It looks like Xbox gamers can finally open their ears.

Microsoft has been granted a patent to filter and censor undesired words in real-time. The automatic system would process everything being said and alter the unwanted words so that they are, according to the patent, “either unintelligible or inaudible.”

Microsoft understands that “censorship of spoken language can be annoying if each obscenity or profanity is "bleeped" to obscure it so that it is not understood, particularly if the frequency with which such utterances occur is too great.” The company, then, is opting to either lower the volume below audibility, replacing the word with an acceptable word or phrase, or taking out the word completely.

While TV networks usually delay feeds by a few seconds so that someone can stand by and “bleep” out anything they deem offensive, Microsoft’s proposed technology would make everything work in real-time – a practical solution when it comes to the many simultaneous conversations that take place in online multiplayer games.

It remains to be seen, though, how the parameters will be set; that is, whether Microsoft will set the words to be censored or if it will vary on a user-to-user basis. Given that many of the recently-pubescent members of the online community can be very creative and shameless in the obscenities they string together, the question also arises as to how effective the technology will be in blotting out phrases that are comprised of many swear words in one or swear words used in conjunction with a random word (like “Asshat”, for example).

Although Microsoft needs to be able to pull off the censoring effectively while not becoming Orwellian in their control, the system does have the potential to be a huge relief for gamers, as being called every racial slur known to man can be replaced by a nice silence, peppered with the occasional preposition.