ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 4 -- United States Patent no. 12,318,687, issued on June 3, was assigned to VOYETRA TURTLE BEACH INC. (White Plains, N.Y.).

"Independent game and chat volume control" was invented by Shobha Devi Kuruba Buchannagari (San Jose, Calif.), Kevin Robertson (San Jose, Calif.), Scott Warren (San Jose, Calif.), Carmine Bonanno (White Plains, N.Y.) and Richard Kulavik (San Jose, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In an audio device that includes a plurality of input controls, mixing circuitry, a left speaker, and a right speaker, a desired balance, between a first audio signal and a second audio signal, may be determined according to the plurality of input controls. A desired v...