Controlling automatic playback of media content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11093105-B2
Application number	US-201816224368-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2018
Priority date	Dec 18, 2018
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for controlling playback of media content items on a media playback device. A graphical user interface displays media playback controls including an automatic playback switch. The switch is configured to enable or disable automatic playback of an autoplay queue of media content items. An initial queue of media content is selected for playback on the media playback device. When automatic playback is enabled, the system automatically generates a queue of media that is related to the initial queue and initiates playback on the media playback device after the initial queue concludes. Automatic playback options can also include repeating the initial queue or a single track within the initial queue.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of controlling playback of media content items on a media playback device, the method comprising:
displaying on the media playback device a graphical user interface comprising a plurality of graphical control elements that control playback of media content items on the media playback device, the graphical control elements comprising a single automatic playback switch configured to switch between a plurality of playback modes when selected, the plurality of playback modes including: automatic playback off mode, autoplay mode, repeat track mode, and repeat playlist mode, wherein the graphical control elements are displayed within a same view of the graphical user interface;
receiving a selection from a user, of media content for playback on the media playback device, the media content comprising an initial queue of media content items;
retrieving and playing the initial queue of media content items on the media playback device;
determining a current state of the automatic playback switch;
when the current state is the autoplay mode, upon concluding playback of the initial queue of media content items, automatically retrieving and initiating playback of an autoplay queue of media content items on the media playback device, the autoplay queue of media content items being automatically selected to include media content items related to the media content items in the initial queue;
when the current state is the repeat track mode, upon concluding playback of a currently playing media content item, repeating playback of the currently playing media content item;
when the current state is the repeat playlist mode, upon concluding playback of the initial queue of media content items, automatically playing the initial queue of media content items again;
when the current state is the automatic playback off mode, upon concluding playback of the initial queue of media content items, stopping playback;
receiving one or more selections of the automatic playback switch by the user; and
displaying a symbol corresponding to the current state of the automatic playback switch on the graphical user interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the automatic playback switch is a selectable icon having the symbol corresponding to the current state of the automatic playback switch.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the selectable icon has a lemniscate shape when the current state of the automatic playback switch is autoplay mode.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the selectable icon has an emphasized appearance when automatic playback is enabled and a de-emphasized appearance when automatic playback is disabled.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein actuation of the automatic playback switch from a first state to a second state causes the selectable icon to be displayed in a different shape.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the automatic playback switch is a selectable icon that displays a lemniscate shape when automatic playback is enabled and displays clockwise rightwards and leftwards open circle arrows when repeat is enabled.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the selectable icon also displays clockwise rightwards and leftwards open circle arrows with a numeral “1” when repeat of a single track is enabled.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the autoplay queue of media content items is automatically selected based on at least one attribute associated with the initial queue of media content items.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the autoplay queue of media content items is selected based on a personalized user vector.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the autoplay queue of media content items is selected based on similarity of 40 dimensional attributes.

11. A system that controls playback of media content items on a media playback device, the system comprising:
a media playback device comprising:
a user input device configured to receive selections of media playback options;
a media content output device configured to play streamed media content; and
a media playback application configured to:
generate a graphical user interface comprising a plurality of graphical control elements that control playback of media content items on the media playback device, the graphical control elements comprising a single automatic playback switch configured to switch between at least four modes of playback when selected by a user, including: autoplay mode, automatic playback off mode, repeat track mode, and repeat playlist mode, wherein the graphical control elements are displayed within a same view of the graphical user interface;
receive a selection from the user, of media content for playback on the media playback device, the media content comprising an initial queue of media content items;
retrieve and play the initial queue of media content items on the media playback device;
determine a current state of the automatic playback switch;
when the current state is the autoplay mode, automatically play an autoplay queue of media content items after the initial queue of media content items has concluded, the autoplay queue of media content items being automatically selected to include media content items related to the media content items in the initial queue;
when the current state is the automatic playback off mode, stop playback after the initial queue of media content items has concluded playing;
when the current state is the repeat track mode, repeat playback of a currently playing media content item upon concluding playback of the currently playing media content item;
when the current state is the repeat playlist mode, repeat playback of the initial queue of media content items after the initial queue of media content items has concluded playing;
receive one or more selections of the automatic playback switch and
display a symbol corresponding to the current state of the automatic playback switch on the graphical user interface.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a media delivery system comprising:
a media data store configured to store media content;
a media stream service configured to stream the media content to the media playback device; and
an autoplay engine comprising an autoplay queue generator configured to determine whether automatic playback is enabled, generate the autoplay queue of media content items, and communicate the autoplay queue to the media stream service, the media content items in the autoplay queue being related to the media content items in the initial queue.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the user input device receives touch gestures to select the automatic playback switch.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the automatic playback switch is a selectable icon having a different symbol for each playback mode.

15. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to:
display on a media playback device a graphical user interface comprising a plurality of graphical control elements that control playback of media content items on the media playback device, the graphical control elements comprising a single automatic playback switch configured to toggle between at least four settings: automatic playback off mode, repeat playlist mode, repeat track mode, and autoplay mode, wherein the graphical control elements are di

Assignees

• Herzog Daniel
• Gentzke Glenn James
• Baxter Jeffrey Paul
• Mcbride Kylan
• Kizelshteyn Mark
• Gayno Thomas
• Spotify Ab

Inventors

• Herzog Daniel
• Gentzke Glenn James
• Baxter Jeffrey Paul
• Mcbride Kylan
• Kizelshteyn Mark
• Gayno Thomas

Classifications

• H04L65/613

  for the control of the source by the destination (control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637) · CPC title

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title

• G06F16/44

  Browsing; Visualisation therefor · CPC title

• H04L65/1059

  End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication · CPC title

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title