Audio playback device that dynamically switches between receiving audio data from a soft access point and receiving audio data from a local access point

• US 10,431,217 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2017
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Torok, Fred, Pogue, Michael Alan, Gundeti, Vikram Kumar, Sundaram, Dharini
• Primary Examiner(s): Saunders, Jr., Joseph
• Application Number:
  US15/433,920
• Publication Number:
  US 20180233136A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

Synchronized output of audio on a group of devices comprises sending audio data from an audio distribution master device to one or more slave devices in the group. In group mode, a slave can be configured to receive audio data directly from a master device acting as a soft wireless access point (WAP) in an environment that includes a traditional WAP. In response to a user request to output audio via the slave in individual mode, the slave may be configured to dynamically switch to receiving audio data via the WAP in the environment without routing the audio data through the master device acting as the soft WAP. This dynamic switching to receiving audio data via the WAP in individual mode can reduce bandwidth consumption on the master device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a speech processing system, a first command based at least in part on a first utterance detected by a second audio playback device, the first command including an audio playback operation, a first content identifier, and a first identifier corresponding to a group including a first audio playback device and the second audio playback device;

based at least in part on a first configuration of the second audio playback device, receiving, from the first audio playback device, first audio data at the second audio playback device, wherein the first audio data corresponds to the first content identifier;

outputting first audio content corresponding to the first audio data by the second audio playback device in a synchronized manner with output of the first audio content by the first audio playback device;

receiving, from the speech processing system, a second command based at least in part on a second utterance detected by the second audio playback device, the second command including the audio playback operation, a second content identifier, and a second identifier corresponding to the second audio playback device and not to the first audio playback device;

based at least in part on the second command, changing a configuration of the second audio playback device from the first configuration to a second configuration;

based at least in part on the second configuration of the second audio playback device, receiving, from a content source and via a wireless access point (WAP), second audio data at the second audio playback device without the second audio data being received from the first audio playback device, wherein the second audio data corresponds to the second content identifier; and

outputting second audio content corresponding to the second audio data by the second audio playback device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, at the second audio playback device from the first audio playback device, the first audio data comprises receiving, from the first audio playback device, a multicast packet containing at least a portion of the first audio data at the second audio playback device, the multicast packet comprising a data packet that is sent to one or more members of a multicast group.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first signal strength value between the second audio playback device and the first audio playback device;

determining a second signal strength value between the second audio playback device and the WAP; and

configuring, based at least in part on the first signal strength value and the second signal strength value, the second audio playback device to receive audio data from the first audio playback device along a direct wireless communication path that does not route the audio data sent from the first audio playback device through the WAP.

4. A method comprising:

receiving a first command based at least in part on first user input, the first command including an audio playback operation, a first content identifier, and a first identifier corresponding to a first target to output audio, the first target comprising a first audio playback device and a second audio playback device;

receiving, from the first audio playback device, first audio data at the second audio playback device, the first audio data corresponding to the first content identifier;

outputting first audio content corresponding to the first audio data by the second audio playback device in a synchronized manner with output of the first audio content by the first audio playback device;

receiving a second command based at least in part on second user input, the second command including the audio playback operation, a second content identifier, and a second identifier corresponding to a second target to output audio, the second target being different than the first target and comprising the second audio playback device;

based at least in part on the second command, configuring the second audio playback device to receive second audio data from a content source via a wireless access point (WAP) and without receiving the second audio data from the first audio playback device;

based at least in part on the configuring of the second audio playback device, receiving, from the content source and via the WAP, the second audio data at the second audio playback device without the second audio data being received from the first audio playback device, the second audio data corresponding to the second content identifier; and

outputting second audio content corresponding to the second audio data by the second audio playback device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving, from the first audio playback device, the first audio data at the second audio playback device comprises receiving, from the first audio playback device, a multicast packet containing at least a portion of the first audio data at the second audio playback device, the multicast packet comprising a data packet that is sent to one or more members of a multicast group.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining that a first multicast packet containing at least a portion of the first audio data was not received by the second audio playback device,

wherein receiving, from the first audio playback device, the first audio data at the second audio playback device comprises receiving, from the first audio playback device, a second multicast packet that contains at least the portion of the first audio data and that was resent by the first audio playback device in response to determining that the first multicast packet was not received by the second audio playback device.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a third command based at least in part on third user input, the third command including the audio playback operation, a third content identifier, and the first identifier corresponding to the first target;

receiving, from the first audio playback device, third audio data at the second audio playback device without the third audio data being sent from the first audio playback device to the WAP before the third audio data is received at the second audio playback device; and

outputting third audio content corresponding to the third audio data by the second audio playback device in the synchronized manner with output of the third audio content by the first audio playback device.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining a first signal strength value between the second audio playback device and the first audio playback device;

determining a second signal strength value between the second audio playback device and the WAP; and

configuring, based at least in part on the first signal strength value and the second signal strength value, the second audio playback device to receive audio data from the first audio playback device along a direct wireless communication path.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein a third audio playback device is located in an environment with the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device and the WAP, the method further comprising:

determining a first signal strength value between the third audio playback device and the first audio playback device;

determining a second signal strength value between the third audio playback device and the WAP; and

configuring, based at least in part on the second signal strength value and the first signal strength value, the third audio playback device to receive audio data from the first audio playback device along a communication path that sends the audio data from the first audio playback device to the WAP and from the WAP to the third audio playback device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a third command based at least in part on third user input, the third command including the audio playback operation, a third content identifier, and a third identifier corresponding to a third target to output audio, the third target comprising the first audio playback device, the second audio playback device, and the third audio playback device;

receiving, from the content source and via the WAP, third audio data at the first audio playback device, the third audio data corresponding to the third content identifier; and

receiving, from the first audio playback device and via the WAP, the third audio data at the third audio playback device.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the first user input comprises a first utterance from a user;

the second user input comprises a second utterance from the user;

receiving the first command comprises receiving the first command from a remote computing device that performed speech recognition on first speech data corresponding to the first utterance; and

receiving the second command comprises receiving the second command from the remote computing device that performed speech recognition on second speech data corresponding to the second utterance.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein:

a third audio playback device is located in an environment with the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device and the WAP;

the method further comprising;

receiving a third command based at least in part on third user input, the third command including the audio playback operation, a third content identifier, and a third identifier corresponding to a third target to output audio, the third target comprising the first audio playback device, the second audio playback device, and the third audio playback device;

receiving, from the content source and via the WAP, third audio data at the first audio playback device, the third audio data corresponding to the third content identifier;

receiving, from the first audio playback device and via the WAP, the third audio data at the third audio playback device;

receiving, from the first audio playback device, the third audio data at the second audio playback device without the third audio data being sent from the first audio playback device to the WAP and from the WAP to the second audio playback device; and

outputting third audio content corresponding to the third audio data by the second audio playback device in a synchronized manner with output of the third audio content by the first audio playback device and the third audio playback device.

13. A system comprising:

a first audio playback device;

wherein the first audio playback device is configured to;

receive, from a second audio playback device, first audio data, wherein the first audio data corresponds to a first content identifier specified in a first command received from one or more computing devices configured to enable synchronized audio playback by the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device, the first command being based at least in part on first user input and including an audio playback operation, the first content identifier, and a first identifier corresponding to a first target to output audio, the first target comprising the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device, and wherein a configuration of the first audio playback device is set to a first configuration, and, based at least in part on the first configuration, the first audio data is received by the first audio playback device without the first audio data being sent from the second audio playback device to a wireless access point (WAP) before the first audio data is received at the first audio playback device;

output first audio content corresponding to the first audio data in a synchronized manner with output of the first audio content by the second audio playback device;

based at least in part on a second command received from the one or more computing devices, change the configuration of the first audio playback device from the first configuration to a second configuration, wherein the second command is based at least in part on second user input and includes the audio playback operation, a second content identifier, and a second identifier corresponding to a second target to output audio, the second target being different than the first target and comprising the first audio playback device;

receive, from a content source and via the WAP, second audio data, wherein, based at least in part on the second configuration, the second audio data is received by the first audio playback device without the second audio data being sent from the WAP to the second audio playback device before the second audio data is received at the first audio playback device, the second audio data corresponding to the second content identifier; and

output second audio content corresponding to the second audio data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first audio playback device is further configured to receive, from the second audio playback device, the first audio data as a multicast packet that contains at least a portion of the first audio data, the multicast packet comprising a data packet that is sent to one or more members of a multicast group.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first audio playback device is further configured to:

receive, from the second audio playback device, third audio data, wherein the third audio data corresponds to a third content identifier specified in a third command received from the one or more computing devices, the third command being based at least in part on third user input and including the audio playback operation, the third content identifier, and the first identifier corresponding to the first target, and wherein the third audio data was received from the second audio playback device without the third audio data being sent from the second audio playback device to the WAP before the third audio data is received at the first audio playback device; and

output third audio content corresponding to the third audio data in the synchronized manner with output of the third audio content by the second audio playback device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the first audio playback device is further configured to receive audio data from the second audio playback device along a direct wireless communication path that does not send the audio data from the second audio playback device through the WAP based at least in part on a first signal strength value and a second signal strength value, wherein the first signal strength value is a signal strength value measured between the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device, and wherein the second signal strength value is a signal strength value measured between the first audio playback device and the WAP.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising a third audio playback device configured to receive audio data from the second audio playback device along a communication path that sends the audio data from the second audio playback device to the WAP and from the WAP to the third audio playback device based at least in part on a second signal strength value and a first signal strength value, wherein the first signal strength value is a signal strength value measured between the third audio playback device and the second audio playback device, and wherein the second signal strength value is a signal strength value measured between the third audio playback device and the WAP.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first audio playback device is further configured to:

receive, from the content source and via the WAP, third audio data, wherein the third audio data corresponds to a third content identifier specified in a third command received from the one or more computing devices, the third command being based at least in part on third user input and including the audio playback operation, the third content identifier, and a third identifier corresponding to a third target to output audio, the third target comprising the first audio playback device, the second audio playback device, and the third audio playback device.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the first user input comprises a first utterance from a user in an environment where the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device are located with the WAP;

the second user input comprises a second utterance from the user in the environment;

the first audio playback device is further configured to;

generate first speech data based at least in part on the first utterance; and

generate second speech data based at least in part on the second utterance; and

the one or more computing devices are further configured to;

perform speech recognition on the first speech data to generate the first command; and

perform speech recognition on the second speech data to generate the second command.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising a third audio playback device located in an environment where the first audio playback device and the second audio playback device are located with the WAP, wherein:

the one or more computing devices are further configured to generate a third command based at least in part on third user input, the third command including the audio playback operation, a third content identifier, and a third identifier corresponding to a third target to output audio, the third target comprising the first audio playback device, the second audio playback device, and the third audio playback device;

the second audio playback device is further configured to receive, from the content source and via the WAP, third audio data corresponding to the third content identifier;

the third audio playback device is configured to receive, from the second audio playback device and via the WAP, the third audio data;

the first audio playback device is further configured to receive, from the second audio playback device, the third audio data without the third audio data being sent to the WAP; and

the first audio playback device, the second audio playback device, and the third audio playback device are further configured to output third audio content corresponding to the third audio data in the synchronized manner.