Patent ID: 7995898

Claim:
An audio relay apparatus for receiving audio signals from an upstream audio output apparatus and relaying and outputting the audio signals to a downstream audio output apparatus, the audio relay apparatus comprising: a first interface connectable with the upstream audio output apparatus; a relay apparatus memory configured to provide information regarding an audio signal reception capacity of the audio relay apparatus to the upstream apparatus; a second interface connectable with the downstream audio output apparatus, the first and second interfaces being of the same type; a reception section for receiving audio signals from the upstream audio output apparatus via the first interface, a format of the received audio signals determined based on the information regarding the audio signal reception capacity of the audio relay apparatus; a reception capacity recognizing section for reading and recognizing an audio signal reception capacity of the downstream audio output apparatus from a memory section of the downstream audio output apparatus; a conversion section for converting, based on the read audio signal reception capacity of the downstream audio output apparatus, the received audio signals from the determined format into a format that matches with the audio signal reception capacity of the downstream audio output apparatus; and a transmission section for transmitting the converted audio signals to the downstream audio output apparatus via the second interface.