Share restriction for curated playlists

• US 10,621,310 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2018
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Beckhardt, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Homayounmehr, Farid
• Assistant Examiner(s): Debnath, Suman
• Application Number:
  US16/174,703
• Publication Number:
  US 20190073453A1
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

Example techniques facilitate for applying a share restriction to a curated playlist within a shared playback queue. In example implementations, a first media playback system may share its playback queue with a second media playback system. The playback queue of the first media playback system may include a curated playlist associated with a share restriction. When sharing its playback queue of the first media playback system, the first media playback system may enforce the share restriction on the curated playlist as queued in a second playback queue of the second media playback system.

Claims

1. A method to be performed by a first media playback system, the method comprising:

receiving, via a network interface of the first media playback system from a mobile device, data representing an instruction to queue a curated playlist of audio tracks to a first playback queue for playback via one or more first playback devices of the first media playback system, wherein the first playback queue is a container stored in data storage of the one or more first playback devices that defines a playback sequence for media items in the first playback queue, wherein the curated playlist of audio tracks consists of a proprietary set of audio tracks defined and arranged into a particular sequence by a particular streaming audio service, and wherein the audio tracks of the curated playlist are streamable from one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service;

based on receiving the data representing an instruction to queue the curated playlist of audio tracks to the first playback queue, adding, via the first media playback system, respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist to the first playback queue, wherein the first playback queue is maintained in data storage of the one or more first playback devices, and wherein the respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist indicate respective network locations of each audio track at the one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service;

receiving, via the network interface of the first media playback system, data indicating an instruction to share the first playback queue with a second media playback system that comprises one or more second playback devices, wherein the first playback queue comprises the curated playlist of audio tracks;

based on receiving the data indicating the instruction to share the first playback queue with the second media playback system, determining whether the particular streaming audio service applied a share restriction to the curated playlist;

based on determining that the particular streaming audio service applied the share restriction to the curated playlist, determining whether the second media playback system is subscribed to the particular streaming audio service, wherein the share restriction restricts the curated playlist of audio tracks to subscribers of the particular streaming audio service; and

based on (a) receiving the data indicating the instruction to share the first playback queue with the second media playback system and (b) determining that the second media playback system is unsubscribed to the particular streaming audio service, sending, via the network interface of the first media playback system to the second media playback system, one or more instructions to (i) add respective representations of each audio track in the first playback queue to a second playback queue for playback via the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system, wherein the second playback queue is a container stored in data storage of the one or second playback devices that defines a playback sequence for media items in the second playback queue, and (ii) apply the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system, wherein applying the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system causes the one or more second playback devices to have limited access according to the share restriction to the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue, and wherein access to other audio tracks in the second playback queue is not limited according to the share restriction

after sending the one or more instructions to apply the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system, receiving, via the network interface from the mobile device, instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue;

based on the receiving the instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue, (i) adding respective representations of each additional audio track to the first playback queue, wherein the respective representations of each additional audio track within the curated playlist indicate respective network locations of each additional audio track and (ii) determining whether the first playback queue has been modified beyond a pre-determined modification threshold indicating a degree of similarity between the curated playlist of audio tracks and the first playback queue; and

based on (a) receiving the instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue and (b) determining that the first playback queue has been modified beyond the pre-determined modification threshold, sending, via the network interface of the first media playback system to the second media playback system, one or more instructions to (i) add respective representations of each additional audio track in the first playback queue to the second playback queue for playback via the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system and (ii) remove the share restriction from the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the particular streaming audio service applied the share restriction to the curated playlist comprises determining whether credentials corresponding to the particular streaming audio service are required to access the curated playlist of audio tracks.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system comprises assigning a playback restriction to prevent playback of audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue by the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first playback queue has been modified beyond the pre-determined modification threshold indicating the degree of similarity between the curated playlist of audio tracks and the first playback queue comprises determining whether the additional audio tracks added to the first playback queue to alter the proprietary set of audio tracks defined and arranged into the particular sequence by the particular streaming audio service beyond the pre-determined modification threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular streaming audio service is a first streaming audio service, and wherein the second media playback system has access to the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue from a second streaming audio service, and wherein the one or more second playback devices play back the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue from the second streaming audio service after the share restriction is removed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist comprises respective uniform resource identifiers indicating the respective network locations of each audio track at the one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service.

7. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a first media playback system to cause the first media playback system to perform functions comprising:

receiving, via a network interface of the first media playback system from a mobile device, data representing an instruction to queue a curated playlist of audio tracks to a first playback queue for playback via one or more first playback devices of the first media playback system, wherein the first playback queue is a container stored in data storage of the one or more first playback devices that defines a playback sequence for media items in the first playback queue, wherein the curated playlist of audio tracks consists of a proprietary set of audio tracks defined and arranged into a particular sequence by a particular streaming audio service, wherein the audio tracks of the curated playlist are streamable from one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service;

based on receiving the data representing an instruction to queue the curated playlist of audio tracks to the first playback queue, adding, via the first media playback system, respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist to the first playback queue, wherein the first playback queue is maintained in data storage of the one or more first playback devices, and wherein the respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist indicate respective network locations of each audio track at the one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service;

receiving, via the network interface of the first media playback system, data indicating an instruction to share the first playback queue with a second media playback system that comprises one or more second playback devices, wherein the first playback queue comprises the curated playlist of audio tracks;

based on receiving the data indicating the instruction to share the first playback queue with the second media playback system, determining whether the particular streaming audio service applied a share restriction to the curated playlist;

based on determining that the particular streaming audio service applied the share restriction to the curated playlist, determining whether the second media playback system is subscribed to the particular streaming audio service, wherein the share restriction restricts the curated playlist of audio tracks to subscribers of the particular streaming audio service; and

based on (a) receiving the data indicating the instruction to share the first playback queue with the second media playback system and (b) determining that the second media playback system is unsubscribed to the particular streaming audio service, sending, via the network interface of the first media playback system to the second media playback system, one or more instructions to (i) add respective representations of each audio track in the first playback queue to a second playback queue for playback via the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system, wherein the second playback queue is a container stored in data storage of the one or second playback devices that defines a playback sequence for media items in the second playback queue, and (ii) apply the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system, wherein applying the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system causes the one or more second playback devices to have limited access according to the share restriction to the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue, and wherein access to other audio tracks in the second playback queue is not limited according to the share restriction;

after sending the one or more instructions to apply the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system, receiving, via the network interface from the mobile device, instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue;

based on the receiving the instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue, (i) adding respective representations of each additional audio track to the first playback queue, wherein the respective representations of each additional audio track within the curated playlist indicate respective network locations of each additional audio track and (ii) determining whether the first playback queue has been modified beyond a pre-determined modification threshold indicating a degree of similarity between the curated playlist of audio tracks and the first playback queue; and

based on (a) receiving the instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue and (b) determining that the first playback queue has been modified beyond the pre-determined modification threshold, sending, via the network interface of the first media playback system to the second media playback system, one or more instructions to (i) add respective representations of each additional audio track in the first playback queue to the second playback queue for playback via the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system and (ii) remove the share restriction from the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system.

8. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein determining whether the particular streaming audio service applied the share restriction to the curated playlist comprises determining whether credentials corresponding to the particular streaming audio service are required to access the curated playlist of audio tracks.

9. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein applying the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system comprises assigning a playback restriction to prevent playback of audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue by the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system.

10. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein determining whether the first playback queue has been modified beyond the pre-determined modification threshold indicating the degree of similarity between the curated playlist of audio tracks and the first playback queue comprises determining whether the additional audio tracks added to the first playback queue to alter the proprietary set of audio tracks defined and arranged into the particular sequence by the particular streaming audio service beyond the pre-determined modification threshold.

11. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the particular streaming audio service is a first streaming audio service, and wherein the second media playback system has access to the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue from a second streaming audio service, and wherein the one or more second playback devices play back the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue from the second streaming audio service after the share restriction is removed.

12. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist comprises respective uniform resource identifiers indicating the respective network locations of each audio track at the one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service.

13. A first media playback system comprising one or more playback device, the first media playback system configured to perform functions comprising:

receiving, via a network interface of the first media playback system from a mobile device, data representing an instruction to queue a curated playlist of audio tracks to a first playback queue for playback via the one or more first playback devices of the first media playback system, wherein the first playback queue is a container stored in data storage of the one or more first playback devices that defines a playback sequence for media items in the first playback queue, wherein the curated playlist of audio tracks consists of a proprietary set of audio tracks defined and arranged into a particular sequence by a particular streaming audio service, wherein the audio tracks of the curated playlist are streamable from one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service;

based on receiving the data representing an instruction to queue the curated playlist of audio tracks to the first playback queue, adding, via the first media playback system, respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist to the first playback queue, wherein the first playback queue is maintained in data storage of the one or more first playback devices, and wherein the respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist indicate respective network locations of each audio track at the one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service;

receiving, via the network interface of the first media playback system, data indicating an instruction to share the first playback queue with a second media playback system that comprises one or more second playback devices, wherein the first playback queue comprises the curated playlist of audio tracks;

based on receiving the data indicating the instruction to share the first playback queue with the second media playback system, determining whether the particular streaming audio service applied a share restriction to the curated playlist;

based on determining that the particular streaming audio service applied the share restriction to the curated playlist, determining whether the second media playback system is subscribed to the particular streaming audio service, wherein the share restriction restricts the curated playlist of audio tracks to subscribers of the particular streaming audio service; and

based on (a) receiving the data indicating the instruction to share the first playback queue with the second media playback system and (b) determining that the second media playback system is unsubscribed to the particular streaming audio service, sending, via the network interface of the first media playback system to the second media playback system, one or more instructions to (i) add respective representations of each audio track in the first playback queue to a second playback queue for playback via the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system, wherein the second playback queue is a container stored in data storage of the one or second playback devices that defines a playback sequence for media items in the second playback queue, and (ii) apply the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system, wherein applying the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system causes the one or more second playback devices to have limited access according to the share restriction to the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue, and wherein access to other audio tracks in the second playback queue is not limited according to the share restriction;

after sending the one or more instructions to apply the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system, receiving, via the network interface from the mobile device, instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue;

based on the receiving the instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue, (i) adding respective representations of each additional audio track to the first playback queue, wherein the respective representations of each additional audio track within the curated playlist indicate respective network locations of each additional audio track and (ii) determining whether the first playback queue has been modified beyond a pre-determined modification threshold indicating a degree of similarity between the curated playlist of audio tracks and the first playback queue; and

based on (a) receiving the instructions to add additional audio tracks to the first playback queue and (b) determining that the first playback queue has been modified beyond the pre-determined modification threshold, sending, via the network interface of the first media playback system to the second media playback system, one or more instructions to (i) add respective representations of each additional audio track in the first playback queue to the second playback queue for playback via the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system and (ii) remove the share restriction from the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system.

14. The first media playback system of claim 13, wherein determining whether the particular streaming audio service applied the share restriction to the curated playlist comprises determining whether credentials corresponding to the particular streaming audio service are required to access the curated playlist of audio tracks.

15. The first media playback system of claim 13, wherein applying the share restriction to the respective representations of the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue of the second media playback system comprises assigning a playback restriction to prevent playback of audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue by the one or more second playback devices of the second media playback system.

16. The first media playback system of claim 13, wherein determining whether the first playback queue has been modified beyond the pre-determined modification threshold indicating the degree of similarity between the curated playlist of audio tracks and the first playback queue comprises determining whether the additional audio tracks added to the first playback queue to alter the proprietary set of audio tracks defined and arranged into the particular sequence by the particular streaming audio service beyond the pre-determined modification threshold.

17. The first media playback system of claim 13, wherein the particular streaming audio service is a first streaming audio service, and wherein the second media playback system has access to the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue from a second streaming audio service, and wherein the one or more second playback devices play back the audio tracks within the curated playlist that are queued in the second playback queue from the second streaming audio service after the share restriction is removed.

18. The first media playback system of claim 13, wherein the respective representations of each audio track within the curated playlist comprises respective uniform resource identifiers indicating the respective network locations of each audio track at the one or more servers of the particular streaming audio service.