Intelligent media queue

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10120533-B2
Application number	US-201615182902-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2016
Priority date	Sep 10, 2012
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for intelligently managing a playlist of digital media provide an intelligent dynamic queue that is configured to manage the playback of digital media. The queue can transition between passive playback mode, active playback mode, and mixed playback mode. The queue can handle the playback of the songs in the queue according to the playback mode and/or a queue status field that is associated with each song in the queue.

First claim

We claim:

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions executable by at least one processor to:
present, on a graphical user interface, a queue including a plurality of entries that represents a playback sequence for a plurality of media items, wherein each entry comprises a link to a respective media item and a queue status field being set to either a value indicating that the entry was automatically queued or a value indicating that the entry was manually queued;
receive a user input to place a particular media item within the queue at a particular slot in the playback sequence, wherein the particular slot follows at least one automatically queued entry and one manually queued entry in the playback sequence;
after receiving the user input to place the particular media item at the particular slot in the playback sequence:
mark the entry of the particular media item's queue status field as manually queued;
change the queue status field, from automatically queued to manually queued, of the at least one automatically queued entry that is in a position preceding the particular media item that was manually placed in the queue; and
maintain the queue status field of the entries that follow the entry of the particular media item.

2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the queue is a persistent data structure stored in a memory associated with the at least one processor.

3. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
delete from the queue, based on a detection of a triggering event, each of the plurality of entries having a queue status field indicating that the entry was automatically queued.

4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the triggering event comprises a change in a media source.

5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the media source comprises a personal music library, a remote streaming service, another user's music library, cloud storage, or a combination thereof.

6. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the triggering event comprises an addition of entries corresponding to a collection of media items to the queue.

7. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
detect that a specific media item associated with a specific entry in the queue is played in a media player; and
add a representation of the specific media item as an additional entry to a history queue indicating media items that have been played by the media player.

8. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
determine that the specific media item played in the media player was played for a predetermined minimum playtime before adding the representation of the specific media item as the additional entry to the history queue.

9. A system comprising:
at least one processor;
a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
present, on a graphical user interface, a queue including a plurality of entries that represents a playback sequence for a plurality of media items, wherein each entry comprises a link to a respective media item and a queue status field being set to either a value indicating that the entry was automatically queued or a value indicating that the entry was manually queued;
receive a user input instructing the at least one processor to place a particular media item within the queue at a particular slot in the playback sequence, wherein the particular slot follows at least one automatically queued entry and one manually queued entry in the playback sequence;
after receiving the user input to place the particular media item at the particular slot in the playback sequence:
mark the entry of the particular media item's queue status field as manually queued;
change the queue status field, from automatically queued to manually queued, of the at least one automatically queued entry that is in a position preceding the particular media item that was manually placed in the queue; and
maintain the queue status field of the entries that follow the entry of the particular media item.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the queue comprises a persistent data structure stored in a memory associated with the at least one processor.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
detect a triggering event that causes the at least one processor to delete from the queue each of the plurality of entries having a queue status field value indicating that the entry was automatically queued.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the triggering event comprises a change in a media source.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the media source comprises one or more of a personal music library, a remote streaming service, another user's music library, and cloud storage.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the triggering event comprises an addition of entries corresponding to a collection of media items to the queue.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
detect that a specific media item from associated with a specific entry in the queue is played in a media player; and
add a representation of the specific media item as an additional entry to a history queue indicating media items that have been played by the media player.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:
determine that the specific media item played in the media player was played for a predetermined minimum playtime before adding the representation of the specific media item as the additional entry to the history queue.

17. A method comprising:
presenting, on a graphical user interface, a queue including a plurality of entries that represents a playback sequence for a plurality of media items, wherein each entry comprises a link to a respective media item and a queue status field being set to either a value indicating that the entry was automatically queued or a value indicating that the entry was manually queued;
receiving a user input to place a particular media item within the queue at a particular slot in the playback sequence, wherein the particular slot follows at least one automatically queued entry and one manually queued entry in the playback sequence;
after receiving the user input to place the particular media item at the particular slot in the playback sequence:
marking the entry of the particular media item's queue status field as manually queued;
changing the queue status field, from automatically queued to manually queued, of the at least one automatically queued entry that is in a position preceding the particular media item that was manually placed in the queue; and
maintaining the queue status field of the entries that follow the entry of the particular media item.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the queue comprises a persistent data structure stored in a memory associated with at least one processor.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Sanders Christopher John
• Jones Anne
• Robbin Jeffrey L
• Bachman William Martin
• Martin Timothy B

Classifications

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• G06F17/30772

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• G06F17/30053

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title