Social playback queues

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11360643-B2
Application number	US-202017121027-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2020
Priority date	Aug 8, 2014
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

An example method involves monitoring, by a computing device, a communications feed for an indication of media and detecting, in the communications feed, the indication of the media. The method may further involve identifying at least one media item corresponding to the indication of the media and causing a playback queue of a media playback system to include one or more of the identified at least one media item.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A first computing device comprising:
at least one processor;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and
program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor such that the first computing device is configured to:
cause creation of a communications feed maintained by a second computing device such that communications directed to the communications feed are stored at the second computing device, wherein a first user account of the communications feed is linked with a first user account of a media playback system associated with the first computing device;
access the communications feed by accessing the communications stored at the second computing device;
detect, in the communications feed, a first communication comprising an indication of media content;
based on the indication of media content, send, to the second computing device via the first user account of the communications feed, a second communication comprising at least a first indication of a command to update a playback queue of the media playback system, wherein the playback queue is associated with the first user account of the media playback system; and
based on detecting, in the communications feed, a third communication comprising at least a second indication of the command to update the playback queue of the media playback system, update the playback queue according to the command.

2. The first computing device of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor such that the first computing device is configured to:
after updating the playback queue according to the command, send, to the second computing device, a fourth communication comprising an indication that the playback queue of the media playback system was updated.

3. The first computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first indication of the command to update the playback queue of the media playback system comprises a positive indication, such that the command comprises one of: (i) adding a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content to the playback queue or (ii) moving a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content to an earlier position in the playback queue.

4. The first computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first indication of the command to update the playback queue of the media playback system comprises a negative indication, such that the command comprises one of: (i) removing a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content from the playback queue or (ii) moving a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content to a later position in the playback queue.

5. The first computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first communication comprising the indication of the media content originated from a source associated with a second user account of the communications feed.

6. The first computing device of claim 5 , wherein the first communication further comprises an indication of the second user account of the communications feed.

7. The first computing device of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor such that the first computing device is configured to:
determine a predetermined time period for accessing the communications feed, wherein accessing the communications feed comprises accessing the communications feed at a regular time interval during the predetermined time period.

8. The first computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor such that the first computing device is configured to update the playback queue according to the command comprise program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor such that the first computing device is configured to:
update a playback queue stored at the first computing device.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a first computing device to:
cause creation of a communications feed maintained by a second computing device such that communications directed to the communications feed are stored at the second computing device, wherein a first user account of the communications feed is linked with a first user account of a media playback system associated with the first computing device;
access the communications feed by accessing the communications stored at the second computing device;
detect, in the communications feed, a first communication comprising an indication of media content;
based on the indication of media content, send, to the second computing device via the first user account of the communications feed, a second communication comprising at least a first indication of a command to update a playback queue of the media playback system, wherein the playback queue is associated with the first user account of the media playback system; and
based on detecting, in the communications feed, a third communication comprising at least a second indication of the command to update the playback queue of the media playback system, update the playback queue according to the command.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is also provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the first computing device to:
after updating the playback queue according to the command, send, to the second computing device, a fourth communication comprising an indication that the playback queue of the media playback system was updated.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first indication of the command to update the playback queue of the media playback system comprises a positive indication, such that the command comprises one of: (i) adding a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content to the playback queue or (ii) moving a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content to an earlier position in the playback queue.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first indication of the command to update the playback queue of the media playback system comprises a negative indication, such that the command comprises one of: (i) removing a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content from the playback queue or (ii) moving a media item corresponding to the indication of the media content to a later position in the playback queue.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first communication comprising the indication of the media content originated from a source associated with a second user account of the communications feed.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the first communication further comprises an indication of the second user account of the communications feed.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is also provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the first computing device to:
determine a predetermined time period for ac

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Clayton Eric
• Valente Danny

Classifications

• G06F3/165 Primary

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

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title