Managing Application Access of a Media Playback System

• US 20140330885A1
• Filed: 07/14/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Schulert, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 10,498,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

Examples described herein may include a playback device receiving, from a control device, a validation-key that includes an application identifier corresponding to a controller application. The playback device may create a session identifier and transmit the session identifier to the control device. The playback device may receive, from the control device, a playback request comprising the session identifier and a playback command. The playback device may determine that the session identifier is valid and then execute the playback command. A computing system may receive identification information related to a controller application and generate the validation-key based on the controller application meeting at least one quality-control metric. The controller application may receive the validation-key from the computing system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a playback device of a media playback system, a validation-key, wherein the validation-key comprises an application identifier corresponding to a controller application through which one or more media items are added to a playback queue;

based on at least the application identifier, creating a session identifier corresponding to the playback device;

transmitting the session identifier;

receiving a playback request comprising (i) the session identifier and (ii) a playback command indicating a command related to playback of media by the playback device;

determining that the received session identifier is valid; and

based on determining that the received session identifier is valid, executing the playback command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the validation-key further comprises a system identifier, and wherein creating the session identifier comprises:

determining that the system identifier matches a universal identifier corresponding to the media playback system and one or more additional media playback systems; and

based at least on determining that the system identifier matches the universal identifier, creating the session identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the validation-key further comprises a system identifier, and wherein creating the session identifier comprises:

determining that the system identifier is associated with the media playback system; and

based at least on determining that the system identifier is associated with the media playback system, creating the session identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before creating the session identifier, receiving an unauthorized list comprising application identifiers that correspond to respective applications that are unauthorized to control one or more playback devices.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein creating the session identifier comprises:

determining that the unauthorized list does not include the application identifier; and

based at least on determining that the unauthorized list does not include the application identifier, creating the session identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the validation-key is associated with an expiration time, and wherein creating the session identifier comprises determining that the validation-key was received before the expiration time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after creating the session identifier, storing the session identifier and the application identifier such that the session identifier is associated with the application identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback command comprises a command to add at least one media item to the playback queue, and wherein executing the playback command comprises adding the at least one media item to the playback queue.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after determining that the session identifier is valid, transmitting reporting data comprising identification information related to the controller application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the session identifier is associated with an expiration time after which the session identifier expires, and wherein determining that the session identifier is valid comprises determining that the playback request was received before the expiration time.

11. A method comprising:

transmitting, by a computing device communicatively coupled to a media playback system, a validation-key, wherein the validation-key comprises an application identifier corresponding to a controller application through which one or more media items are added to a playback queue;

thereafter, receiving a session identifier corresponding to a playback device of the media playback system; and

transmitting a playback request comprising (i) the session identifier and (ii) a playback command indicating a command related to playback of media by the playback device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

before transmitting the validation-key, transmitting, to a server associated with the media playback system, a validation-key request comprising identification information related to the controller application; and

receiving, from the server, a certification message indicating that the controller application meets at least one quality-control metric, wherein the certification message comprises the validation-key.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, the session identifier is a first session identifier, the playback request is a first control request, and the playback command is a first playback command, the method further comprising:

transmitting the validation-key to a second playback device;

receiving a second session identifier corresponding to the second playback device, wherein the second session identifier is different from the first session identifier; and

transmitting, to the second playback device, a second playback request comprising (i) the second session identifier and (ii) a second playback command indicating a command related to playback of media by the second playback device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the session identifier is associated with an expiration time after which the session identifier expires, the method further comprising:

before transmitting the playback request, determining that a duration of time before the session identifier expires is less than a predetermined threshold amount of time; and

based on determining that the duration of time before the session identifier expires is less than the predetermined threshold amount of time, re-transmitting the validation-key.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the session identifier is associated with an expiration time after which the session identifier expires, the method further comprising:

after transmitting the playback request, receiving an error message indicating that the session identifier expired; and

based on receiving the error message, re-transmitting the validation-key.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing system communicatively coupled to a media playback system, a validation-key request comprising identification information related to a controller application through which one or more media items are added to a playback queue;

determining that the controller application meets at least one quality-control metric;

based on determining that the controller application meets the at least one quality-control metric, generating a validation-key, wherein the validation-key comprises an application identifier corresponding to the application; and

transmitting a certification message indicating that the controller application meets the at least one quality-control metric, wherein the certification message comprises the validation-key.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

after transmitting the certification message, determining that the controller application has failed the at least one quality-control metric; and

placing the application identifier on an unauthorized list, stored by the computing system, comprising application identifiers that correspond to respective applications that are unauthorized to control one or more playback devices.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting a modification of the unauthorized list;

based on detecting the modification of the unauthorized list, transmitting the unauthorized list.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

before generating the validation-key, determining that the controller application is in a development state; and

based on determining that the controller application is in the development state, assigning an in-development designation to the application identifier.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the playback device is a first playback device, and wherein the in-development designation assigned to the application identifier (i) allows the controller application to cause a computing device to control the first playback device and (ii) prevents the controller application from causing the computing device to control a second playback device.