Playback updates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10645130-B2
Application number	US-201414495633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2014
Priority date	Sep 24, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments are described herein that involve receiving, by a social-media computing system from a media playback system, playback data indicating media that is being played back by the media playback system, where the playback data comprises an indication of at least one zone of the media playback system in which the media is being played back; and based on the received playback data, updating social-media data in a social-media account, where the updated social-media data comprises an indication of the at least one zone in which the media is currently being played back.

First claim

We claim:

1. A social-media computing system comprising:
a processor;
a network interface;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and
program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:
receive first playback data indicating first media that is being played back by a media playback system from a media source, wherein the social-media computing system, the media playback system, and the media source are mutually distinct, and wherein the first playback data comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back, wherein the indication of the at least one playback zone indicates a location, in the media playback system, of at least one playback device that is playing back the first media;
based on the received first playback data, generate a playback message in a first social-media account for display on a visual representation of the first social-media account, wherein the playback message comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back;
causing a computing device associated with a second social-media account to display the playback message on a visual representation of the second social-media account, wherein the computing device associated with the second social-media account is in communication with neither the media playback system nor the media source;
receive second playback data indicating second media that is being played back by the media playback system from the media source, wherein the second playback data comprises i) an indication of the second media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the second media is being played back; and
based on the received second playback data, causing the computing device associated with the second social-media account to replace the identification of the first media being played back with the identification of the second media being played back.

2. The social-media computing system of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:
based on the received first playback data indicating the first media, determine one or more advertisements relevant to the first social-media account; and
transmit, to a computing device affiliated with the first social-media account, the one or more advertisements to facilitate displaying the advertisement on a visual representation of the first social-media account.

3. The social-media computing system of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:
based on the received second playback data, replace the indication of the at least one playback zone in which the first media is being played back with an updated indication of the at least one playback zone in which the second media is being played back.

4. The social-media computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first social-media account is linked to the media playback system.

5. The social-media computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first playback data comprises a timestamp corresponding to the played back first media, and wherein the playback message in the second social-media account further comprises an indication of the timestamp.

6. The social-media computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first social-media account comprises a subscriber profile, and wherein the social-media computing system further comprises program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the social-media computing system to:
based on the received first playback data, update the subscriber profile; and
provide data representing the updated subscriber profile to facilitate displaying a visual representation of the subscriber profile.

7. The social-media computing system of claim 6 , wherein updating the subscriber profile comprises updating a profile picture.

8. The social-media computing system of claim 1 , wherein the playback message further comprises an indication of a playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone.

9. The social-media computing system of claim 8 , wherein the indication of the playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone comprises an identification of at least one media item from the playback queue.

10. The social-media computing system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one media item from the playback queue comprises one of a media item that has yet to be played back or a media item that has previously been played back.

11. The social-media computing system of claim 8 , wherein the first social-media account is linked with the media playback system, and wherein the indication of the playback queue associated with the at least one playback zone comprises an indication of a social-media playback queue corresponding to the first social-media account.

12. The social-media computing system of claim 11 , wherein the indication of the social-media playback queue comprises a selectable link operable to direct the computing device associated with the second social-media account to the social-media playback queue.

13. A method comprising:
receiving, by a social-media computing system from a media playback system, first playback data indicating first media that is being played back by the media playback system from a media source, wherein the social-media computing system, the media playback system, and the media source are mutually distinct, and wherein the first playback data comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of at least one playback back zone of the media playback system in which the media is being played back, wherein the indication of the at least one playback zone indicates a location, in the media playback system, of at least one playback device that is playing back the media;
based on the received first playback data, generate a playback message in a first social-media account for display on a visual representation of the first social-media account, wherein the playback message comprises i) an identification of the first media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the first media is being played back;
causing a computing device associated with a second social-media account to display the playback message on a visual representation of the second social-media account, wherein the computing device associated with the second social-media account is in communication with neither the media playback system nor the media source;
receiving second playback data indicating second media that is being played back by the media playback system from the media source, wherein the second playback data comprises i) an identification of the second media being played back and ii) an indication of the at least one playback zone of the media playback system in which the second media is being played back; and
based on the received second playback data, causing the computing device associated with the second social-media account to replace the identification of the first media being p

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Corbin Keith
• Kumar Abhishek
• Kuper Ron
• Ramsperger Gregory Paul
• Sarkic Andrej

Classifications

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04N21/25891

  being end-user preferences (retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title

• H04N21/8113

  comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format · CPC title

• H04N21/26258

  for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list (retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40) · CPC title

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title