Method of controlling dialing modes in a vehicle

1. A method of controlling a dialing mode of a telematics unit in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving dialing digits that are spoken by a vehicle occupant;

(b) placing a vehicle telematics unit in a voice mode;

(c) determining that the dialing digits are no longer being spoken;

(d) placing the vehicle telematics unit in a manual mode in response to the determination in step (c);

(e) adding one or more dialing digits received via a tactile device to the dialing digits spoken by the vehicle occupant; and

(f) monitoring both the tactile device and a microphone for additional dialing digits either spoken by the vehicle occupant or received at the tactile device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of establishing a voice mode based on the spoken dialing digits.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c) further comprises making the determination based on the detection of a manual manipulation of the tactile device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining whether the dialing digits are continuous dialing digits or discrete dialing digits.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising the step of establishing a continuous mode or a discrete mode based on the determination.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dialing digits added in step (e) are in response to an interactive voice response system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tactile device is a keypad.

8. A method of controlling a dialing mode of a telematics unit in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) monitoring for dialing digits from a vehicle occupant;

(b) determining whether the type of dialing digits are continuous dialing digits or discrete dialing digits;

(c) selecting between a continuous mode for receiving continuous dialing digits and a discrete mode for receiving discrete dialing digits based on the determination, wherein the discrete mode performs speech recognition on each digit prior to receiving subsequent digits;

(d) directing a vehicle telematics unit to enter the selected mode; and

(e) if the type of dialing digits determined in step (b) changes, switching the selected mode.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of monitoring for the dialing digits via a microphone or a tactile device.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the continuous dialing digits are a string of numbers or a telephone number.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of establishing a voice mode or a manual mode.