Playback queues for shared experiences

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12223226-B2
Application number	US-202318366496-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2023
Priority date	Nov 11, 2019
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

A computing device configured to (i) while a first playback device is playing back a playback session including a playback queue of media items, receive, from the first playback device: (a) an indication of media items in the playback queue, (b) audio content recorded at a time during playback of the playback queue, and (c) an indication of a playback position in a media item that corresponds to the time, (ii) cause storage of the recorded audio content and the indication of the playback position, (iii) after the playback session, receive a request from a second playback device for the media item, and (iv) transmit (a) the recorded audio content and (b) the indication of the playback position to the second playback device, thereby causing the second playback device to, while playing back the media item, play back the recorded audio content during the playback position in the media item.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium; and
program instructions stored on the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to:
while a first playback device of a first media playback system is playing back a playback session comprising a playback queue of media items, receive, from the first playback device:
an indication of one or more media items in the playback queue;
audio content recorded via a networked microphone device of the first media playback system at a particular time during playback of the playback queue; and
an indication of a given playback position in a media item of the one or more media items in the playback queue that corresponds to the particular time;

cause storage of the recorded audio content and the indication of the given playback position;
after the playback session, receive a request from a second playback device of a second media playback system for the media item; and
transmit (i) the recorded audio content and (ii) the indication of the given playback position to the second playback device, thereby causing the second playback device to, while playing back the media item, play back the recorded audio content during the given playback position in the media item.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to cause storage of the recorded audio content and the indication of the given playback position comprise program instructions that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to cause the recorded audio content and the indication of the given playback position to be stored in data storage of the computing device.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions stored on the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to:
retrieve the media item from a media service; and
transmit the media item to the second playback device along with the recorded audio content.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the media item is retrieved by the second playback device.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the second media playback system does not include the first playback device, and wherein the first media playback system does not include the second playback device.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to receive the request from the second playback device for the media item comprise program instructions that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to receive a request from the second playback device to play back the playback queue of media items.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to transmit (i) the recorded audio content and (ii) the indication of the given playback position to the second playback device comprise program instructions that are collectively executable by the at least one processor such that the computing device is configured to transmit (i) the recorded audio content and (ii) the indication of the given playback position to the second playback device via a wide area network (WAN).

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first playback device comprises the networked microphone 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 computing device to:
while a first playback device of a first media playback system is playing back a playback session comprising a playback queue of media items, receive, from the first playback device:
an indication of one or more media items in the playback queue;
audio content recorded via a networked microphone device of the first media playback system at a particular time during playback of the playback queue; and
an indication of a given playback position in a media item of the one or more media items in the playback queue that corresponds to the particular time;

cause storage of the recorded audio content and the indication of the given playback position;
after the playback session, receive a request from a second playback device of a second media playback system for the media item; and
transmit (i) the recorded audio content and (ii) the indication of the given playback position to the second playback device, thereby causing the second playback device to, while playing back the media item, play back the recorded audio content during the given playback position in the media item.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computing device to cause storage of the recorded audio content and the indication of the given playback position comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computing device to cause the recorded audio content and the indication of the given playback position to be stored in data storage of the computing device.

11. 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 computing device to:
retrieve the media item from a media service; and
transmit the media item to the second playback device along with the recorded audio content.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the media item is retrieved by the second playback device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the second media playback system does not include the first playback device, and wherein the first media playback system does not include the second playback device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computing device to receive the request from the second playback device for the media item comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computing device to receive a request from the second playback device to play back the playback queue of media items.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computing device to transmit (i) the recorded audio content and (ii) the indication of the given playback position to the second playback device comprise program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computing device to transmit (i) the recorded audio content and (ii) the indication of the given playback position to the second playback device via a wide area network (WAN).

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first playback device comprises the networked microphone device.

17. A method

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Taylor Ryan
• Torgerson Jeffrey Michael

Classifications

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title

• H04R2227/003

  Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet · CPC title

• H04R27/00

  Public address systems (circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; {monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007}; amplifiers H03F) · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L65/1089

  by adding media; by removing media · CPC title