Granted Patent B2

US 12,279,096 · App. 18/313,859 · Granted Apr 15, 2025

Inventors: Sein Woo (Somerville, MA); John G. Tolomei (Renton, WA)

Assignee: Sonos, Inc.

H04R3/12G06F3/165G10L15/22G10L15/28H04R27/00G10L2015/223H04R2227/003H04R2227/005

Abstract

Claims (68)

1. A media playback system comprising:

one or more processors;

a first network microphone device (NMD);

a second NMD; and

one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the media playback system to perform operations comprising:

associating the first NMD with a first voice assistant service (VAS) such that the first NMD includes a first wake-word engine configured to detect a first wake word associated with the first VAS;

associating the second NMD with a second VAS such that the second NMD includes a second wake-word engine configured to detect a second wake word associated with the second VAS;

detecting a first voice input via the first NMD;

based on the first voice input, playing back first media content via the first NMD;

while playing back the first media content via the first NMD, detecting a second voice input via the second NMD;

based on the second voice input, playing back second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, and

transmitting a control state variable associated with at least the first NMD and the first VAS.

2. The media playback system of claim 1 , wherein detecting the first voice input comprises:

detecting the first wake word;

after detecting the first wake word, transmitting a voice utterance to one or more first remote computing devices associated with the first VAS; and

receiving, from the one or more first remote computing devices, the first media content.

3. The media playback system of claim 1 , wherein detecting the second voice input further comprises:

detecting the second wake word;

after detecting the second wake word, transmitting a voice utterance to one or more second remote computing devices associated with the second VAS; and

receiving, from the one or more second remote computing devices, the second media content.

4. The media playback system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: before playing back second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, forming a synchrony group including the first NMD and the second NMD.

5. The media playback system of claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a third voice input via the first NMD or the second NMD, and based on the third voice input, forming the synchrony group.

6. The media playback system of claim 1 , wherein the second wake word is different from the first wake word.

7. The media playback system of claim 1 , wherein while playing back the second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, the operations further comprise: receiving a fourth voice input via the first NMD, and based on the fourth voice input, lowering a playback volume of the second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD.

8. A method to be performed by a media playback system comprising at least a first network microphone device (NMD) and a second NMD, the method comprising:

associating the first NMD with a first voice assistant service (VAS) such that the first NMD includes a first wake word engine configured to detect a first wake word associated with the first VAS;

associating the second NMD with a second VAS such that the second NMD includes a second wake-word engine configured to detect a second wake word associated with the second VAS;

detecting a first voice input via the first NMD;

based on the first voice input, playing back first media content via the first NMD;

while playing back the first media content via the first NMD, detecting a second voice input via the second NMD;

based on the second voice input, playing back second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, and

transmitting a control state variable associated with at least the first NMD and the second NMD to one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VAS.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting the first voice input via the first NMD comprises:

detecting the first wake word;

after detecting the first wake word, transmitting a voice utterance to one or more first remote computing devices associated with the first VAS; and

receiving, from the one or more first remote computing devices, the first media content.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein detecting the second voice input comprises:

detecting the second wake word;

after detecting the second wake word, transmitting a voice utterance to one or more second remote computing devices associated with the second VAS; and

receiving, from the one or more second remote computing devices, the second media content.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

before playing back the second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, forming a synchrony group including the first NMD and the second NMD.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving a third voice input via the first NMD or the second NMD, and based on the third voice input, forming the synchrony group.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second wake word is different from the first wake word.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

while playing back second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, receiving a fourth voice input via the first NMD, and based on the fourth voice input, lowering a playback volume of the second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD.

15. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that are executable by one or more processors to cause a media playback system to perform functions, the media playback system comprising at least a first network microphone device (NMD) and a second NMD, the functions comprising:

associating the first NMD with a first voice assistant service (VAS) such that the first NMD includes a first wake-word engine configured to detect a first wake word associated with the first VAS;

associating the second NMD with a second VAS such that the second NMD includes a second wake-word engine configured to detect a second wake word associated with the second VAS;

detecting a first voice input via the first NMD;

based on the first voice input, playing back a first media content via the first NMD;

while playing back the first media content via the first NMD, detecting a second voice input via the second NMD;

based on the second voice input, playing back a second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, and

transmitting a control state variable associated with at least the first NMD and the second NMD to one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VAS.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein detecting the first voice input via the first NMD comprises:

detecting the first wake word;

transmitting a voice utterance to one or more first remote computing devices associated with the first VAS; and

receiving, from the one or more first remote computing devices, the first media content.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein detecting the second voice input comprises:

detecting the second wake word;

transmitting a voice utterance to one or more second remote computing devices associated with the second VAS; and

receiving, from the one or more second remote computing devices, the second media content.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 17 , wherein the functions further comprise:

receiving a third voice input via the first NMD or the second NMD, and based on the third voice input, forming a synchrony group including the first NMD and the second NMD.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the second wake word is different from the first wake word.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the functions further comprise:

while playing back second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD in synchrony with one another, receiving a fourth voice input via the first NMD, and based on the fourth voice input, lowering a playback volume of the second media content via both the first NMD and the second NMD.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (400)