5 ms·

From my reading of the patent, it's not that the concept of speaker groupings was patented. Rather, a specific UI for showing and modifying the groupings and ad

From my reading of the patent, it's not that the concept of speaker groupings was patented. Rather, a specific UI for showing and modifying the groupings and adjusting the volume. Unfortunately, there aren't many different ways to represent groupings in a UI.

duxup 5y ago
UI to do that seems awfully basic.
- xhkkffbf 5y ago
  Isn't simplicity the definition of a good UI? And even if it looks easy, it can be very hard to make something that is simple.
  - duxup 5y ago
    My concern is that someone can “own” that.
lostmsu 5y ago
Doesn't regular volume slider controls multiple remote speakers in case of connected Bluetooth headphones?
- oarsinsync 5y ago
  Depends on whether you consider a pair of bluetooth headphones as a single device or multiple devices. I'm unaware of many devices that output audio to multiple distinct bluetooth targets simultaneously. Bose have that feature as part of their app, but I don't think it's a standard thing as a rule.
  - joshuamorton 5y ago
    Airpods and clones thereof?
  - lostmsu 5y ago
    What do you mean you are unaware of devices that output audio to distinct bluetooth targets? Any Windows PC can do that, AFAIU. Just connect multiple devices, and every program is free to choose which of them to output to.
  - Reubachi 5y ago
    Every windows PC, every android, and even things like Pi OS/linux kernel can push to multiple distinct bluetooth targets simultaneously. For android I think it's going on 7 years of that
- halpert 5y ago
  Again, it’s not the controlling of the speakers that was patented, it was the UI for grouping them and controlling them. Bluetooth headphones generally have the same controls as normal headphones, so they wouldn’t apply to this patent.
  - tssva 5y ago
    This is incorrect. The patent doesn't cover any specific UI. Part of what the patent covers is a controller on a network presenting a UI to control volume on a group of speakers not a specific implementation of the UI.
    - halpert 5y ago
      There were a number of patents in question. I'm specifically referring to this one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en Here is the abstract, you can see that it clearly is about the interface of creating and controlling the play group: > A multimedia controller including a processor, the controller configured to: provide a user interface for a player group, wherein the player group includes a plurality of players in a local area network, and wherein each player is configured to playback a multimedia output from a multimedia source; accept an input to facilitate formation of the player group, indicating that at least two of the players in the local area network are to be included in the player group; for each of the plurality of players within the player group, accept an input to adjust a volume associated with the player, that causes the player to adjust its volume; and accept an input to adjust a volume associated with the player group, wherein the input to adjust the volume associated with the group causes the players in the player group to adjust their volumes. > This application is a Continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 12/035,112, entitled “User Interfaces For Controlling And Manipulating Groupings In A Multi-Zone Media System”
      - tssva 5y ago
        You need to read the claims in the patent. That is what the patent actually covers. The claims include the controller presenting a UI but that is not the only claim in the patent. Besides that the abstract also supports the point of my post and not your original. You stated that the patent covers a particular presentation of a UI for doing so. It does not. It just states that a UI is presented and not the form of the UI which is exactly what I stated in my comment.
rektide 5y ago
That seems much more like an idea than an invention to me.
- josho 5y ago
  That’s all an invention really is. At least according to the patent office. Here’s another example. Wouldn’t it be neat if the tree control in your file browser could have an icon that represents more than 1 file. That idea may or may not have much value. But you better not implement that idea because IBM has a patent on it. Patents in software rarely meet the bar that most people have of inventions.
  - markhahn 5y ago
    unfortunately, the legitimacy of a patent is only determined by contention. the simple elegance of the following has been lost: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

duxup 5y ago

UI to do that seems awfully basic.

xhkkffbf 5y ago
Isn't simplicity the definition of a good UI? And even if it looks easy, it can be very hard to make something that is simple.
- duxup 5y ago
  My concern is that someone can “own” that.

lostmsu 5y ago

Doesn't regular volume slider controls multiple remote speakers in case of connected Bluetooth headphones?

oarsinsync 5y ago
Depends on whether you consider a pair of bluetooth headphones as a single device or multiple devices. I'm unaware of many devices that output audio to multiple distinct bluetooth targets simultaneously. Bose have that feature as part of their app, but I don't think it's a standard thing as a rule.
- joshuamorton 5y ago
  Airpods and clones thereof?
- lostmsu 5y ago
  What do you mean you are unaware of devices that output audio to distinct bluetooth targets? Any Windows PC can do that, AFAIU. Just connect multiple devices, and every program is free to choose which of them to output to.
- Reubachi 5y ago
  Every windows PC, every android, and even things like Pi OS/linux kernel can push to multiple distinct bluetooth targets simultaneously. For android I think it's going on 7 years of that
halpert 5y ago
Again, it’s not the controlling of the speakers that was patented, it was the UI for grouping them and controlling them. Bluetooth headphones generally have the same controls as normal headphones, so they wouldn’t apply to this patent.
- tssva 5y ago
  This is incorrect. The patent doesn't cover any specific UI. Part of what the patent covers is a controller on a network presenting a UI to control volume on a group of speakers not a specific implementation of the UI.
  - halpert 5y ago
    There were a number of patents in question. I'm specifically referring to this one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en Here is the abstract, you can see that it clearly is about the interface of creating and controlling the play group: > A multimedia controller including a processor, the controller configured to: provide a user interface for a player group, wherein the player group includes a plurality of players in a local area network, and wherein each player is configured to playback a multimedia output from a multimedia source; accept an input to facilitate formation of the player group, indicating that at least two of the players in the local area network are to be included in the player group; for each of the plurality of players within the player group, accept an input to adjust a volume associated with the player, that causes the player to adjust its volume; and accept an input to adjust a volume associated with the player group, wherein the input to adjust the volume associated with the group causes the players in the player group to adjust their volumes. > This application is a Continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 12/035,112, entitled “User Interfaces For Controlling And Manipulating Groupings In A Multi-Zone Media System”
    - tssva 5y ago
      You need to read the claims in the patent. That is what the patent actually covers. The claims include the controller presenting a UI but that is not the only claim in the patent. Besides that the abstract also supports the point of my post and not your original. You stated that the patent covers a particular presentation of a UI for doing so. It does not. It just states that a UI is presented and not the form of the UI which is exactly what I stated in my comment.

rektide 5y ago

That seems much more like an idea than an invention to me.

josho 5y ago
That’s all an invention really is. At least according to the patent office. Here’s another example. Wouldn’t it be neat if the tree control in your file browser could have an icon that represents more than 1 file. That idea may or may not have much value. But you better not implement that idea because IBM has a patent on it. Patents in software rarely meet the bar that most people have of inventions.
- markhahn 5y ago
  unfortunately, the legitimacy of a patent is only determined by contention. the simple elegance of the following has been lost: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."