Headphone interaction with media playback system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10623844-B2
Application number	US-201815939758-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2018
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

Example techniques may involve headphone interaction. An implementation may include while headphones are disconnected from a control device, the control device receiving an indication of particular audio content being played back by a first zone of the media playback system. While the particular audio content is being played back by the one or more playback devices of the media playback system, detecting that headphones have been connected to the first control device. Headphones may be connectable to the control device via either (a) an analog headphone jack or (b) a point-to-point personal area network connection. In response to detecting that the headphones are connected to the control device: the control device (i) causing the one or more playback devices of the first zone to stop playback of the particular audio content; (ii) retrieving the particular audio content and (iii) resuming playback of the particular audio content via the connected headphones.

First claim

We claim:

1. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having stored therein instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a first control device to perform operations in a media playback system, the operations comprising:
while headphones are disconnected from the first control device, receiving, via a network interface of the first control device, an indication of particular audio content being played back by a first zone of the media playback system, wherein the first zone comprises one or more playback devices that are separate and distinct from the first control device and connected to the first control device via a local area network;
while the particular audio content is being played back by the one or more playback devices of the media playback system, detecting that headphones have been connected to the first control device, wherein headphones are connectable to the first control device via either (a) an analog headphone jack of the first control device or (b) a point-to-point personal area network connection via a personal area network interface of the first control device; and
in response to detecting that the headphones are connected to the first control device of the media playback system: (i) causing, via the network interface of the first control device, the one or more playback devices of the first zone to stop playback of the particular audio content; (ii) retrieving, via the network interface of the first control device, the particular audio content from an audio source that is remote from the first control device; and (iii) resuming playback of the particular audio content via the connected headphones.

2. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
while the first control device is playing back the particular audio content via the connected headphones, detecting that the headphones have been disconnected from the first control device;
in response to detecting that the headphones have been disconnected from the first control device, (i) stopping playback of the particular audio content by the first control device and (ii) causing a graphical display to display a selectable control, that when selected, causes one or more playback devices of the first zone to resume playback of the particular audio content; and
in response to detecting input data indicating a selection of the selectable control, that when selected, causes the one or more playback devices of the first zone to resume playback of the particular audio content, causing, via the network interface of the first control device, the one or more playback devices of the first zone to resume playback of the particular audio content.

3. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
while the first control device is playing back the particular audio content via the connected headphones, detecting that the headphones have been disconnected from the first control device;
in response to detecting that the headphones have been disconnected from the first control device, (i) stopping playback of the particular audio content by the first control device and (ii) determining whether a policy of the first zone indicates that playback is resumed when headphones have been disconnected from the first control device; and
in response to determining that the policy of the first zone indicates that playback is resumed when headphones have been disconnected from the first control device, causing, via the network interface of the first control device, the one or more playback devices of the first zone to resume playback of the particular audio content.

4. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 3 , wherein the policy indicates that playback is resumed when headphones have been disconnected from the first control device during a portion of a 24 hour cycle and the policy indicates that playback is not resumed when headphones have been disconnected from the first control device during the remainder of the 24 hour cycle.

5. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein detecting that headphones have been connected to the first control device comprises detecting that a state variable stored in data storage of the first control device has been modified to indicate that headphones are connected to the first control device, wherein the state variable is updated by at least one of (a) a circuit within the analog headphone jack of the first control device or (b) the personal area network interface of the first control device.

6. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the particular audio content from the audio source that is remote from the first control device comprises:
joining the first control device as a second zone into a zone group that includes the first zone; and
receiving, via the network interface of the first control device from a zone group coordinator of the zone group, a data stream representing (i) the particular audio content for playback by the first control device via the headphones and (ii) playback timing information indicating a playback schedule for the first control device to play back the particular audio content via the connected headphones in synchrony with the one or more playback devices of the first zone, wherein the one or more playback devices are muted, and wherein the zone group coordinator is a given playback device of the first zone.

7. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the first zone comprises a given playback device comprising a line-in interface, and wherein retrieving the particular audio content from the audio source that is remote from the first control device comprises receiving, via the network interface of the first control device from the given playback device, an audio stream representing the particular audio content received by the given playback device via the line-in interface.

8. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the particular audio content is an audio track of video content, wherein the line-in interface of the given playback device is connected to a television, and wherein retrieving the particular audio content from the audio source that is remote from the first control device comprises receiving, via the network interface of the first control device from the given playback device, the audio stream representing the particular audio content for playback by the first control device via the connected headphones in sync with video content playing on the television.

9. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the first zone comprises multiple playback devices, and wherein causing the one or more playback devices of the first zone to stop playback of the particular audio content comprises:
sending, via the network interface of the first control device to a group coordinator of the first zone, an instruction to cause the group coordinator of the first zone to stop synchronous playback of the particular audio content among the multiple playback devices of the first zone, wherein the group coordinator is a given playback device of the first zone that provides, to other playback devices of the first zone, a data stream representing (i) the particular audio content and (ii) playback timing information indicating a playback schedule for the multiple playback devices to play back the particular audio content in synchrony.

10. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the first zone is in a zone group with a second zone that comprises one or more addi

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Clayton Eric
• Alessi Charles

Classifications

• H04R2227/003

  Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet · CPC title

• H04R27/00 Primary

  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 title

• H04R2420/03

  Connection circuits to selectively connect loudspeakers or headphones to amplifiers · CPC title

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• H04R2420/07

  Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones · CPC title