Calibration with particular locations

• US 10,003,899 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Hartung, Klaus, Wilberding, Dayn
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, THANG V
• Application Number:
  US15/005,853
• Publication Number:
  US 20170215017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/007 for public address systems public address systems per se H04R27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/301 Automatic calibration of stereophonic sound system, e.g. with test microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/302 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation H04S7/301 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/305 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic audio signals to reverberation of the listening space H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

Example techniques may involve multiple calibrations for one or more playback devices. An example implementation may involve detecting, via a microphone, calibration sounds as emitted by one or more playback devices during a calibration sequence, perhaps by recording first samples while the microphone is in motion through a given environment and recording second samples while the microphone is stationary at one or more particular locations. The implementation may also include determining a first calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the first samples of the calibrations sounds and determining a second calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the second samples of the calibrations sounds. The implementation may further include applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, via one or more microphones, at least a portion of one or more calibration sounds as emitted by one or more playback devices of a zone during a calibration sequence, wherein detecting the portion of the one or more calibrations sounds comprises recording first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are in motion through a given environment and recording second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are stationary at one or more particular locations within the given environment;

determining a first calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds;

determining a second calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds; and

applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds comprises determining a first calibration that offsets acoustic characteristics of the given environment when applied to playback by the one or more playback devices, and wherein determining the second calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the second samples comprises determining a particular second calibration that, when applied to playback by the one or more playback devices, offsets acoustic characteristics of the given environment and calibrates the one or more playback devices to the one or more particular locations.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the particular second calibration comprises determining the particular second calibration based on a combination of the first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds and the second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein calibrating the one or more playback devices to the one or more particular locations comprises one or more of (i) offsetting propagation delay from the one or more playback devices to the one or more particular locations, or (ii) adjusting respective gain of the one or more playback devices based on respective distances from the one or more playback devices to the one or more particular locations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more playback devices comprise a stereo pair, and wherein adjusting gain of the one or more playback devices based on distance from the one or more playback devices to the one or more particular locations comprises balancing gain of the stereo pair to the one or more particular locations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting playback of media content that comprises audio and video; and

applying the second calibration to the playback of the media content that comprises audio and video.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein applying one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting playback of media content consisting of audio; and

applying the first calibration to the playback of the media content consisting of audio.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a given playback device comprises a physical input, and wherein applying one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting that the zone is playing back media content from the physical input of the given playback device; and

applying the second calibration while the zone is playing back media content from the physical input.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting that the zone is playing back media content from a network source; and

applying the second calibration while the zone is playing back media content from the network source.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone is a first zone of a media playback system that comprises a second zone of one or more additional playback devices;

and wherein applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises;

detecting that the first zone of the media playback system is joined into a zone group with the second zone of the media playback system; and

applying the first calibration while the first zone of the media playback system is joined into the zone group with the second zone of the media playback system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting that one or more listeners are located in the one or more particular locations; and

applying the second calibration while the one or more listeners are located in the one or more particular locations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting that a plurality of listeners are located in the given environment; and

applying the first calibration while the plurality of listeners are located in the given environment.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a control device to perform a method comprising:

displaying, via a graphical interface one or more prompts to move the control device within a given environment during a calibration sequence of a given zone that comprises one or more playback devices;

detecting, via one or more microphones, at least a portion of one or more calibration sounds as emitted by the one or more playback devices during the calibration sequence, wherein detecting the portion of the one or more calibrations sounds comprises recording first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are in motion through the given environment and recording second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are stationary at one or more particular locations within the given environment;

determining a first calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds;

determining a second calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds; and

sending at least one of the first calibration and the second calibration to the zone.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more calibration sounds comprise a periodic calibration tone;

and wherein recording first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are in motion through the given environment comprises;

detecting, via one or more sensors, that the control device is in motion; and

recording, as respective first samples, one or more first frames, wherein the one or more first frames correspond to respective periods of the periodic calibration tone.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more calibration sounds comprise a periodic calibration tone;

and wherein recording second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are stationary at one or more particular locations within the given environment comprises;

detecting, via one or more sensors, that control device is stationary at a given location for a threshold period of time; and

while the control device is stationary, recording, as respective second samples, one or more second frames, wherein the one or more second frames correspond to respective periods of the periodic calibration tone, and wherein the given location is one of the one or more particular locations.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein displaying the one or more prompts to move the control device within the given environment during the calibration sequence comprises displaying a prompt to (i) move the control device continuously through the given environment for one or more first portions of the calibration sequence and (ii) remain stationary with the control device at the one or more particular locations within the given environment for one or more second portions of the calibration sequence.

17. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising;

detecting, via one or more microphones, at least a portion of one or more calibration sounds as emitted by one or more playback devices of a zone during a calibration sequence, wherein detecting the portion of the one or more calibrations sounds comprises recording first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are in motion through a given environment and recording second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds while the one or more microphones are stationary at one or more particular locations within the given environment;

determining a first calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds;

determining a second calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the second samples of the one or more calibrations sounds; and

applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein determining the first calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the first samples of the one or more calibrations sounds comprises determining a first calibration that offsets acoustic characteristics of the given environment when applied to playback by the one or more playback devices, and wherein determining the second calibration for the one or more playback devices based on at least the second samples comprises determining a particular second calibration that, when applied to playback by the one or more playback devices, offsets acoustic characteristics of the given environment and calibrates the one or more playback devices to the one or more particular locations.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein a given playback device comprises a physical input, and wherein applying one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises:

detecting that the zone is playing back media content from the physical input of the given playback device; and

applying the second calibration while the zone is playing back media content from the physical input.

20. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the zone is a first zone of a media playback system that comprises a second zone of one or more additional playback devices;

and wherein applying at least one of (a) the first calibration or (b) the second calibration to playback by the one or more playback devices comprises;

detecting that the first zone of the media playback system is joined into a zone group with the second zone of the media playback system; and

applying the first calibration while the first zone of the media playback system is joined into the zone group with the second zone of the media playback system.