Granted Patent B2

US 12,506,635 · App. 18/443,526 · Granted Dec 23, 2025

Inventors: William Shoesmith (Arlington, MA); Jason Yore (Santa Barbara, CA); Jeffrey M. Peters (Cambridge, MA)

Assignee: Sonos, Inc.

H04L12/282H04L12/281H04L12/2812H04L12/2814H04W84/12

Abstract

Claims (74)

1 . A playback device comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

connect to a first network device via a first wireless communication link using a first set of configuration parameters for connecting to the first network device;

store the first set of configuration parameters;

before disconnecting from the first network device and prior to causing the playback device to join a networked playback system associated with a second network device:

receive, from the first network device, audio content for playback;

play back the received audio content;

automatically receive, from the first network device, information for joining the networked playback system, the information comprising a second set of configuration parameters for connecting to the second network device associated with the networked playback system, the second set of configuration parameters being different from the first set of configuration parameters; and

add the second set of configuration parameters to a network list stored by the playback device;

disconnect from the first network device; and

while the playback device is positioned within range to wirelessly connect to the second network device:

automatically connect to the second network device via a second wireless communication link using the second set of configuration parameters for connecting to the second network device; and

in response to automatically connecting to the second network device, automatically join the networked playback system among one or more other playback devices that are members of the networked playback system.

2 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the audio content for playback is first audio content for playback, the playback device further comprising program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

after disconnecting from the first network device and while connected to the second network device, receive, from the second network device, second audio content for playback; and

play back the received second audio content.

3 . The playback device of claim 2 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the first network device, the first audio content for playback comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the first network device, streaming media content received by the first network device from a cloud based computing system associated with a streaming media service.

4 . The playback device of claim 3 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the second network device, the second audio content for playback comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

receive, from a computing device that is also connected to the second network device, one or more media item identifiers; and

utilize the one or more media item identifiers to retrieve, from a cloud based computing system associated with a streaming media service, the second audio content for playback.

5 . The playback device of claim 4 , wherein the computing device is the first network device.

6 . The playback device of claim 3 , wherein:

the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the second network device, the second audio content for playback comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from at least one of the one or more other playback devices that is also connected to the second network device, the second audio content for playback in synchrony with the at least one of the one or more other playback devices; and

the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to play back the received second audio content comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to play back the received second audio content in synchrony with the at least one of the one or more other playback devices.

7 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the first network device comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the first network device via a Bluetooth connection.

8 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the playback device further comprises:

a first network interface, wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the first network device via the first wireless communication link comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the first network device via the first network interface; and

a second network interface, wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to automatically connect to the second network device via the second wireless communication link comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the second network device via the second network interface.

9 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the first set of configuration parameters comprises an identifier of the first network device and a security parameter for the first network device.

10 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the network list is a first network list, the playback device further comprising program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

after connecting to the second network device, receive, from at least one of the one or more other playback devices that is connected to the second network device, a second network list including a third set of configuration parameters for connecting to a third network device; and

store the third set of configuration parameters.

11 . The playback device of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

after automatically connecting to the second network device using the second set of configuration parameters, disconnect from the second network device; and

reconnect to the first network device using the stored first set of configuration parameters.

12 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to add the second set of configuration parameters to the network list stored by the playback device comprise program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the playback device to increment a version number of the network list.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a playback device to:

connect to a first network device via a first wireless communication link using a first set of configuration parameters for connecting to the first network device;

store the first set of configuration parameters;

before disconnecting from the first network device and prior to causing the playback device to join a networked playback system associated with a second network device:

receive, from the first network device, audio content for playback;

play back the received audio content;

automatically receive, from the first network device, information for joining the networked playback system, the information comprising a second set of configuration parameters for connecting to the second network device associated with the networked playback system, the second set of configuration parameters being different from the first set of configuration parameters; and

add the second set of configuration parameters to a network list stored by the playback device;

disconnect from the first network device; and

while the playback device is positioned within range to wirelessly connect to the second network device:

automatically connect to the second network device via a second wireless communication link using the second set of configuration parameters for connecting to the second network device; and

in response to automatically connecting to the second network device, automatically join the networked playback system among one or more other playback devices that are members of the networked playback system.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the audio content for playback is first audio content for playback, and wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is also provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

after disconnecting from the first network device and while connected to the second network device, receive, from the second network device, second audio content for playback; and

play back the received second audio content.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the first network device, the first audio content for playback comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the first network device, streaming media content received by the first network device from a cloud based computing system associated with a streaming media service.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the second network device, the second audio content for playback comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to:

receive, from a computing device that is also connected to the second network device, one or more media item identifiers; and

utilize the one or more media item identifiers to retrieve, from a cloud based computing system associated with a streaming media service, the second audio content for playback.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the computing device is the first network device.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:

the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from the second network device, the second audio content for playback comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to receive, from at least one of the one or more other playback devices that is also connected to the second network device, the second audio content for playback in synchrony with the at least one of the one or more other playback devices; and

the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to play back the received second audio content comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to play back the received second audio content in synchrony with the at least one of the one or more other playback devices.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the first network device comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the playback device to connect to the first network device via a Bluetooth connection.

20 . A method carried out by a playback device, the method comprising:

connecting to a first network device via a first wireless communication link using a first set of configuration parameters for connecting to the first network device;

storing the first set of configuration parameters;

before disconnecting from the first network device and prior to causing the playback device to join a networked playback system associated with a second network device:

receiving, from the first network device, audio content for playback;

playing back the received audio content;

automatically receiving, from the first network device, information for joining the networked playback system, the information comprising a second set of configuration parameters for connecting to the second network device associated with the networked playback system, the second set of configuration parameters being different from the first set of configuration parameters; and

adding the second set of configuration parameters to a network list stored by the playback device;

disconnecting from the first network device; and

while the playback device is positioned within range for wirelessly connecting to the second network device:

automatically connecting to the second network device via a second wireless communication link using the second set of configuration parameters for connecting to the second network device; and

in response to automatically connecting to the second network device, automatically joining the networked playback system among one or more other playback devices that are members of the networked playback system.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (107)