LOW POWER SPEECH RECOGNIZER

A computer system has a power-down mode to conserve energy. The computer system includes a speech transducer for capturing speech; a low-energy consuming power-up indicator coupled to said speech transducer, said power-up indicator detecting speech directed at said speech transducer and asserting a wake-up signal to a powered-down processor; and a voice recognizer coupled to said speech transducer and said wake-up signal, said voice recognizer waking up from the power-down mode when said wake-up signal is asserted.