around a rotational axis, which is at least approximately parallel to a vehicle vertical axis of the motor vehicle.
7 . The method of claim 6 , comprising: generating a seat occupancy sensor signal depending on a seat occupancy of the seat by a seat occupancy sensor of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the seat occupancy sensor signal.
8 . The method of claim 5 , comprising: generating image data, which represents the seat at least partially, using a camera system of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the image data.
9 . The method of claim 5 , comprising: generating image data, which represents the seat at least partially, using a camera system of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the image data.
10 . The method of claim 5 , comprising: generating a seat occupancy sensor signal depending on a seat occupancy of the seat by a seat occupancy sensor of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the seat occupancy sensor signal.
11 . The method of claim 4 , comprising: generating image data, which represents the seat at least partially, using a camera system of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the image data.
12 . The method of claim 11 , comprising: generating a seat occupancy sensor signal depending on a seat occupancy of the seat by a seat occupancy sensor of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the seat occupancy sensor signal.
13 . The method of claim 4 , comprising: generating a seat occupancy sensor signal depending on a seat occupancy of the seat by a seat occupancy sensor of the motor vehicle; and generating the control signals depending on the seat occupancy sensor signal.
14 . The method of claim 1 , comprising: generating a rotary encoder signal depending on a rotational position of the seat by a rotary encoder of the sensor system; and generating the control signals depending on the rotary encoder signal.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the rotational position corresponds to a rotational angle around a rotational axis, which is at least approximately parallel to a vehicle vertical axis of the motor vehicle.
16 . A control system for a motor vehicle with a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, wherein the control system comprises a communication interface, which is configured to obtain advance booking information from an external processor, wherein the advance booking information is in the context of reserving the motor vehicle and comprises passenger information; the control system comprises at least one controller, which is configured to deactivate a first part of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters depending on the advance booking information; and the at least one controller is configured to generate a control signal for each of the acoustic signal transmitters of a second part of acoustic signal transmitters of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, which includes at least two of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, to generate an acoustic output.
17 . The control system of claim 16 , wherein the control system comprises a sensor system, which is configured to generate at least one sensor signal depending on a position and/or orientation of a seat of the motor vehicle; and the at least one controller-unit is configured to generate the control signals depending on the at least one sensor signal.
18 . A motor vehicle with a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters and a control system of claim 16 .
19 . A method for operating a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters of a motor vehicle, comprising: obtaining booking information from an external processor using a control system of the motor vehicle; deactivating a first part of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters depending on the booking information using the control system; generating at least one sensor signal depending on a position and/or orientation of a seat of the motor vehicle using a sensor system of the motor vehicle; and generating a control signal using the control system based on the at least one sensor signal for each of the acoustic signal transmitters of a second part of acoustic signal transmitters of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, which includes at least two of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, to generate an acoustic output.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to German Patent Application No. DE 10 2021 106 702.2, filed on Mar. 18, 2021 with the German Patent and Trademark Office. The contents of the aforesaid Patent Application are incorporated herein for all purposes. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for operating a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters of a motor vehicle, to a control system for a motor vehicle with a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters as well as to a motor vehicle with such a control system. BACKGROUND This background section is provided for the purpose of generally describing the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor(s), to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Modern motor vehicles comprise a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, for example speakers, to allow a sound experience of the passengers as comfortable and pleasant as possible. By the combination of the different acoustic signal transmitters, a complex spatial sound field can for example be generated. Therein, the superposition of all of the sound waves generated by the acoustic signal transmitters can for example be understood by a sound field. Against the background of the common use of one or more motor vehicles by multiple passengers, for instance in context of car sharing offers, for passenger transport or the like, it is desirable to be able to generate different individual sound impressions. SUMMARY A need exists to provide an improved operation of a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters of a motor vehicle, which allows a more flexible configuration of the sound field in the motor vehicle. The need is addressed by the respective subject matter of the independent claims. Embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims, the following description, and the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE a schematic representation of a motor vehicle with an embodiment of a control system. DESCRIPTION The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description, drawings, and from the claims. In the following description of embodiments of the invention, specific details are described in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instant description. The teachings herein are based on the idea to deactivate a part of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters depending on booking information, which is obtained from an external computing unit. In some embodiments a method for operating a plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, thus in particular three or more acoustic signal transmitters, of a motor vehicle is specified. Therein, booking information is obtained from an external computing unit by means of a control system of the motor vehicle, for example by means of a communication interface of the control system and/or a control unit of the control system. By means of the control system, in particular by means of the control unit, a first part of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters is deactivated depending on the booking information. By means of the control system, a control signal is generated for each of the acoustic signal transmitters of a second part of acoustic signal transmitters of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, which includes at least two of the plurality of acoustic signal transmitters, to generate an acoustic output, in particular in an interior of the motor vehicle or in the interior of a vehicle cabin of the motor vehicle. The external computing unit can in particular be understood as external in the sense that it is not part of the motor vehicle. For example, the external computing unit can correspond to a server computing unit or a computing unit of a mobile electronic appliance, for instance a mobile phone, a smartphone, a notebook computer or the like. In particular, the acoustic signal transmitters are arranged distributed in an interior of the motor vehicle. They can for example be designed as speakers, thus be configured to emit sound waves depending on the corresponding control signal. The acoustic signal transmitters can also be designed as signal transmitters for bone conduction, thus be configured to generate mechanical oscillations depending on the corresponding control signal, substantially without therein emitting sound waves. The mechanical oscillations can be conducted into the internal ea