Sonos, Inc.

Foodim Ltd

Romi Kadri

Jonathan P Lang

Christopher D Butts

Simon Jarvis

Jonathon Reilly

Mike Chamness

Yean-Nian W Chen

Paul Andrew Bates

Ted M Lin

Luis R Vega-Zayas

Klaus Hartung

Brendan Welch

Matthew Buoni

Nicholas A J Millington

Keith Corbin

Mark Plagge

Saeed Bagheri Sereshki

Tetsuro Oishi

Gregory B Burlingame

Timothy W Sheen

Kirk Bulis

Jeremy Wessely

Dayn Wilberding

Christopher Butts

Chris Davies

Nicholas Aj Millington

Jonathan Reilly

Jim Ingle

Neville Kidd

Chistopher Butts

Luis Vega-Zayas

Yean-Nian Willy Chen

Gregory Burlingame

Nicholas AJ Millington

A first playback device and a second playback device of a media playback system play back a first version of audio content in synchrony. While the first and the second playback devices are synchronously playing back the first version of the audio content, a change in at least one characteristic of the media playback system is detected. Based on the change in the at least one characteristic, a second version of the audio content is identified. The second playback device transitions from playing back the first version of the audio content to playing back the second version of the audio content in synchrony with playback of the first version of the audio content by the first playback device. The first and second versions of the audio content are transmitted by at least one remote computing device configured to communicate with the media playback system over at least one data network.

Conditional content enhancement

Example techniques involve outputting multiple audio channels using a multiple driver playback device. An example playback device receives a first and second channel of audio content. The playback device plays back play back the first channel via a first group of audio transducers such that the first group of audio transducers form, via superposition, a first response lobe having a maximum in a first direction. Further, the playback device plays back the second channel via a second group of audio transducers such that the second group of audio transducers form, via superposition, a second response lobe having a maximum in a second direction that is separated by an angle of at least 45° from the first direction.

Manipulation of playback device response using signal processing

An example method includes receiving data indicating a configuration of one or more playback devices. The one or more playback devices may include one or more transducers. The method further includes, based on the received data, associating each of one or more audio streams respectively with at least one transducer of the one or more transducers. The method further includes generating the one or more audio streams and sending at least one of the generated one or more audio streams to each of the one or more playback devices. An example non-transitory computer readable medium and an example computing device related to the example method are also disclosed herein.

Systems and methods of distributing audio to one or more playback devices

A playback device is configured to: produce a first channel audio output of a first channel of audio content; produce a second channel audio output of a second channel of the audio content; receive captured audio content comprising (i) a first portion corresponding to the first channel audio output, (ii) a second portion corresponding to the second channel audio output, and (iii) a third portion corresponding to a voice command, wherein the captured audio content has a first signal-to-noise ratio; determine a set of signal components from at least one of the first channel or the second channel of the audio content; perform acoustic echo cancellation on a subset of signal components; determine an acoustic echo cancellation output; and apply the acoustic echo cancellation output to the captured audio content and thereby increase the first signal-to-noise ratio to a second signal-to-noise ratio that is greater than the first signal-to-noise ratio.

Multi-channel acoustic echo cancellation

Multiple aspects of systems and methods for voice control and related features and functionality for various embodiments of media playback devices, networked microphone devices, microphone-equipped media playback devices, and speaker-equipped networked microphone devices are disclosed and described herein, including but not limited to designating and managing default networked devices, audio response playback, room-corrected voice detection, content mixing, music service selection, metadata exchange between networked playback systems and networked microphone systems, handling loss of pairing between networked devices, actions based on user identification, and other voice control of networked devices.

Voice control of a media playback system

Example techniques relate to voice interaction in an environment with a media playback system that is playing back audio content. In an example implementation, while playing back first audio in a given environment at a given loudness: a playback device (a) detects that an event is anticipated in the given environment, the event involving playback of second audio and (b) determines a loudness of background noise in the given environment, the background noise comprising ambient noise in the given environment. The playback device ducks the first audio in proportion to a difference between the given loudness of the first audio and the determined loudness of the background noise and plays back the ducked first audio concurrently with the second audio.

Audio playback settings for voice interaction

In one aspect, a first playback device is configured to: (i) play back first audio content in synchrony with a second playback device, (ii) receive, via a network interface, a message indicating second audio content to be output by the first playback device, and (iii) in response to receiving the message indicating the second audio content: (a) cease playing back the first audio content in synchrony with the second playback device; (b) play back the second audio content while the second playback device plays back the first audio content; and (c) after playing back the second audio content, resume playing back the first audio content in synchrony with the second playback device.

Content mixing

Systems and methods for three-dimensional beamforming disclosed herein include, among other features (i) generating a set of received-sound beams by applying a plurality of sets of beamforming coefficients stored in a tangible memory of the network device to sound received via a microphone array of the network device, wherein each received-sound beam corresponds to a separate direction relative to the microphone array, (ii) identifying a subset of the received-sound beams comprising speech content, (iii) for each received-sound beam in the subset of the received-sound beams comprising speech content, determining whether the speech content comprises a wake word, (iv) selecting one final received-sound beam from the received-sound beams in the subset of the received-sound beams determined to comprise a wake word; and (v) causing the selected one final received-sound beam to be processed to identify a voice command.

Three-dimensional beam forming with a microphone array

Disclosed herein are example techniques to provide contextual information corresponding to a voice command. An example implementation may involve receiving voice data indicating a voice command, receiving contextual information indicating a characteristic of the voice command, and determining a device operation corresponding to the voice command. Determining the device operation corresponding to the voice command may include identifying, among multiple zones of a media playback system, a zone that corresponds to the characteristic of the voice command, and determining that the voice command corresponds to one or more particular devices that are associated with the identified zone. The example implementation may further involve causing the one or more particular devices to perform the device operation.

Contextualization of voice inputs

An example computer system identifies a capability of a playback device to reproduce audio content. Based on the capability, the computer system identifies a first version of audio content for playback by the playback device and causes the playback device to play back the first version of audio content. While the playback device is playing back the first version of the audio content, the computer system detects a change in a network connection between the computer system and the playback device. Based on the detected change in the network connection and the capability of the playback device, the computer system identifies a second version of audio content for playback by the playback device and causes the playback device to transition from playing back the first version of the audio content to playing back the second version of the audio content.

In an example implementation, a method may involve, while a first zone and a second zone of a media playback system are playing back respective media, receiving data indicating the occurrence of a first trigger condition. The method may also involve, based on the received data, modifying respective volume limits of the first zone and the second zone, wherein modifying the volume limit causes first volume levels that exceed the second limit to be reduced to respective second volume levels that are at or below the second limit. The method may also involve receiving data indicating the occurrence of a second trigger condition. The method may further involve, based on the received data, modifying the respective volume limits of the first zone and the second zone from the second limit to the first limit.

System limits based on known triggers

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Romi Kadri