Media item context from social media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9959087-B2
Application number	US-201414495659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2014
Priority date	Sep 24, 2014
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments are described herein that may include a computing device. The computing device may receive an indication of a particular media item that is currently playing on a media playback system. The computing system may query a social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service that are connected within a social network to a particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system and have received respective indications of the particular media item from respective media playback systems within a particular period of time. The computing system may receive data indicating the queried one or more accounts of the social media service and cause one or more respective indications of the received one or more accounts of the social media service to be displayed on a graphical interface in association with an indication of the particular media item.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computing device 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, via the network interface from a given playback device of a media playback system, one or more state variables indicating a playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the playback queue includes a particular media item;
query, via the network interface, one or more cloud servers of a social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected within a social network to a particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system and (ii) have previously played back the particular media item on respective media playback systems within a particular period of time preceding a current playback session of the one or more playback devices;
based on the querying of the social media service, receive, via the network interface from at least one cloud server of the social media service, data indicating the queried one or more accounts of the social media service; and
while the one or more playback devices are playing back the particular media item, cause, on a graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with an indication of the particular media item, wherein each of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service comprises a respective indication of a respective historical time frame in which an account of the queried one or more accounts initiated playback of the particular media item on a respective media playback system.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:
causing, on the graphical interface, display of a graphical representation of the playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system; and
causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item within the displayed playback queue.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:
causing, on the graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the respective media playback systems in association with an indication of the particular media item.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:
causing, on the graphical interface, display of indications of one or more respective names registered with the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:
causing, on the graphical interface, display of one or more respective pictures associated with the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item.

6. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein each of the one or more respective pictures comprises a thumbnail photograph of a picture designated by the account as a profile picture to be displayed on the social media service in association with the account.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein querying the one or more cloud servers of the social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service comprises:
sending, via the network interface to the one or more cloud servers, (i) a track identification that uniquely identifies the particular media item among a plurality of media items of a media streaming service, (ii) an indication of the media streaming service, and (iii) an indication of the particular account that is registered to the social media service; and
requesting, from the one or more cloud servers via the network interface, the one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected within the social media service to the particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system, and (ii) have initiated playback of the particular media item on respective media playback systems within the particular period of time preceding the current playback session of the one or more playback devices.

8. A computing device 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, via the network interface from a given playback device of a media playback system, one or more state variables indicating a playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the playback queue includes a particular media item;
query, via the network interface, one or more cloud servers of a social media service for one or more accounts of the social media service that (i) are connected within a social network to a particular account of the social media service that is registered to the media playback system and (ii) have previously played back the particular media item on respective media playback systems within a particular period of time preceding a current playback session of the one or more playback devices;
based on the querying of the social media service, receive, via the network interface from at least one cloud server of the social media service, data indicating the queried one or more accounts of the social media service; and
while the one or more playback devices are playing back the particular media item, cause, on a graphical interface, display of one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with an indication of the particular media item, wherein each of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service comprises a respective indication of a respective historical time frame in which an account of the queried one or more accounts initiated playback of the particular media item on a respective media playback system.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in association with the indication of the particular media item comprises:
causing, on the graphical interface, display of a graphical representation of the playback queue that is being played back by one or more playback devices of the media playback system; and
causing, on the graphical interface, display of the one or more respective indications of the queried one or more accounts of the social media service in ass

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Corbin Keith
• Kumar Abhishek
• Kuper Ron
• Ramsperger Gregory Paul
• Sarkic Andrej

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04L51/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• G06F3/165 Primary

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