US 7,987,294 · Granted 2011-07-26

The Patent Behind Syncing Multiple Speakers Into One Sound System

Imagine having several wireless speakers scattered around your room that automatically talk to each other and act like a single speaker system. Instead of adjusting the volume on each one separately, you adjust one control and they all change together. This patent covers the technology that makes multiple speakers coordinate as a unified system.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a system where two or more wireless speaker units automatically discover each other and band together to form one unified audio system with a shared control interface. What's protected here is the method by which individual speaker subsystems autonomously synchronize and allow a single operational command—like a volume adjustment—to be applied across the entire group simultaneously, rather than requiring manual control of each unit independently.

Why it matters

Before this kind of patent, connecting multiple wireless speakers usually meant buying a proprietary ecosystem or manually configuring each device. This patent describes a way to make speakers from the same manufacturer work together seamlessly and intuitively. It's the foundational technology behind multi-room audio systems that have become standard in consumer homes, and it protects the company's competitive advantage in making wireless speaker coordination feel natural and automatic.

Real-world use

When you tap a single volume button on your phone or speaker hub and all the speakers in your house increase or decrease together without any manual retuning, you're using the unified control system this patent describes.

Original USPTO abstract

Described herein are various methods and systems relating to the unification of media devices, and more specifically to the provision of wireless audio systems. In overview, two or more wireless speaker subsystem units substantially autonomously form a single wireless audio system having its own control interface. This control interface is used to apply operational changes across the wireless audio system, such as volume adjustment. That is, an operational change may be applied to the system as a whole, and this change is subsequently implemented by each of the individual wireless speaker subsystem units.

Patent details

Publication number: US 7,987,294
Filing date: 2007-10-16
Grant date: 2011-07-26
Assignee: Altec Lansing Australia Pty Limited
Inventor(s): BRYCE STUART, CELINSKI TOMASZ, KENT ADAM J.
CPC class: H04L12/2809

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