Media item context from social media

• US 9,959,087 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2014
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• 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:
  US14/495,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20160085500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 700 94
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Embodiments are described herein that may include a computing device. The computing device may receive an indication of a particular media item that is currently playing on a media playback system. The computing system may query a social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service that are connected within a social network to a particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system and have received respective indications of the particular media item from respective media playback systems within a particular period of time. The computing system may receive data indicating the queried one or more accounts of the social media service and cause one or more respective indications of the received one or more accounts of the social media service to be displayed on a graphical interface in association with an indication of the particular media item.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a network interface;

at least one processor;

a data storage; and

a program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the at least one processor to;

receive, via the network interface from a given playback device of a media playback system, one or more state variables indicating a playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the playback queue includes a particular media item;

query, via the network interface, one or more cloud servers of a social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected within a social network to a particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system and (ii) have previously played back the particular media item on respective media playback systems within a particular period of time preceding a current playback session of the one or more playback devices;

based on the querying of the social media service, receive, via the network interface from at least one cloud server of the social media service, data indicating the queried one or more accounts of the social media service; and

while the one or more playback devices are playing back the particular media item, cause, on a graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with an indication of the particular media item, wherein each of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service comprises a respective indication of a respective historical time frame in which an account of the queried one or more accounts initiated playback of the particular media item on a respective media playback system.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of a graphical representation of the playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system; and

causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item within the displayed playback queue.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the respective media playback systems in association with an indication of the particular media item.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of indications of one or more respective names registered with the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of one or more respective pictures associated with the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more respective pictures comprises a thumbnail photograph of a picture designated by the account as a profile picture to be displayed on the social media service in association with the account.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein querying the one or more cloud servers of the social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service comprises:

sending, via the network interface to the one or more cloud servers, (i) a track identification that uniquely identifies the particular media item among a plurality of media items of a media streaming service, (ii) an indication of the media streaming service, and (iii) an indication of the particular account that is registered to the social media service; and

requesting, from the one or more cloud servers via the network interface, the one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected within the social media service to the particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system, and (ii) have initiated playback of the particular media item on respective media playback systems within the particular period of time preceding the current playback session of the one or more playback devices.

20. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the playback session began when playback of the playback queue was initiated on the one or more playback devices.

8. A computing device comprising:

a network interface;

at least one processor;

a data storage; and

a program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the at least one processor to;

receive, via the network interface from a given playback device of a media playback system, one or more state variables indicating a playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the playback queue includes a particular media item;

query, via the network interface, one or more cloud servers of a social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected within a social network to a particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system and (ii) have previously played back the particular media item on respective media playback systems within a particular period of time preceding a current playback session of the one or more playback devices;

based on the querying of the social media service, receive, via the network interface from at least one cloud server of the social media service, data indicating the queried one or more accounts of the social media service; and

while the one or more playback devices are playing back the particular media item, cause, on a graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with an indication of the particular media item, wherein each of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service comprises a respective indication of a respective historical time frame in which an account of the queried one or more accounts initiated playback of the particular media item on a respective media playback system.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of a graphical representation of the playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system; and

causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item within the displayed playback queue.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the respective media playback systems in association with an indication of the particular media item.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of indications of one or more respective names registered with the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item.

12. The computing device of claim 8, wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:

causing, on the graphical interface, display of one or more respective pictures associated with the received one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein each of the one or more respective pictures comprises a thumbnail photograph of a picture designated by the account as a profile picture to be displayed on the social media service in association with the account.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, via network interface of a social-media computing system of a social media service, indications of (i) a particular media item currently playing at a media playback system, and (ii) a particular account of the social media service that is registered with the media playback system;

determining, via the social-media computing system, one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected to the particular account within a social network, and (ii) have played the particular media item on respective media playback systems within a particular period of time preceding a current playback session of the media playback system; and

sending, via the network interface of the social-media computing system, an indication of the determined one or more accounts to the media playback system, wherein the indication of the determined one or more accounts comprises an indication of a respective historical time frame in which one or more respective accounts initiated playback of the particular media item on a respective media playback system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

causing display of the indication of the determined one or more accounts in a social media post that is associated with the particular account of the social media service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein causing display of the indication of the determined one or more accounts in the social media post that is associated with the particular account of the social media service comprises:

causing display of the indication of the determined one or more accounts in the social media post by the particular account of the social media service.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein causing display of the indication of the determined one or more accounts in the social media post that is associated with the particular account of the social media service comprises:

causing display of an indication of a playback queue of one or more media items that are queued for playback at the media playback system in the social media post, wherein the playback queue includes the particular media item; and

causing display of the indication of the determined one or more accounts in association with the particular media item within the indication of the playback queue.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

after determining the one or more accounts of the social media service, querying a database for data indicating respective preferred music genres of the determined one or more accounts; and

causing a music streaming service to provide the media playback system with a stream of media items that are of the preferred music genres.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

after determining the one or more accounts of the social media service, querying a database for data indicating respective preferred music artists of the determined one or more accounts; and

causing a music streaming service to provide the media playback system with a stream of media items that are of the preferred music artists.