Controlling and manipulating groupings in a multi-zone media system
AssigneeSonos, Inc.
InventorRobert A Lambourne
Life of this patent
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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.
Claims20
In a network comprising a plurality of zone players, a method comprising:
- receiving via the network by a controller device, a zone configuration from one of the plurality of zone players, wherein the zone configuration is maintained at one or more of the plurality of zone players, and wherein the zone configuration characterizes one or more zone scenes created by a user, each zone scene comprising at least one zone group, each zone group including at least one of the plurality of zone players, and each zone player in the zone group configured to synchronously playback multimedia content from a multimedia source with another zone player in the zone group;
- receiving, by the controller device, a user input to modify the zone configuration;
- based on the user input, modifying, by the controller device, the zone configuration;
- and
- transmitting, by the controller device to one of the plurality of zone players, the modified zone configuration to facilitate synchronized playback of multimedia content in accordance with the modified zone configuration, wherein the modified zone configuration identifies a first multimedia source for playback by a first zone group associated with a first zone scene and a second multimedia source for playback by a second zone group associated with the first zone scene.
A multimedia controller including a processor, the controller configured to:
- receive, via a network interface, a zone configuration from one of the plurality of zone players, wherein the zone configuration is maintained at one or more of the plurality of zone players, and wherein the zone configuration characterizes one or more zone scenes created by a user, each zone scene comprising at least one zone group each zone group including at least one of the plurality of zone players, and each zone player in the zone group configured to synchronously playback multimedia content from a multimedia source with another zone player in the zone group;
- receive a user input to modify the zone configuration;
- based on the user input, modify, the zone configuration;
- and
- transmit to one of the plurality of zone players, the modified zone configuration to facilitate synchronized playback of multimedia content in accordance with the modified zone configuration, wherein the modified zone configuration identifies a first multimedia source for playback by a first zone group associated with a first zone scene and a second multimedia source for playback by a second zone group associated with the first zone scene.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions for execution by a processor, the set of instructions, when executed, implement a controller configured to:
- receive, via a network interface, a zone configuration from one of the plurality of zone players, wherein the zone configuration is maintained at one or more of the plurality of zone players, and wherein the zone configuration characterizes one or more zone scenes created by a user, each zone scene comprising at least one zone group each zone group including at least one of the plurality of zone players, and each zone player in the zone group configured to synchronously playback multimedia content from a multimedia source with another zone player in the zone group;
- receive a user input to modify the zone configuration;
- based on the user input, modify, the zone configuration;
- and
- transmit to one of the plurality of zone players, the modified zone configuration to facilitate synchronized playback of multimedia content in accordance with the modified zone configuration, wherein the modified zone configuration identifies a first multimedia source for playback by a first zone group associated with a first zone scene and a second multimedia source for playback by a second zone group associated with the first zone scene.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.