Patent ID: 7146318

Claim:
A method for detecting pauses in speech recognition, in which method, for recognizing speech commands uttered by a user, the speech is converted into an electrical signal, the frequency spectrum of the electrical signal is divided into two or more sub-bands, samples of the signals in the sub-bands are stored at intervals, the energy levels of the sub-bands are determined on the basis of the stored samples, a power threshold value (thr) is determined, and the energy levels of the sub-bands are compared with said power threshold value (thr), wherein the comparison results are used for producing a pause detecting result, and further wherein a detection time limit (END) and a detection quantity (SB_SUFF_TH) are determined, wherein in the method, the calculation of the length of a pause in a sub-band is started when the energy level of the sub-band falls below said power threshold value (thr), wherein in the method, a sub-band specific detection is performed when the calculation reaches the detection time limit (END), it is examined on how many sub-bands the energy level was below the power threshold value (thr) longer than the detection time limit (END), wherein a pause detection decision is made if the number of sub-band specific detections is greater than or equal to the detection quantity (SB_SUFF_TH) and further wherein an activity time limit (SB_ACTIVE_TH) and an activity quantity (SB_MIN_TH) are determined, wherein a pause detection decision is made if the quantity of sub-band specific detections is greater than or equal to the activity quantity (SB_MIN_TH) and the activity time limit (SB_ACTIVE_TH) has not been reached on the other sub-bands in the calculation of the length of the pause in the sub-band.