Method for regulating overlapping media messages

Abstract

The described systems regulate the transmission and playback of multiple streams of audio data, e.g., for a multiplayer game, and provide sequential playback of audio, buffered while the listener is listening to a different stream, time-compressed if necessary. The systems thus solve a problem of users “talking over each other” by: (1) regulating access to audio channels; and (2) treating the spoken audio as distinct blocks so as to play the messages, e.g., from multiple channels, sequentially to users. The messages may be played back at a later time at time-compressed rates or aborted as directed by the user or by a separate automated process.

1 . A method of regulating the transmission of messages in a multiuser system, comprising:
 a. receiving requests to transmit a message from at least two speakers of the multiuser system;   b. queuing the requests according to a priority system; and   c. when a request is at a top of the queue, allowing the corresponding speaker to transmit a message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising notifying the corresponding user that the same is allowed to transmit a message via an indication on a user interface. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each speaker has an associated priority, and wherein requests to transmit are disposed in the queue at least in part based on their corresponding speaker's priority. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a speaker may send a request to transmit in any of a plurality of channels, and wherein each channel is associated with a key on a keyboard or other speaker initiated event. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising adding an accompanying message to at least one of the messages. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the accompanying message includes a visual cue on a user interface or an audio cue. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the requests to transmit are displayed to other users on the system via a user interface. 
     
     
         8 . A computer readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer to implement the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         9 . A method of regulating the transmission of messages in a multiuser system, comprising:
 a. receiving requests to transmit a message from at least two users of the multiuser system;   b. queuing the requests based at least in part on a status of the system.