Networked devices, systems, and methods for associating playback devices based on sound codes

• US 10,587,430 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2018
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Smith, Connor Kristopher, Sleith, Charles Conor, Tolomei, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Bui, Jonathan A
• Application Number:
  US16/131,392
• Publication Number:
  US 20200092123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 543 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• 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: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4222 Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4305 Synchronising client clock from received content stream, e.g. locking decoder clock with encoder clock, extraction of the PCR packets arrangements for synchronising receiver with transmitter by comparing receiver clock with transmitter clock H04L7/0012; arrangements for synchronising receiver with transmitter wherein the receiver takes measures against momentary loss of synchronisation H04L7/0083
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43076 of the same content streams on multiple devices, e.g. when family members are watching the same movie on different devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4392 involving audio buffer management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4398 involving reformatting operations of audio signals details of audio signal transcoding G10L19/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 : using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

In one aspect, a playback device is provided that is configured to identify a trigger event indicating a request to associate the playback device with another playback device. Based on identifying the trigger event, the playback device is configured to create a first sound code based on a first sound specimen detected by the playback device. After identifying the trigger event, the playback device is configured to receive from the other playback device a sound object and based on receiving the sound object, identify a second sound code. The playback device is also configured to, based on the first sound code and the second sound code, determine that it and the other playback device have a spatial relationship. Based on that determination, the playback device is configured to cause it and the other playback device to be associated in accordance with the indicated request.

Claims

1. A first playback device comprising:

a network interface;

one or more processors;

at least one microphone; and

a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the first playback device to;

identify a trigger event indicating a request to associate the first playback device with at least a second playback device;

based on identifying the trigger event, create a first sound code based on a first sound specimen detected via the at least one microphone;

after identifying the trigger event, receive from the second playback device, via the network interface, a sound object;

based on receiving the sound object, identify a second sound code;

based at least on the first sound code and the second sound code, determine that the first and second playback devices have a spatial relationship; and

based on the determination, cause the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request.

2. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises one of (i) detecting, via the at least one microphone, a voice input indicating the request to associate the first playback device with at least the second playback device, (ii) receiving from the second playback device, via the network interface, a message indicating the request to associate the first playback device with at least the second playback device, or (iii) detecting, via an input interface of the first playback device, an input indicating the request to associate the first playback device with at least the second playback device.

3. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein the sound object comprises one of (i) a second sound specimen captured by the second playback device or (ii) the second sound code, wherein the second sound code is created by the second playback device.

4. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein identifying the second sound code comprises creating the second sound code based on the sound object.

5. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the first playback device to, based on identifying the trigger event, play back audio, wherein the first sound code is representative of the played back audio, and wherein the sound object either (i) comprises a second sound specimen that is representative of the played back audio or (ii) comprises a second sound code representative of the played back audio.

6. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein the first sound code comprises a first locality-sensitive hash, and wherein the second sound code comprises a second locality-sensitive hash.

7. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request to form a playback group, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises facilitating causing the second playback device to join a playback group of the first playback device.

8. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein the first playback device is part of a media playback system, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request for the second playback device to join the media playback system, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises causing the second playback device to join the media playback system.

9. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request to transfer audio being played back at the first playback device to the second playback device, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises causing the second playback device to play back the audio.

10. The first playback device of claim 1, wherein the first sound specimen comprises a first time indicator, wherein the sound object comprises a second time indicator, and wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the first playback device to:

before determining that the first and second playback devices have the spatial relationship, adjust a timeframe related to the second sound code based at least on the first time indicator and the second time indicator.

11. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by one or more processors to cause a first playback device to:

identify a trigger event indicating a request to associate the first playback device with at least a second playback device;

based on identifying the trigger event, create a first sound code based on a first sound specimen detected via at least one microphone of the first playback device;

after identifying the trigger event, receive from the second playback device, via a network interface of the first playback device, a sound object;

based on receiving the sound object, identify a second sound code;

based at least on the first sound code and the second sound code, determine that the first and second playback devices have a spatial relationship; and

based on the determination, cause the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises one of (i) detecting, via the at least one microphone, a voice input indicating the request to associate the first playback device with at least the second playback device, (ii) receiving from the second playback device, via the network interface, a message indicating the request to associate the first playback device with at least the second playback device, or (iii) detecting, via an input interface of the first playback device, an input indicating the request to associate the first playback device with at least the second playback device.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the sound object comprises one of (i) a second sound specimen captured by the second playback device or (ii) the second sound code, wherein the second sound code is created by the second playback device.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request to form a playback group, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises facilitating causing the second playback device to join a playback group of the first playback device.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first playback device is part of a media playback system, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request for the second playback device to join the media playback system, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises causing the second playback device to join the media playback system.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request to transfer audio being played back at the first playback device to the second playback device, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises causing the second playback device to play back the audio.

17. A computer-implemented method performed by a first playback device, the method comprising:

identifying a trigger event indicating a request to associate the first playback device with at least a second playback device;

based on identifying the trigger event, creating a first sound code based on a first sound specimen detected via at least one microphone of the first playback device;

after identifying the trigger event, receiving from the second playback device, via a network interface of the first playback device, a sound object;

based on receiving the sound object, identifying a second sound code;

based at least on the first sound code and the second sound code, determining that the first and second playback devices have a spatial relationship; and

based on the determination, causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request to form a playback group, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises facilitating causing the second playback device to join a playback group of the first playback device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first playback device is part of a media playback system, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request for the second playback device to join the media playback system, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises causing the second playback device to join the media playback system.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying the trigger event comprises identifying a trigger event indicating a request to transfer audio being played back at the first playback device to the second playback device, and wherein causing the first and second playback devices to be associated in accordance with the indicated request comprises causing the second playback device to play back the audio.