Personal Mobile Computing Device Having Antenna Microphone and Speech Detection for Improved Speech Recognition

Abstract

A mobile computing device, adapted to be held in the palm of a user's hand, includes an antenna for transmission of information from the mobile computing device. A first microphone, adapted to convert audible speech from the user into speech signals, is positioned at a distal end of the antenna. The antenna is rotatable, while the mobile computing device is held by the user, into a position which directs the first microphone toward the mouth of the user. A speech sensor outputs a sensor signal indicative of whether the user is speaking.

1 . A mobile computing device: 
 an antenna adapted to be oriented toward the user;    a first microphone positioned on the antenna and adapted to convert audible speech from the user into speech signals; and    a speech sensor outputting a sensor signal, based on a non-audio input generated by speech action of the user, indicative of whether the user is speaking.    
   
   
       2 . (canceled)  
   
   
       3 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the speech sensor senses an image indicative of movement of the user's mouth.  
   
   
       4 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the speech sensor is positioned on the antenna.  
   
   
       5 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the speech sensor is positioned on a housing of the mobile computing device.  
   
   
       6 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , and further comprising a speech detector component outputting a speech detection signal indicative of whether the user is speaking based on the sensor signal.  
   
   
       7 . The mobile computing device of  claim 6 , wherein the first microphone is enabled or disabled as a function of the speech detection signal.  
   
   
       8 . The mobile computing device of  claim 6 , and further comprising a speech recognition component coupled to the first microphone and adapted to perform speech recognition algorithms on the speech signals to generate speech recognition data.  
   
   
       9 - 10 . (canceled)  
   
   
       11 . The mobile computing device of  claim 6 , wherein the speech detector component outputs the speech detection signal based on a first characteristic of the sensor signal and based on the speech signals from the first microphone.  
   
   
       12 - 17 . (canceled)  
   
   
       18 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , and further comprising a housing, wherein the antenna is rotatably coupled to a housing, and wherein the first microphone is positioned on a distal end of the antenna.  
   
   
       19 . The mobile computing device of  claim 18 , further comprising a display connected to the housing, and wherein for a particular orientation of the mobile computing device d to achieve a particular viewing angle and separation distance of the display relative to the user, the antenna is rotatable to a position which minimizes a distance between the first microphone and the mouth of the user.  
   
   
       20 - 24 . (canceled)