Hands-free, voice-operated remote control transmitter

An audio signal activated control system for controlling one or more appliances, said control system comprising:

• a microphone for receiving audio signals and converting said audio signals to electrical signals;
• a speech recognition circuit including a processor and having a plurality of modes of operation including a speech recognition mode and a low power sound activation mode, wherein in said speech recognition mode said speech recognition circuit converts said electrical signals to electrical representative signals and said processor decodes said electrical representative signals and wherein in said sound activation mode said processor is placed in a low power state;
• a sound activation circuit configured for determining if the amplitude of said electrical signals exceeds a predetermined threshold and causing said speech recognition circuit to switch automatically from said sound activation mode to another of said plurality of said modes of operation;
• said speech recognition circuit configured for generating first control signals in said speech recognition mode if said electrical signals represent one or more predetermined audible commands, said speech recognition circuit configured for switching automatically from said speech recognition mode to another of said plurality of said modes of operation under predetermined conditions;
• and
• an appliance control circuit configured for receiving said first control signals from said speech recognition circuit and generating second control signals to cause one or more appliances to perform one or more functions associated with said first control signals.

A method for providing hands-free control of appliances, comprising:

• providing a speech recognition system having a speech recognition mode wherein a processor recognizes representations of audible signals as corresponding to predetermined audible commands;
• configuring said speech recognition system to have a low power sound activation mode wherein said processor is in a low power state;
• monitoring said audible signals to detect if the amplitude of said audible signals exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• enabling said speech recognition system to switch automatically from said sound activation mode to said speech recognition mode if said amplitude exceeds said predetermined threshold;
• generating and decoding representations of said audible signals in said speech recognition mode;
• and
• generating and transmitting one or more appliance control signals for controlling one or more appliances if said decoded representations of said audio signals represent one or more said predetermined audible commands.