Resolving Inconsistent Queues

• US 20180349390A1
• Filed: 02/19/2018
• Published: 12/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Coburn, IV, Arthur L.
• Granted Patent: US 10,572,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/00 Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures digital input from, or digital output to record carriers, e.g. to disk storage units, G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/60 of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• 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 21/4583 Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programs in the same time slot
• 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 described herein may involve inconsistent queues. An example implementation may involve a computing device receiving a message indicating a playback queue corresponding to a playback zone of a media playback system. The playback queue may include first media items queued in a first order for playback by the playback zone. The computing device determines that a playlist at the computing device is to be queued for playback in the playback queue corresponding to the playback zone, the playlist including second media items in a second order. The computing device determines that the first media items in the first order is different from the second media items in the second order, and based on the determination, causes the first media items in the playback queue to be replaced with the second media items in the playlist.

Claims

1. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a mobile device to perform a method comprising:

receiving, on a touch-screen graphical display within a control interface of a first controller application, input data indicating selection of one or more particular audio tracks for playback by one or more particular playback devices;

transmitting, via a network interface to a computing system, an instruction to create a playback queue that includes the one or more particular audio tracks;

receiving, via the network interface in response to the instruction to create the playback queue, a first queue update message data indicating a first version number of the playback queue;

storing, in a queue version state variable indicating the most recent version of the playback queue, the first version number of the playback queue;

while the first controller application is controlling the playback queue, receiving, via the network interface from the computing system, a second queue update message data indicating a second version number of the playback queue;

detecting a queue consistency error based on the second version number of the playback queue not matching the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable; and

in response to detecting the queue consistency error, transmitting, via a network interface to the computing system, an instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks.

2. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the input data indicating selection of one or more audio tracks for playback by one or more particular playback devices comprises receiving input data indicating selection of a playlist that includes the one or more audio tracks.

3. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises subscribing to queue update messages from the computing system while the first controller application is controlling the playback queue.

4. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more playback devices are playing a particular audio track of the one or more particular audio tracks, and wherein transmitting the instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks comprises transmitting the instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks while the one or more playback devices continue playing the particular audio track of the one or more particular audio tracks.

5. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein controlling the playback queue comprises:

displaying, on the touch-screen graphical display within the control interface of the first controller application, (i) a graphical representation of the playback queue and (ii) one or more playback controls to control playback of the playback queue by the one or more particular playback devices.

6. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the control interface on the touch-screen graphical display, input data indicating a command to modify the playback queue;

transmitting, via the network interface to the computing system, (i) an instruction to modify the playback queue (ii) the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable queue;

receiving, via the network interface in response to the instruction to create the playback queue, a first queue update message data indicating a third version number of the playback queue; and

storing, in the queue version state variable indicating the most recent version of the playback queue, the third version number of the playback queue.

7. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the control interface on the touch-screen graphical display, input data indicating a command to modify the playback queue; and

transmitting, via the network interface to the computing system, (i) an instruction to modify the playback queue (ii) the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable queue, and wherein the mobile device receives the second queue update message data indicating a second version number of the playback queue in response to the instruction to modify the playback queue.

8. A method comprising:

a mobile device receiving, on a touch-screen graphical display within a control interface of a first controller application, input data indicating selection of one or more particular audio tracks for playback by one or more particular playback devices;

the mobile device transmitting, via a network interface to a computing system, an instruction to create a playback queue that includes the one or more particular audio tracks;

the mobile device receiving, via the network interface in response to the instruction to create the playback queue, a first queue update message data indicating a first version number of the playback queue;

the mobile device storing, in a queue version state variable indicating the most recent version of the playback queue, the first version number of the playback queue;

while the first controller application is controlling the playback queue, the mobile device receiving, via the network interface from the computing system, a second queue update message data indicating a second version number of the playback queue;

the mobile device detecting a queue consistency error based on the second version number of the playback queue not matching the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable; and

in response to detecting the queue consistency error, the mobile device transmitting, via a network interface to the computing system, an instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the input data indicating selection of one or more audio tracks for playback by one or more particular playback devices comprises receiving input data indicating selection of a playlist that includes the one or more audio tracks.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises subscribing to queue update messages from the computing system while the first controller application is controlling the playback queue.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more playback devices are playing a particular audio track of the one or more particular audio tracks, and wherein transmitting the instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks comprises transmitting the instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks while the one or more playback devices continue playing the particular audio track of the one or more particular audio tracks.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein controlling the playback queue comprises:

displaying, on the touch-screen graphical display within the control interface of the first controller application, (i) a graphical representation of the playback queue and (ii) one or more playback controls to control playback of the playback queue by the one or more particular playback devices.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the control interface on the touch-screen graphical display, input data indicating a command to modify the playback queue;

transmitting, via the network interface to the computing system, (i) an instruction to modify the playback queue (ii) the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable queue;

receiving, via the network interface in response to the instruction to create the playback queue, a first queue update message data indicating a third version number of the playback queue; and

storing, in the queue version state variable indicating the most recent version of the playback queue, the third version number of the playback queue.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the control interface on the touch-screen graphical display, input data indicating a command to modify the playback queue; and

transmitting, via the network interface to the computing system, (i) an instruction to modify the playback queue (ii) the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable queue, and wherein the mobile device receives the second queue update message data indicating a second version number of the playback queue in response to the instruction to modify the playback queue.

15. A mobile device comprising:

a network interface;

a touch-screen graphical display;

one or more processors; and

data storage having stored therein instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the mobile device to perform a method comprising;

receiving, on the touch-screen graphical display within a control interface of a first controller application, input data indicating selection of one or more particular audio tracks for playback by one or more particular playback devices;

transmitting, via the network interface to a computing system, an instruction to create a playback queue that includes the one or more particular audio tracks;

receiving, via the network interface in response to the instruction to create the playback queue, a first queue update message data indicating a first version number of the playback queue;

storing, in a queue version state variable indicating the most recent version of the playback queue, the first version number of the playback queue;

while the first controller application is controlling the playback queue, receiving, via the network interface from the computing system, a second queue update message data indicating a second version number of the playback queue;

detecting a queue consistency error based on the second version number of the playback queue not matching the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable; and

in response to detecting the queue consistency error, transmitting, via a network interface to the computing system, an instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein receiving the input data indicating selection of one or more audio tracks for playback by one or more particular playback devices comprises receiving input data indicating selection of a playlist that includes the one or more audio tracks.

17. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises subscribing to queue update messages from the computing system while the first controller application is controlling the playback queue.

18. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the one or more playback devices are playing a particular audio track of the one or more particular audio tracks, and wherein transmitting the instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks comprises transmitting the instruction to replace all tracks in the playback queue with the one or more particular audio tracks while the one or more playback devices continue playing the particular audio track of the one or more particular audio tracks.

19. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein controlling the playback queue comprises:

displaying, on the touch-screen graphical display within the control interface of the first controller application, (i) a graphical representation of the playback queue and (ii) one or more playback controls to control playback of the playback queue by the one or more particular playback devices.

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

receiving, via the control interface on the touch-screen graphical display, input data indicating a command to modify the playback queue; and

transmitting, via the network interface to the computing system, (i) an instruction to modify the playback queue (ii) the first version number of the playback queue stored in the queue version state variable queue, and wherein the mobile device receives the second queue update message data indicating a second version number of the playback queue in response to the instruction to modify the playback queue.