Those b#$*@*%s at Microsoft got another patent.

This time it's a patent for blocking out or bleeping words in an audio stream. In the patent description the company notes that "The censored speech can either be stored or made available to an audience in real-time."

Originally filed 4 years ago the company only had the patent approved last week. It's expected Microsoft will use the technology in upcoming versions of Xbox Live where it can filter bad words that people use on its network.

news.com suggests that the technology could be used for more than just censoring profanity, suggesting that perhaps China or another government would want it employed for other phrases, such as Tibet or free speech.

Posted: Oct 21, 2008 11:15 pm