Control Based On Proximity

• US 20180321900A1
• Filed: 05/07/2018
• Published: 11/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Reilly, Jonathon, Griffiths, Neil
• Granted Patent: US 10,552,116 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/0471 the sensor detecting the proximity, the presence or the movement of an object or a person
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/02 Manually-operated control H03G3/001 and H03G3/002 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/04 in untuned amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/348 Muting in response to a mechanical action or to power supply variations, e.g. during tuning; Click removal circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• 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: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings

Abstract

Embodiments described herein provide for detecting presence of an object in proximity to a playback device and responsively performing one or more operations. In an example implementation, a playback device detects, via a proximity detector of the playback device, presence of an object in proximity to the playback device. In response to detecting the presence of the object, the playback device performs one or more operations.

Claims

1. A playback device comprising:

a housing configured to be supported by a substantially horizontal surface;

a network interface carried by the housing;

a screen-less capacitive touch-control interface carried on an exterior surface of the housing;

a proximity sensor carried on the exterior surface of the housing and calibrated to detect presence of a hand at a greater range than a capacitive range of the screen-less capacitive touch-control interface;

one or more amplifiers carried by the housing, the amplifier configured to drive one or more speakers;

one or more processors carried by the housing;

data storage carried by the housing and having stored therein instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the playback device to perform a method comprising;

playing back audio content via the one or more amplifiers and the one or more speakers;

while the playback device is playing back the audio content, detecting, via the proximity sensor, presence of a hand in proximity to the playback device; and

in response to detecting the presence of the hand in proximity to the playback device, pausing the playing back of audio content.

2. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises detecting that a clock of the playback device corresponds to a time of a user-defined alarm;

and wherein playing back the audio content via the one or more amplifiers and the one or more speakers comprises;

playing back the audio content in response to detecting that the clock of the playback device corresponds to the time of the user-defined alarm.

3. The playback device of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting that a pre-determined period of time has elapsed since the playback of the audio content was paused; and

in response to detecting that the pre-determined period of time has elapsed since the playback of the audio content was paused, resuming playback of the audio content.

4. The playback device of claim 3, wherein the pre-determined period of time is an integer multiple number of minutes.

5. The playback device of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the network interface from a control device, an instruction to set the pre-determined period of time to a certain number of minutes.

6. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the playback device is configured into a synchrony group with one or more additional playback devices configured to play back the audio content in synchrony with the playback device, and wherein pausing the playing back of audio content comprises:

sending, via the network interface, an instruction that causes the one or more additional playback devices to pause the playing back of audio content in synchrony with the playback device.

7. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the playback device is a first playback device configured into a stereo pair with a second playback device, the first and second playback devices configured to play back respective channels of the audio content in synchrony, and wherein pausing the playing back of audio content comprises:

sending, via the network interface, an instruction that causes the second playback device to pause the playing back of audio content in synchrony with the first playback device.

8. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the network interface from a control device, an instruction to change a volume level of the playback device from a first volume level to a second volume level; and

in response to receiving the instruction to change the volume level of the playback device, configuring the one or more amplifiers to output the audio content at the second volume level.

9. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting, via the proximity sensor, a hand wave in proximity to the playback device;

when the hand wave is in a rightwards direction, advancing playback to a subsequent audio track in a playback queue of the playback device; and

when the hand wave is in a leftwards direction, advancing playback to a previous audio track in the playback queue of the playback device.

10. A method to be performed by a playback device comprising:

a housing configured to be supported by a substantially horizontal surface;

a network interface carried by the housing;

a screen-less capacitive touch-control interface carried on an exterior surface of the housing;

a proximity sensor carried on the exterior surface of the housing and calibrated to detect presence of a hand at a greater range than a capacitive range of the screen-less capacitive touch-control interface;

one or more amplifiers carried by the housing, the amplifier configured to drive one or more speakers;

one or more processors carried by the housing;

the method comprising;

playing back audio content via the one or more amplifiers and the one or more speakers;

while the playback device is playing back the audio content, detecting, via the proximity sensor, presence of a hand in proximity to the playback device; and

in response to detecting the presence of the hand in proximity to the playback device, pausing the playing back of audio content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises detecting that a clock of the playback device corresponds to a time of a user-defined alarm;

and wherein playing back the audio content via the one or more amplifiers and the one or more speakers comprises;

playing back the audio content in response to detecting that the clock of the playback device corresponds to the time of the user-defined alarm.

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

detecting that a pre-determined period of time has elapsed since the playback of the audio content was paused; and

in response to detecting that the pre-determined period of time has elapsed since the playback of the audio content was paused, resuming playback of the audio content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the network interface from a control device, an instruction to set the pre-determined period of time to a certain number of minutes.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the playback device is configured into a synchrony group with one or more additional playback devices configured to play back the audio content in synchrony with the playback device, and wherein pausing the playing back of audio content comprises:

sending, via the network interface, an instruction that causes the one or more additional playback devices to pause the playing back of audio content in synchrony with the playback device.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the playback device is a first playback device configured into a stereo pair with a second playback device, the first and second playback devices configured to play back respective channels of the audio content in synchrony, and wherein pausing the playing back of audio content comprises:

sending, via the network interface, an instruction that causes the second playback device to pause the playing back of audio content in synchrony with the first playback device.

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

receiving, via the network interface from a control device, an instruction to change a volume level of the playback device from a first volume level to a second volume level; and

in response to receiving the instruction to change the volume level of the playback device, configuring the one or more amplifiers to output the audio content at the second volume level.

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

detecting, via the proximity sensor, a hand wave in proximity to the playback device;

when the hand wave is in a rightwards direction, advancing playback to a subsequent audio track in a playback queue of the playback device; and

when the hand wave is in a leftwards direction, advancing playback to a previous audio track in the playback queue of the playback device.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises detecting that a clock of the playback device corresponds to a time of a user-defined alarm;

and

wherein playing back the audio content via the one or more amplifiers and the one or more speakers comprises;

playing back the audio content in response to detecting that the clock of the playback device corresponds to the time of the user-defined alarm.

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

detecting that a pre-determined period of time has elapsed since the playback of the audio content was paused; and

in response to detecting that the pre-determined period of time has elapsed since the playback of the audio content was paused, resuming playback of the audio content.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a processor of a playback device to cause the processor to perform functions comprising:

playing back audio content via one or more amplifiers carried in a housing configured to be supported by a substantially horizontal surface, the one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers;

while the playback device is playing back the audio content, detecting, via a proximity sensor, presence of a hand in proximity to the playback device, wherein the proximity sensor is carried on an exterior surface of the housing and calibrated to detect the presence of a hand at a greater range than a capacitive range of a screen-less capacitive touch-control interface carried by the housing; and

in response to detecting the presence of the hand in proximity to the playback device, pausing the playing back of audio content.