SYSTEMS, METHODS, APPARATUS, AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE TO PROVIDE AUTOMATIC WIRELESS CONFIGURATION

• US 20130346559A1
• Filed: 06/25/2012
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Ericson, Michael Darrell Andrew, Beckhardt, Steve, Millington, Nicholas A.J., Van Erven, Niels
• Granted Patent: US 9,882,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/422 Input-only peripherals , i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] input devices also receiving signals from specially adapted client devices H04N21/4104
• 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 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• 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 21/4432 Powering on the client, e.g. bootstrap loading using setup parameters being stored locally or received from the server resetting in general G06F1/14; program loading or initiating in general G06F9/445; bootstrapping in general G06F9/4401; secure boots of computer platforms G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to provide automated configuration of local playback devices and networks based on external input are disclosed. An example media playback device includes a control interface to receive and process, at the media playback device, network configuration information for a local network from an external source, the control interface to receive and process the network configuration from the external source without requiring user intervention. The example media playback device includes a wireless interface to communicate with the local network based at least in part on the network configuration information. The example media playback device includes a speaker to output audio based on audio information received via the local network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

automatically determining, without user intervention, a geographic region location of a playback device connected to a network;

configuring, at the playback device, network parameters for wireless connection and communication by the playback device to the network based on configuration information associated with the determined geographic region; and

enabling communication by the playback device via the network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic region location is to be determined using a global positioning device located in the playback device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic regional location further comprises:

transmitting, by the playback device, a first message to a cloud-based server; and

receiving, at the playback device, a second message from the cloud-based server including the geographic region of the playback device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining, at the playback device based on the geographic region location, the configuration information for the geographic region to be applied to the network parameters at the playback device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the second message further includes the configuration information for the geographic region.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic regional location further comprises:

transmitting, by the playback device, a first message to a second playback device on the network; and

receiving, at the playback device, a second message from the second playback device including the geographic region of the playback device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein network parameters include at least one of a wireless channel selection, a bit rate, an encoding, and a transmit power.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining is triggered by at least one of playback device power on and initiation of a connection to the network by the playback device.

9. A method comprising:

collecting, by a playback device, data relating to wireless performance of a local wireless network to which the playback device is connected;

transmitting, by the playback device without user intervention, a first message to a network server, the first message including the data relating to wireless performance of the local wireless network;

receiving, at the playback device, a second message from the network server including wireless network parameters for the playback device on the local wireless network; and

initiating, by the playback device, reconfiguration of the local wireless network based on the received wireless network parameters.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising relaying, by the playback device, the wireless network parameters to one or more additional playback devices on the local wireless network.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the local wireless network comprises a mesh network.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the network server comprises a cloud-based server.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

automatically determining, without user input, a geographic region location of the playback device connected to the local wireless network by communicating with the network server;

configuring, at the playback device, network parameters for wireless connection and communication by the playback device to the local wireless network based on configuration information associated with the determined geographic region; and

communication by the playback device via the local wireless network.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireless network parameters include at least one of a wireless channel selection, a bit rate, an encoding, and a transmit power.

15. A media playback device, comprising:

a control interface to receive and process, at the media playback device, network configuration information for a local network from an external source, the control interface to receive and process the network configuration from the external source without requiring user intervention;

a wireless interface to communicate with the local network based at least in part on the network configuration information;

a speaker to output audio based on audio information received via the local network.

16. The media playback device of claim 15, further comprising a channel selector to select a frequency channel for wireless communication by the media playback device based on the network configuration information.

17. The media playback device of claim 15, wherein the network configuration information include at least one of a wireless channel selection, a bit rate, an encoding, and a transmit power.

18. The media playback device of claim 15, wherein the local network comprises a mesh network.

19. The media playback device of claim 15, wherein the external source comprises a cloud-based server.

20. The media playback device of claim 15, wherein the network configuration information includes region-based information determined based on an identified geographic region of the media playback device.