DE102011113049A1 - Mobile device for voice communication between two communication stations, is adapted to define target area, within which voice communication participants are located at certain time for receiving voice of mobile devices - Google Patents

Abstract

The mobile device (2) has two communication participants, where a transmitter and receiver (4) are provided for exchanging data on a data transmitting network. A positioning device (6) is provided, by which the current location of the mobile device is detectable. The mobile device is adapted to define a target area, within which the voice communication participants are located at a certain time for receiving the voice of the mobile devices. A translation device (16) is provided for translating the transmitted voice in another language, and output the translated language. Independent claims are included for the following: (1) a system for voice communication between two communication stations; and (2) a method for voice communication between two communication using network-based voice communication.

Description

The invention relates to a mobile device, a system and a method for voice communication of at least two communication users, which are based on a data-transmitting network.

Various systems for voice communication are known in the art. In addition to conventional telephone systems, mobile or fixed, voice and network based solutions exist. The network-based solutions are z. B. under the technical term VOIP (Voice Over IP) known in which language is converted into digital data and transmitted over a network, such as the Internet, from a voice sender to a voice receiver.

Especially among professional drivers, voice radio systems are still popular. Professional drivers often communicate with each other while driving, for example, to exchange information about the dangers ahead or traffic obstructions. Therefore, almost every truck is now equipped with a walkie-talkie. Such two-way radios allow to reach many radiotelephone receivers located in a transmission area of the voice-transmitting radiotelephone. The communication is unspecific until then and can be received by anyone who is in the broadcast area and has set the appropriate broadcast channel.

A disadvantage of the existing radio systems, however, is that the transmission range is limited to the environment of the transmitter, and that the voice quality with increasing distance is getting worse, since the signal-to-noise ratio decreases by decreasing signal strengths, this may possibly lead to misunderstanding and require very high attention, which can reduce the concentration on traffic.

Furthermore, the legal regulations on voice communications are becoming ever stricter and fewer channels are available to the corresponding systems, so that the possibilities of communicating by means of voice radio systems are considerably limited. Moreover, the regulations are different in different countries, so that the operation of two-way radios across countries is difficult.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a mobile device for voice communication, a corresponding system and a method that at least partially overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and allows voice communication between at least two communication participants.

The object is achieved by a mobile device for voice communication according to claim 1, a system for voice communication at least two communication participants according to the independent claim 5 and a method for voice communication at least two communication participants according to the independent claim 7. Embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

A mobile device according to the invention for voice communication of at least two communication participants has a transmitter and a receiver, transmitter and receiver being designed for data exchange via a data-transmitting network. Transmitters and receivers may be arranged in a transceiver unit and have, for example, a network interface based on well-known network technologies such as EDGE, GPRS, HDSPA, etc. The device may comprise a speech conversion unit that converts speech into digital signals converted and vice versa.

The mobile device furthermore has a location device, by means of which the instantaneous location of the mobile device can be determined. Such a location device may be, for example, a GPS system, but may also be implemented by determining the current position of the mobile device in the network, for example via triangulation.

The mobile device according to the invention is further configured to define a destination area within which the at least one voice-receiving communication subscriber must reside in order to receive speech from the mobile device.

With the aid of the mobile device according to the invention, it is thus possible to send voice from a voice-transmitting communication subscriber to one or more voice-receiving communication users who are located within the defined destination area. With the aid of the invention, the functionality of a voice radio system can be transferred to a network-based system in which a voice-transmitting communication subscriber can communicate with unspecified voice-receiving communication participants located in a defined destination area. The invention also makes it possible to define the target area more flexibly than with the aid of conventional voice radio systems. Instead of just one area around the transmitter, can be defined with the help of the system according to the invention any target area, for example in a vehicle along the intended route of the vehicle or in a target area of the vehicle.

According to a first possible embodiment of the invention, a translation device may be provided to translate the transmitted language into another language and output it in the translated language. The translation device can for this purpose have speech recognition means which recognize the content of the speech signal and convert it into a target language. This makes it possible to let communication users of different languages communicate with each other.

According to another possible embodiment of the invention, a voice dialing device can be provided, with which a user can define at least one input language and / or at least one output language. In this way, voice information can only be transmitted between those communication participants who have defined at least one matching input and output language. Communication that takes place in languages and that a potential communication participant does not speak is not transmitted at all. Thus, the proportion of information essential for the communication subscriber is increased, in which unintelligible information is filtered out.

According to a further possible embodiment of the invention, the mobile device may be designed to determine the target area automatically and / or user-defined. An automatic determination of the target area can be done for example via a navigation route.

Alternatively or in parallel, an area around the current location of the mobile device may be determined. In addition, a custom determination of the target area offers additional possibilities for communication. For example, a motorist can obtain information about the traffic situation in a certain predefined area.

A first independent subject matter of the invention relates to a system for voice communication of at least two communication subscribers with a server that can transmit voice from a transmitter to at least one receiver via a network, wherein the server is adapted to speech of a voice transmitting communication subscriber connected to the server to transmit to at least one communicating with the server, data-receiving, communication-receiving communication subscriber, which is located in a language transmitter side defined target area. For this purpose, the server is preferably informed of location information of the communication users connected to the server, so that the server can purposefully transmit the voice information of the voice-transmitting communication subscriber to one or more voice-receiving communication users.

According to a first possible embodiment of the system according to the invention, provision may be made for the server to be designed to send voice only to such file-transmitting, voice-receiving communication subscribers who have defined at least one predetermined target language. In this way it is possible to transmit voice information only between those communication participants who have defined at least one common target language.

Another independent subject matter of the invention relates to a method for voice communication of at least two communication users via means for network-based voice transmission. The network-based voice transmission means comprise a location device which transmits the current location of the means to the network.

On the part of the voice transmitting communication subscriber, a destination area is defined within which the at least one voice receiving communication user must be to receive speech from the voice transmitting communication subscriber, wherein voice is transmitted from the voice transmitting communication subscriber to the at least one voice receiving communication subscriber when its current location is within the defined target area ,

With the aid of the method according to the invention, it is possible to implement the functionalities of the known voice radio systems with the corresponding advantages over existing network technologies. Corresponding legal hurdles which apply to voice radio systems do not apply to the method according to the invention.

According to a first possible embodiment of the invention, it can be provided that the means for network-based voice transmission comprise a voice selection, wherein the voice-transmitting and / or the voice-receiving communication subscriber can select at least one language in which he wants to send and / or receive speech, wherein speech from voice-transmitting communication subscriber to the at least one voice-receiving Communication partner is transmitted when voice senders and voice receivers have set at least one matching language. In this way, speech is only transmitted if the voice sender and the voice receiver have defined a common language.

According to another possible embodiment of the invention, means for translating the language into another language may be provided, and the language of the voice-transmitting communication subscriber is translated into another language.

The invention will be explained with reference to an embodiment. They show schematically:

1 a mobile device according to the invention for network-based voice communication;

2 an inventive system for network-based voice communication, as well as

3 Possible applications of the system according to the invention.

1 shows a mobile device according to the invention 2 for voice communication at least second communication participants.

The mobile device 2 may for example be a portable device. The mobile device 2 has a transmitting and receiving unit 4 which can connect to a data-transmitting network. For this purpose, known technologies can be used, in particular those for mobile data transmission.

Furthermore, a location device 6 provided by means of which the current position of the mobile device 2 is detectable. Location information via the location device 6 can be detected via the transmitting and receiving unit 4 be transferred to the network.

The mobile device 2 further includes an analog to digital converter 8th on, with the help of this via a microphone 10 recorded voice signals are converted into digital data and with the aid of which received digital data is converted into an analog signal, which via a loudspeaker 12 be issued.

Furthermore, there is a computing unit 14 provided by means of which the mobile device 2 is controlled. In the arithmetic unit 14 is a program stored, which implements user preferences. With the help of the arithmetic unit 14 defines a destination within which the user wishes to send and from which he wishes to receive information.

Furthermore, via the arithmetic unit 14 implemented a language requirement. Thus, on the one hand, that of the serving communication user of the mobile device 2 used language sent to the network.

In some embodiments, it may be provided that the received speech is also transmitted via the arithmetic unit 14 is selected and the incoming data stream is filtered by the receive language.

Furthermore, it is a translation unit 16 designed to recognize language and translate it into another language.

2 shows a system according to the invention 20 with two exemplified mobile devices 2 . 2 ' ,

The mobile devices 2 . 2 ' are over a network 22 with a server 24 connected. The network 22 may be, for example, an IPv4 or IPv6 network.

The mobile devices 2 . 2 provide information about the user's language and the desired languages to the server 24 as well as their current position, by means of the locating device 6 and information about the relevant target area to the server 24 ,

The server 24 matches all the information of the mobile terminals connected to it and, in the case of a voice message to be sent, determines all possible receivers in a designated destination area that have selected a compatible language and transmits the voice information to these terminals.

If necessary, further parameters can be taken into account, for example, messages can be sent exclusively to employees of a specific company or other defined user groups (police, fire brigade, etc.).

The defined target areas of the communication participants do not have to match. Thus, a voice receiver, if necessary, have defined a different destination area, but are located in the destination area of a voice transmitter and receive information from this. For example, in the case of use in professional traffic, this is useful if you want to receive information from driving drivers in front, but they may not be interested in the rear area.

Another way to meet these requirements is to define as a destination for the reception an area around the own place and to match destinations of stations and possible receivers.

3 shows three different application scenarios in mobile transport, where a mobile device 2 is installed in a truck.

On the one hand, it is possible to define a target area Z1, here illustrated a circular area, in order to define the own motor vehicle in which messages are to be sent and received.

Another possibility is to define Z2 as the target area on the preceding driving section, which in the present case is shown as oval.

A third possibility is to select a specific, remote target area Z3, for example the selected destination of a route.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

2, 2 '

Mobile device

4

Transmitting and receiving unit

6

locating device

8th

A / D converter

10

microphone

12

speaker

14

computer unit

16

translation unit

20

system

22

network

24

server

Z

target area

Claims (9)

Mobile device for voice communication ( 2 . 2 ' ) at least two communication participants, with a transmitter ( 4 ) and a receiver ( 4 ), whereby transmitters ( 4 ) and receiver ( 4 ) are designed for data exchange via a data-transmitting network, and a location device ( 6 ), by means of which the instantaneous location of the mobile device ( 2 . 2 ' ), characterized in that the mobile device ( 2 . 2 ' ) is adapted to define a destination area (Z) within which the at least one voice-receiving communication subscriber must be located or at some point in time, in order to communicate with the mobile device ( 2 . 2 ' ) to recieve. Mobile device according to claim 1, characterized in that a translation device ( 16 ) is provided to translate the transmitted language into another language and output it in the translated language. Mobile device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a voice dialing device is provided, with which a communication user can define at least one input language and / or at least one output language. Mobile device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the mobile device ( 2 . 2 ' ) is designed so that the target area (Z) can be determined automatically and / or user-defined. System for voice communication of at least two communication users, with a server ( 24 ), which can transmit voice from a transmitter to at least one receiver via a network, characterized in that the server ( 24 ) is designed to communicate with the server ( 24 ) data-transmitting, voice-transmitting communication subscriber to at least one with the server ( 24 ) to transmit data-transmitting, voice-receiving communication subscriber, which is located in a language transmitter side defined target area (Z). System according to claim 5, characterized in that the server ( 24 ) is adapted to send speech only to such data transmitting connected, language-receiving communication participants who have defined at least one predetermined target language. Method for voice communication of at least two communication users via means for network-based voice transmission ( 2 . 2 ' ), characterized in that the means for network-based voice transmission ( 2 . 2 ' ) a location device ( 6 ), which transmit their current location to the network, wherein the voice sending communication subscriber defines a destination area (Z) within which the at least one voice receiving communication station must be to receive speech from the voice transmitting communication subscriber and wherein speech from the voice transmitting communication subscriber the at least one voice-receiving communication subscriber is transmitted if its current location is in the defined destination area. Communication method according to Claim 7, characterized in that the means for network-based voice transmission ( 2 . 2 ' ) have a language selection, wherein the voice sending and / or the voice receiving communication subscriber can select at least one language in which he is sending speech and / or wherein speech is transmitted from the voice transmitting communication user to the at least one voice receiving communication subscriber when voice senders and voice listeners have set at least one matching language. Method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that means for translating the language into another language ( 16 ) are provided and the language of the voice-transmitting communication subscriber is translated into another language.

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