Granted Patent B2

US 12,517,695 · App. 18/431,605 · Granted Jan 6, 2026

Inventors: Paul Bates (Santa Barbara, CA); Abhishek Kumar (Hayward, CA); Jonathan Lang (Santa Barbara, CA)

Assignee: Sonos, Inc.

G06F3/165G06F3/0482G06F3/162G06F9/5038H04L67/10H04N21/26258H04N21/43615H04N21/4396H04N21/458H04N21/47217H04N21/8106H04N21/8113H04R27/00G11B2020/10972H04R2227/005

Abstract

Claims (34)

1 . A playback device comprising:

at least one communication interface;

at least one microphone;

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 playback device is configured to:

receive, via the at least one communication interface, first audio content to be played back by the playback device;

play back the first audio content while a second playback device is playing back second audio content different than the first audio content;

while playing back the first audio content, receive, via the at least one microphone, third audio content to be played back by the playback device;

after receiving the third audio content: (i) suspend playback of the first audio content; (ii) play back the third audio content; and (iii) cause the second playback device to suspend playback of the second audio content and play back the third audio content while the playback device is playing the third audio content; and

after playing back the second audio content, resume playing back the first audio content.

2 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the playback device is configured to resume playing back the first audio content comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the playback device is configured to resume playing back the first audio content by the playback device and cause the second playback device to resume playing back the second audio content.

3 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the third audio content has a limited playback time.

4 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the first audio content comprises one or more media items in a playback queue of the playback device.

5 . The playback device of claim 4 , wherein the third audio content is not included in the playback queue.

6 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the first audio content comprises streaming content.

7 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the third audio content comprises a voice input.

8 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a playback device to perform functions comprising:

receiving, via at least one communication interface of the playback device, first audio content to be played back by the playback device;

playing back the first audio content while a second playback device is playing back second audio content different than the first audio content;

while playing back the first audio content, receiving, via at least one microphone of the playback device, third audio content to be played back by the playback device;

after receiving the third audio content: (i) suspending playback of the first audio content; (ii) playing back the third audio content; and (iii) causing the second playback device to suspend playback of the second audio content and play back the third audio content while the playback device is playing the third audio content; and

after playing back the second audio content, resuming playing back the first audio content.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein resuming playing back the first audio content comprises resuming playing back of the first audio content by the playback device and causing the second playback device to resume playing back the second audio content.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the third audio content has a limited playback time.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first audio content comprises one or more media items in a playback queue of the playback device.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the third audio content is not included in the playback queue.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first audio content comprises streaming content.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the third audio content comprises a voice input.

15 . A method to be performed by a playback device, the method comprising:

receiving, via at least one communication interface of the playback device, first audio content to be played back by the playback device;

playing back the first audio content while a second playback device is playing back second audio content different than the first audio content;

while playing back the first audio content, receiving, via at least one microphone of the playback device, third audio content to be played back by the playback device;

after receiving the third audio content: (i) suspending playback of the first audio content; (ii) playing back the third audio content; and (iii) causing the second playback device to suspend playback of the second audio content and play back the third audio content while the playback device is playing the third audio content; and

after playing back the second audio content, resuming playing back the first audio content.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (6)

References Cited (177)