Playback queue control via a playlist on a mobile device

• US 9,735,978 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2013
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Coburn, IV, Arthur L., Schulert, Andrew, Lambourne, Robert Andrew, Kumar, Abhishek
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow, Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nicholas, Wendy
• Application Number:
  US13/904,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20140181654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• Field of Search: 715716, 715764, 715810, 715765, 715788, 715817, 709203, 709217, 709219, 709231, 725 37, 725 39, 725141, 725133, 381 77, 381 81, 381105
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2838 Distribution of signals within a home automation network, e.g. involving splitting/multiplexing signals to/from different paths adaptations of television systems for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution H04N7/106; hybrid transport H04L12/6418; home network arrangements specially adapted for distribution of digital video signals H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• 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 21/42218 for mapping a matrix of displayed objects on the screen to the numerical key-matrix of the remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4222 Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415
• 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 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• 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 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists

Abstract

Embodiments provided herein involve connected states between a mobile device and one or more zones in a network media system and different interactions between the mobile device and the network media system involving the connected states. The connected states may be established between the mobile device and the one or more zones such that further actions taken on media items identified in the playlist on the mobile device may also be taken on corresponding media items in a playback queue associated with the one or more zones. The interface on the mobile device may display various graphical representations to indicate the different interactions involving the connected states, including when a connected state is established, when a connected state is lost, and when a reconnected state is reestablished. The interface may further provide selectable icons to allow a user to navigate among the different media playback options involving the connected states.

Claims

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

displaying a graphical representation indicating that a selection of a zone of one or more zones in a network media system will cause actions associated with a playlist to be extended to the zone in a connected state;

establishing the connected state between the computing device and the zone of the one or more zones in the network media system, wherein the zone comprises at least one playback device, and wherein a playback queue is associated with a given playback device of the zone, and wherein establishing the connected state comprises;

causing the playback queue to be populated with one or more media identifiers corresponding to one or more media items presented in a playlist identifying the one or more media items available for playback by the computing device, wherein the one or more media identifiers comprises one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more media items identified in the playlist or one or more uniform resource locators (URLs) of the one or more media items identified in the playlist, wherein causing the playback queue to be populated with the one or more media items comprises;

transmitting an instruction causing the given playback device to store the one or more URIs or the one or more URLs in the playback queue; and

while the connected state is established, dynamically updating the playback queue of the zone in response to each of multiple modifications of the playlist, wherein each dynamic update to the playback queue of the zone comprises;

detecting a modification to the playlist presented on the computing device; and

in response to detecting the modification, transmitting, to the given playback device of the zone, a message comprising an indication of the modification to the playlist presented on the computing device, wherein the message causes the given playback device to make a corresponding modification to at least one of the one or more media identifiers in the playback queue.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the zone to initiate playback of the playback queue in response to receiving an input on the computing device to play back the playlist.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the zone to pause play back of the playback queue in response to receiving an input on the computing device to pause playback of the playlist.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the zone to skip to a next media item in the playback queue in response to receiving an input to skip to a next media item in the playlist.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the zone to add a media item to the playback queue in response to receiving an input to add the media item to the playlist.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the zone to remove a media item from the playback queue in response to receiving an input to remove the media item from the playlist.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more media items is a first subset of all available media items, and

wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the computing device, an input to cause an action to be taken on the one or more media items presented in the playlist; and

in response to receiving the input, causing the playback queue associated with the zone to be populated with a second subset of media items, the second subset of media items comprising the available media items that are not included in the first subset.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein causing the playback queue to be populated with the one or more media items comprises:

transmitting the one or more URIs.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more media identifiers indicate a storage location of the respective media item, and wherein the operations further comprise:

while the connected state is established, receiving, from the given playback device, an indication of a currently playing media item in the zone selected according to the playback queue; and

in response to receiving the indication of the currently playing media item in the zone, updating the playlist to indicate that a corresponding media item in the playlist is currently playing in the zone, wherein the corresponding media item corresponds to the currently playing media item.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the playback queue is stored on the given playback device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the playback queue is stored at a network location different from the computing device and the at least one playback device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein establishing the connected state comprises:

configuring the given playback device to dynamically update the playback queue in response to receiving the message comprising the modification to the playlist presented on the computing device.

13. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

memory having stored thereon instructions executable by the processor to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising;

displaying a graphical representation indicating that a selection of a zone of one or more zones in a network media system will cause actions associated with a playlist to be extended to the zone in a connected state;

establishing the connected state between the computing device and the zone of the one or more zones in the network media system, wherein the zone comprises at least one playback device, and wherein a playback queue is associated with a given playback device of the zone, and wherein establishing the connected state comprises;

causing the playback queue to be populated with one or more media identifiers corresponding to one or more media items presented in a playlist identifying the one or more media items available for playback via the computing device, wherein the one or more media identifiers comprises one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more media items identified in the playlist or one or more uniform resource locators (URLs) of the one or more media items identified in the playlist, wherein causing the playback queue to be populated with the one or more media items comprises;

transmitting an instruction causing the given playback device to store the one or more URIs or the one or more URLs in the playback queue; and

while the connected state is established, dynamically updating the playback queue of the zone in response to each of multiple modifications of the playlist, wherein each dynamic update to the playback queue of the zone comprises;

detecting a modification to the playlist that is presented on the device; and

in response to detecting the modification, transmitting, to the given playback device of the zone, a message comprising an indication of the modification to the playlist presented on the computing device, wherein the message causes the given playback device to make a corresponding modification to at least one of the one or more media identifiers in the playback queue.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the functions further comprise causing the zone to initiate playback of the playback queue in response to receiving an input to play back the playlist on the device.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the functions further comprise causing the zone to pause playback of the playback queue in response to receiving an input to pause playback of the playlist on the device.

16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the functions further comprise causing the zone to skip to a next media item in the playback queue in response to receiving an input to skip to a next media item in the playlist.

17. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the functions further comprise causing the zone to add a media item to the playback queue in response to receiving an input to add the media item to the playlist.

18. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the functions further comprise causing the zone to remove a media item from the playback queue in response to receiving an input to remove the media item from the playlist.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the playback queue is stored on the given playback device.

20. The device of claim 13, wherein the playback queue is stored at a network location different from the computing device and the at least one playback device.

21. A method comprising:

displaying, via a computing device, a graphical representation indicating that a selection of a zone of one or more zones in a network media system will cause actions associated with a playlist to be extended to the zone in a connected state;

establishing, via the computing device, the connected state between the computing device and the zone of the one or more zones in the network media system, wherein the zone comprises at least one playback device, and wherein a playback queue is associated with a given playback device of the zone, wherein establishing the connected state comprises;

causing the playback queue to be populated with one or more media identifiers corresponding to one or more media items presented in a playlist identifying the one or more media items available for playback via the computing device, wherein the one or more media identifiers comprises one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more media items identified in the playlist or one or more uniform resource locators (URLs) of the one or more media items identified in the playlist, wherein causing the playback queue to be populated with the one or more media items comprises;

transmitting an instruction causing the given playback device to store the one or more URIs or the one or more URLs in the playback queue; and

while the connected state is established, dynamically updating, via the computing device, the playback queue of the zone in response to each of multiple modifications of the playlist, wherein each dynamic update to the playback queue of the zone comprises;

detecting, via the computing device, a modification to the playlist that is presented on the computing device; and

in response to detecting the modification, transmitting, via the computing device to the given playback device of the zone, a message comprising an indication of the modification to the playlist presented on the computing device, wherein the message causes the given playback device to make a corresponding modification to at least one of the one or more media identifiers in the playback queue.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more media items is a first subset of all available media items, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the computing device, an input to cause an action to be taken on the one or more media items presented in the playlist; and

in response to receiving the input, causing the playback queue associated with the zone to be populated with a second subset of media items, the second subset of media items comprising the available media items that are not included in the first subset.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the playback queue is stored on the given playback device.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the playback queue is stored at a network location different from the computing device and the at least one playback device.