Zone Grouping

• US 20160026429A1
• Filed: 07/23/2014
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Triplett, Mark W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,671,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F

Abstract

An example method involves causing a control device to display a graphical user interface that comprises an indication of a first zone of a media playback system, wherein the media playback system comprises the first zone and a second zone, and wherein the graphical user interface does not comprise an indication of the second zone. The example method further involves detecting, by the control device, an input that indicates a command to cause the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and play back a target media in synchrony with the second zone. The method further comprises, based on the detected input, causing the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and play back the target media in synchrony with the second zone.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing a control device to display a graphical user interface that comprises an indication of a first zone of a media playback system, wherein the media playback system comprises the first zone and a second zone, and wherein the graphical user interface does not comprise an indication of the second zone;

detecting, by the control device, an input that indicates a command to cause (i) the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and (ii) the first zone and the second zone to play back a target media in synchrony; and

based on the detected input, causing (i) the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and (ii) the first zone and the second zone to play back the target media in synchrony.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input further indicates a command to detect an active zone that is playing the target media, the method further comprising:

based on the detected input, detecting the active zone that is playing the target media, wherein the active zone is the second zone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is a first graphical user interface and wherein the detected input is a second input, the method further comprising:

before detecting the second input, detecting, by the control device, a first input that indicates a command to cause a second graphical user interface to display an indication of the zone group; and

based on the detected first input, causing the second graphical user interface to display an indication of the zone group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected input is a second input, the method further comprising:

before detecting the second input, detecting, by the control device, a first input that indicates a command to cause the control device to indicate a potential zone for the first zone to join;

based on the detected first input, determining the potential zone to indicate, wherein the determined potential zone includes the second zone; and

based on the detected first input, providing an indication of the determined potential zone.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first input is a continuous touch-and-hold of the graphical user interface for at least a predetermined period of time, and the second input is a release of the graphical user interface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the graphical user interface is a first graphical user interface, wherein the determined potential zone is playing a potential media, and wherein providing an indication of the determined potential zone comprises at least one of (a) causing an indication of the determined potential zone to be displayed via a second graphical user interface, (b) causing an indication of the potential media to be displayed via the second graphical user interface, (c) providing an audio indication of the determined potential zone, (d) providing an audio indication of the potential media, and (e) providing an audio sample of the potential media.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the potential zone to indicate based on the detected first input comprises determining a sequence of potential zones to indicate, wherein at least one zone in the sequence of potential zones includes the second zone.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining a sequence of potential zones to indicate comprises at least one of (a) detecting signal strengths corresponding to respective zones and determining the sequence based on the detected signal strengths of the respective zones, (b) determining most recent user interaction times of respective zones and determining the sequence based on the determined most recent user interaction times of the respective zones, (c) determining a random order for the sequence, (d) determining the sequence based on alphabetical order of a zone name for each respective zone, and (e) determining the sequence based on numerical order of a zone number for each respective zone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone group is a second zone group, and wherein, before detecting the input indicating the command, the first zone is within a first zone group that comprises a third zone, the method further comprising:

based on the detected input, causing the third zone to play back the target media in synchrony with the first and second zones.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone group is a second zone group and the input is a second input, the method further comprising:

before detecting the second input, detecting, by the control device, a first input that indicates a command to cause a second graphical user interface to display a list of the zones within a first zone group, wherein the first zone group comprises the first zone and a third zone; and

based on the detected first input, causing the second graphical user interface to display a list of the zones within the first zone group.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the media playback system comprises a plurality of zones, wherein causing the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and play back the target media in synchrony with the second zone further comprises causing the first zone to form a zone group with all zones in the plurality of zones and play back the target media in synchrony with all zones in the plurality of zones.

12. A method comprising:

causing a control device to display a first graphical user interface that comprises an indication of a first zone of a media playback system, wherein the media playback system comprises the first zone and a second zone, and wherein the first graphical user interface does not comprise an indication of the second zone;

detecting, by the control device, a first input that indicates a command to cause the control device to display a second graphical user interface that comprises a list of potential zones for the first zone to join, wherein at least one of the potential zones includes the second zone;

based on the detected first input, causing the second graphical user interface to display the list of potential zones for the first zone to join, wherein at least one of the potential zones includes the second zone;

detecting, by the control device, a second input that indicates a command to cause (i) the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and (ii) the first zone and the second zone to play back a target media in synchrony; and

based on the detected second input, causing (i) the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and (ii) the first zone and the second zone to play back the target media in synchrony.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first zone is playing a first media and the second zone is playing a second media, and wherein the target media is one of the first zone media and the second zone media.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the media playback system comprises a plurality of zones, and wherein the list of potential zones includes every zone in the plurality of zones that is playing back media from a respective playback queue.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the media playback system comprises a plurality of zones, and wherein the list of potential zones includes every zone in the plurality of zones that has media in a respective playback queue.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the media playback system comprises a plurality of zones, and wherein the list of potential zones includes every zone in the plurality of zones.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the zone group is a second zone group, wherein before detecting the first input indicating the command, the first zone is within a first zone group that comprises a third zone, and wherein the second input further indicates a command to cause (i) the third zone to form the second zone group with the first and second zones and (ii) the third zone to play back the target media in synchrony with the first and second zones, the method further comprising:

based on the detected second input, causing (i) the third zone to form the second zone group with the first and second zones, and (ii) the third zone to play back the target media in synchrony with the first and second zones.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the zone group is a second zone group, wherein before detecting the first input indicating the command, the first zone is within a first zone group that comprises a third zone, and wherein the first input further indicates a command to cause the second graphical user interface to display a list of the zones within the first zone group, the method further comprising:

based on the detected first input, causing the second graphical user interface to display the list of the zones within the first zone group.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the media playback system comprises a plurality of zones, wherein causing the first zone to form a zone group with at least the second zone further comprises causing the first zone to form a zone group with every zone in the plurality of zones, and wherein causing the formed zone group to play back the target media in synchrony further comprises causing the formed zone group of every zone in the plurality of zones to play back the target media in synchrony.

20. A control device comprising:

a processor;

a network interface;

a graphical user 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 control device to perform functions comprising;

causing the control device to display the graphical user interface that comprises an indication of a first zone of a media playback system, wherein the media playback system comprises the first zone and a second zone, and wherein the graphical user interface does not comprise an indication of the second zone;

detecting, by the control device, an input that indicates a command to cause (i) the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and (ii) the first zone and the second zone to play back a target media in synchrony; and

based on the detected input, causing (i) the first zone to form a zone group with the second zone and (ii) the first zone and the second zone to play back the target media in synchrony.