Systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to provide automatic wireless configuration

• US 9,882,995 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2012
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Van Erven, Niels, Ericson, Michael Darrell Andrew, Beckhardt, Steve, Millington, Nicholas A. J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Won, Michael Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAZA, MUHAMMAD A
• Application Number:
  US13/531,712
• Publication Number:
  US 20130346559A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,045 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• 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:

connecting, by a first playback device, to a wireless mesh network on which a plurality of playback devices operate, wherein the wireless mesh network is configured according to a spanning tree associated with a spanning tree protocol;

determining, by the first playback device, a location of the first playback device in the wireless mesh network;

receiving, by the first playback device, from a server via the wireless mesh network parameters based on the location, wherein the parameters facilitate communication of audio content by the first playback device on the wireless mesh network, wherein the server defines the parameters based on packet error rates periodically provided to the server by the plurality of playback devices operating on the wireless mesh network, wherein the server defining the parameters based on the packet error rates periodically provided to the server by the plurality of playback devices operating on the wireless mesh network comprises the server defining a channel on the wireless mesh network for the first playback device to receive the audio content based on the packet error rates periodically provided to the server, and wherein the parameters include a transmit power;

based on the parameters, receiving, by the first playback device, the audio content over the wireless mesh network via the spanning tree protocol, wherein receiving, by the first playback device the audio content via the spanning tree protocol comprises receiving, by the first playback device over the channel, the audio content via the spanning tree protocol; and

playing, by the first playback device, audio associated with the received audio content in synchrony with a second playback device on the wireless mesh network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the first playback device is determined based on a global positioning device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters further include a bit rate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining, by the first playback device, the location is triggered by the connection to the wireless network by the first playback device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the location identifies a country where the first playback device is located.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the location identifies a room of a home where the first playback device is located.

7. A media playback device, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least;

connect, by a first playback device, to a wireless mesh network on which a plurality of playback devices operate, wherein the wireless mesh network is configured according to a spanning tree associated with a spanning tree protocol;

determine, by the first playback device, a location of the first playback device in the wireless mesh network;

receive, by the first playback device, from a server via the wireless mesh network parameters based on the location, wherein the parameters facilitate communication of audio content by the first playback device on the wireless mesh network, wherein the server defines the parameters based on packet error rates periodically provided to the server by the plurality of playback devices operating on the wireless mesh network, wherein the server defining the parameters based on the packet error rates periodically provided to the server by the plurality of playback devices operating on the wireless mesh network comprises the server defining a channel on the wireless mesh network for the first playback device to receive the audio content based on the packet error rates periodically provided to the server, and wherein the parameters include a transmit power;

based on the parameters, receive, by the first playback device, the audio content over the wireless mesh network via the spanning tree protocol, wherein receiving, by the first playback device the audio content via the spanning tree protocol comprises receiving, by the first playback device over the channel, the audio content via the spanning tree protocol; and

play, by the first playback device, audio associated with the received audio content in synchrony with a second playback device on the wireless mesh network;

a wireless interface to communicate with the wireless network;

a speaker to play the audio content.

8. The media playback device of claim 7, further comprising a channel selector to select a frequency channel for wireless communication by the first playback device.

9. The media playback device of claim 7, wherein the parameters further include a bit rate.

10. The media playback device of claim 7, wherein the server is a cloud-based server.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

connect, by a first playback device, to a wireless mesh network on which a plurality of playback devices operate, wherein the wireless mesh network is configured according to a spanning tree associated with a spanning tree protocol;

determine, by the first playback device, a location of the first playback device in the wireless mesh network;

receive, by the first playback device, from a server via the wireless mesh network parameters based on the location, wherein the parameters facilitate communication of audio content by the first playback device on the wireless mesh network, wherein the server defines the parameters based on packet error rates periodically provided to the server by the plurality of playback devices operating on the wireless mesh network, wherein the server defining the parameters based on the packet error rates periodically provided to the server by the plurality of playback devices operating on the wireless mesh network comprises the server defining a channel on the wireless mesh network for the first playback device to receive the audio content based on the packet error rates periodically provided to the server, and wherein the parameters include a transmit power;

based on the parameters, receive, by the first playback device, the audio content over the wireless mesh network via the spanning tree protocol, wherein receiving, by the first playback device the audio content via the spanning tree protocol comprises receiving, by the first playback device over the channel, the audio content via the spanning tree protocol; and

play, by the first playback device, audio associated with the received audio content in synchrony with a second playback device on the wireless mesh network.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim

11, wherein the location of the first playback device is determined based on a global positioning device.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the parameters further include a bit rate.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions to determine, by the first playback device, the location is triggered by the connection to the wireless network by the first playback device.