SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNIQUE BASED ON LOCAL INTERRUPT DETECTION

In a wireless communication system, local detection of an interrupt indicator during a voice communication between a user of a subscriber unit and another person is provided. Responsive to the interrupt indicator, a portion of a speech recognition element is activated to begin processing voice-based commands. The speech recognition element can be implemented at least in part within an infrastructure, such as in a client-server speech recognition arrangement. The interrupt indicator may be provided using an input device forming a part of the subscriber unit, or through the use of a local speech recognizer within the subscriber unit. By locally detecting interrupt indicators at the subscriber unit, the present invention more readily enables the use of electronic assistants and similar services in wireless communication environments.