Playback device calibration

• US 9,749,763 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2015
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Sheen, Timothy W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMID, AMMAR T
• Application Number:
  US14/644,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20160070526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 903 Days
• Field of Search: 381 59, 381122, 381 58, 381 56
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• 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 29/001 for loudspeakers H04R29/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/004 for microphones H04R29/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 for correcting frequency response

Abstract

Examples described herein involve calibration of a microphone of a network device. An example network device identifies, within a database of microphone acoustic characteristics, an acoustic characteristic of the microphone which corresponds to a particular characteristic of the network device. The network device calibrates a playback device based on at least the identified acoustic characteristic of the microphone.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

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

receiving, from multiple network devices sharing one or more common characteristics, respective data indicating microphone acoustic characteristics of each network device;

determining a representative acoustic characteristic based on the received data indicating the microphone acoustic characteristics;

storing, in a database, data indicating the representative acoustic characteristic in association with the one or more common characteristics;

after storing the data, receiving one or more messages indicating that (i) a particular network device is being used to calibrate a playback device of a networked media playback system that the particular network device is configured to control and (ii) one or more characteristics of the particular network device;

based on at least one characteristic of the particular network device corresponding to the one or more common characteristics, identifying within the database the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the one or more common characteristics; and

causing the identified representative acoustic characteristic to be applied when the particular network device is used for calibrating the playback device.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein causing the identified representative acoustic characteristic to be applied when the particular network device is used for calibrating the playback device comprises:

determining an audio processing algorithm based on the identified representative acoustic characteristic; and

causing the playback device to apply the audio processing algorithm when playing media content.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the functions further comprise:

receiving (i) first data indicating a first audio signal and (ii) second data indicating a second audio signal detected via a microphone of the particular network device while the first audio signal was played by the playback device, and

wherein determining the audio processing algorithm comprises;

determining the audio processing algorithm based further on the first audio signal and second audio signal.

4. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the audio processing algorithm comprises an inverse of the identified representative acoustic characteristic, and wherein causing the playback device to apply the audio processing algorithm when playing media content comprises:

modifying played media content by an inverse function of the identified representative acoustic characteristic.

12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein receiving the one or more messages indicating that the particular network device is being used to calibrate the playback device comprises:

receiving, from the particular network device, a message indicating the one or more characteristics of the particular network device and a request for an acoustic characteristic matching the one or more characteristics of the particular network device.

13. The computing device of claim 1, wherein receiving the one or more messages indicating that the particular network device is being used to calibrate the playback device comprises:

receiving, from the particular network device, data indicating a recording by the particular network device of a calibration tone played by the playback device.

14. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the multiple network devices comprise respective microphones of a particular model, wherein the one or more common characteristics include the particular model of microphone, and wherein identifying, within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the one or more common characteristics comprises:

identifying, within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic based on the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the particular model of microphone.

5. Tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

receiving, from multiple network devices sharing one or more common characteristics, respective data indicating microphone acoustic characteristics of each network device;

determining a representative acoustic characteristic based on the received data indicating the microphone acoustic characteristics;

storing, in a database, data indicating the representative acoustic characteristic in association with the one or more common characteristics;

after storing the data, receiving one or more messages indicating that (i) a particular network device is being used to calibrate a playback device of a networked media playback system that the particular network device is configured to control and (ii) one or more characteristics of the particular network device;

based on at least one characteristic of the particular network device corresponding to the one or more common characteristics, identifying within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the one or more common characteristics; and

causing the identified representative acoustic characteristic to be applied when the particular network device is used for calibrating the playback device.

6. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein causing the identified representative acoustic characteristic to be applied when the particular network device is used for calibrating the playback device comprises:

determining an audio processing algorithm based on the identified representative acoustic characteristic; and

causing the playback device to apply the audio processing algorithm when playing media content.

7. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the functions further comprise:

receiving (i) first data indicating a first audio signal and (ii) second data indicating a second audio signal detected via a microphone of the particular network device while the first audio signal was played by the playback device, and

wherein determining the audio processing algorithm comprises;

determining the audio processing algorithm based further on the first audio signal and second audio signal.

8. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the audio processing algorithm comprises an inverse of the identified acoustic characteristic, and wherein causing the playback device to apply the audio processing algorithm when playing media content comprises:

modifying played media content by an inverse function of the identified representative acoustic characteristic.

15. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein receiving the one or more messages indicating that the particular network device is being used to calibrate the playback device comprises:

receiving, from the particular network device, a message indicating the one or more characteristics of the particular network device and a request for an acoustic characteristic matching the one or more characteristics of the particular network device.

16. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein receiving the one or more messages indicating that the particular network device is being used to calibrate the playback device comprises:

receiving, from the particular network device, data indicating a recording by the particular network device of a calibration tone played by the playback device.

17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the multiple network devices comprise respective microphones of a particular model, wherein the one or more common characteristics include the particular model of microphone, and wherein identifying, within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the one or more common characteristics comprises:

identifying, within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic based on the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the particular model of microphone.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, via a computing device from multiple network devices sharing one or more common Characteristics, respective data indicating microphone acoustic characteristics of each network device;

determining, via the computing device, a representative acoustic characteristic based on the received data indicating the microphone acoustic characteristics;

storing, in a database, data indicating the representative acoustic characteristic in association with the one or more common characteristics;

after storing the data, receiving, via the computing device, one or more messages indicating that (i) a particular network device is being used to calibrate a playback device of a networked media playback system that the particular network device is configured to control and (ii) one or more characteristics of the particular network device;

based on at least one characteristic of the particular network device corresponding to the one or more common characteristics, identifying, via the computing device within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the one or more common; and

causing, via the computing, device, the identified representative acoustic characteristic to be applied when the particular network device is used for calibrating the playback device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein causing the identified representative acoustic characteristic to be applied when the particular network device is used for calibrating the playback device comprises:

determining an audio processing algorithm based on the identified representative acoustic characteristic; and

applying the audio processing algorithm when playing media content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving (i) first data indicating a first audio signal and (ii) second data indicating a second audio signal detected via a microphone of the particular network device while the first audio signal was played, and

wherein determining the audio processing algorithm comprises;

determining the audio processing algorithm based further on the first audio signal and second audio signal.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the one or more messages indicating that the particular network device is being used to calibrate the playback device comprises:

receiving, from the particular network device, a message indicating the one or more characteristics of the particular network device and a request for an acoustic characteristic matching the one or more characteristics of the particular network device.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the one or more messages indicating that the particular network device is being used to calibrate the playback device comprises:

receiving, from the particular network device, data indicating a recording by the particular network device of a calibration tone played by the playback device.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein the multiple network devices comprise respective microphones of a particular model, wherein the one or more common characteristics include the particular model of microphone, and wherein identifying, within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the one or more common characteristics comprises:

identifying, within the database, the representative acoustic characteristic based on the representative acoustic characteristic corresponding to the particular model of microphone.