US 10276207

US patent 10276207, titled "Virtual wireless multitrack recording system," was issued to Zaxcom Inc. on April 30, 2019. The inventors are Glenn Norman Sanders and Howard Glenn Stark. The patent was filed on August 1, 2016, under application number US15/225,056, and claims a priority date of July 14, 2005. The patent expired on July 14, 2025, based on its earliest priority date.

Abstract:
The patent describes a virtual wireless multitrack recording system comprising one or more local audio devices, one or more remote control units, and a recorder. Each local audio device records audio locally and timestamps it with a locally generated timecode. The remote control unit is wirelessly coupled to the local audio devices and transmits a master timecode to them. Each local audio device synchronizes its locally generated timecode with the master timecode. The remote control unit also controls various functions of the local audio devices. The recorder records a multi-track audio file including audio received from the local audio devices. The system ensures that all timecodes are highly accurate with respect to each other, allowing recorded audio that is not transferred due to transmission errors to be recovered from the local audio devices and accurately inserted into the multi-track audio file.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Independent Claim 1 (System Claim): This claim describes a virtual wireless audio system. It includes one or more local audio devices, each equipped with an audio input, a local timecode generator, memory for storing timestamped audio, a local transmitter, a local receiver, and a local control unit. The system also features a remote control unit (RCU) with a master timecode source and a transmitter to send master timecodes and commands. Finally, a recorder receives audio from the local devices and creates a multi-track file. A core aspect is that each local audio device's control unit synchronizes its local timecode generator with the master timecode from the RCU, ensuring precise time alignment across the system.

• Independent Claim 8 (Method Claim): This claim outlines a method for virtual wireless audio recording. It involves local audio devices recording and timestamping audio, then wirelessly transmitting this audio and their local timecodes to a recorder. A remote control unit (RCU) generates and wirelessly sends a master timecode to the local audio devices, which then synchronize their local timecodes with the received master timecode. The recorder receives the audio and records it as a multi-track audio file. The method emphasizes that this synchronization maintains high accuracy among all timecodes.

• Independent Claim 15 (Apparatus Claim for a Local Audio Device): This claim focuses on a local audio device designed for a virtual wireless audio system. The device includes an audio input, a local timecode generator, memory for storing received audio with timestamps, a local transmitter, a local receiver, and a local control unit. The local control unit is specifically configured to synchronize the local timecode generator with a master timecode received wirelessly via the local receiver, ensuring the local timecode is highly accurate relative to the master timecode.

Legal Status and Litigation:
The patent US10276207 expired on July 14, 2025.

Public records indicate active litigation related to this patent family:

• A PTAB case, IPR2025-00232, has been filed and is currently pending and instituted.
• A US civil case (1:23-cv-01245) was filed in the Delaware District Court by Zaxcom, Inc. against Rode Microphones, LLC, and others. As of April 2024, this case was still in the district court, with activity related to discovery and initial disclosures.
• No specific dockets or opinions directly involving patent 10276207 at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in 2026 were found in the search results. The existing litigation appears to be at earlier stages (PTAB and District Court).

As a patent attorney, I have identified the following known litigation involving US patent 10276207 based on the provided search results.

Litigation Involving US Patent 10276207

1. Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)

• Plaintiff(s) / Petitioner(s): RØDE MICROPHONES, LLC and FREEDMAN ELECTRONICS PTY LTD.
• Defendant(s) / Patent Owner: ZAXCOM, INC.
• Jurisdiction: Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
• Case Number: IPR2025-00232 (This number is found on Google Patents for US10276207 under "Family has litigation" section, which redirects to Unified Patents IPR case link)
• Filing Date: The Google Patents entry indicates an IPR2025-00232 case was filed, and Unified Patents Portal listing for IPR2025-00232 (linked from Google Patents) shows a pending status, consistent with an institution decision as described in the search results.
• Outcome or Current Status: Instituted (Pending - Instituted). A legal judgment was issued by the PTAB regarding inter partes review proceedings for patents 7,711,443 B1 and 10,276,207 B1. The document references the final written decision and compliance with legal requirements.

2. District Court Litigation

• Plaintiff(s): Zaxcom Inc
• Defendant(s): Not explicitly stated in the provided snippets, but the Google Patents entry states "US case filed in Delaware District Court".
• Jurisdiction: Delaware District Court
• Case Number: 1:23-cv-01245
• Filing Date: The Google Patents entry indicates "US case filed in Delaware District Court" and links to a Unified Patents litigation portal showing this case number.
• Outcome or Current Status: Litigation is ongoing ("litigation" status indicated on Google Patents).

Please note that direct access to PACER for detailed case information often requires an account and may incur fees. The provided search results offer high-level summaries from Unified Patents and Docket Alarm.Known litigation involving US patent 10276207 includes the following:

1. Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding

   • Plaintiff(s): RØDE MICROPHONES, LLC and FREEDMAN ELECTRONICS PTY LTD.
   • Defendant(s): ZAXCOM, INC.
   • Jurisdiction: Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
   • Case Number: IPR2025-00232
   • Filing Date: The IPR case IPR2025-00232 was filed, and has been instituted.
   • Outcome or Current Status: Pending - Instituted. A legal judgment has been issued by the PTAB concerning inter partes review proceedings for US patents 7,711,443 B1 and 10,276,207 B1. The judgment includes details about the case, involved judges, and procedural information related to the review process, referencing a final written decision and compliance with legal requirements.

2. District Court Litigation

   • Plaintiff(s): Zaxcom Inc
   • Defendant(s): Not explicitly identified in the provided search results.
   • Jurisdiction: Delaware District Court
   • Case Number: 1:23-cv-01245
   • Filing Date: A case was filed in the Delaware District Court.
   • Outcome or Current Status: Litigation is ongoing ("litigation" status).

Proceedings overview

One Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding has been filed against US Patent 10276207, which has reached a Final Written Decision. The outcome regarding the specific claims is not publicly detailed in the available information, thus the bottom-line defensive posture remains uncertain for a defendant until the Final Written Decision is reviewed.

IPR2025-00232 — Rode Microphones, LLC et al. v. Zaxcom, Inc.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2024-12-04
• Status: Final Written Decision — The PTAB has issued its final determination on the patentability of the challenged claims.
• Judge panel: The specific judge panel for this proceeding is not publicly available in the provided search results.
• Petition grounds: The petition challenged 11 claims of US10276207 for obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103, using prior art including Strub and Woo for jam-synchronization with a master timecode. Specifically, Woo was cited for teaching simultaneous storing and transmitting of audio (claim 18), SMPTE-compliant timecodes (claims 23 and 60), and inclusion of time data in the timecode (claim 22). Nagai was cited for teaching a gain adjustment circuit controlled by a thumbwheel (claim 33). Both Nagai and Gleissner were cited for teaching conventional audio input ports for microphones (claims 17 and 59). The petitioner also argued against discretionary denial.
• Institution decision: The specific institution date and detailed reasoning for this IPR are not explicitly stated in the provided search results. However, given that a Final Written Decision was issued, institution of the trial must have occurred. The period during which this IPR was processed (late 2024 to mid-2026) saw the USPTO Director taking personal control of institution decisions, often issuing summary notices without extensive reasoning. Petitioner's arguments against discretionary denial in the initial petition indicated that a parallel district court litigation's trial date was not set until after the expected IPR FWD date, making an IPR trial before the court trial "extremely unlikely."
• Final Written Decision (issued): The Final Written Decision was issued on 2026-06-11. However, the specific claim-level outcomes (which independent and dependent claims were canceled or held patentable) and the panel's reasoning are not detailed in the publicly available search results.
• Settlement / termination: No information regarding a settlement or termination prior to the Final Written Decision is available in the provided search results.
• Appeal: No information regarding an appeal of this Final Written Decision to the Federal Circuit is available in the provided search results.
• Defensive value: Without the specific claim-by-claim outcome of the Final Written Decision, the direct defensive value for a defendant is unknown. It is critical to obtain the full FWD to determine which, if any, challenged claims were invalidated or sustained, as this directly impacts any current or future infringement assertions.

Strategic summary

The sole AIA trial proceeding on US Patent 10276207, IPR2025-00232, has concluded with a Final Written Decision issued on 2026-06-11. However, the available public information does not specify the claim-level outcomes—i.e., which of the challenged claims (claims 17, 18, 22, 23, 33, 59, 60, and others for a total of 11 claims) were cancelled or sustained. Therefore, it is currently unknown which claims of 10276207 are now CANCELED vs. SUSTAINED vs. UNTESTED. All claims of the patent, beyond those specifically challenged in the IPR, remain untested.

Regarding the estoppel landscape, if claims were invalidated in IPR2025-00232, 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2) would bar Rode Microphones, LLC (and their privies) from asserting in other proceedings (e.g., district court litigation) any ground of unpatentability that they raised or reasonably could have raised during this IPR. Until the specific grounds and claims from the FWD are known, it is difficult to identify which prior-art grounds would be unavailable to this petitioner. Other potential defendants, not in privity with Rode Microphones, would generally not be estopped from raising the same or different prior art challenges. The fact that Rode Microphones, LLC et al. filed four IPR challenges against Zaxcom patents between December 2024 and February 2025 suggests an aggressive defensive strategy by the petitioner against Zaxcom's intellectual property. Zaxcom, Inc. had previously announced prevailing in two other IPRs against Rode Microphones/Freedman concerning different patents (US12051444 and US7929902) via denial of institution or § 315(b) bar. This indicates a pattern of litigation between these parties.

Recommended next steps

For a defendant facing assertion of US10276207, the immediate next step is to obtain and thoroughly review the full Final Written Decision for IPR2025-00232 (Paper 60). This document will definitively state which, if any, of the challenged claims (claims 17, 18, 22, 23, 33, 59, 60, and others) were found unpatentable. If any asserted claims are found to be cancelled, any infringement theory built on those claims would be significantly weakened or eliminated. The FWD for IPR2025-00232 was issued on 2026-06-11. The FWD can typically be accessed via the USPTO PTAB E2E system by searching for the proceeding number IPR2025-00232.

Inventors

• Glenn Norman Sanders (Employer at time of filing not determinable from available information)
• Howard Glenn Stark (Employer at time of filing not determinable from available information)

No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months, are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

Zaxcom Inc. is the original assignee named on the issued patent. Zaxcom Inc. designs and manufactures innovative professional audio equipment for the television and film industries, including digital wireless microphones, multi-track recorders, and mixers. They ship products embodying the claims, such as their TRX family of digital wireless systems and Nova mixer/recorders. Zaxcom Inc. is an operating company and remains active, with production facilities in Pompton Plains, NJ. They are actively involved in patent litigation, asserting their patents against competitors.

Assignment timeline

• 2017-08-25 (executed) / recorded (date not available from source) — Reel (not available from source) / (not available from source)
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: SANDERS, GLENN N, MR., STARK, HOWARD G, MR.
  • Assignee: Zaxcom, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Not available from source.
  • Context: Transfer from inventors to the original corporate assignee.

No other assignment records for US10276207 are available from the provided Google Patents legal events.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10276207
    2016 : Application filed by Zaxcom Inc
    2017 : Assigned to Zaxcom Inc by inventors
    2019 : Patent issued
    2023 : Infringement suit filed by Zaxcom
    2025 : PTAB challenges against Zaxcom

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The patent was assigned directly from the inventors to Zaxcom, Inc., which is an operating company that develops and sells products in the professional audio industry.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Zaxcom, Inc. is an operating company, not a listed NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. Correspondent information is not available from the provided source.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment from the inventors to Zaxcom, Inc. is noted.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment from the inventors to Zaxcom, Inc. occurred on August 25, 2017, while Zaxcom's first infringement suit against RØDE Microphones, LLC was filed on October 31, 2023. This time difference of over six years indicates the assignment was not pre-litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Zaxcom, Inc. is an active and operating company.
7. Privateering — Not present. Zaxcom, Inc. is the direct plaintiff in patent infringement suits, not an NPE asserting on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is owned by an operating company that is actively asserting it.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent US10276207 was assigned from the individual inventors to Zaxcom, Inc. on August 25, 2017. Zaxcom, Inc. is a recognized operating company in the professional audio industry that develops and sells products related to the patented technology. Zaxcom, Inc. is actively asserting its patent rights in infringement litigation against competitors, such as RØDE Microphones, LLC, with a suit filed in October 2023.

For verification, refer to the Google Patents page for US10276207: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10276207/en

As a technical patent analyst, I will now identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 10276207 based on the provided patent text. I will focus on the citations listed within the patent itself.

Most Relevant Prior Art for US Patent 10276207

The patent US10276207B1 explicitly claims priority from several earlier US patents, which serve as direct prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102. These typically represent earlier developments by the same inventors or assignee and are critical for understanding the scope of the current patent.

Here are the prior art references explicitly mentioned in the "Priority date" section of US10276207B1 on Google Patents, along with details from the provided patent text and general patent law understanding:

1. US7711443B1

   • Full Citation: US7711443B1
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority claimed from US11/181,062 (which led to US7711443B1). The priority date listed for US10276207B1 as a whole is 2005-07-14, which is the priority date of US11/181,062.
   • Brief Description: While the full text of US7711443B1 is not provided, the continuous priority claim suggests that it likely relates to earlier aspects of the "Virtual wireless multitrack recording system." The description in US10276207B1 states: "The ability to synchronize the local timestamps at each local audio device 102 and recorder 108 using the methods of the present invention as discussed in greater detail below allows any audio that is not recorded by recorder 108 during an event due to transmission errors to be recovered by replaying the missed audio and recording the replayed audio in the correct time sequence with respect to the other audio samples." This core concept of synchronized local recording and error recovery is a foundational aspect that may have been introduced or further developed in US7711443B1.
   • Potentially Anticipates Claim(s): Given that US10276207B1 builds upon this priority, US7711443B1 would likely anticipate or render obvious foundational claims related to systems and methods for recording and processing audio from multiple wireless devices with synchronized timecodes, and particularly the ability to recover lost audio data through local storage and replaying. Specific claims regarding the synchronization of local timecode generators (e.g., local timecode generator 304) with a master timecode generator (e.g., RCU timecode generator 204 or a master recorder's timecode generator) as described in the process flows of FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5, and the subsequent use of these synchronized timestamps for replaying and re-recording missed audio (FIG. 6), could be anticipated.

2. US7929902B1

   • Full Citation: US7929902B1
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority claimed from US11/404,735 (which led to US7929902B1). The filing date for US11/404,735 is 2006-04-14, as indicated by the "Priority claimed from US11/404,735" entry on Google Patents.
   • Brief Description: Similar to US7711443B1, the specific details of US7929902B1 are not in the provided text, but its inclusion in the priority chain signifies a direct relationship. It is probable that this patent further refines or expands upon aspects of the virtual wireless multitrack recording system. The concepts of continuously recording audio locally (memory 332) while simultaneously transmitting to a central recorder (recorder 108), especially in the context of asynchronous operation (Process 700), might be elaborated upon in this earlier patent.
   • Potentially Anticipates Claim(s): US7929902B1 could anticipate claims related to the architecture of the local audio devices (local audio devices 102) including components like local receiver 302, local timecode generator 304, local transmitter 308, and memory 332, particularly as they relate to simultaneous local recording and wireless transmission. Claims relating to the asynchronous recording mode (Process 700) where master timecodes are used for timestamping audio samples and files for post-recording synchronization could also be at risk.

3. US8842854B1

   • Full Citation: US8842854B1
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority claimed from US12/838,164 (which led to US8842854B1). The filing date for US12/838,164 is 2010-07-16, as indicated by the "Priority claimed from US12/838,164" entry on Google Patents.
   • Brief Description: As part of the priority chain, US8842854B1 likely details further advancements or specific features of the virtual wireless multitrack recording system. This could involve specific improvements to the remote control unit (RCU 104), the recorder (recorder 108), or the interaction between these components and the local audio devices (local audio devices 102). Given the later priority date, it might cover more refined control mechanisms or specific data processing methods. The method for dynamically adjusting the power level of at least one local audio device, as broadly described in the "Definitions" section and FIGS. 16-19, could have its origins in this patent.
   • Potentially Anticipates Claim(s): Claims concerning the remote control capabilities of the RCU (RCU 104) over local audio devices (local audio devices 102), such as adjusting microphone gain (local preamp 316), high-pass filters, or record modes, would likely be anticipated by US8842854B1. Furthermore, any claims related to the detailed processes of generating and receiving commands at the recorder (FIG. 11) and local audio devices (FIG. 12) for adjusting various parameters, including RF transmission characteristics or audio gain, could find anticipation here. The data packet format (FIG. 14) and the specific components involved in gain adjustment (FIG. 15) could also be elaborated in this prior art.

It is important to note that the provided patent text for US10276207B1 frequently refers to "embodiments of the present invention" when describing various features, processes, and components, without always explicitly delineating which aspects were novel in this particular patent versus those inherited from its priority applications. A thorough anticipation analysis would require examining the full claims and specifications of each cited prior art patent.

The current task is to analyze the obviousness of US patent 10276207 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, identifying combinations of prior art references and explaining the motivation for combining them.

Disclaimer: The full text of the claims for US patent 10276207 is not provided in the prompt. Therefore, this analysis will be based on the general inventive concept and described features of US10276207 as understood from its "Definitions" and detailed description, assessed against the cited prior art. A precise, claim-by-claim obviousness analysis is not possible without the claims. The "Prior art date" for US10276207 is listed as July 14, 2005, and priority is claimed from several earlier US applications, which themselves resulted in granted patents. For the purpose of this analysis, these priority-claiming patents will be treated as relevant prior art disclosures to be considered for obviousness combinations.

Inventive Concept of US10276207 (as described):
US10276207 describes a "Virtual wireless multitrack recording system" for recording and processing audio from multiple wireless devices (local audio devices, e.g., body packs) in either asynchronous or synchronous mode. Key features include:

• Local audio devices (102) that record audio locally with timestamps and transmit audio wirelessly.
• A remote control unit (RCU 104) that can transmit a master time reference signal, digital commands, and audio, and remotely control functions of the local audio devices (e.g., gain adjustment, record mode, playback control).
• A receiver (106) and recorder (108) for multi-track recording of wireless audio.
• Synchronization mechanisms, either synchronous (e.g., jam synchronization of local timecode generators (304), feedback loops adjusting local oscillators (336) and ADC sample rates (322) to a master timecode) or asynchronous (post-recording synchronization and resampling using master timecodes stored as "escape sequences" in local memory).
• Automatic error correction by replaying locally recorded audio from local audio devices when wireless transmission errors occur, inserting the replayed audio into the main recording based on synchronized timestamps.
• Dynamic power level adjustment of local audio devices.
• A multi-memory unit (800) for reading, reformatting, and segmenting locally recorded audio files, including interpolating timestamps for unstamped audio samples.

Prior Art References:
The patent 10276207 claims priority from the following applications, which matured into the listed patents. These will be considered for obviousness analysis as directed by the prompt.

1. US 7,711,443 B1 (Sanders et al.) - (Priority claimed from US11/181,062, dated 2005-07-14)
2. US 7,929,902 B1 (Sanders et al.) - (Priority claimed from US11/404,735, dated 2006-04-14)
3. US 8,842,854 B1 (Sanders et al.) - (Priority claimed from US12/838,164, dated 2010-07-16)

I will now retrieve summaries of these patents to understand their teachings.


To analyze the obviousness of US patent 10276207 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, it is necessary to examine the teachings of relevant prior art references. The prompt directs to use the results from the "Prior Art section of this page," which lists US7711443B1, US7929902B1, and US8842854B1 as patents from which US10276207 claims priority.

However, attempts to retrieve the summaries or detailed content of US7711443B1, US7929902B1, and US8842854B1 via live web search using the provided tool yielded unrelated stock market information rather than patent details. Without access to the specific disclosures of these prior art patents, a comprehensive and accurate obviousness analysis, including identifying specific combinations of elements and explaining the motivation for combining them, cannot be performed with high confidence.

General Framework for Obviousness (35 U.S.C. § 103):

An invention is obvious if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA). This analysis typically involves:

1. Determining the scope and content of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering secondary considerations of non-obviousness.

Inability to Perform Detailed Analysis:

Given the lack of specific content for the cited prior art patents (US7711443B1, US7929902B1, US8842854B1) from the search results, it is not possible to:

• Precisely define the scope and content of these references.
• Identify the exact differences between their teachings and the inventive concepts of US10276207.
• Determine combinations of specific elements from these references that would render the described features of US10276207 obvious.
• Articulate a specific motivation for a PHOSITA to combine these non-specific teachings to arrive at the invention of US10276207.

Hypothetical Consideration (based on general understanding):

Assuming, arguendo, that the priority documents (US7711443B1, US7929902B1, US8842854B1) describe various aspects of wireless audio recording, timecode synchronization, local recording, and remote control, a PHOSITA might be motivated to combine these teachings. For instance, if one patent describes wireless audio transmission with timecode, another describes local recording capabilities in a portable device, and a third describes remote control of audio parameters, a PHOSITA in the field of audio recording systems might be motivated to combine these elements for reasons such as:

• Improving reliability: Combining wireless transmission with local recording provides redundancy against signal dropouts (as described in US10276207's "automatic correction" feature).
• Enhanced workflow and control: Integrating remote control of individual wireless audio devices with a central recording system would streamline live recording operations, allowing adjustments (e.g., gain adjustment) without physically accessing each performer.
• Post-production flexibility: Synchronizing local recordings with a master timecode (either synchronously or asynchronously) enables precise post-production mixing and editing, even if the primary wireless transmission is flawed.
• Efficient data management: Features like multi-memory units and automated file segmentation (as described in US10276207) would logically follow from having multiple locally recorded audio files that need to be efficiently integrated into a larger production workflow.

However, without the concrete details of what each of these specific prior art patents discloses, this remains a generalized hypothetical. A definitive obviousness determination requires a thorough review of the actual content of the cited prior art.