US 11,943,594 B2
Automatically allocating audio portions to playback devices
Jason Yore, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Nikolai Kutateladze, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Kate Wojogbe, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Edwin Joseph Fitzpatrick, III, Boston, MA (US); and Allan Velzy, Mercer Island, WA (US)
Assigned to Sonos Inc., Santa Barbara, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/616,400
Filed by Sonos, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA (US)
PCT Filed Jun. 5, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/036409
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 3, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/247811, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 10, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/858,793, filed on Jun. 7, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0248139 A1, Aug. 4, 2022
Int. Cl. H04R 5/04 (2006.01); H03G 5/16 (2006.01); H04R 27/00 (2006.01); H04S 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 5/04 (2013.01) [H03G 5/165 (2013.01); H04R 27/00 (2013.01); H04S 7/302 (2013.01); H04R 2227/005 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A first playback device comprising:
a communication interface configured to facilitate communication via one or more data networks;
at least one audio amplifier configured to drive at least one speaker;
at least one processor;
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the first playback device is configured to:
reproduce one or more first audio channels of audio content in synchrony with reproduction of one or more second audio channels of the audio content by a second playback device;
detect a trigger event indicating that the first playback device is no longer in proximity of the second playback device, wherein the trigger event comprises detection of a change in position of the first playback device relative to the second playback device;
after detection of the trigger event:
retrieve configuration information related to the first playback device and the second playback device;
based on the retrieved configuration information, cause an allocation of the audio content between the first playback device and the second playback device to be updated; and
reproduce one or more third audio channels of the audio content based on the updated allocation of the audio channels;
wherein the audio content comprises a plurality of channels, wherein the one or more first channels comprises a first subset of the plurality of channels, wherein the one or more second channels comprises a second subset of the plurality of channels that is non-overlapping with the first subset of the plurality of channels, and wherein the one or more third channels comprises at least one channel from the first subset and at least one channel from the second subset.