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US 11,388,532 B2Granted
Zone scene activation
AssigneeSonos, Inc.
InventorRobert A. Lambourne
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In general, techniques of controlling a plurality of multimedia players in groups are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a mechanism is provided to allow a user to group some of the players according to a theme or scene, where each of the players is located in a zone. When the scene is activated, the players in the scene react in a synchronized manner. For example, the players in the scene are all caused to play a multimedia source or music in a playlist, wherein the multimedia source may be located anywhere on a network.
Claims33
A computing device comprising:
- at least one processor;
- a wireless network interface configured to communicatively couple the computing device to a wireless data network;
- 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 and thereby cause the computing device to be configured to:
- while serving as a controller for a networked media playback system comprising a first zone player and a second zone player, wherein the first zone player is operating in a standalone mode in which the first zone player is configured to play back media received over the wireless data network individually:
- receive, via the wireless network interface, zone configuration data that characterizes two or more zone scenes, wherein a first zone scene comprises a first group configuration including at least a first zone player and a second zone player that are to be configured for synchronous playback of media over the wireless data network when the first zone scene is invoked, and wherein a second zone scene comprises a second group configuration including the first zone player and a third zone player but not the second zone player;
- cause selectable indications of the two or more zone scenes to be simultaneously displayed, wherein the displayed selectable indications are each selectable to cause a respective one of the two or more zone scenes to be invoked by the first zone player;
- and
- receive a request to invoke the first zone scene;
- and
- based on the request, cause the first zone player to transition from operating in the standalone mode to operating in accordance with the first group configuration such that the first zone player is configured to coordinate with at least the second zone player over the wireless data network to output media in synchrony with output of media by at least the second zone player.
9 more elements
A method implemented by a computing device, the method comprising:
- while serving as a controller for a networked media playback system comprising a first zone player and a second zone player, wherein the first zone player is operating in a standalone mode in which the first zone player is configured to play back media received over a wireless data network individually:
- receiving, via a network wireless network interface configured to communicatively couple the computing device to the wireless data network, zone configuration data that characterizes two or more zone scenes, wherein a first zone scene comprises a first group configuration including at least a first zone player and a second zone player that are to be configured for synchronous playback of media over the wireless data network when the first zone scene is invoked, and wherein a second zone scene comprises a second group configuration including the first zone player and a third zone player but not the second zone player;
- and
- causing selectable indications of the two or more zone scenes to be simultaneously displayed, wherein the displayed selectable indications are each selectable to cause a respective one of the two or more zone scenes to be invoked by the first zone player;
- and
- receiving a request to invoke the first zone scene;
- and
- based on the request, causing the first zone player to transition from operating in the standalone mode to operating in accordance with the first group configuration such that the first zone player is configured to coordinate with at least the second zone player over the wireless data network to output media in synchrony with output of media by at least the second zone player.
5 more elements
A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is provisioned with program instructions that are executable by at least one processor such that a computing device is configured to:
- while serving as a controller for a networked media playback system comprising a first zone player and a second zone player, wherein the first zone player is operating in a standalone mode in which the first zone player is configured to play back received over a wireless data network individually:
- receive, via a wireless network interface configured to communicatively couple the computing device to the wireless data network, zone configuration data that characterizes two or more zone scenes, wherein a first zone scene comprises a first group configuration including at least a first zone player and a second zone player that are to be configured for synchronous playback of media over the wireless data network when the first zone scene is invoked, and wherein a second zone scene comprises a second group configuration including the first zone player and a third zone player but not the second zone player;
- and
- cause selectable indications of the two or more zone scenes to be simultaneously displayed, wherein the displayed selectable indications are each selectable to cause one of the two or more zone scenes to be invoked by the first zone player;
- and
- receive a request to invoke the first zone scene;
- and
- based on the request, cause the first zone player to transition from operating in the standalone mode to operating in accordance with the first group configuration such that the first zone player is configured to coordinate with at least the second zone player over the wireless data network to output media in synchrony with output of media by at least the second zone player.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.