Methods and systems for transmitting playlists

• US 9,705,950 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2014
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Trammell, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): McCord, Paul
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELJAIEK, ALEXANDER L
• Application Number:
  US14/244,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20150286461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• Field of Search: 700 94, 700236, 707769, 707E17014, 707E17018, 707E17101, 709217, 709218, 709219, 715716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/43615 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

An example method includes receiving an indication that a user was at a location at a particular time; identifying at least one portion of media content playing at the location at the particular time; and transmitting data that indicates the identified at least one portion of media content to a computing device associated with the user. A second example method includes transmitting an indication that a user was at a location at a particular time; receiving data identifying at least one portion of media content played by a second playback device at the location at the particular time when the user was at the location; and causing, by the control device, a graphical display to display the data identifying the at least one portion of media content played at the location at the particular time when the user was at the location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, via a first computing device over one or more first networks, location information of a second computing device, the location information indicating (i) at least one first zone at a first location and (ii) a first time, wherein the second computing device is physically located at the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time, and wherein the first location comprises a plurality of zones comprising the at least one first zone, each zone comprising at least one respective playback device;

based on the received location information, identifying, via the first computing device, at least one portion of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time;

generating, via the first computing device, a playlist identifying the at least one portion of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time;

receiving, via the first computing device from the second computing device, an indication that the second computing device has accessed a media playback system as a control device over a local area network at a second location, the access occurring at a second time, wherein, at the second time, the second computing device is physically located at the second location, wherein the media playback system comprises one or more second playback devices at the second location, and wherein, while connected to the local area network at the second location, the second computing device as the control device is configured to control playback of the one or more second playback devices; and

in response to receiving the indication that the control device has accessed the media playback system, transmitting, via the first computing device over one or more second networks to the second computing device, the generated playlist.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the location information of the second computing device comprises receiving a location message that originated from the second computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the location information of the second computing device comprises receiving an indication that a user associated with the second computing device conducted a financial transaction at the location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one portion of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time comprises identifying a plurality of portions of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the first zone at the first location during a time period that includes the first time, and wherein transmitting the generated playlist comprises transmitting data that indicates the plurality of portions of media content playing at the first location during the time period that includes the first time.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, from the second computing device, data indicating the time period that includes the first time;

identifying the plurality of portions of media content based on the data indicating the time period; and

transmitting the data that indicates the plurality of portions of media content identified based on the data indicating the time period.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before identifying the at least one portion of media content, receiving, via the first computing device over one or more second networks from the at least one first zone at the first location, playback information indicating the at least one portion of media content played by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before transmitting the generated playlist, identifying a media playback system associated with the second computing device, wherein transmitting the generated playlist comprises transmitting, to the media playback system associated with the second computing device, the generated playlist.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the generated playlist comprises:

transmitting the generated playlist comprising one or more identifiers corresponding to the at least one portion of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the indication that the second computing device is accessing the media playback system at the second time at the second location comprises receiving a request for the generated playlist, and

wherein in response to receiving the indication that the control device is accessing the media playback system, transmitting the generated playlist comprises in response to receiving the request for the generated playlist, transmitting the generated playlist.

10. A method comprising:

transmitting, via a control device to a first computing device, an indication that the control device has accessed a first playback device physically located at a first location, and an indication of a particular time, wherein the control device is configured to control over one or more first networks the first playback device, and wherein the control device was physically at a second location at the particular time, wherein the first location is different from the second location;

after transmitting the indication that the control device has accessed the first playback device, receiving, at the control device, data identifying at least one portion of media content played by a second playback device at the second location based on location information transmitted from the control device, wherein the at least one portion of media content was played by the second playback device at the second location at the particular time when the control device was physically at the second location;

causing, via the control device, a graphical display to display the data identifying the at least one portion of media content played at the second location at the particular time when the control device was physically at the second location; and

causing, via the control device over the one or more first networks, the first playback device to play at least the identified at least one portion of media content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the indication that the control device has accessed the first playback device comprises upon executing a media playback application on the first computing device, automatically transmitting a request to the first computing device to provide the data identifying the at least one portion of media content played by the second playback device, and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the control device, data identifying a plurality of portions of media content played during a time period that includes the particular time; and

causing, via the control device, the graphical display to display the data identifying the plurality of portions of media content played during the time period that includes the particular time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein causing the graphical display to display the data identifying the plurality of portions of media content played during the time period that includes the particular time comprises causing the graphical display to display a list of the plurality of portions of media content played during the time period that includes the particular time sorted by the respective locations where the plurality of portions of media content were played.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

causing, via the control device, the graphical display to display an indication of a specific portion of media content of the plurality of portions of media content that was played at the second location at the particular time.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, via the control device, an input indicating a selection of a portion of the at least one portion of media content; and

based on the received input, causing, via the control device, the graphical display to display information corresponding to the selected portion of media content.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, via the control device, an input indicating to remove information from the graphical display; and

based on the received input, causing, via the control device, the graphical display to remove the information from the graphical display.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising causing the graphical display to display an indication of a portion of media content that is available for playback via a media streaming service, wherein the portion of media content is available for playback upon subscribing to the media streaming service.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising causing the graphical display to display a list of the at least one portion of media content sorted in chronological order based on when the at least one portion of media content was played by the second playback device.

18. A first computing device comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the first computing device to perform functions, the functions comprising;

receiving, over one or more first networks, location information of a second computing device, the location information indicating (i) at least one first zone at a first location and (ii) a first time, wherein the second computing device is physically located at the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time, wherein the location comprising a plurality of zones comprising the at least one first zone, each zone comprising at least one respective playback device;

based on the received location information, identifying at least one portion of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time;

generating, via the first computing device, a playlist identifying the at least one portion of media content playing by the at least one respective playback device of the at least one first zone at the first location at the first time;

receiving, from the second computing device, an indication that the second computing device has accessed a media playback system as a control device over a local area network at a second location, the access occurring at a second time, wherein, at the second time, the second computing device is physically located at the second location, wherein the media playback system comprises one or more second playback devices at the second location, and wherein, while connected to the local area network at the second location, the second computing device as the control device is configured to control playback of the one or more second playback devices; and

in response to receiving the indication that the control device has accessed the media playback system, transmitting, over the one or more first networks to the second computing device, the generated playlist.

19. The first computing device of claim 18, wherein identifying the at least one portion of media content playing by the respective at least one playback device of the first zone at the first location at the first time comprises identifying a plurality of portions of media content playing by the respective at least one playback device of the first zone at the first location during a time period that includes the first time, and wherein transmitting the generated playlist comprises transmitting the generated playlist that indicates the plurality of portions of media content playing at the first location during the time period that includes the first time.

20. The first computing device of claim 19, wherein the functions further comprise:

receiving, from the second computing device, data indicating the time period that includes the first time;

identifying the plurality of portions of media content based on the data indicating the time period; and

transmitting the data that indicates the plurality of portions of media content identified based on the data indicating the time period.