Creation and control of channels that provide access to content from various audio-provider services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9841943-B1
Application number	US-201615174243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 6, 2016
Priority date	Jun 6, 2016
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

Example implementations may relate to creation and control of channels. In particular, a computing device may receive a first channel-addition request indicating content from a first audio-provider service and may responsively send to a server an instruction to establish a first channel that provides access to content from the first audio-provider service via an application-program account. With this arrangement, a subsequent second channel-addition request may then similarly lead to establishment of a second channel that provides access to content from the second audio-provider service via the application-program account. After channel-additions, the device may determine a first selection of the added first channel and may responsively cause content from the first audio-provider service to be output by an audio output device. Then, the device may determine a second selection of the added second channel and responsively cause content from the second audio-provider service to be output by the audio output device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computing device comprising:
at least one input device operable to receive input data associated with an application-program account corresponding to the computing device;
an audio output device;
one or more processors;
a non-transitory computer readable medium; and
program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the one or more processors to:
in response to determining that the input data comprises a first channel-addition request indicating content from a first audio-provider service, send to a first server an instruction to establish a first channel, wherein the first channel provides access to content from the first audio-provider service via the application-program account;
in response to determining that the input data comprises a second channel-addition request indicating content from a second audio-provider service, send to the first server an instruction to establish a second channel, wherein the second channel provides access to content from the second audio-provider service via the application-program account, wherein the second audio-provider service corresponds to a second server, and wherein the first server has stored thereon information that (i) has been obtained from the second server and (ii) specifies at least one type of content associated with content from the second audio-provider service;
determine a first selection of the added first channel and responsively cause content from the first audio-provider service to be output by the audio output device;
determine a second selection of the added second channel and responsively cause content from the second audio-provider service to be output by the audio output device;
while causing content from the second audio-provider service to be output by the audio output device, determine that an audible notification is to be outputted by the audio output device;
in response to determining that the audible notification is to be outputted by the audio output device, engage with the first server in a communication session to determine the at least one type of content associated with content from the second audio-provider service;
based on the determined at least one type of content associated with content from the second audio-provider service, make a further determination of whether (i) to cause the audio output device to stop outputting content from the second audio-provider service while the audible notification is being outputted by the audio output device or (ii) to cause the audio output device to continue outputting content from the second audio-provider service at a reduced volume while the audible notification is also being outputted by the audio output device; and
after making the further determination, cause the audio output device to output the audible notification in accordance with the further determination.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is a screenless wearable device.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one input device comprises one or more of the following devices: at least one microphone, at least one touch-based interface, and at least one mechanical interface.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the application-program account also corresponds to a different computing device, and wherein the added first and second channels are each accessible via a different selection on the different computing device.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the application-program account is stored at the first server, and wherein the program instructions are further executable to:
engage in a direct communication session with the application-program account stored at the first server, and
wherein the first and second selections each respectively occur during the direct communication session with the application-program account.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first audio-provider service is associated with a first audio-provider account that also corresponds to the computing device.

7. The computing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the first audio-provider service corresponds to a first audio-provider server that stores content to which the first channel provides access, and
wherein the second audio-provider service corresponding to a second server comprises the second audio-provider service corresponding to a second audio-provider server that stores content to which the second channel provides access.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to:
subsequently determine that the input data comprises a third channel-addition request indicating content from the non-transitory computer readable medium; and
in response to the third channel-addition request, send to the first server an instruction to establish a third channel that provides access to content from the non-transitory computer readable medium via the application-program account.

9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions being executable to determine the first selection comprises the program instructions being executable to determine that the input data corresponds to a gesture indicative of the first selection.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one input device comprises at least one mechanical interface, and wherein the gesture comprises a particular mechanical input that is provided via the at least one mechanical interface and is indicative of the first selection.

11. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions being executable to determine the second selection comprises the program instructions being executable to determine that the input data corresponds to a gesture indicative of the second selection.

12. The computing device of claim 11 ,
wherein the gesture being indicative of the second selection comprises the gesture being indicative of a transition from (i) the added first channel to (ii) the added second channel, and
wherein the program instructions being executable to responsively cause content from the second audio-provider service to be output by the audio output device comprises the program instructions being executable to carry out the transition by causing the audio output device to output content from the second audio-provider service instead of outputting content from the first audio-provider service.

13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the at least one input device comprises at least one mechanical interface, and wherein the gesture indicative of the transition comprises a mechanical movement of the at least one mechanical interface.

14. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the mechanical movement comprises a movement of the at least one mechanical interface from a first location to a second location followed by maintenance of the at least one mechanical interface at the second location for at least a threshold duration.

15. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the second audio-provider service corresponding to a second server comprises the second audio-provider service corresponding to a second audio-provider server that stores content to which the second channel provides access, wherein the first server has stored thereon information that is related to content to which the second channel provides access and that has been obtained from the second audio-provider server, and wherein the program instructions are further executable to:
in response to determining that the input data corresponds to the gesture indicative of the transition, engage with the first server in a

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Raphael Seth
• Murdoch Ben
• Tait Matthew David
• Sumter Cody

Classifications

• H04W4/20

  Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel · CPC title

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title