Providing media items from playback history

• US 10,055,412 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2017
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Brown, Amber, Triplett, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai, Hanh B
• Application Number:
  US15/613,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20170270112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 442 Days
• Field of Search: 707769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/432 Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312

Abstract

Examples provided herein involve a playback history for media items played by playback zones of a media playback system. An example implementation involves a computing device storing a playback history of media items played by the media playback system, the playback history including, for each of the media items, an indication of a playback zone in which the media item was played, a time at which the media item was played, and metadata of the media item. The implementation also involves receiving a request for media items played during a given time period by the one or more playback zones; and based on the request, transmitting, to the media playback system, a portion of the playback history. Transmitting the portion of the playback history causes an indication of particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period to be displayed.

Claims

1. A method of operating one or more servers of a computing system communicatively coupled to a media playback system having one or more playback zones that include at least one respective playback device, the method comprising:

storing, via the one or more servers of the computing system, a playback history for media items played by the media playback system, wherein the playback history comprises, for each of the media items, (i) an indication of a playback zone in which the media item was played, (ii) a time at which the media item was played, and (iii) metadata associated with the media item;

receiving, via a network interface of the one or more servers, a request for one or more media items played during a given time period by the one or more playback zones;

based on the request for the one or more media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones, transmitting, via the network interface of the one or more servers to the media playback system, a portion of the playback history identifying particular media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones, wherein transmitting the portion of the playback history causes an indication of particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period to be displayed by a graphical display of a controller device configured to control playback by the one or more playback zones, and wherein the controller device is different from the at least one respective playback device of the one or more playback zones;

receiving, via the network interface of the one or more servers from a given playback zone of the media playback system, a request to play back at least one of the particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period, wherein the request indicates uniform resource identifiers representing respective sources of the at least one of the particular media items, and wherein the at least one of the particular media items are in a playback queue on a playback device of the given playback zone; and

in response to the received request to play back, causing, via the network interface of the computing system, one or more playback devices of the given playback zone to play back the at least one of the particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period from the respective sources of the least one of the particular media items represented by the uniform resource identifiers, wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the playback queue.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request for media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones comprises receiving a request for media items (i) played during the given time period in a particular playback zone of the one or more playback zones and (ii) having specified metadata.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request further comprises receiving a request for one or more media items having specified metadata, and wherein the transmitted portion of the playback history further identifies the particular media items having the specified metadata.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the portion of the playback history further causes the particular media items to be added to the playback queue of the given playback zone of the one or more playback zones.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises causing the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone to stream the particular media items from the respective sources of the least one of the particular media items represented by the uniform resource identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback history comprises a zone group configuration for two or more playback zones that was formed during the given time period, and wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises forming the zone group configuration for the two or more playback zones to cause the two or more playback zones to play back the playback queue in synchrony.

7. A computing system comprising one or more servers, the one or more servers comprising:

a network interface;

a processor; and

memory having stored thereon instructions executable by the processor to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising;

storing, via the one or more servers of the computing system, a playback history for media items played by a media playback system, the media playback system comprising one or more playback zones, wherein each of the one or more playback zones comprise at least one respective playback device, and wherein the playback history comprises, for each of the media items, (i) an indication of a playback zone in which the media item was played, (ii) a time at which the media item was played, and (iii) metadata associated with the media item;

receiving, via a network interface of the one or more servers, a request for one or more media items played during a given time period by the one or more playback zones;

based on the request for the one or more media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones, transmitting, via the network interface of the one or more servers to the media playback system, a portion of the playback history identifying particular media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones, wherein transmitting the portion of the playback history causes an indication of particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period to be displayed by a graphical display of a controller device configured to control playback by the one or more playback zones, and wherein the controller device is different from the at least one respective playback device of the one or more playback zones

receiving, via the network interface of the one or more servers from a given playback zone of the media playback system, a request to play back at least one of the particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period, wherein the request indicates uniform resource identifiers representing respective sources of the at least one of the particular media items, and wherein the at least one of the particular media items are in a playback queue on a playback device of the given playback zone; and

in response to the received request to play back, causing, via the network interface of the computing system, one or more playback devices of the given playback zone to play back the at least one of the particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period from the respective sources of the least one of the particular media items represented by the uniform resource identifiers, wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the playback queue.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein receiving the request for media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones further comprises receiving a request for media items (i) played during the given time period in a particular playback zone of the one or more playback zones and (ii) having specified metadata.

9. The computing system of claim 7, wherein receiving the request further comprises receiving a request for one or more media items having specified metadata, and wherein the transmitted portion of the playback history further identifies the particular media items having the specified metadata.

10. The computing system of claim 7, wherein transmitting the portion of the playback history further causes the particular media items to be added to the playback queue of the given playback zone of the one or more playback zones.

11. The computing system of claim 7, wherein one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises causing the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone to stream the particular media items from the respective sources of the least one of the particular media items represented by the uniform resource identifiers.

12. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the playback history comprises a zone group configuration for two or more playback zones that was formed during the given time period, and wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises forming the zone group configuration for the two or more playback zones to cause the two or more playback zones to play back the playback queue in synchrony.

13. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more servers of a computing system to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

storing, via the one or more servers of the computing system, a playback history for media items played by a media playback system, the media playback system comprising one or more playback zones, wherein each of the one or more playback zones comprise at least one respective playback device, and wherein the playback history comprises, for each of the media items, (i) an indication of a playback zone in which the media item was played, (ii) a time at which the media item was played, and (iii) metadata associated with the media item;

receiving, via a network interface of the one or more servers, a request for one or more media items played during a given time period by the one or more playback zones;

based on the request for the one or more media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones, transmitting, via the network interface of the one or more servers to the media playback system, a portion of the playback history identifying particular media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones, wherein transmitting the portion of the playback history causes an indication of particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period to be displayed by a graphical display of a controller device configured to control playback by the one or more playback zones, and wherein the controller device is different from the at least one respective playback device of the one or more playback zones;

receiving, via the network interface of the one or more servers from a given playback zone of the media playback system, a request to play back at least one of the particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period, wherein the request indicates uniform resource identifiers representing respective sources of the at least one of the particular media items, and wherein the at least one of the particular media items are in a playback queue on a playback device of the given playback zone; and

in response to the received request to play back, causing, via the network interface of the computing system, one or more playback devices of the given playback zone to play back the at least one of the particular media items played by the one or more playback zones during the given time period from the respective sources of the least one of the particular media items represented by the uniform resource identifiers, wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the playback queue.

14. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein transmitting the portion of the playback history further causes the particular media items to be added to the playback queue of the given playback zone of the one or more playback zones.

15. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises causing the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone to stream the particular media items from the respective sources of the least one of the particular media items represented by the uniform resource identifiers.

16. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the playback history comprises a zone group configuration for two or more playback zones that was formed during the given time period, and wherein the one or more playback devices of the given playback zone playing back the least one of the particular media items comprises forming the zone group configuration for the two or more playback zones to cause the two or more playback zones to play back the playback queue in synchrony.

17. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein receiving the request for media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones further comprises receiving a request for media items (i) played during the given time period in a particular playback zone of the one or more playback zones and (ii) having specified metadata.

18. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein receiving the request for media items played during the given time period by the one or more playback zones further comprises receiving a request for media items (i) played during the given time period in a particular playback zone of the one or more playback zones and (ii) having specified metadata.