User sensing system and method for low power voice command activation in wireless communication systems

1. A method of activating voice control on a wireless device, comprising:

sampling signals from a plurality of sensors on the device;

determining if the device is in a hands-on state by a user on the basis of the signal sampling; and

enabling a voice activated detection (VAD) application on the device on the basis of the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sampling comprises periodically activating at least one of the plurality of the sensors in a duty cycle.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the duty cycle comprises a first time period defining a time duration during which the sensors are activated and a second time period defining a repetition rate of the first time period, the duty cycle being a of the first time period to the second time period ratio less than 1.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the duty cycle is equal to or less than 50% and greater than 0%.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the hands-on state comprises comparing a level of the sampled signals to a threshold level, and activating the hands-on state when the sampled signals equal or exceed the threshold level.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the threshold level is a reference level specified to distinguish the user's hands-on contact with the device from non-contact with at least one sensor.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

interpreting voice detected by the VAD application using an audio processor;

communicating by the device with a communications interface to obtain signals from a remote server based on the interpreted voice; and

halting the operation of the VAD application, audio processor and communication interface.

8. The method of claim 7 , further wherein the halting takes place after a delay time based on detecting the device is found in a “hands-off” condition and the VAD does not detect voice.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the delay time is greater than a specified number of seconds.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein halting comprises disabling at least one of the VAD, the audio processor and the communication interface to one of a standby and an off state.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the delay time between samplings is dynamically variable.

12. A voice controlled apparatus included in a wireless device, comprising:

a plurality of sensors arranged on the device;

a microphone;

a controller to sample signals from at least one of the plurality of sensors;

a processor coupled to the controller; and

a voice activated detection (VAD) application running on the processor and coupled to the controller and the microphone.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller periodically activates at least one of the plurality of the sensors at a duty cycle for sampling output signals.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the duty cycle comprises a first time period defining a time duration during which the sensors are activated and a second time period defining a repetition rate of the first time period, the duty cycle being a ratio less than 1 of the first time period to the second time period.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the duty cycle is less than 50% and greater than 0%.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller compares a level of the sampled signals to a threshold level, and activates the hands-on state when the sampled signals equal or exceed the threshold level.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the threshold level is a reference level specified to distinguish the user's hands-on contact from non-contact with at least one sensor e.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising:

an audio processor running the VAD application to interpret voice;

a communication interface coupled to the audio processor to obtain signals from a remote server based on the interpreted voice, wherein the controller halts operation of the VAD application, audio processor and communication interface for specified conditions after a delay time.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the specified conditions comprise at least the absence of signals from any of the sensors corresponding to a hands-off state of the wireless device and an absence of detected sound.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the delay time is greater than a specified number of seconds.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the halting operation comprises disabling the VAD to one of a standby and an off state.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the delay time between samplings is dynamically variable.

23. A voice command control apparatus included in a device, comprising:

means for sensing arranged on one or more surfaces of the device;

means for detecting sound;

means for controlling coupled to the sensing means for sampling signals from one or more of the plurality of sensing means;

means for processing at least one of the sampled signals; and

means for voice detection and interpretation.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the means for sensing comprises periodically activating and sampling response signals in a duty cycle from at least one of the sensing means.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the duty cycle comprises a first time period defining a time duration during which the sensing means are activated and a second time period defining a repetition rate of the first time period, the duty cycle being a ratio less than 1 of the first time period to the second time period.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the duty cycle is equal to or less than 50% and greater than 0%.

27. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the means for sensing determines a hands-on state by a user comprises comparing a level of the signals detected by the sensing means to a threshold level, and activating the hands-on state when the detected signals equal or exceed the threshold level.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the threshold level is a reference level specified to distinguish between the user's hands-on contact and non-contact with the device of each sensing means.

29. The apparatus of claim 23 , further comprising:

means to interpret voice detected by the sound detecting means;

means to communicate with a remote server to obtain signals based on the interpreted voice; and

means to halt the operation of the sound detection means, voice interpretation means and communication means.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 , wherein the means to halt stops the operations after a delay time based on detecting the device is determined to be in a “hands-off” condition and the voice interpreting means does not detect voice.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the delay time is greater than a specified number of seconds.

32. The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein halting comprises disabling at least one of the voice interpreting means, the audio processing means and the communication means to one of a standby and an off state.

33. The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the delay time between samplings is dynamically variable.

34. A non-transitory computer readable media including instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform the following steps:

sampling signals from a plurality of sensors on the device;

determining if the device is in a hands-on state by a user on the basis of the signal sampling; and

enabling a voice activated detection (VAD) application on the device on the basis of the determination.

35. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 34 , wherein instructions for sampling comprises code for periodically activating at least one of the plurality of sensors in a duty cycle.

36. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 35 , wherein the duty cycle comprises a first time period defining a time duration during which the sensors are activated and a second time period defining a repetition rate of the first time period, the duty cycle being a ratio of the first time period to the second time period less than 1.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36 , wherein the duty cycle is equal to or less than 50% and greater than 0%.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34 , wherein determining the hands-on state comprises comparing a level of the sampled signals to a threshold level, and activating the hands-on state when the sampled signals equal or exceed the threshold level.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 38 , wherein the threshold level is a reference level specified to distinguish the user's hands-on contact with the device from non-contact with at least one sensor.

40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34 , the instruction further comprising code for:

interpreting voice detected by the VAD application using an audio processor;

communicating with a communications interface to obtain signals from a remote server based on the interpreted voice; and

halting the operation of the VAD application, audio processor and communication interface.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40 , the instruction further comprising code for:

halting the operations after a delay time based on detecting the device is found in a “hands-off” condition and the VAD does not detect voice.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40 , wherein instructions for halting operations comprises code for disabling at least one of the VAD, the audio processor and the communication interface to one of a standby and an off state.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40 , wherein the delay time between samplings is dynamically variable.