And if it was an innovation at some point in time, I insist it was the year stereo was invented and the concept was just as invalid as a patent as it is today. Of course you expect the volume of your Left and Right channel to be controlled by the same volume knob.
This patent is like a car manufacturer patenting the idea of controlling all your direction with a single steering wheel, and all the other manufacturers are forced to implement individual steering wheels for each tire. It's just absurd.
It was an invention. I'm into historic tractors, there are a number of interesting steering controls that companies played with in the 1800s. I've seen a tractor that you controlled with reigns (like a horse). I've seen tractors where there was levers not a wheel. The wheel quickly won out (AFAIK the wheel predates the ones I listed).
Today steering seems obvious, but only because a lot of inventors tried a lot of things some of which were bad ideas.
People have been controlling the volume of multiple-room speakers with wired connections, with a single volume knob, for 50 years. The idea that "oh wait someone might want to do this with wireless speakers too" is an innovation that needs to be given to the first person to think of it as a monopoloy? (And does anyone really think they were really the first person to think of it just cause they have a patent?)
And if it was an innovation at some point in time, I insist it was the year stereo was invented and the concept was just as invalid as a patent as it is today. Of course you expect the volume of your Left and Right channel to be controlled by the same volume knob.
This patent is like a car manufacturer patenting the idea of controlling all your direction with a single steering wheel, and all the other manufacturers are forced to implement individual steering wheels for each tire. It's just absurd.