US 11,693,619 B2
Media playback system with virtual line-in
Arthur L. Coburn, IV, Lexington, MA (US); and Chris Kotowski, Boston, MA (US)
Assigned to Sonos, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA (US)
Filed by Sonos, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 18, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/378,717.
Application 17/378,717 is a continuation of application No. 16/657,729, filed on Oct. 18, 2019, granted, now 11,068,231.
Application 16/657,729 is a continuation of application No. 16/119,516, filed on Aug. 31, 2018, granted, now 10,452,345, issued on Oct. 22, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/672,020, filed on May 15, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0113931 A1, Apr. 14, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 3/16 (2006.01); G05B 15/02 (2006.01); G06F 3/0482 (2013.01); H04L 12/28 (2006.01); H04N 21/43 (2011.01)
CPC G06F 3/165 (2013.01) [G05B 15/02 (2013.01); G06F 3/0482 (2013.01); G06F 3/162 (2013.01); H04L 12/2805 (2013.01); H04N 21/4307 (2013.01); H04N 21/43076 (2020.08)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising a network microphone device (NMD), a first playback device, and a second playback device,
wherein the NMD is configured to perform first functions comprising:
detecting, via at least one microphone, a voice input;
determining, via a voice assistant, that voice input includes a command to group the first playback device and the second playback device; and
according to the command in the voice input, forming a virtual line-in (VLI) group that includes the first playback device and the second playback device,
wherein the first playback device is configured as a first VLI device in the VLI group to perform second functions comprising:
streaming, via a network interface of the first playback device, audio content from one or more servers;
sending, via the network interface of the first playback device, a VLI domain audio stream representing the streamed audio content to one or more VLI receivers of the VLI group; and
playing back the VLI domain audio stream via at least one speaker, and
wherein the second playback device is configured to perform third functions comprising:
as a VLI receiver in the VLI group, receiving, via a network interface of the second playback device, the VLI domain audio stream representing the streamed audio content;
converting, via one or more processors, the VLI domain audio stream to a native domain audio stream; and
playing back the native domain audio stream in synchrony with playback of the VLI domain audio stream by the first playback device, wherein the second playback device is configurable as a native domain group coordinator to distribute the native domain audio stream to one or more native domain group members.