Playback updates

• US 10,645,130 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2014
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Corbin, Keith, Kumar, Abhishek, Kuper, Ron, Ramsperger, Gregory Paul, Sarkic, Andrej
• Primary Examiner(s): McCord, Paul C
• Application Number:
  US14/495,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20160088036A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,050 Days
• Field of Search: 700 94
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0263 based upon Internet or website rating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format

Abstract

Embodiments are described herein that involve receiving, by a social-media computing system from a media playback system, playback data indicating media that is being played back by the media playback system, where the playback data comprises an indication of at least one zone of the media playback system in which the media is being played back; and based on the received playback data, updating social-media data in a social-media account, where the updated social-media data comprises an indication of the at least one zone in which the media is currently being played back.

Claims

1. A social-media computing system comprising:

a processor;

a network interface;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to;

receive first playback data indicating first media that is being played back by a media playback system from a media source, wherein the social-media computing system, the media playback system, and the media source are mutually distinct, and wherein the first playback data comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back, wherein the indication of the at least one playback zone indicates a location, in the media playback system, of at least one playback device that is playing back the first media;

based on the received first playback data, generate a playback message in a first social-media account for display on a visual representation of the first social-media account, wherein the playback message comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back;

causing a computing device associated with a second social-media account to display the playback message on a visual representation of the second social-media account, wherein the computing device associated with the second social-media account is in communication with neither the media playback system nor the media source;

receive second playback data indicating second media that is being played back by the media playback system from the media source, wherein the second playback data comprises i) an indication of the second media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the second media is being played back; and

based on the received second playback data, causing the computing device associated with the second social-media account to replace the identification of the first media being played back with the identification of the second media being played back.

2. The social-media computing system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:

based on the received first playback data indicating the first media, determine one or more advertisements relevant to the first social-media account; and

transmit, to a computing device affiliated with the first social-media account, the one or more advertisements to facilitate displaying the advertisement on a visual representation of the first social-media account.

3. The social-media computing system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:

based on the received second playback data, replace the indication of the at least one playback zone in which the first media is being played back with an updated indication of the at least one playback zone in which the second media is being played back.

4. The social-media computing system of claim 1, wherein the first social-media account is linked to the media playback system.

5. The social-media computing system of claim 1, wherein the first playback data comprises a timestamp corresponding to the played back first media, and wherein the playback message in the second social-media account further comprises an indication of the timestamp.

6. The social-media computing system of claim 1, wherein the first social-media account comprises a subscriber profile, and wherein the social-media computing system further comprises program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:

based on the received first playback data, update the subscriber profile; and

provide data representing the updated subscriber profile to facilitate displaying a visual representation of the subscriber profile.

7. The social-media computing system of claim 6, wherein updating the subscriber profile comprises updating a profile picture.

8. The social-media computing system of claim 1, wherein the playback message further comprises an indication of a playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone.

9. The social-media computing system of claim 8, wherein the indication of the playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone comprises an identification of at least one media item from the playback queue.

10. The social-media computing system of claim 9, wherein the at least one media item from the playback queue comprises one of a media item that has yet to be played back or a media item that has previously been played back.

11. The social-media computing system of claim 8, wherein the first social-media account is linked with the media playback system, and wherein the indication of the playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone comprises an indication of a social-media playback queue corresponding to the first social-media account.

12. The social-media computing system of claim 11, wherein the indication of the social-media playback queue comprises a selectable link operable to direct the computing device associated with the second social-media account to the social-media playback queue.

19. The social-media computing system of claim 1, wherein the second social-media account is linked to neither the media playback system nor the media source.

20. The social-media computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing device associated with the second social-media account lacks credentials for accessing both the media playback system and the media source.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, by a social-media computing system from a media playback system, first playback data indicating first media that is being played back by the media playback system from a media source, wherein the social-media computing system, the media playback system, and the media source are mutually distinct, and wherein the first playback data comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of at least one playback back zone of the media playback system in which the media is being played back, wherein the indication of the at least one playback zone indicates a location, in the media playback system, of at least one playback device that is playing back the media;

based on the received first playback data, generate a playback message in a first social-media account for display on a visual representation of the first social-media account, wherein the playback message comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back;

causing a computing device associated with a second social-media account to display the playback message on a visual representation of the second social-media account, wherein the computing device associated with the second social-media account is in communication with neither the media playback system nor the media source;

receiving second playback data indicating second media that is being played back by the media playback system from the media source, wherein the second playback data comprises i) an identification of the second media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the second media is being played back; and

based on the received second playback data, causing the computing device associated with the second social-media account to replace the identification of the first media being played back with the identification of the second media being played back.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

based on the received first playback data indicating the first media, determining one or more advertisements relevant to the first social-media account; and

transmitting, to a computing device affiliated with the first social-media account, the one or more advertisements to facilitate displaying the advertisement on a visual representation of the first social-media account.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

based on the received second playback data, replacing the indication of the at least one playback zone in which the first media is being played back with an updated indication of the at least one playback zone in which the second media is being played back.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the first social-media account comprises a subscriber profile, the method further comprising:

based on the received first playback data, updating the subscriber profile, wherein updating the subscriber profile comprises updating a profile picture; and

providing data representing the updated subscriber profile to facilitate displaying a visual representation of the subscriber profile.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the playback message further comprises an indication of a playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a social-media computing system to perform functions comprising:

receiving, from a media playback system, first playback data indicating first media that is being played back by the media playback system from a media source, wherein the social-media computing system, the media playback system, and the media source are mutually distinct, and wherein the first playback data comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the media is being played back, wherein the indication of the at least one playback zone indicates a location, in the media playback system, of at least one playback device that is playing back the media;

based on the received first playback data, generate a playback message in a first social-media account for display on a visual representation of the first social-media account, wherein the playback message comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back;

causing a computing device associated with a second social-media account to display the playback message on a visual representation of the second social-media account, wherein the computing device associated with the second social-media account is in communication with neither the media playback system nor the media source;

receiving second playback data indicating second media that is being played back by the media playback system from the media source, wherein the second playback data comprises i) an identification of the second media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the second media is being played back; and

based on the received second playback data, causing the computing device associated with the second social-media account to replace the identification of the first media being played back with the identification of the second media being played back.