Voice activated device for use with a voice-based digital assistant

A voice activated device comprising:

• a first sound detector;
• and
• a second sound detector coupled to the first sound detector;
• wherein the first sound detector is capable of causing the second sound detector to be turned on in response to detecting a first trigger sound, wherein the second sound detector changes its power mode after it is turned on;
• and
• wherein the second sound detector is capable of causing received audio to be analyzed with a speech recognition process in response to detecting a second trigger sound.

A voice activated device for causing a macro to be executed, the voice activated device comprising:

• a microphone capable of receiving audio;
• a processor coupled to the microphone;
• and
• memory coupled to the processor and comprising computer-executable instructions for:
• detecting in the received audio a portion of a trigger phrase spoken by a user;
• in accordance with the detection of the portion of the trigger phrase, causing subsequent user speech to be digitally recorded, the subsequent user speech being included in the received audio with the trigger phrase;
• causing speech recognition to be performed to identify a user request from the digitally recorded user speech, wherein the user request comprises a trigger word associated with a macro, wherein identifying the user request comprises:
• generating text based on the recorded user speech,
• performing natural language processing of the text, and
• determining user intent based on a result of the natural language processing;
• and
• in response to identifying the user request, causing the macro to be executed.

A voice activated device comprising:

• a housing;
• one or more processors in the housing;
• a wireless network module at least partially within the housing, the wireless network module coupled to the one or more processors;
• a human-machine interface comprising:
• at least one speaker at least partially within the housing;
• at least one microphone at least partially within the housing;
• an analog to digital converter coupled to the microphone and configured to convert speech into digital signals;
• and
• a digital to analog converter coupled to the at least one speaker and configured to convert received data into audio signals, including speech;
• and
• memory in the housing, the memory coupled to the one or more processors and comprising instructions for:
• detecting, in the digital signals of the converted speech, a portion of a trigger phrase spoken by a user;
• in accordance with the detection of the portion of the trigger phrase, causing speech recognition to be performed to identify a user request from the digital signals of the converted speech, the converted speech corresponding to a speech including the user request and the portion of the trigger phrase spoken by the user, wherein identifying the user request comprises:
• generating text based on the recorded user speech,
• performing natural language processing of the text, and
• determining user intent based on a result of the natural language processing;
• in response to identifying the user request, causing news information to be obtained from an Internet source;
• and
• causing the obtained news information to be converted into audio signals and played via the at least one speaker.

A voice activated device for use with home automation of controllable devices, the voice activated device comprising:

• a microphone capable of receiving audio;
• a processor coupled to the microphone;
• and
• memory coupled to the processor and comprising computer-executable instructions for:
• detecting in the received audio a portion of a trigger phrase spoken by a user;
• in response to detecting the portion of the trigger phrase, causing subsequent user speech to be digitally recorded, the subsequent user speech being included in the received audio with the trigger phrase;
• causing speech recognition to be performed to identify a user request from the recorded user speech, wherein identifying the user request comprises:
• generating text based on the recorded user speech,
• performing natural language processing of the text, and
• determining user intent based on a result of the natural language processing;
• and
• in response to identifying the user request, causing a command to be executed on the voice activated device.