IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,730,819
Granted Patent B2
US 12,730,819 · App. 19/062,129 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Gesture-based search systems and methods for vehicles that output primary and secondary search results

Inventors: Alexander Charles Granieri (Mountain View, CA); Jimmy Chiu (San Jose, CA); Brian Robert Hilnbrand (San Jose, CA); Jun Jiang (Sunnyvale, CA); Navid Fattahi (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
G06F16/24575G06F16/248
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,730,819
App. No.
19/062,129
Granted
Sep 8, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to gesture-based searching in a vehicle. In one embodiment, a vehicle-based search system, in response to detecting a gesture performed by an occupant of a vehicle, correlates the gesture with a target. The system also constructs a search query based on the target correlated with the gesture and an occupant request. The system also executes the search query to acquire search results. The system also processes the search results to generate primary search results and secondary search results. The primary and secondary search results are different in scope. The system also communicates the primary and secondary search results to the occupant via a primary output device and a secondary output device, respectively, to provide assistance to the occupant pertaining to the target.

Claims (36)

1 . A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

in response to detecting a gesture performed by an occupant of a vehicle, correlate the gesture with a target;

construct a search query based on the target correlated with the gesture and an occupant request;

execute the search query to acquire search results;

process the search results to generate primary search results and secondary search results, wherein the primary and secondary search results are different in scope and processing the search results to generate the primary search results includes using a generative-artificial-intelligence-based text summarization algorithm; and

communicate the primary and secondary search results to the occupant via a primary output device and a secondary output device, respectively, to provide assistance to the occupant pertaining to the target, wherein, for safety reasons, when the secondary search results are communicated via an output system of the vehicle, the secondary search results are displayed via the output system of the vehicle only after the vehicle is parked.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary search results are more detailed than the primary search results.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable instructions to communicate the primary search results to the occupant include instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to output a computer-synthesized natural-language statement via an output system of the vehicle that includes the primary output device.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary output device is one of a cloud server, an occupant mobile device, an occupant laptop computer, an occupant desktop computer, and an output system of the vehicle.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable instructions include further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a natural-language request from the occupant to capture an image of a particular portion of one of an external environment of the vehicle and an internal environment of the vehicle;

capture the image in accordance with the natural-language request from the occupant; and

transmit the captured image to the secondary output device.

6 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

in response to detecting a gesture performed by an occupant of a vehicle, correlate the gesture with a target;

construct a search query based on the target correlated with the gesture and an occupant request;

execute the search query to acquire search results;

process the search results to generate primary search results and secondary search results, wherein the primary and secondary search results are different in scope and processing the search results to generate the primary search results includes using a generative-artificial-intelligence-based text summarization algorithm; and

communicate the primary and secondary search results to the occupant via a primary output device and a secondary output device, respectively, to provide assistance to the occupant pertaining to the target, wherein, for safety reasons, when the secondary search results are communicated via an output system of the vehicle, the secondary search results are displayed via the output system of the vehicle only after the vehicle is parked.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the secondary search results are more detailed than the primary search results.

8 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions to communicate the primary search results to the occupant include instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to output a computer-synthesized natural-language statement via an output system of the vehicle that includes the primary output device.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the secondary output device is one of a cloud server, an occupant mobile device, an occupant laptop computer, an occupant desktop computer, and an output system of the vehicle.

10 . A method, comprising:

in response to detecting a gesture performed by an occupant of a vehicle, correlating the gesture with a target;

constructing a search query based on the target correlated with the gesture and an occupant request;

executing the search query to acquire search results;

processing the search results to generate primary search results and secondary search results, wherein the primary and secondary search results are different in scope and processing the search results to generate the primary search results includes using a generative-artificial-intelligence-based text summarization algorithm; and

communicating the primary and secondary search results to the occupant via a primary output device and a secondary output device, respectively, to provide assistance to the occupant pertaining to the target, wherein, for safety reasons, when the secondary search results are communicated via an output system of the vehicle, the secondary search results are displayed via the output system of the vehicle only after the vehicle is parked.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the secondary search results are more detailed than the primary search results.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the primary search results are communicated to the occupant as a computer-synthesized natural-language statement via an output system of the vehicle that includes the primary output device.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the secondary output device is one of a cloud server, an occupant mobile device, an occupant laptop computer, an occupant desktop computer, and an output system of the vehicle.

14 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving a natural-language request from the occupant to capture an image of a particular portion of one of an external environment of the vehicle and an internal environment of the vehicle;

capturing the image in accordance with the natural-language request from the occupant; and transmitting the captured image to the secondary output device.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 7, 2025
From: GRANIERI, ALEXANDER CHARLES; CHIU, JIMMY; HILNBRAND, BRIAN ROBERT; JIANG, JUN; FATTAHI, NAVID
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 070442/0554 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20260252570A1 · Aug 27, 2026
References Cited (55)
US 8498984B1 · Hwang · 2013 [cited by examiner]
US 8886399B2 · El Dokor · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 9541418B2 · El Dokor · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9891716B2 · El Dokor · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 10026400B2 · Gelfenbeyn et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10073535B2 · Vaghefinazari et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10222226B2 · Rosario · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10732622B2 · Bettger et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10861459B2 · Lee et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10997570B1 · Kurani et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11037556B2 · Rangarajan et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11275447B2 · Vaghefinazari et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11321688B1 · Kurani et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11630874B2 · Mabotuwana et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 11657377B1 · Kurani et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 11972404B2 · Kurani et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 20050273218A1 · Breed · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20140019522A1 · Weng et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140040813A1 · McDonald · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140121883A1 · Shen et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140142948A1 · Rathi et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20160006922A1 · Boudreau · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 20160026253A1 · Bradski · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 20160030426A1 · Tester et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160039426A1 · Ricci · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160335328A1 · Lampert · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 20170097243A1 · Ricci · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170200449A1 · Penilla et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20180046851A1 · Kienzle et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190302895A1 · Jiang et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20210256933A1 · Kurebayashi et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20230110773A1 · Ahn et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 20230281254A1 · Kocienda et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 20230281580A1 · Kurani et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 20240045499A1 · Watanabe · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 20240281778A1 · Kurani et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 20240289407A1 · Rofouei et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 20250013683A1 · Granieri et al. · 2025 [cited by applicant]
US 20250074475A1 · Sundaram et al. · 2025 [cited by applicant]
US 20250284735A1 · Wan et al. · 2025 [cited by applicant]
US 20250292687A1 · Pathak · 2025 [cited by examiner]
US 20250348702A1 · Aggarwal · 2025 [cited by examiner]
DE 102016011916A1 · 2017 [cited by applicant]
Pending U.S. Appl. No. 18/403,139, filed Jan. 3, 2024. [cited by applicant]
Non-final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 18/403,139, mailed on Oct. 21, 2024 (18 pages). [cited by applicant]
Reitelshöfer et al. “Recognition and description of unknown everyday objects by using an image based meta-search engine for service robots.” Advanced Engineering Forum. vol. 19. Trans Tech Publications Ltd, 2016. 7 page… [cited by applicant]
Lee et al. “GazePointAR: A Context-Aware Multimodal Voice Assistant for Pronoun Disambiguation in Wearable Augmented Reality.” Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2024. [cited by applicant]
Wang et al. “What's this?: Understanding User Interaction Behaviour with Multimodal Input Information Retrieval System.” Adjunct Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction. 202… [cited by applicant]
Pending U.S. Appl. No. 19/062,135, filed Feb. 25, 2025. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 63/525,343, filed Jul. 6, 2023 to Granieri. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 63/590,822, filed Oct. 17, 2023 to Hilnbrand. [cited by applicant]
Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 18/403,139, mailed on Mar. 27, 2025 22 pages. [cited by applicant]
Wiederer et al. “Traffic control gesture recognition for autonomous vehicles.” 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). IEEE, 2020. [cited by applicant]
Kim, “Memorandum: Advance notice of change to the MPEP in light of Ex Parte Desjardins” Dec. 5, 2025. [cited by applicant]
Non-final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 19/062,135, mailed on Oct. 6, 2025, 32 pages. [cited by applicant]