Headphone interaction with media playback system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11895457-B2
Application number	US-202318308911-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2023
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

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

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a first device comprising an audio/video input interface, at least one first network interface, and a housing carrying the at least one first network interface and the audio/video input interface;
a second device comprising at least one second network interface, at least one audio transducer, and at least one wearable housing carrying the at least one second network interface and the at least one audio transducer;
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to:
receive, via the audio/video input interface of the first device from a television, at least one input data stream comprising audio;
establish connection of the second device to the first device via a personal area network;
detect, via the second device, a particular set of one or more trigger conditions to transition playback of the audio to the second device;
in response to detection of the particular set of one or more trigger conditions, send, via the at least one first network interface over the personal area network, at least one audio signal representing the audio in the at least one input data stream;
receive, via the at least one second network interface over the personal area network, the at least one audio signal; and
play back the at least one audio signal via the at least one audio transducer.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprises establishment of the connection of the second device to the first device, and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to detect the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to:
detect that the connection of the second device to the first device via the personal area network has been established.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprises a user input to transition playback of the audio to the second device, and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to detect the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to:
receive, via the at least one second network interface, data indicating that the user input to transition playback of the audio to the second device was received via a mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to:
receive, via the at least one second network interface from a mobile device, data representing instructions to adjust playback volume of the at least one audio signal; and
adjust volume that the at least one audio signal is played back via the at least one audio transducer.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to:
when playback of the at least one audio signal begins, adjust a volume setting of the second device to a particular pre-selected volume level corresponding to playback from the first device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one audio transducer comprises a first audio transducer and a second audio transducer, and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to play back the at least one audio signal via the at least one audio transducer comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the system is configured to:
play back a first audio signal via the first audio transducer in synchrony with playback of a second audio signal via the second audio transducer according to timing data.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one wearable housing comprises a first wearable housing configured to be worn in a left ear of a user and a second wearable housing configured to be worn in a right ear of the user.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the audio/video input interface comprises at least one of a (i) high-definition multimedia interface, (ii) an optical digital interface, (iii) a coaxial digital interface, or (iv) a line-in interface.

9. A wearable playback device comprising:
at least one network interface;
at least one audio transducer;
at least one processor;
at least one wearable housing carrying the at least one network interface, the at least one audio transducer; and the at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the wearable playback device is configured to:
establish connection of the wearable playback device to a streamer device via a personal area network;
detect a particular set of one or more trigger conditions to transition playback of the audio to the wearable playback device;
in response to detection of the particular set of one or more trigger conditions, cause, via the at least one network interface, the streamer device to send, over the personal area network, at least one audio signal representing the audio in at least one input data stream received via an audio/video input interface of the streamer device;
receive, via the at least one network interface over the personal area network, the at least one audio signal; and
play back the at least one audio signal via the at least one audio transducer.

10. The wearable playback device of claim 9 , wherein the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprises establishment of the connection of the wearable playback device to the streamer device, and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the wearable playback device is configured to detect the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the wearable playback device is configured to:
detect that the connection of the wearable playback device to the streamer device via the personal area network has been established.

11. The wearable playback device of claim 10 , wherein the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprises a user input to transition playback of the audio to the wearable playback device, and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the wearable playback device is configured to detect the particular set of one or more trigger conditions comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the wearable playback device is configured to:
receive, via the at least one network interface, data indicating that the user input to transition playback of the audio to the wearable playback device was received via a mobile device.

12. The wearable playback device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the wearable playback device is configured to:
receive, via the at least one network interface from

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Clayton Eric
• Alessi Charles

Classifications

• H04R1/1041 Primary

  Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements (switches in general H01H) · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/165

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

• H04R2227/003

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