Cloud queue playhead

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9363255-B2
Application number	US-201514616364-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 6, 2015
Priority date	Jun 4, 2014
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

An example implementation may involve a computing system receiving, from a media playback system, a request for an indication of a playhead pointer for a particular queue of media items. The implementation may also involve the computing system identifying a position of a playhead pointer within the particular queue of media items. Each position in the queue may correspond to a media item. The implementation may further involve the computing system sending, to the media playback system, an indication of the playhead pointer. The indication of the playhead pointer indicates the assigned position of the playhead pointer.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, via a computing system from a given media playback system over a network interface, a request for an indication of a playhead pointer for a particular cloud queue of media items that is accessible to the given media playback system via a wide area network, wherein media items of the particular cloud queue are playable by one or more playback devices of the given media playback system;
identifying, via the computing system, a position of the playhead pointer within the particular cloud queue of media items, wherein each position in the particular cloud queue corresponds to a respective media item; and
sending, via the computing system to the given media playback system over the network interface, an indication of the playhead pointer, wherein the indication of the playhead pointer indicates the identified position of the playhead pointer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the position of the playhead pointer comprises:
generating a playhead pointer configured to indicate a position within the particular cloud queue; and
assigning the generated playhead pointer to a particular position in the particular cloud queue of media items.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving a media item identifier that indicates a particular media item that the one or more playback devices of the given media playback system are to play back; and
wherein assigning the generated playhead pointer to a position in the particular cloud queue of media item comprises assigning the generated playhead pointer to a particular position in the particular cloud queue corresponding to the particular media item that the one or more playback devices of the given media playback system are to playback.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein assigning the playhead pointer to the position in the particular cloud queue of media item comprises
receiving, from the given media playback system over the network interface, a request to playback the particular cloud queue of media items at the beginning of the particular cloud queue; and
assigning the playhead pointer to a particular position that is ordered first in the particular cloud queue.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the indication of the playhead pointer comprises sending a universal resource identifier that indicates the identified position of the playhead pointer in the particular cloud queue of media items.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the indication of the playhead pointer comprises sending an indication of the playhead pointer that causes at least one playback device of the given media playback system to initiate playback of the particular cloud queue at a media item corresponding to the identified position of the playhead pointer.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication of a particular position of a local playhead pointer in a local copy of the particular cloud queue at the given media playback system;
determining that the particular position of the local playhead pointer in the local copy of the particular cloud queue is different from the identified position of the playhead pointer; and
re-assigning the playhead pointer to a position in the particular cloud queue corresponding to the particular position.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the given media playback system includes at least one zone of one or more playback devices configured to play back media items in synchrony, and wherein sending the indication of the playhead pointer comprises sending an indication of the playhead pointer that causes the one or more playback devices of the at least one zone to initiate playback of the particular cloud queue at the identified position of the playhead pointer.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning, to a particular device of the given media playback system, an owner status, wherein the owner status authorizes the particular device to perform a particular set of operations corresponding to manipulation of the playhead pointer.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning, to a first device of the given media playback system, an owner status, wherein the owner status authorizes the first device to perform a first set of operations on the playhead pointer; and
assigning, to one or more second devices of the given media playback system, a subscriber status, wherein the subscriber status authorizes the one or more second devices to perform a second set of operations on the playhead pointer, and wherein the second set of operations is different from the first set of operations.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning, to a particular device of the given media playback system, an owner status, wherein the owner status authorizes the particular device to perform a first set of operations on the playhead pointer; and
assigning, to one or more respective devices of one or more additional media playback systems, a subscriber status, wherein the subscriber status authorizes the one or more respective devices to perform a second set of operations on the playhead pointer, and wherein the second set of operations is different from the first set of operations.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first set of operations corresponds to control of the position of the playhead pointer, and wherein the second set of operations correspond to playback of the particular cloud queue in synchronization with the playhead pointer.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a control device, an indication of a command to manipulate the position of the playhead pointer;
based on the request, sending to the given media playback system, an indication of the command to manipulate the position of the playhead pointer;
after sending the indication of the command to manipulate the position of the playhead pointer, receiving an indication of a new position of the playhead pointer;
re-assigning the playhead pointer to the new position; and
sending, to the control device, an indication that the position of the playhead pointer has been re-assigned.

14. A computing system comprising:
a network interface;
at least one processor;
a data storage; and
a program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the at least one processor to:
receive, from a given media playback system over the network interface, a request for an indication of a playhead pointer for a particular cloud queue of media items that is accessible to the given media playback system via a wide area network, wherein media items of the particular cloud queue are playable by one or more playback devices of the given media playback system;
identify a position of the playhead pointer within the particular cloud queue of media items, wherein each position in the particular cloud queue corresponds to a respective media item; and
send, to the given media playback system over the network interface, an indication of the playhead pointer, wherein the indication of the playhead pointer indicates the identified position of the playhead pointer.

15. A method comprising:
receiving, via a control device of a given media playback system, input data that associates a zone of the given media playback system with a particular cloud queue of media items, wherein the zone comprises a playback device, and wherein the media items of the particular cloud queue are playable by the playback device;
sending, via the control device to a computing system over a network interface, a request for an indication of a playhead pointer for the particular cloud queue of

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Coburn Iv Arthur L

Classifications

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• H04H60/80

  characterised by transmission among terminal devices · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• H04N21/8455

  involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream · CPC title

• G06F21/44

  Program or device authentication · CPC title