Patent ID: 8294683

Claim:
A method of processing touch commands and voice commands in parallel in an electronic device supporting speech recognition, the method comprising: detecting a touch-down event on a touch-sensitive screen of the electronic device when touch input is sensed on the touch-sensitive screen, the touch-sensitive screen displaying one or more soft buttons, each soft button executing a corresponding command upon activation of the soft button; determining that one of the soft buttons was activated through the touch-down event; and activating a microphone of the electronic device to receive voice instructions in response to detecting the touch-down event; detecting a touch-up event when touch input is no longer sensed on the touch-sensitive screen; determining whether a voice command was detected in a time period between the touch-down event and the touch-up event, and executing the voice command if the voice command was detected; and executing a command corresponding to the soft button activated by the touch event in response to detecting the touch-up event and in response to determining that a voice command was not detected in the time period between the touch-down event and the touch-up event.