Patent ID: 7558736

Claim:
In a half-duplex cellular communication system, a method for talker arbitration, comprising: receiving speech energy levels corresponding respectively to a current talker and a prospective talker in a half-duplex cellular communication session, said current and prospective talkers automatically requesting floor control by commencing speech, said current talker having floor control; receiving dynamic priority levels corresponding respectively to said current and prospective talkers; selecting said prospective talker based on comparing said speech energy level of said prospective talker to said speech energy level of said current talker by weighting said speech energy levels by said corresponding dynamic priority levels; wherein said step of selecting further comprises selecting said prospective talker if said weighted speech energy level of said prospective talker is higher than said weighted speech energy level of said current talker; and granting said selected prospective talker floor control of said half-duplex cellular communication session; wherein the dynamic priority level for each talker is inversely proportional to a number of times said talker has been granted floor control and independent from a number of times other talkers have been granted floor control.