US 2,004,224,638 · Filed 2003-04-25

Apple's Wireless Music Handoff Patent

Imagine picking a song on your iPod and instantly beaming it wirelessly to speakers, headphones, or other devices around you—all without plugging anything in. This patent covers the technology that lets a handheld music player send audio and info to multiple receivers at once, plus the special connector that handles different types of data.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a handheld media player with wireless transmission capability that can broadcast a continuous music feed to multiple personal tuning devices simultaneously. It also protects the method of selecting a media item and remote recipients on the device, then transmitting that content wirelessly to those chosen destinations. Additionally, the patent covers a multi-function connector with spatially separated contact sets—each set wired for different functionality—that lets the media player dock and communicate with other devices.

Why it matters

This patent represents Apple's early vision of wireless media distribution before streaming became ubiquitous. By protecting both the hardware (transmitter and multi-function connector) and the software workflow (select, choose recipients, transmit), Apple secured a broad approach to how portable music players could interact with an ecosystem of speakers and personal devices, establishing core concepts that influenced the company's wireless audio strategy.

Real-world use

When you wirelessly stream music from your phone to multiple Bluetooth speakers in different rooms, or when you dock a device and it instantly syncs with your computer, you're using descendants of the connectivity patterns this patent locked down.

Original USPTO abstract

A media player system is disclosed. One aspect of the media player system pertains to a docking station that allows a media player to communicate with other media devices. Another aspect of the media player system pertains to a wireless media player system that includes a hand held media player capable of transmitting information over a wireless connection and one or more media devices capable of receiving information over the wireless connection. Another aspect of the media player system pertains to a method of wirelessly connecting the hand held media player to another device. The method includes selecting a media item on the hand held media player; selecting one or more remote recipients on the hand held media player; and transmitting the media item locally to the hand held media player, and wirelessly to the selected remote recipients. Another aspect of the media player system pertains to a hand held music player that includes a transmitter for transmitting information over a wireless connection. The transmitter is configured to at least transmit a continuous music feed to one or more personal tuning devices that each include a receiver capable of receiving information from the transmitter over the wireless connection. Yet another aspect of the media player system pertains to a connector that includes a housing and a plurality of spatially separated contacts mounted within the housing. A first set of contacts are directed at a first functionality and a second set of contacts are directed at a second functionality that is different than the first functionality.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,004,224,638
Filing date: 2003-04-25
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Apple Computer, Inc.
Inventor(s): FADELL ANTHONY M., ZADESKY STEPHEN PAUL, FILSON JOHN BENJAMIN
CPC class: G06F17/00

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