Zone group control

• US 10,455,278 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2018
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Coburn, IV, Arthur L., Liu, Sherwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hemant S
• Application Number:
  US15/925,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20180352291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401- 1416, 700 94
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format

Abstract

Method and systems are provided for detecting and handling, by a controller device, a loss of control of a playback queue of a zone group of a media playback system. Detection of loss of control of the playback queue of the zone group may involve one or more of determining (i) that the zone group no longer exists, (ii) that a queue identifier is no longer assigned to a playback queue of the zone group, and (iii) that the controller device is no longer in communication with the media playback system, among others. Handling of the loss of control may involve one or more of (i) unsubscribing from messages relating to the zone group, (ii) ceasing to send commands to the zone group, and (iii) updating a user interface to indicate that the controller device no longer has control of the playback queue of the zone group, among others.

Claims

1. A playback device of a media playback system, the playback device comprising:

a network interface;

one or more processors;

data storage storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the playback device to perform a method comprising;

receiving, via the network interface from a native controller executing on a first mobile device, an instruction to add one or more audio tracks to a queue in the data storage, wherein, in a first mode associated with the native controller, the playback device is configured to play back from the queue;

while the one or more audio tracks are in the queue, receiving, via the network interface from a controller of a streaming media service, an instruction to play back a playlist of one or more audio tracks from one or more servers of the streaming media service, wherein the controller of the streaming media service is executing on (a) the first mobile device or (b) a second mobile device;

in response to the instruction to play back the playlist, (i) configuring the playback device to play back in a second mode associated with the controller of the streaming media service, wherein, in the second mode, the queue is not in use and (ii) playing back the playlist via one or more speakers;

while playing back a particular audio track of the playlist via the one or more speakers, detecting a loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service; and

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, configuring the playback device to play back in the first mode.

2. The playback device of claim 1, wherein detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service comprises detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device.

3. The playback device of claim 2, wherein the playback device is connected to a local area network, and wherein detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device comprises detecting a loss in connectivity between the controller of the streaming media service and the local area network.

4. The playback device of claim 2, wherein detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device comprises detecting a loss in connectivity between the playback device and a local area network.

5. The playback device of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, playing back the particular audio track until completion, wherein playing back the particular audio track until completion comprises streaming data representing the particular audio track from a network location at one or more remote servers of the streaming media service.

6. The playback device of claim 1, wherein the playback device is a first playback device in a synchrony group with one or more second playback devices of the media playback system, and wherein detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service comprises receiving, via the network interface, an instruction to ungroup all playback devices from the synchrony group.

7. The playback device of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, stopping playback of the particular audio track.

8. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a one or more processors to cause a playback device of a media playback system to perform a method comprising:

receiving, via a network interface from a native controller executing on a first mobile device, an instruction to add one or more audio tracks to a queue in a data storage of the playback device, wherein, in a first mode associated with the native controller, the playback device is configured to play back from the queue;

while the one or more audio tracks are in the queue, receiving, via the network interface from a controller of a streaming media service, an instruction to play back a playlist of one or more audio tracks from one or more servers of the streaming media service, wherein the controller of the streaming media service is executing on (a) the first mobile device or (b) a second mobile device;

in response to the instruction to play back the playlist, (i) configuring the playback device to play back in a second mode associated with the controller of the streaming media service, wherein, in the second mode, the queue is not in use and (ii) playing back the playlist via one or more speakers;

while playing back a particular audio track of the playlist via the one or more speakers, detecting a loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service; and

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, configuring the playback device to play back in the first mode.

9. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service comprises detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device.

10. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the playback device is connected to a local area network, and wherein detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device comprises detecting a loss in connectivity between the controller of the streaming media service and the local area network.

11. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device comprises detecting a loss in connectivity between the playback device and a local area network.

12. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, playing back the particular audio track until completion, wherein playing back the particular audio track until completion comprises streaming data representing the particular audio track from a network location at one or more remote servers of the streaming media service.

13. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the playback device is a first playback device in a synchrony group with one or more second playback devices of the media playback system, and wherein detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service comprises receiving, via the network interface, an instruction to ungroup all playback devices from the synchrony group.

14. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, stopping playback of the particular audio track.

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

receiving, via a network interface from a native controller executing on a first mobile device, an instruction to add one or more audio tracks to a queue in a data storage of the playback device, wherein, in a first mode associated with the native controller, the playback device is configured to play back from the queue;

while the one or more audio tracks are in the queue, receiving, via the network interface from a controller of a streaming media service, an instruction to play back a playlist of one or more audio tracks from one or more servers of the streaming media service, wherein the controller of the streaming media service is executing on (a) the first mobile device or (b) a second mobile device;

in response to the instruction to play back the playlist, (i) configuring the playback device to play back in a second mode associated with the controller of the streaming media service, wherein, in the second mode, the queue is not in use and (ii) playing back the playlist via one or more speakers;

while playing back a particular audio track of the playlist via the one or more speakers, detecting a loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service; and

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, configuring the playback device to play back in the first mode.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service comprises detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the playback device is connected to a local area network, and wherein detecting that the controller of the streaming media service has lost connectivity to the playback device comprises detecting a loss in connectivity between the controller of the streaming media service and the local area network.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, playing back the particular audio track until completion, wherein playing back the particular audio track until completion comprises streaming data representing the particular audio track from a network location at one or more remote servers of the streaming media service.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the playback device is a first playback device in a synchrony group with one or more second playback devices of the media playback system, and wherein detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service comprises receiving, via the network interface, an instruction to ungroup all playback devices from the synchrony group.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to detecting the loss of control of the playback device by the controller of the streaming media service, stopping playback of the particular audio track.