Message-triggered voice command interface in portable electronic devices

Abstract

The embodiments provided herein are directed to a system and method of message-triggered voice command interface in portable electronic devices. The voice command interface is normally not activated until a message (e.g., an e-mail, a text message, or a voice mail) has been received by a portable electronic device. The arriving of a message is used to trigger the voice command interface by activating one or more speech recognition routines in a predetermined time period corresponding to the one or more speech recognition routines. The voice command interface come to an end when the predetermined time period expires or the user has no further commands.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A portable electronic device comprising:
 a microphone;   a speaker;   a display; and   a processor configured to activate a speech recognition routine after a message has been received by the portable electronic device, the speech recognition routine comprising:
 starting a first timer having a first predetermined expiration time period, 
 activating a first speech recognition routine, 
 determining whether a predefined keyword is detected before the first timer expires, and 
 providing a voice brief corresponding to the message if the predefined keyword is detected, wherein the detected keyword is a password. 
   
     
     
         2 . The portable electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the speech recognition routine further comprising:
 deactivating the first speech recognition routine after the first timer has been expired.   
     
     
         3 . The portable electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the speech recognition routine further comprising:
 starting a second timer having a second predetermined expiration time period after providing the voice brief.   
     
     
         4 . The portable electronic device of  claim 3 , wherein the speech recognition routine further comprising:
 activating a second speech recognition routine after starting the second timer.   
     
     
         5 . The portable electronic device of  claim 4 , wherein the speech recognition routine further comprising:
 determining whether a predefined command string is detected after activating the second speech recognition routine.   
     
     
         6 . The portable electronic device of  claim 5 , wherein the speech recognition routine further comprising:
 sending a returned message after determining whether a predefined command string is detected.   
     
     
         7 . The portable electronic device of  claim 6 , wherein the speech recognition routine further comprising:
 deactivating the second speech recognition routine after the second timer has been expired.   
     
     
         8 . The portable electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the password is a combination of a speech word and the user's voice characteristics.