Playback queue transfer in a media playback system

• US 9,247,363 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2013
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Triplett, Mark W., Reimann, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Pillai, Namitha
• Application Number:
  US13/864,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20140310597A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,015 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• 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 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00 Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

Embodiments are provided for using a user interface to transfer a playback queue from one playback zone to another within a network media system. The interface may provide a first zone representation of a playback zone, and a first queue representation of a first group of playable items in a particular relative position. The particular relative position of the first queue representation may indicate that the playback queue associated with the first playback zone includes the first group of playable items. The interface may receive an input indicating a movement of a second queue representation to the particular relative position. In response, the first queue representation may be removed from the particular relative position and the second queue representation may be provided in the particular relative position, indicating that the playback queue now comprises a second group of playable items represented by the second queue representation.

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:

providing, in a playback zone region of an interface, a first zone representation, wherein the first zone representation represents a first playback zone that comprises one or more first playback devices, and wherein the first playback zone is associated with a first queue that includes one or more first media items;

providing, in the playback zone region on the interface, a first queue representation in a particular position relative to the first zone representation, wherein the particular position of the first queue representation relative to the first zone representation indicates that the first queue is associated with the first playback zone;

providing, in a playback queue region on the interface, a representation of the one or more first media items of the first queue;

providing, in the playback zone region on the interface, a second zone representation, wherein the second zone representation represents a second playback zone that comprises one or more second playback devices; and

wherein the second playback zone is associated with a second queue;

receiving an input via the interface indicating a movement of at least a portion of the playback queue region to a particular position relative to the second zone representation, wherein the input causes the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue; and

based on the input, modifying the interface to indicate that the second queue includes the one or more first media items.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second queue includes one or more second media items, and wherein causing the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue comprises replacing the one or more second media items with the one or more first media items.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, providing on the interface an indication that the one or more second media items have been stored as a playlist.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing on the interface a prompt to store the one or more second media items as a playlist; and

receiving a second input that causes the one or more second media items to be stored as a playlist.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein causing the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue comprises sending a command that instructs the given second playback device to populate the second queue with the one or more first media items.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing, on the interface, a second queue representation in the particular position relative to the second zone representation, wherein the particular position of the second queue representation relative to the second zone representation indicates that the second queue is associated with the second playback zone; and

based on the input, removing the second queue representation from the particular position relative to the second zone representation.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first queue is stored on a given first playback device, and wherein the second queue is stored on a given second playback device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, joining the first playback zone and the second zone into a zone group that is associated with a shared queue, wherein the shared queue includes the one or more first media items; and

causing the one or more first playback devices and the one or more second playback devices of the zone group to play back the one or more first media items in substantial synchrony.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, initiating playback of the one or more first media items by the one or more second playback devices and stopping playback of the one or more first media items by the one or more first playback devices.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the interface comprises a touch-sensitive graphical interface, and wherein receiving the input via the interface indicating the movement of the first queue representation from the particular position relative to the first zone representation to the particular position relative to the second zone representation comprises receiving an input indicating a swiping movement via the touch-sensitive graphical interface from the particular position relative to the first zone representation to the particular position relative to the second zone representation.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the input via the interface indicating the movement of the first queue representation from the particular position relative to the first zone representation to the particular position relative to the second zone representation comprises receiving an input indicating a drag and drop input from the particular position relative to the first zone representation to the particular position relative to the second zone representation.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first queue comprises one or more respective uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more first media items and wherein causing the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue comprises replacing zero or more URIs of the second queue with the one or more respective uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more first media items.

13. 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:

providing, in a playback zone region of an interface, a first zone representation, wherein the first zone representation represents a first playback zone that comprises one or more first playback devices, and wherein the first playback zone is associated with a first queue that includes one or more first media items;

providing, in the playback zone region on the interface, a first queue representation in a particular position relative to the first zone representation, wherein the particular position of the first queue representation relative to the first zone representation indicates that the first queue is associated with the first playback zone;

providing, in a playback queue region on the interface, a representation of the one or more first media items of the first queue;

providing, in the playback zone region on the interface, a second zone representation, wherein the second zone representation represents a second playback zone that comprises one or more second playback devices; and

wherein the second playback zone is associated with a second queue that includes one or more second media items;

providing, in the playback zone region on the interface, a second queue representation in a particular position relative to the second zone representation, wherein the particular position of the second queue representation relative to the first zone representation indicates that the second queue is associated with the first playback zone; and

receiving an input via the interface indicating a movement of the second queue representation into the playback queue region, wherein the input causes the one or more second media items to replace the one or more first media items.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the received input modifying the first queue representation to indicate that the first queue includes the one or more second media items.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, joining the first playback zone and the second playback zone into a zone group that is associated with the second queue, wherein the second queue includes the one or more second media items; and

causing the one or more first playback devices and the one or more second playback devices of the zone group to play back the one or more first media items in substantial synchrony.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, initiating playback of the one or more second media items by the one or more first playback devices and stopping playback of the one or more second media items by the one or more second playback devices.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein causing the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue comprises sending a command that instructs a given first playback device to populate the first queue with the one or more second media items.

18. 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:

providing, in a playback zone region of the interface, a zone representation, wherein the zone representation represents a first playback zone that comprises one or more first playback devices; and

wherein the first playback zone is associated with a first queue that includes one or more first media items;

providing, in the playback zone region on the interface, a first queue representation in a particular position relative to the zone representation, wherein the particular position of the first queue representation relative to the zone representation indicates that the first queue is associated with the first playback zone;

providing, in a playback queue region on the interface, a representation of the one or more first media items of the first queue;

providing, in the playback zone region of an interface, a group representation, wherein the group representation represents a zone group that comprises one or more second playback devices of a second playback zone and one or more third playback devices of a third playback zone, and wherein the zone group is associated with a second queue;

receiving an input via the interface indicating a movement of at least a portion of the playback queue region to a particular position relative to the group representation, wherein the input causes the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue; and

based on the input, modifying the playback zone region of the interface to indicate that the second queue includes the one or more first media items.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the second queue includes one or more second media items, and wherein causing the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue comprises replacing the one or more second media items with the one or more first media items.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, joining the first playback zone into the zone group that is associated with the second queue, wherein the second queue includes the one or more first media items; and

causing the one or more first playback devices, the one or more second playback devices, and the one or more third playback devices of the zone group to play back the one or more first media items in substantial synchrony.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the input, initiating playback of the one or more first media items by the one or more second playback devices and the one or more third playback devices.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein causing the one or more first media items to be added to the second queue comprises sending a command that instructs a given device to populate the second queue with the one or more first media items.