Policies for Media Playback

• US 20140331133A1
• Filed: 07/14/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Coburn, Arthur IV, Kuper, Ron, Lin, Ted M., Liu, Sherwin, Vega, Luis
• Granted Patent: US 10,462,505 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/102 Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers access by moving the head G11B3/08, G11B5/54, G11B7/085, G11B21/022; by moving the record carrier G11B15/005, G11B17/005, by driving of both record carrier and head G11B15/1816
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• 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 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• 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 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format

Abstract

Embodiments are described herein that help allow for applying policies during playback of media. In one aspect, a method is provided that involves a computing device of a media playback system (a) receiving a request to playback one or more media items that are from a playlist associated with a controller application, (b) applying to the one or more media items one or more playback policies that are associated with the controller application, where a given playback policy restricts at least one aspect of playback of at least one of the one or more media items, and (c) causing playback of the one or more media items in accordance with the one or more playback policies.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device of a media playback system, a request to playback one or more media items that are from a playlist associated with a controller application;

applying to the one or more media items one or more playback policies that are associated with the controller application, wherein a given playback policy restricts at least one aspect of playback of at least one of the one or more media items; and

causing playback of the one or more media items in accordance with the one or more playback policies.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a playback device, and wherein causing playback of the one or more media items in accordance with the one or more playback policies comprises causing playback of the one or more media items, by the playback device, in accordance with the one or more playback policies.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before applying the one or more playback policies, for at least one of the one or more media items, determining at least one media-item characteristic; and

based on the at least one media-item characteristic, applying one or more media-item playback policies to the at least one media item, wherein the one or more media-item playback policies restricts at least one aspect of playback of the at least one media item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one media-item characteristic comprises at least one of an artist name, an album name, or a record label.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more media items have a predetermined playback order, and wherein one of the one or more playback policies prevents modifying the predetermined playback order.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more playback policies prevent at least one of (i) skipping playback of one of the one or more media items, (ii) replaying a previously played media item of the one or more media items, (iii) seeking forward during playback of one of the one or more media items, (iv) seeking backward during playback of one of the one or more media items, or (v) replaying a currently playing media item of the one or more media items.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein causing playback of the one or more media items in accordance with the one or more playback policies comprises disabling one or more playback options.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more playback options comprise at least one of a shuffle option, a repeat option, a skip forward option, a skip backwards option, a seek forward option, or a seek backward option.

9. A computing device comprising:

a network interface configured to communicatively couple the computing device to a media playback system;

a graphical display;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by at least one processor to cause the computing device to;

receive a request to playback one or more media items that are from a playlist associated with a controller application;

apply to the one or more media items one or more playback policies that are associated with the controller application, wherein a given playback policy restricts at least one aspect of playback of at least one of the one or more media items; and

cause playback of the one or more media items in accordance with the one or more playback policies.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the one or more media items comprise a first media item and a second media item, and wherein one of the one or more playback policies comprises a display policy that prevents display of playback information related to the second media item when the first media item is played back.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein causing playback of the one or more media items in accordance with the one or more playback policies comprises generating an empty display parameter set corresponding to the second media item.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device of a media playback system to cause the computing device to perform functions, the functions comprising:

causing playback of a media item from a playlist associated with a controller application;

during playback of the media item, detecting a playback event; and

managing the detected playback event in accordance with one or more playback-event policies that are associated with the controller application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the playback event comprises a playback error, and wherein managing the detected playback event in accordance with the one or more playback-event policies comprises stopping playback of the media item and not playing a new media item

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the playback event comprises a playback error, and wherein managing the playback event in accordance with the one or more playback-event policies comprises obtaining at least an un-played portion of the media item.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein causing playback of the media item comprises buffering at least a portion of the media item.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the playback event comprises a playback paused state, and wherein managing the playback event in accordance with the one or more playback-event policies comprises storing in an audio cache the buffered portion of the media item.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the audio cache comprises a predetermined size, and wherein managing the playback event in accordance with the one or more playback-event policies comprises:

determining that the buffered portion of the media item is less than or equal to the predetermined size of the audio cache; and

based on determining that the buffered portion of the media item is less than or equal to the predetermined size of the audio cache, storing in the audio cache the buffered portion of the media item.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein causing playback of the media item comprises determining a media item locator of the media item.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the playback event comprises a playback paused state, and wherein managing the playback event in accordance with the one or more playback-event policies comprises re-determining the media item locator of the media item.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the media item is a last media item in a playback queue, wherein the playback event comprises an end of the playback queue, and wherein managing the playback event in accordance with the one or more playback-event policies comprises stopping playback of the playback queue and emptying the playback queue.