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The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

usitc.gov

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Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#121

Post by bluGill »

HotHotLava wrote: post #119
bluGill wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember musik in the 1990s at the restaurant I worked at. We had it in the kitchen and a different channel in the seating area. Turn a switch on the wall to change channels, if the kitchen and seating were on the same channel then they had music in sync. Now this was an entirely hardwired system, and there was no remote. I don't know what sonos's patents are for, but the idea was in place and the difference is do…

This particular patent specifically covers a mesh network of independent playback devices that can be dynamically rearranged into possibly overlapping zones, with the volume controls being on a separate device in the local network. That's pretty far removed from a simple hard-wired two-channel audio system. I'm opposed to software patents in general so I also think this should not be patentable, but it's hard to deny…

Right. I'm not clear on what the patent covers, it can be anything from too broad to very specific. My opinion changes depending on what it covers.

Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#122

Post by vineyardmike »

MBCook wrote: post #50
vineyardmike wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But i like my sonos products and want them to work for more than another few weeks... and theres no sonos chat app so why would they want sonos really?

It’s me cynically suggesting that they’ll do that just to get rid of this annoyance. That’s what Facebook and many other big companies would do. I don’t know if Google has done in the past but it wouldn’t surprise me.

> It’s me cynically suggesting that they’ll do that just to get rid of this annoyance.

Yes, i was just making a joke about how google kills things.

> That’s what Facebook and many other big companies would do.

I feel like this is pretty common across industries, idk why FB gets called out?

> I don’t know if Google has done in the past but it wouldn’t surprise me.

I can't remember anything they bought after losing a suit, but they did this with Moto, and i think also Kodak.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/08/google-to-buy-motoro...

Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#123

Post by vineyardmike »

tacticus wrote: post #67
vineyardmike wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But i like my sonos products and want them to work for more than another few weeks... and theres no sonos chat app so why would they want sonos really?

Something something sonos old gen products being bricked...

It was a bad move on their part, but fwiw they walked that plan back, and it was opt-in from the start.

Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#124

Post by boondaburrah »

yccs27 wrote: post #76
yccs27 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "novelty" (idk how novel it is really, but they present it as such) is not in speakers playing the same audio or L/R at the same time, but individual autonomous playback devices being grouped and ungrouped, so that they can be controlled as a unit when grouped.

To those downvoting: Am I wrong here? Not defending the patents, I just want people to stop tearing down strawmen instead of the real thing.

This sounds an awful lot like what I've been able to do with digital theatre sound systems for a long time, so I don't think it's novel.

Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#125

Post by boondaburrah »

texasbigdata wrote: post #88
izacus wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But did you pay the rent to Sonos while you were doing that project? It's, after all, their intelectual property now.

You don't know the year he/she went to University.

you do know that raspis were involved, so it can't be before 2012. However, AirFoil/AirPlay existed before that and could do this.

Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#126

Post by joshspankit »

suddenexample wrote: post #2

As far as I can tell, these are the patents mentioned in the document: Method and apparatus for adjusting volume levels in a multi-zone system - https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en System and method for synchronizing operations among a plurality of independently clocked digital data processing devices - https://patents.google.com/patent/US9195258B2/en Multi-channel pairing in a media system - https://pat…

Is this why it’s seemingly impossible to have synced wireless audio that’s not AirPlay or Sonos?

Re: The ITC declares Google infringed on audio tech patents held by Sonos [pdf]

#127

Post by joshspankit »

okwubodu wrote: post #4
suddenexample wrote: post #2

As far as I can tell, these are the patents mentioned in the document: Method and apparatus for adjusting volume levels in a multi-zone system - https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en System and method for synchronizing operations among a plurality of independently clocked digital data processing devices - https://patents.google.com/patent/US9195258B2/en Multi-channel pairing in a media system - https://pat…

> Method and apparatus for adjusting volume levels in a multi-zone system - https://patents.google.com/patent/US8588949B2/en Is this why I can’t change the volume on a Google Home speaker group anymore?

Behind closed doors, I like to ask CEOs these questions:

“What patents are holding you back?”

“What would you build right now if there were no restrictions from copyright/patents?”

There are some very surprising (caveat: not to most of HN) patents that are holding us back.

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