Patent ID: 7277853

Claim:
A method for endpointing a speech signal, said method comprising steps of: determining a background energy (Esilence) of a first portion of said speech signal; extracting one or more features of said first portion; calculating an average distance (Dsilence) of said first portion based on said one or more features of said first portion; measuring an energy (Ek) of a second portion of said speech signal; extracting one or more features of said second portion; calculating a first distance (dk) of said second portion of said speech signal based on said one or more features of said second portion; classifying said second portion as speech if (Ek>κ*Esilence) is true; and classifying said second portion as speech if (Ek>κ*Esilence) is false and if ((dk>α*Dsilence and Ek>β*Esilence) or (dk>Dsilence and Ek>η*Esilence)) is true; wherein α, β, η and κ are real values, and wherein κ>η>β and α>1.