Sonos, Inc.

Belkin International, Inc.

Richard Bannon

Ted M Lin

Jodi Vautrin

Jonathan Herbst

Jake Harwood

Dayn Wilberding

Ron Kuper

Youjin Nam

Tadeo T Toulis

Kirsten Lewis

Maria-Jose Ramos

Michael Sheldon

Patrick Devine

Nicholas A J Millington

Jonathan Cole Harris

Daniel John Jones

Henry Sia

Ryan Yong Kim

Venkata Subba Rao Pathuri

Brian R Knopf

Gursharan Sidhu

Jason Yore

Nicholas Maniskas

Aaron L Schneider

Naga Yerramsetti

Cameron Ellison Korb

Elizabeth Dolman

Chris Babroski

Matthew Moore

Robert Bermani

Jimmy Chung

Matt Pandina

Cole Harris

Meng Wang

Ncholas A J Millington

Ken Hu

Disclosed herein are playback devices, groups of playback devices, and methods of operating playback devices and groupings thereof to cause the playback devices in a group of playback devices communicating over a first network to play audio content received via second network.

Synchronizing playback of audio information received from other networks

Examples described herein relate to transitioning a playback session between portable playback devices such as 'smart' headphones, earbuds, and handheld speakers with playback devices of a zone-based media playback system. Exemplary techniques facilitate continuity of playback when transitioning between locations (e.g., from at home to on-the-go or vice versa) or between listening paradigms (e.g., personal or out-loud playback of audio content). An example implementation includes detecting a swap trigger, determining the source playback device(s) and target playback device(s), and performing a playback session swap between the source playback device(s) and target playback device(s).

Playback transitions

An example involves detecting, during a time period by a receiving device, an audio signal comprising a superposition of a plurality of audio signals transmitted by a plurality of respective playback devices. The example further comprises determining a time-frequency representation of the audio signal and obtaining data associating playback devices with respective reference audio signals, each reference audio signal having a predefined time-frequency representation. The example further comprises, based on the time-frequency representation of the audio signal and the data, determining that the audio signal comprises a superposition of a first audio signal transmitted by a first playback device and a second audio signal transmitted by a second playback device.

Detecting an audio signal with a microphone to determine presence of a playback device

Examples described herein relate to management of concurrent audio streams from different sources. Portable playback devices, such as wearable wireless headphones and earbuds, as well as portable battery-powered speakers, may include multiple network interfaces for connection to different types of networks, such as an 802.11-compatible network interface for connection to wireless local area networks (e.g., Wi-Fi® networks) and an 802.15-compatible network interface for connection to a mobile device via a personal area network (Bluetooth®). Via such connections, the playback devices may receive two or more concurrent streams. By managing these streams according to playback policies, the portable playback devices may play the user's intended audio without necessarily requiring user input to explicitly select among the concurrent streams.

Audio playback management of multiple concurrent connections

Detecting the nearest playback device

Techniques for associating devices and users with a local area network using network identifiers are provided. For example, a method, system, and computer-program product for associating network devices with a local area network using a network identifier are provided. For example, a method may include receiving, at a computing device, a communication including a unique identifier for a network device connected to a network. The method may further include using the unique identifier to determine properties of the network device and generating a network identifier for the network, wherein the network identifier includes an indication of a time at which the network identifier is generated, an indication of the computing device, and an indication of the network device properties. The method can also include transmitting the network identifier, wherein when the network identifier is received, the network identifier facilitates identifying the network and associating the network device with the network.

Associating devices and users with a local area network using network identifiers

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Richard Bannon