Patent ID: 8477960

Claim:
A system for transmitting audio from a plurality of televisions to a plurality of viewers, comprising: A plurality of audio transmitters each configured to couple to an associated one of the televisions, each audio transmitter having: an input audio port configured to receive an audio signal only from an output audio port of the associated television; a transmission channel switch having a plurality of transmission settings selectable in a setup operation, wherein each of the plurality of transmission settings corresponds to a different predefined frequency, and wherein the transmission channel switch is set to one of the different predefined frequencies to define the associated television; transmission circuitry coupled to the transmission channel switch and input audio port, the transmission circuitry being configured to generate a frequency modulated signal representing the audio signal, wherein a frequency used to modulate the frequency modulated signal corresponds to the selected transmission setting of the transmission channel switch selected; and an optical transmitter coupled to the transmission circuitry and positioned to transmit the generated frequency modulated signal as light out of the optical transmitter; and an audio receiver controlled by one of the viewers for interfacing with an audio transmitter associated with a viewed one of the televisions and having: a plurality of optical receivers configured to receive the generated frequency modulated signal transmitted as light by the audio transmitter associated with the viewed one of the televisions and to convert the received signal into an electrical current; a reception channel switch having a plurality of reception settings selectable by the viewer, wherein each of the plurality of reception settings corresponds to one of the transmission settings, and wherein the reception settings are each associated with the frequency of the corresponding transmission setting such that the viewer can select the one of the reception settings associated with the viewed television; reception circuitry coupled to the optical receivers and the reception channel switch, wherein the reception circuitry is configured to recover the audio signal from the electrical current based on a reception setting selected by the viewer; and an output port configured to provide the recovered audio to the viewer.