Automatic and selective assignment of channels to recipients of voice chat data

• US 6,807,562 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2000
• Issued: 10/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bamford, Drew C., Stipes, Matthew J., Pennock, John P., Danieli, Damon V., Selbie, John R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Dung C.
• Application Number:
  US09/515,966
• Time in Patent Office: 1,694 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/207, 709/205, 709/228, 709/227, 463/42
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

A method and system for selecting contacts to participate in a voice chat session over a communications network, such as the Internet, and for assigning contacts to a plurality of chat channels both automatically and manually. In a multiplayer game application, the method enables a player to host a chat session by providing a list of contacts from which the host can choose other player who will be invited to join the chat session and thereafter, to participate in the game. Upon joining the chat session, players are automatically assigned to chat channels, for example, based on an order in which they join the session. Optionally, chat channel assignments may be pre-assigned by the host, or reassigned by individual users after the initial automatic assignment. In addition, players can be selectively assigned to a “team” channel. The system employs an online messaging service to provide the list of contacts for each player, and implements a gaming utility application that enables the users to easily host and join chat sessions, and selectively control channel assignments. The system further includes a channel controller device that is connected to each user'"'"'s computer and enables each user to selectively control which other players are able to hear them during a voice chat session, which is particularly advantageous during the playing of multiplayer games over the Internet or other network. Each of the channel controller devices is connected to a headset that includes a pair of headphones and a microphone.

Claims

1. A method for enabling voice chat communication over a plurality of voice chat channels in a network of electronic devices linked in communication, each of said plurality of electronic devices being operated by a different user having a unique user identification, comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling one of the users to initiate a voice chat session, said one of the users being a host of the voice chat session;

(b) enabling users other than the host to join the voice chat session; and

(c) automatically assigning different voice chat channels for the host and each of the other users who join the voice chat session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of voice chat channels are automatically assigned for each user based on an order in which the user joins the voice chat session.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each user who joins the voice chat session is assigned to a next available voice chat channel for each of the users presently participating in the voice chat session, based on a sequential order of voice chat channels available to each user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling each user to manually reassign the voice chat channel for another user.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of providing a utility application that includes a user interface usable for manually reassigning the voice chat channel.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling the host to invite another user to join the voice chat session; and

(b) enabling the host to selectively pre-assign a voice chat channel to the other user who has been invited by the host to join the voice chat session.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the electronic device the host user is using so as to enable the host user to invite other players to the chat session through use of the IP address.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(a) determining a network identification for each of said plurality of electronic devices; and

(b) mapping each user identification to the network identification of the electronic device operated by each user, so as to provide a unique network identification of each of the users.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each user is a member of an online messaging service that performs the steps of determining a network identification for each user'"'"'s electronic device and mapping the user identification to the network identification of the user'"'"'s electronic device when the user is logged onto the online messaging service.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the online messaging service enables each user to create an individual contact list comprising a list of other users who the user might want to participate in a voice chat session, further comprising the step of providing a selectable list of contacts for each user based on the contact list that said user has created with the online messaging service.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of providing an availability status for each user in the contact list.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of enabling the host to select one or more contacts from among the selectable list of contacts, to invite to join the voice chat session.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of sending an electronic invitation to each of the contacts selected by the host to join the voice chat session.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the electronic invitation includes an audible message apprising each recipient that the host has invited the user receiving the electronic invitation to join the voice chat session.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a user interface including a first display area on which the selectable list of contacts is displayed and a second display area corresponding to a voice chat session; and

(b) enabling the host to select the one or more contracts to invite to join the voice chat session by selecting one or more contacts from among the selectable list of contacts displayed in the first display area and dragging and dropping them onto the second display area.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a plurality of contacts can be selected and dragged and dropped onto the second display area at one time.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing visual indicia corresponding to the voice chat channel assignments for each user.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing audible indicia corresponding to the voice chat channel assignments for each user.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling one or more users to be assigned to a team voice chat channel.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of voice chat channels for each electronic device includes a fixed number of individual channels and a team channel, further comprising the step of automatically assigning the team channel to users who join the chat session after all of the individual channels have been assigned to other users who have previously joined the chat session.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling a user to selectively transmit voice chat data to all of the other users who have joined the voice chat session.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a respective channel controller device connected to each of said plurality of electronic devices so as to enable each user to selectively control which other users participating in the voice chat session are able to hear the user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the channel controller device comprises a plurality of visual indicators for indicating voice chat channel assignments, further comprising the step of automatically enunciating the visual indicators in response to the assignment of the voice chat channels.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein each channel controller device includes a plurality of switches, each switch corresponding to a different individual voice chat channel and a team channel, further comprising the step of enabling individual voice chat channels to be assigned to the team channel through activation of selected switches among said plurality of switches.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of providing a headset comprising an earphone and a microphone that are connected to each channel controller device.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling a user to leave a voice chat session; and

(b) changing any voice chat channels that were assigned to the user to an unassigned status so as to enable reassignment of those voice chat channels to a next player to join the voice chat session.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of reassigning a host status to a user who was the first among the users who still remain in the voice chat session to join the voice chat session, if the user leaving the voice chat session was the host.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling the host to eject a user from the voice chat session; and

(b) changing any voice chat channels that were assigned to the user to an unassigned status so as to enable reassignment of those voice chat channels to a next player to join the voice chat session.

29. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

30. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 4.

31. A system for enabling voice chat communication between a plurality of users over a communications network, each user having a unique user identification, comprising:

a plurality of electronic devices coupled to the communications network, each user operating a different one of the plurality of electronic devices, each of the plurality of electronic devices being identified by a network identifier and including;

(a) a display;

(b) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored; and

(c) a processor coupled to the memory for executing said plurality of machine instructions, said processor implementing a plurality of functions when executing the machine instructions, including;

(i) producing a user interface for the voice chat session on the display;

(ii) enabling one of the users to initiate a voice chat session, said user being a host of the voice chat session;

(iii) enabling users other than the host to join the voice chat session; and

(iv) for each of said plurality of electronic devices, automatically assigning voice chat channels to users other than the user operating the electronic device so as to enable each user to selectively communicate with the other users in the voice chat session.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the plurality of voice chat channels are automatically assigned for each user based on an order in which the user joins the voice chat session.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further implements the function of enabling a user to reassign other users to voice chat channels through interaction with the user interface.

34. The system of claim 31, further including:

(a) a microphone operatively coupled to each electronic device, said microphone producing an audio signal in response to words spoken by a user of the electronic device into the microphone, said audio signal being converted to audio data that are transmitted over the communications network to an electronic device operated by a selected other user; and

(b) a least one sound transducer operative coupled to the electronic device operated by the selected other user so as to replicate the words that were spoken, in response to a drive signal produced by the electronic device operated by the selected user after receiving the audio data.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein execution of said plurality of machine instructions further performs the function of providing drive signals to selected sound transducers based on the voice chat channel assignments such that the words spoken by a user of the microphone are heard by selected users among participants in the voice chat session.

36. The system of claim 34, further including a channel controller device connected to each of said plurality of electronic devices, said channel controller device including a plurality of voice chat channel selection switches so as to enable the user speaking the words to determine the selected other user who will hear the words that are replicated.