Audio content playback management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10412445-B2
Application number	US-201715607512-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2017
Priority date	Sep 28, 2012
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

An example implementation involves a playback device receiving a request to add continuous automated streaming audio content to a playback queue, the request indicating a playback start time, and the playback queue indicating a plurality of audio content. The implementation further involves the playback device adding the continuous automated streaming audio content to the playback queue. The example implementation also involves the playback device determining that a duration until the playback start time is less than a duration of the given audio content before playing a given audio content in the playback queue. The example implementation involves the playback device responsively, playing the continuous automated streaming audio content.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
determining that audio content selected for addition to a playlist is an automated streaming audio content, wherein the automated streaming audio content lacks a duration;
adding the automated streaming audio content to a playback queue based on the determination, the playback queue indicating a plurality of audio content and a corresponding playback position associated with each of the plurality of audio content, wherein adding the automated streaming audio content to the playback queue comprises
determining a playback duration for the automated streaming audio content, and
adding the automated streaming audio content to the playback queue at a particular playback position in the playback queue; and
causing the automated streaming audio content to be rendered at the particular playback position in the playback queue for the determined playback duration when the particular playback position is not a last playback position in the playback queue and causing the automated streaming audio content to continue to be rendered beyond the determined playback duration when the particular playback position is the last playback position in the playback queue.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the audio content selected for addition to the playlist is an automated streaming audio content comprises determining whether the audio content selected for addition to the playlist has an implicit duration.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automated streaming audio content comprises live radio content.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that other audio content selected for addition to a playlist is not an automated streaming audio content.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a playback duration of the automated streaming audio content comprises receiving an indication of a playback duration of the automated streaming audio content.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automated streaming audio content comprises discrete automated streaming audio content, the discrete automated streaming audio content comprising an automatically compiled series of one or more discrete audio contents.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein causing the automated streaming audio content to be rendered at the particular playback position in the playback queue for the determined playback duration comprises:
upon rendering the discrete automated streaming audio content for the determined playback duration, continue rendering the discrete automated streaming audio content until playback of a presently rendered discrete audio content of the discrete automated streaming audio content is completed.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determined playback duration indicates a number of discrete audio content in the discrete automated streaming audio content.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a playback progress indicator representing a playback progress of the automated streaming audio content;
receiving input indicating an adjustment of the playback progress of the automated streaming audio content; and
causing the determined playback duration to be reduced according to the received input.

10. A system comprising:
at least one processor;
a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium; and
program instructions stored on the tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to perform functions comprising:
determining that audio content selected for addition to a playlist is an automated streaming audio content, wherein the automated streaming audio content lacks a duration;
adding the automated streaming audio content to a playback queue based on the determination, the playback queue indicating a plurality of audio content and a corresponding playback position associated with each of the plurality of audio content, wherein adding the automated streaming audio content to the playback queue comprises
determining a playback duration for the automated streaming audio content, and
adding the automated streaming audio content to the playback queue at a particular playback position in the playback queue; and
causing the automated streaming audio content to be rendered at the particular playback position in the playback queue for the determined playback duration when the particular playback position is not a last playback position in the playback queue and causing the automated streaming audio content to continue to be rendered beyond the determined playback duration when the particular playback position is the last playback position in the playback queue.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein determining that the audio content selected for addition to the playlist is an automated streaming audio content comprises determining whether the audio content selected for addition to the playlist has an implicit duration.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the automated streaming audio content comprises live radio content.

13. The system of claim 10 , further comprising program instructions stored on the tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to perform functions comprising:
receiving a request to add subsequent audio content to a playback position after the particular playback position in the playback queue;
adding the subsequent audio content to the playback queue at the playback position after the particular playback position; and
causing rendering of the automated streaming audio content to be terminated, and the subsequent audio content to be rendered.

14. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:
determining that audio content selected for addition to a playlist is an automated streaming audio content, wherein the automated streaming audio content lacks a duration;
adding the automated streaming audio content to a playback queue based on the determination, the playback queue indicating a plurality of audio content and a corresponding playback position associated with each of the plurality of audio content, wherein adding the automated streaming audio content to the playback queue comprises
determining a playback duration for the automated streaming audio content, and
adding the automated streaming audio content to the playback queue at a particular playback position in the playback queue; and
causing the automated streaming audio content to be rendered at the particular playback position in the playback queue for the determined playback duration when the particular playback position is not a last playback position in the playback queue and causing the automated streaming audio content to continue to be rendered beyond the determined playback duration when the particular playback position is the last playback position in the playback queue.

15. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein determining that the audio content selected for addition to the playlist is an automated streaming audio content comprises determining whether the audio content selected for addition to the playlist has an implicit duration.

16. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the automated streaming audio content comprises live radio content.

17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the automated streaming audio content comprises discrete automated streaming audio content, th

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Bates Paul Andrew
• Kumar Abhishek

Classifications

• H04N21/4825

  using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists · CPC title

• G11B27/031

  Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals · CPC title

• G06F16/40

  of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data (retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70) · CPC title

• G06F16/60

  of audio data · CPC title

• H04N21/439 Primary

  Processing of audio elementary streams · CPC title