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US 12,506,629 B2Granted
Mixed-mode synchronous playback
AssigneeSonos, Inc.
InventorsHrishikesh Gossain, Cheng Lu, Zhaoyun Huang, Jeffrey Peters
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed herein are playback devices, groups of playback devices, and methods of operating playback devices and groupings thereof to cause the playback devices in a mixed-mode configuration to play audio content in synchrony with each other.
Claims20
A first playback device comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media comprising program instructions executable by the one or more processors such that the first playback device is configured to:
- while operating as a group coordinator for a playback group comprising a first set of one or more group members and a second set of one or more group members, generate a stream of packets comprising audio content and playback timing for the playback group, wherein the playback timing for the playback group is based on (i) transmission times of wireless-access-point-traversing messages exchanged between the first playback device and each group member in the first set of one or more group members and (ii) transmission times of non-wireless-access-point-traversing messages exchanged between the first playback device and each group member in the second set of one or more group members;
- for each group member in the first set of one or more group members and the second set of one or more group members, transmit clock timing information of the first playback device to the group member according to a first network addressing scheme compatible with a wireless network;
- for the first set of one or more group members in the playback group, transmit the stream of packets via a wireless access point according to the first network addressing scheme compatible with the wireless network;
- and
- for the second set of one or more group members in the playback group, transmit the stream of packets according to a second wireless network addressing scheme compatible with the wireless network.
5 more elements
Tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media comprising program instructions executable by one or more processors such that a first playback device is configured to perform functions comprising:
- while operating as a group coordinator for a playback group comprising a first set of one or more group members and a second set of one or more group members, generating a stream of packets comprising audio content and playback timing for the playback group, wherein the playback timing for the playback group is based on (i) transmission times of wireless-access-point-traversing messages exchanged between the first playback device and each group member in the first set of one or more group members and (ii) transmission times of non-wireless-access-point-traversing messages exchanged between the first playback device and each group member in the second set of one or more group members;
- for each group member in the first set of one or more group members and the second set of one or more group members, transmitting clock timing information of the first playback device to the group member according to a first network addressing scheme compatible with a wireless network;
- for the first set of one or more group members in the playback group, transmitting the stream of packets via a wireless access point according to the first network addressing scheme compatible with the wireless network;
- and
- for the second set of one or more group members in the playback group, transmitting the stream of packets according to a second wireless network addressing scheme compatible with the wireless network.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.