Patent ID: 7280133

Claim:
An apparatus in a communication system for playing audio messages received in said communication system n synchronicity with an independent video signal received in said communication system, said apparatus comprising: an audio controller capable of receiving a plurality of audio messages: an audio message coordinator that communicates bidirectionally with the audio controller in order to receive audio messages from the audio controller and distribute audio messages to the audio controller; and an audio buffer associated with said audio controller, said audio buffer capable of storing said plurality of audio messages received by said audio controller; wherein said audio controller is capable of playing each of said plurality of audio messages stored in said audio buffer in synchronicity with the display of the independent video signal; wherein said audio controller is capable of separately storing within said audio buffer overlapping audio messages that have portions that have been simultaneously received by said audio controller; and wherein said audio controller is capable of sequentially playing each of said separately stored overlapping audio messages.