Speech recognizer

• US 6,070,140 A
• Filed: 11/12/1998
• Issued: 05/30/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MUSE Green Investments LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Bao Q. Tran
• Inventors: Tran, Bao Q.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil, Richemond
• Application Number:
  US09/190,691
• Time in Patent Office: 565 Days
• Field of Search: 704/200, 704/270, 704/231, 704/232, 704/233, 704/275, 704/251
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A computer system has a power-down mode to conserve energy. The computer system includes a speech transducer for capturing speech; a low-energy consuming power-up indicator coupled to said speech transducer, said power-up indicator detecting speech directed at said speech transducer and asserting a wake-up signal to a powered-down processor; and a voice recognizer coupled to said speech transducer and said wake-up signal, said voice recognizer waking up from the power-down mode when said wake-up signal is asserted.

Claims

1. A computer system having a power-down mode to conserve energy, comprising:

a speech transducer for capturing speech;

a low power wake-up indicator coupled to said speech transducer, said wake-up indicator detecting speech directed at said speech transducer and asserting a wake-up signal to a powered-down processor, the low power wake-up indicator having a low pass filter and a power comparator coupled to the low pass filter; and

a voice recognizer coupled to said speech transducer and said wake-up signal, said voice recognizer waking up from the power-down mode when said wake-up signal is asserted.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said power wake-up indicator includes a half-wave rectifier.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said power wake-up indicator includes a root-mean-square device.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said speech transducer includes a microphone and a noise canceller which characterizes the background noise when a user is not speaking and subtracts the background noise when the user is speaking to the computer.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said speech transducer includes a microphone and a noise canceller.

6. The computer of claim 1, wherein the speech transducer is contained in a wearable housing.

7. The computer of claim 1, wherein the speech transducer is contained in a watch.

8. A computer system having a power-down mode to conserve energy comprising:

a speech transducer for capturing speech;

a neural network coupled to said speech transducer, said neural network detecting speech directed at said speech transducer and asserting a wake-up signal to a powered-down processor; and

a voice recognizer coupled to said speech transducer and said wake-up signal, said voice recognizer waking up from the power-down mode when said wake-up signal is asserted.

9. The computer of claim 8, wherein the speech transducer is contained in a wearable housing.

10. The computer of claim 8, wherein the speech transducer is contained in a watch.