Patent ID: 7395208

Claim:
A method for integrating voice communication into a game console that includes a primary processor, so as to limit use of the primary processor for processing voice data, comprising the steps of: (a) supplying voice data at a first data rate, as an input to the game console; (b) processing the voice data that were supplied at the first data rate, with a secondary processor of the game console, the secondary processor processing the voice data at a second data rate, to produce processed voice data, said processed voice data including any desired effects to be applied to the voice data by the game console, wherein the second data rate is substantially different than the first data rate; (c) converting the processed voice data to the first data rate with the secondary processor, producing converted voice data; (d) storing the converted voice data in a memory configured to be accessible as a circular buffer; and (e) using the primary processor to access the converted voice data stored in the circular buffer when producing a stream of packets of the converted voice data for output from the game console.