Apple attempts to patent audio interfaces

The additional, dependent claims make this technology more specific to media players in particular. There is another independent claim which reads like this:

Numerous other claims assert ownership over various combinations of the two above techniques. In summary, what Apple is claiming is the ability to create voice files for a media player device, load them onto that device, and have the device play those files in response to user actions.

This patent would appear to cover a relatively obvious technology. Speaking computers are not particularly new; corporate voice mail systems have operated in this way for quite some time. Experience shows, however, that this sort of prior art often carries little weight in the patent office. Unless something happens, the chances of Apple winning this patent would appear to be fairly good.

The Rockbox project has produced a GPL-licensed firmware distribution which runs on a wide variety of media players from a number of vendors - including Apple. Rockbox adds a number of interesting and useful features; see this LWN review from last January for more information. One feature of particular interest at the moment, however, is the voice interface capabilities built into Rockbox. This feature would appear to be well described by the Apple patent application; it uses voice files generated on a host system to allow navigation through the menus in an audible manner. When the voice mode is enabled, Rockbox's prompts are indeed "audiblized" for the users.

Rockbox has had this feature since early 2004. That is prior to the filing of this patent (though not the requisite one year prior), but Apple's application references an earlier one, filed in 2003. So Rockbox cannot serve as prior art in this case.

One of the most encouraging and heartening things your editor has seen over the last year has been the stream of blind users showing up on the Rockbox mailing lists. By making this feature available, Rockbox has made media players accessible to a broad community of users who have been ignored by the manufacturers of these devices. It is a beautiful example of how the free software community can meet the needs of a user community which is not seen as being profitable in the proprietary world. Apple may have been busy filing patents back in 2003, but it was Rockbox which first brought a voice interface to the iPod.

The voice menu feature in Rockbox has been an empowering addition for a number of people. The idea that it could be shut down by this patent is appalling. But Apple will have a clear incentive to do exactly that: Rockbox turns the competition's players into much nicer devices. Should Apple's near-monopoly on media players begin to erode (and there is no real reason why it should last forever), Apple will, beyond doubt, reach for legal weapons which might inhibit competing offerings. Apple has done that before, after all.

This particular weapon should be neutralized before it becomes a real threat. It is a fight which should be winnable - the idea of an audio interface was not first conceived in 2003. But without some determined resistance, Apple may well obtain the patent it is asking for. At that point, the free software community will (in the U.S., at least) be fenced out of an area which it explored before - and better than - anybody else.