In conventional speaker systems, there are solutions for controlling individual speakers or using a control component for managing a group of speakers. However, these conventional solutions rely upon wired connections or, in the case of wireless connections, individual speakers are often controlled by a single device, which is often inflexible and confines media to that selected using the single control device. Further, conventional solutions are often time-consuming and technically complex to set up and manage, often requiring extensive training or expertise to operate.
Conventional media playback solutions are typically found in mobile devices such as mobile phones, smart phones, or other devices. Unfortunately, conventional speaker control devices are often limited connections between a mobile device and a single speaker. Further, the range of actions that can be taken are often limited to the device that is in data communication with a given speaker. If different users with different playlists and mobile devices want to use a given speaker, individual connections often need to be established manually regardless of the type of data communication protocol used.
Current radio standards (e.g., Bluetooth systems, WiFi systems) allow for a receiver to measure signal strength (e.g., of a RF signal) from a source transmitting data and one measure of signal strength includes received signal strength (RSSI). Although there have been studies that utilize RSSI information to understand how well RSSI values correlate to how far away a transmitter and a receiver are from one another, it is also known that it is difficult to utilize RSSI for distance measurements due to a number of factors. One of those factors may include a multipath effect where the RF signal being transmitted reflects off of surrounding objects, such as walls, stationary objects, and moving objects. Another factor may include antenna radiation pattern and polarization of antenna of the transmitter and the antenna of the receiver, both of which may contribute to RSSI error vs. distance. However, close distance measurements perform with higher accuracy than long distance measurement due to an inverse square power drop off (e.g., 1/R2 where R=Distance) in a far field region, and where for a near field region the inverse power drop can be greater than 1/R3 of the RF signal as a function of distance between the transmitter and the receiver. Close proximity sensing can be utilized to improve intuitiveness on how two or more devices interact with one another rather than having a user interact with them. One example is for the user to place one of the devices close to another device, within boundaries of a set threshold RSSI for close proximity detection. Although close proximity sensing via RSSI may have a statistically high level of accuracy and a device may infer that two devices are close to one another, there still exists a small probability that a false alarm can be triggered (i.e., the device is detected as being in close proximity, but actually in reality the device is not in close proximity). In conventional implementations, use cases would require perfect or near perfect inference of close proximity of the devices.
Thus, a need exists for a for speaker control solution without the limitations of conventional techniques and a solution that does not trigger false alarms when a received RSSI value is within a pre-determined RSSI threshold value, but the devices are not within close proximity of one another.
Although the above-described drawings depict various examples of the present application, the present application is not limited by the depicted examples. It is to be understood that, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Also, it is understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale.