US20200183640A1 - Selection of Playback Devices - Google Patents

Abstract

Example techniques involve selection of playback devices within a media playback system for outputting a media stream based on user input. An example implementation involves a controller causing a plurality of first representations of at least some of a plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display. The controller causes a plurality of second representations of at least some of one or more groups playback devices to be displayed on a second portion of the display, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices. The controller receives an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups and adjusts a selected status of the particular group. The controller also determines which playback devices are associated with the particular group, and adjusts a selected status of the playback devices that associated with the particular group.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S. Design patent application No 29/672,604, filed on Dec. 6, 2018, entitled “Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Graphical User Interface for Media Playback Control,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
• U.S. Design patent application No 29/672,604 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 16/212,437, filed on Dec. 6, 2018, entitled “Selection of Playback Devices,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
• The present disclosure is related to consumer goods and, more particularly, to methods, systems, products, features, services, and other elements directed to media playback or some aspect thereof.
BACKGROUND
• Options for accessing and listening to digital audio in an out-loud setting were limited until in 2002, when SONOS, Inc. began development of a new type of playback system. Sonos then filed one of its first patent applications in 2003, entitled “Method for Synchronizing Audio Playback between Multiple Networked Devices,” and began offering its first media playback systems for sale in 2005. The Sonos Wireless Home Sound System enables people to experience music from many sources via one or more networked playback devices. Through a software control application installed on a controller (e.g., smartphone, tablet, computer, voice input device), one can play what she wants in any room having a networked playback device. Media content (e.g., songs, podcasts, video sound) can be streamed to playback devices such that each room with a playback device can play back corresponding different media content. In addition, rooms can be grouped together for synchronous playback of the same media content, and/or the same media content can be heard in all rooms synchronously.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• Features, aspects, and advantages of the presently disclosed technology may be better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, as listed below. A person skilled in the relevant art will understand that the features shown in the drawings are for purposes of illustrations, and variations, including different and/or additional features and arrangements thereof, are possible.
• FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway view of an environment having a media playback system configured in accordance with aspects of the disclosed technology.
• FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the media playback system ofFIG. 1A and one or more networks.
• FIG. 1C is a block diagram of a playback device.
• FIG. 1D is a block diagram of a playback device.
• FIG. 1E is a block diagram of a network microphone device.
• FIG. 1F is a block diagram of a network microphone device.
• FIG. 1G is a block diagram of a playback device.
• FIG. 1H is a partially schematic diagram of a control device.
• FIGS. 1I, IJ,1K, and1L are schematic diagrams of corresponding media playback system zones.
• FIG. 1M is a schematic diagram of media playback system areas.
• FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of a control device in the process of creating a group.
• FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of a control device showing an exemplary group in a media playback system.
• FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a control device showing the selection of a room of a media playback system to output a media stream.
• FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of a control device showing a selection of a group in a media playback system.
• FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a control device showing the outputting of a media stream to plurality of playback devices in a media playback system.
• FIGS. 5A and 5B show a flow diagram illustrating a method of selecting and deselecting media playback devices and groups.
• The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating example embodiments, but those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the technology disclosed herein is not limited to the arrangements and/or instrumentality shown in the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONI. Overview
• Embodiments described herein relate to the selection of playback devices within a media playback system for outputting a media stream, based on user input on a controller device. Representations of saved groups of playback devices and individual playback devices are displayed simultaneously. Playback devices may be selected by an input indicating a selection of a group of playback devices or individual playback devices. Any changes to the selected status of a playback device are reflected in representations of both the individual playback devices and representations of at least one saved group of playback devices on a display.
• In this way a user can select desired playback devices with increased efficiency. For example, a user has available both individual and group representations to adjust the selection. As both individual devices and groups of devices are represented on a display simultaneously, and both reflect a selected status, users can select devices with relatively few steps and in a simple manner. Efficient use may also be made of limited screen space.
• In some embodiments, a method comprises, at a controller device: retrieving data indicative of a plurality of playback devices, causing a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device; retrieving data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices; and causing a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display. In response to the receipt of an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups, the method adjusts a selected status of the particular group; determines playback devices of the plurality of playback devices which are associated with the particular group; adjusts a selected status of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group; changes the second representation of the particular group on the second portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the particular group; and changes the first representation of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group on the first portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the playback devices.
• The method may comprise determining that none of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group have a first representation visible on the first portion of the display. The changing a representation of the playback devices may then comprise causing at least one first representation of a playback device associated with the particular group to be visible on the first portion of the display.
• The method may further comprise, after the adjusting a selected status of playback devices associated with the particular group, adjusting a selected status of a further group of playback devices based on the adjusted status of the playback devices.
• The method may further comprise, responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular playback device: adjusting a selected status of the particular playback device; changing the first representation of the particular playback device on the first portion of the display based on the selected status of the particular playback device; determining at least one of the one or more groups which is associated the particular playback device; adjusting a selected status of the determined at least one of the one or more groups, based on the selected status of the particular playback device; and changing the second representation of the at least one of the one or more groups on the second portion of the display based on the selected status of the at least one of the one or more groups.
• The method may further comprise causing reproduction of media according to the selected status of playback devices.
• The data indicative of the one or more groups may be retrieved from a storage of the controller device. The data indicative of the one or more groups may be retrieved from another device, separate from the controller.
• The data indicative of the one or more groups may be associated with a user account.
• The method may further comprise storing a group based on user-selected playback devices before the step of retrieving data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices.
• The method may further comprise determining a display name based on the selected status of the plurality of playback devices and the one or more groups.
• The method may be used with a controller which has a diagonal dimension less than or equal to about 18 cm.
• In a further embodiment, a method comprises, at a controller device: retrieving data indicative of a plurality of playback devices, causing a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device; retrieving data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices; and causing a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display. Responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular playback device, the method comprises: adjusting a selected status of the particular playback device; changing the first representation of the particular playback device on the first portion of the display based on the selected status of the particular playback device; determining at least one of the one or more groups which is associated the particular playback device; adjusting a selected status of the determined at least one of the one or more groups, based on the selected status of the particular playback device; and changing the second representation of the at least one of the one or more groups on the second portion of the display based on the selected status of the at least one of the one or more groups.
• In another embodiment, a controller for a media playback system comprising a plurality of playback devices is provided. The controller comprises: a display; a human interface device configured to allow user input to be received; storage comprising non-transitory computer readable instructions for execution by the processor; and a processor. The computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to: retrieve data indicative of a plurality of playback devices; cause a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device; retrieve data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices; and cause a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display. In response to receipt of an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups, the computer-readable instructions instruct the process to: adjust a selected status of the particular group; determine playback devices of the plurality of playback devices which are associated with the particular group; and adjust a selected status of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group. The second representation of the particular group on the second portion of the display is also changed based on the adjusted selected status of the particular group; as is the first representation of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group on the first portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the playback devices.
• The computer-readable instructions may also instruct the processor to carry out some, or all, of the steps discussed above regarding the method.
• The display of the controller may have a diagonal dimension which is less than or equal to about 18 cm.
• In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium has computer program instructions embodied thereon. The computer program instructions, when executed by a processor of a controller, instruct the controller to retrieve data indicative of a plurality of playback devices; cause a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device; retrieve data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices; and cause a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display. In response to the receipt of an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups the instructions, when executed by a processor of the controller, cause the processor to: adjust a selected status of the particular group; determine playback devices of the plurality of playback devices which are associated with the particular group; adjust a selected status of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group; change the second representation of the particular group on the second portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the particular group; change the first representation of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group on the first portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the playback devices; and cause reproduction of media according to the selected status of playback devices.
• While some examples described herein may refer to functions performed by given actors such as “users,” “listeners,” and/or other entities, it should be understood that this is for purposes of explanation only. The claims should not be interpreted to require action by any such example actor unless explicitly required by the language of the claims themselves.
• In the Figures, identical reference numbers identify generally similar, and/or identical, elements. To facilitate the discussion of any particular element, the most significant digit or digits of a reference number refers to the Figure in which that element is first introduced. For example,element110ais first introduced and discussed with reference toFIG. 1A. Many of the details, dimensions, angles and other features shown in the Figures are merely illustrative of particular embodiments of the disclosed technology. Accordingly, other embodiments can have other details, dimensions, angles and features without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that further embodiments of the various disclosed technologies can be practiced without several of the details described below.
II. Suitable Operating Environment
• FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway view of amedia playback system100 distributed in an environment101 (e.g., a house). Themedia playback system100 comprises one or more playback devices110 (identified individually asplayback devices110a-n), one or more network microphone devices (“NMDs”),120 (identified individually as NMDs120a-c), and one or more control devices130 (identified individually ascontrol devices130aand130b).
• As used herein the term “playback device” can generally refer to a network device configured to receive, process, and output data of a media playback system. For example, a playback device can be a network device that receives and processes audio content. In some embodiments, a playback device includes one or more transducers or speakers powered by one or more amplifiers. In other embodiments, however, a playback device includes one of (or neither of) the speaker and the amplifier. For instance, a playback device can comprise one or more amplifiers configured to drive one or more speakers external to the playback device via a corresponding wire or cable.
• Moreover, as used herein the term NMD (i.e., a “network microphone device”) can generally refer to a network device that is configured for audio detection. In some embodiments, an NMD is a stand-alone device configured primarily for audio detection. In other embodiments, an NMD is incorporated into a playback device (or vice versa).
• The term “control device” can generally refer to a network device configured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access, control, and/or configuration of themedia playback system100.
• Each of theplayback devices110 is configured to receive audio signals or data from one or more media sources (e.g., one or more remote servers, one or more local devices) and play back the received audio signals or data as sound. The one or more NMDs120 are configured to receive spoken word commands, and the one or more control devices130 are configured to receive user input. In response to the received spoken word commands and/or user input, themedia playback system100 can play back audio via one or more of theplayback devices110. In certain embodiments, theplayback devices110 are configured to commence playback of media content in response to a trigger. For instance, one or more of theplayback devices110 can be configured to play back a morning playlist upon detection of an associated trigger condition (e.g., presence of a user in a kitchen, detection of a coffee machine operation). In some embodiments, for example, themedia playback system100 is configured to play back audio from a first playback device (e.g., the playback device100a) in synchrony with a second playback device (e.g., the playback device100b). Interactions between theplayback devices110, NMDs120, and/or control devices130 of themedia playback system100 configured in accordance with the various embodiments of the disclosure are described in greater detail below with respect toFIGS. 1B-1M.
• In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1A, theenvironment101 comprises a household having several rooms, spaces, and/or playback zones, including (clockwise from upper left) amaster bathroom101a, amaster bedroom101b, asecond bedroom101c, a family room orden101d, anoffice101e, aliving room101f, adining room101g, akitchen101h, and an outdoor patio101i. While certain embodiments and examples are described below in the context of a home environment, the technologies described herein may be implemented in other types of environments. In some embodiments, for example, themedia playback system100 can be implemented in one or more commercial settings (e.g., a restaurant, mall, airport, hotel, a retail or other store), one or more vehicles (e.g., a sports utility vehicle, bus, car, a ship, a boat, an airplane), multiple environments (e.g., a combination of home and vehicle environments), and/or another suitable environment where multi-zone audio may be desirable.
• Themedia playback system100 can comprise one or more playback zones, some of which may correspond to the rooms in theenvironment101. Themedia playback system100 can be established with one or more playback zones, after which additional zones may be added, or removed to form, for example, the configuration shown inFIG. 1A. Each zone may be given a name according to a different room or space such as theoffice101e,master bathroom101a,master bedroom101b, thesecond bedroom101c,kitchen101h,dining room101g,living room101f, and/or the balcony101i. In some aspects, a single playback zone may include multiple rooms or spaces. In certain aspects, a single room or space may include multiple playback zones.
• In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1A, themaster bathroom101a, thesecond bedroom101c, theoffice101e, theliving room101f, thedining room101g, thekitchen101h, and the outdoor patio101ieach include oneplayback device110, and themaster bedroom101band theden101dinclude a plurality ofplayback devices110. In themaster bedroom101b, theplayback devices110land110mmay be configured, for example, to play back audio content in synchrony as individual ones ofplayback devices110, as a bonded playback zone, as a consolidated playback device, and/or any combination thereof. Similarly, in theden101d, theplayback devices110h-jcan be configured, for instance, to play back audio content in synchrony as individual ones ofplayback devices110, as one or more bonded playback devices, and/or as one or more consolidated playback devices. Additional details regarding bonded and consolidated playback devices are described below with respect toFIGS. 1B and 1M.
• In some aspects, one or more of the playback zones in theenvironment101 may each be playing different audio content. For instance, a user may be grilling on the patio101iand listening to hip hop music being played by theplayback device110cwhile another user is preparing food in thekitchen101hand listening to classical music played by theplayback device110b. In another example, a playback zone may play the same audio content in synchrony with another playback zone. For instance, the user may be in theoffice101elistening to theplayback device110fplaying back the same hip hop music being played back byplayback device110con the patio101i. In some aspects, theplayback devices110cand110fplay back the hip hop music in synchrony such that the user perceives that the audio content is being played seamlessly (or at least substantially seamlessly) while moving between different playback zones. Additional details regarding audio playback synchronization among playback devices and/or zones can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395 entitled, “System and method for synchronizing operations among a plurality of independently clocked digital data processing devices,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
• a. Suitable Media Playback System
• FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of themedia playback system100 and acloud network102. For ease of illustration, certain devices of themedia playback system100 and thecloud network102 are omitted fromFIG. 1B. One or more communication links103 (referred to hereinafter as “thelinks103”) communicatively couple themedia playback system100 and thecloud network102.
• Thelinks103 can comprise, for example, one or more wired networks, one or more wireless networks, one or more wide area networks (WAN), one or more local area networks (LAN), one or more personal area networks (PAN), one or more telecommunication networks (e.g., one or more Global System for Mobiles (GSM) networks, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, 5G communication network networks, and/or other suitable data transmission protocol networks), etc. Thecloud network102 is configured to deliver media content (e.g., audio content, video content, photographs, social media content) to themedia playback system100 in response to a request transmitted from themedia playback system100 via thelinks103. In some embodiments, thecloud network102 is further configured to receive data (e.g. voice input data) from themedia playback system100 and correspondingly transmit commands and/or media content to themedia playback system100.
• Thecloud network102 comprises computing devices106 (identified separately as afirst computing device106a, asecond computing device106b, and athird computing device106c). Thecomputing devices106 can comprise individual computers or servers, such as, for example, a media streaming service server storing audio and/or other media content, a voice service server, a social media server, a media playback system control server, etc. In some embodiments, one or more of thecomputing devices106 comprise modules of a single computer or server. In certain embodiments, one or more of thecomputing devices106 comprise one or more modules, computers, and/or servers. Moreover, while thecloud network102 is described above in the context of a single cloud network, in some embodiments thecloud network102 comprises a plurality of cloud networks comprising communicatively coupled computing devices. Furthermore, while thecloud network102 is shown inFIG. 1B as having three of thecomputing devices106, in some embodiments, thecloud network102 comprises fewer (or more than) threecomputing devices106.
• Themedia playback system100 is configured to receive media content from thenetworks102 via thelinks103. The received media content can comprise, for example, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and/or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). For instance, in some examples, themedia playback system100 can stream, download, or otherwise obtain data from a URI or a URL corresponding to the received media content. Anetwork104 communicatively couples thelinks103 and at least a portion of the devices (e.g., one or more of theplayback devices110, NMDs120, and/or control devices130) of themedia playback system100. Thenetwork104 can include, for example, a wireless network (e.g., a WiFi network, a Bluetooth, a Z-Wave network, a ZigBee, and/or other suitable wireless communication protocol network) and/or a wired network (e.g., a network comprising Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or another suitable wired communication). As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, as used herein, “WiFi” can refer to several different communication protocols including, for example, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ad, 802.11af, 802.11ah, 802.11ai, 802.11aj, 802.11aq, 802.11ax, 802.11ay, 802.15, etc. transmitted at 2.4 Gigahertz (GHz), 5 GHz, and/or another suitable frequency.
• In some embodiments, thenetwork104 comprises a dedicated communication network that themedia playback system100 uses to transmit messages between individual devices and/or to transmit media content to and from media content sources (e.g., one or more of the computing devices106). In certain embodiments, thenetwork104 is configured to be accessible only to devices in themedia playback system100, thereby reducing interference and competition with other household devices. In other embodiments, however, thenetwork104 comprises an existing household communication network (e.g., a household WiFi network). In some embodiments, thelinks103 and thenetwork104 comprise one or more of the same networks. In some aspects, for example, thelinks103 and thenetwork104 comprise a telecommunication network (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network). Moreover, in some embodiments, themedia playback system100 is implemented without thenetwork104, and devices comprising themedia playback system100 can communicate with each other, for example, via one or more direct connections, PANs, telecommunication networks, and/or other suitable communication links.
• In some embodiments, audio content sources may be regularly added or removed from themedia playback system100. In some embodiments, for example, themedia playback system100 performs an indexing of media items when one or more media content sources are updated, added to, and/or removed from themedia playback system100. Themedia playback system100 can scan identifiable media items in some or all folders and/or directories accessible to theplayback devices110, and generate or update a media content database comprising metadata (e.g., title, artist, album, track length) and other associated information (e.g., URIs, URLs) for each identifiable media item found. In some embodiments, for example, the media content database is stored on one or more of theplayback devices110, network microphone devices120, and/or control devices130.
• In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1B, theplayback devices110land110mcomprise agroup107a. Theplayback devices110land110mcan be positioned in different rooms in a household and be grouped together in thegroup107aon a temporary or permanent basis based on user input received at thecontrol device130aand/or another control device130 in themedia playback system100. When arranged in thegroup107a, theplayback devices110land110mcan be configured to play back the same or similar audio content in synchrony from one or more audio content sources. In certain embodiments, for example, thegroup107acomprises a bonded zone in which theplayback devices110land110mcomprise left audio and right audio channels, respectively, of multi-channel audio content, thereby producing or enhancing a stereo effect of the audio content. In some embodiments, thegroup107aincludesadditional playback devices110. In other embodiments, however, themedia playback system100 omits thegroup107aand/or other grouped arrangements of theplayback devices110. Additional details regarding groups and other arrangements of playback devices are described in further detail below with respect toFIGS. 1I through 1M
• Themedia playback system100 includes the NMDs120aand120b, each comprising one or more microphones configured to receive voice utterances from a user. In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1B, theNMD120ais a standalone device and theNMD120bis integrated into theplayback device110n. TheNMD120a, for example, is configured to receivevoice input121 from auser123. In some embodiments, theNMD120atransmits data associated with the receivedvoice input121 to a voice assistant service (VAS) configured to (i) process the received voice input data and (ii) transmit a corresponding command to themedia playback system100. In some aspects, for example, thecomputing device106ccomprises one or more modules and/or servers of a VAS (e.g., a VAS operated by one or more of SONOS®, AMAZON®, GOOGLE® APPLE®, MICROSOFT®). Thecomputing device106ccan receive the voice input data from theNMD120avia thenetwork104 and thelinks103. In response to receiving the voice input data, thecomputing device106cprocesses the voice input data (i.e., “Play Hey Jude by The Beatles”), and determines that the processed voice input includes a command to play a song (e.g., “Hey Jude”). Thecomputing device106caccordingly transmits commands to themedia playback system100 to play back “Hey Jude” by the Beatles from a suitable media service (e.g., via one or more of the computing devices106) on one or more of theplayback devices110.
• b. Suitable Playback Devices
• FIG. 1C is a block diagram of theplayback device110acomprising an input/output111. The input/output111 can include an analog I/O111a(e.g., one or more wires, cables, and/or other suitable communication links configured to carry analog signals) and/or a digital I/O111b(e.g., one or more wires, cables, or other suitable communication links configured to carry digital signals). In some embodiments, the analog I/O111ais an audio line-in input connection comprising, for example, an auto-detecting 3.5 mm audio line-in connection. In some embodiments, the digital I/O111bcomprises a Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format (S/PDIF) communication interface and/or cable and/or a Toshiba Link (TOSLINK) cable. In some embodiments, the digital I/O111bcomprises an High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interface and/or cable. In some embodiments, the digital I/O111bincludes one or more wireless communication links comprising, for example, a radio frequency (RF), infrared, WiFi, Bluetooth, or another suitable communication protocol. In certain embodiments, the analog I/O111aand the digital I/O111bcomprise interfaces (e.g., ports, plugs, jacks) configured to receive connectors of cables transmitting analog and digital signals, respectively, without necessarily including cables.
• Theplayback device110a, for example, can receive media content (e.g., audio content comprising music and/or other sounds) from alocal audio source105 via the input/output111 (e.g., a cable, a wire, a PAN, a Bluetooth connection, an ad hoc wired or wireless communication network, and/or another suitable communication link). Thelocal audio source105 can comprise, for example, a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop computer) or another suitable audio component (e.g., a television, a desktop computer, an amplifier, a phonograph, a Blu-ray player, a memory storing digital media files). In some aspects, thelocal audio source105 includes local music libraries on a smartphone, a computer, a networked-attached storage (NAS), and/or another suitable device configured to store media files. In certain embodiments, one or more of theplayback devices110, NMDs120, and/or control devices130 comprise thelocal audio source105. In other embodiments, however, the media playback system omits thelocal audio source105 altogether. In some embodiments, theplayback device110adoes not include an input/output111 and receives all audio content via thenetwork104.
• Theplayback device110afurther compriseselectronics112, a user interface113 (e.g., one or more buttons, knobs, dials, touch-sensitive surfaces, displays, touchscreens), and one or more transducers114 (referred to hereinafter as “thetransducers114”). Theelectronics112 is configured to receive audio from an audio source (e.g., the local audio source105) via the input/output111, one or more of thecomputing devices106a-cvia the network104 (FIG. 1B)), amplify the received audio, and output the amplified audio for playback via one or more of thetransducers114. In some embodiments, theplayback device110aoptionally includes one or more microphones115 (e.g., a single microphone, a plurality of microphones, a microphone array) (hereinafter referred to as “themicrophones115”). In certain embodiments, for example, theplayback device110ahaving one or more of theoptional microphones115 can operate as an NMD configured to receive voice input from a user and correspondingly perform one or more operations based on the received voice input.
• In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1C, theelectronics112 comprise one ormore processors112a(referred to hereinafter as “theprocessors112a”),memory112b,software components112c, anetwork interface112d, one or moreaudio processing components112g(referred to hereinafter as “theaudio components112g”), one or moreaudio amplifiers112h(referred to hereinafter as “theamplifiers112h”), andpower112i(e.g., one or more power supplies, power cables, power receptacles, batteries, induction coils, Power-over Ethernet (POE) interfaces, and/or other suitable sources of electric power). In some embodiments, theelectronics112 optionally include one or more other components112j(e.g., one or more sensors, video displays, touchscreens, battery charging bases).
• Theprocessors112acan comprise clock-driven computing component(s) configured to process data, and thememory112bcan comprise a computer-readable medium (e.g., a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium, data storage loaded with one or more of thesoftware components112c) configured to store instructions for performing various operations and/or functions. Theprocessors112aare configured to execute the instructions stored on thememory112bto perform one or more of the operations. The operations can include, for example, causing theplayback device110ato retrieve audio data from an audio source (e.g., one or more of thecomputing devices106a-c(FIG. 1B)), and/or another one of theplayback devices110. In some embodiments, the operations further include causing theplayback device110ato send audio data to another one of theplayback devices110aand/or another device (e.g., one of the NMDs120). Certain embodiments include operations causing theplayback device110ato pair with another of the one ormore playback devices110 to enable a multi-channel audio environment (e.g., a stereo pair, a bonded zone).
• Theprocessors112acan be further configured to perform operations causing theplayback device110ato synchronize playback of audio content with another of the one ormore playback devices110. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, during synchronous playback of audio content on a plurality of playback devices, a listener will preferably be unable to perceive time-delay differences between playback of the audio content by theplayback device110aand the other one or moreother playback devices110. Additional details regarding audio playback synchronization among playback devices can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395, which was incorporated by reference above.
• In some embodiments, thememory112bis further configured to store data associated with theplayback device110a, such as one or more zones and/or zone groups of which theplayback device110ais a member, audio sources accessible to theplayback device110a, and/or a playback queue that theplayback device110a(and/or another of the one or more playback devices) can be associated with. The stored data can comprise one or more state variables that are periodically updated and used to describe a state of theplayback device110a. Thememory112bcan also include data associated with a state of one or more of the other devices (e.g., theplayback devices110, NMDs120, control devices130) of themedia playback system100. In some aspects, for example, the state data is shared during predetermined intervals of time (e.g., every 5 seconds, every 10 seconds, every 60 seconds) among at least a portion of the devices of themedia playback system100, so that one or more of the devices have the most recent data associated with themedia playback system100.
• Thenetwork interface112dis configured to facilitate a transmission of data between theplayback device110aand one or more other devices on a data network such as, for example, thelinks103 and/or the network104 (FIG. 1B). Thenetwork interface112dis configured to transmit and receive data corresponding to media content (e.g., audio content, video content, text, photographs) and other signals (e.g., non-transitory signals) comprising digital packet data including an Internet Protocol (IP)-based source address and/or an IP-based destination address. Thenetwork interface112dcan parse the digital packet data such that theelectronics112 properly receives and processes the data destined for theplayback device110a.
• In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1C, thenetwork interface112dcomprises one or morewireless interfaces112e(referred to hereinafter as “thewireless interface112e”). Thewireless interface112e(e.g., a suitable interface comprising one or more antennae) can be configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more other devices (e.g., one or more of theother playback devices110, NMDs120, and/or control devices130) that are communicatively coupled to the network104 (FIG. 1B) in accordance with a suitable wireless communication protocol (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, LTE). In some embodiments, thenetwork interface112doptionally includes awired interface112f(e.g., an interface or receptacle configured to receive a network cable such as an Ethernet, a USB-A, USB-C, and/or Thunderbolt cable) configured to communicate over a wired connection with other devices in accordance with a suitable wired communication protocol. In certain embodiments, thenetwork interface112dincludes thewired interface112fand excludes thewireless interface112e. In some embodiments, theelectronics112 excludes thenetwork interface112daltogether and transmits and receives media content and/or other data via another communication path (e.g., the input/output111).
• Theaudio components112gare configured to process and/or filter data comprising media content received by the electronics112 (e.g., via the input/output111 and/or thenetwork interface112d) to produce output audio signals. In some embodiments, theaudio processing components112gcomprise, for example, one or more digital-to-analog converters (DAC), audio preprocessing components, audio enhancement components, a digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other suitable audio processing components, modules, circuits, etc. In certain embodiments, one or more of theaudio processing components112gcan comprise one or more subcomponents of theprocessors112a. In some embodiments, theelectronics112 omits theaudio processing components112g. In some aspects, for example, theprocessors112aexecute instructions stored on thememory112bto perform audio processing operations to produce the output audio signals.
• Theamplifiers112hare configured to receive and amplify the audio output signals produced by theaudio processing components112gand/or theprocessors112a. Theamplifiers112hcan comprise electronic devices and/or components configured to amplify audio signals to levels sufficient for driving one or more of thetransducers114. In some embodiments, for example, theamplifiers112hinclude one or more switching or class-D power amplifiers. In other embodiments, however, the amplifiers include one or more other types of power amplifiers (e.g., linear gain power amplifiers, class-A amplifiers, class-B amplifiers, class-AB amplifiers, class-C amplifiers, class-D amplifiers, class-E amplifiers, class-F amplifiers, class-G and/or class H amplifiers, and/or another suitable type of power amplifier). In certain embodiments, theamplifiers112hcomprise a suitable combination of two or more of the foregoing types of power amplifiers. Moreover, in some embodiments, individual ones of theamplifiers112hcorrespond to individual ones of thetransducers114. In other embodiments, however, theelectronics112 includes a single one of theamplifiers112hconfigured to output amplified audio signals to a plurality of thetransducers114. In some other embodiments, theelectronics112 omits theamplifiers112h.
• The transducers114 (e.g., one or more speakers and/or speaker drivers) receive the amplified audio signals from theamplifier112hand render or output the amplified audio signals as sound (e.g., audible sound waves having a frequency between about 20 Hertz (Hz) and 20 kilohertz (kHz)). In some embodiments, thetransducers114 can comprise a single transducer. In other embodiments, however, thetransducers114 comprise a plurality of audio transducers. In some embodiments, thetransducers114 comprise more than one type of transducer. For example, thetransducers114 can include one or more low frequency transducers (e.g., subwoofers, woofers), mid-range frequency transducers (e.g., mid-range transducers, mid-woofers), and one or more high frequency transducers (e.g., one or more tweeters). As used herein, “low frequency” can generally refer to audible frequencies below about 500 Hz, “mid-range frequency” can generally refer to audible frequencies between about 500 Hz and about 2 kHz, and “high frequency” can generally refer to audible frequencies above 2 kHz. In certain embodiments, however, one or more of thetransducers114 comprise transducers that do not adhere to the foregoing frequency ranges. For example, one of thetransducers114 may comprise a mid-woofer transducer configured to output sound at frequencies between about 200 Hz and about 5 kHz.
• By way of illustration, SONOS, Inc. presently offers (or has offered) for sale certain playback devices including, for example, a “SONOS ONE,” “PLAY:1,” “PLAY:3,” “PLAY:5,” “PLAYBAR,” “PLAYBASE,” “CONNECT:AMP,” “CONNECT,” and “SUB.” Other suitable playback devices may additionally or alternatively be used to implement the playback devices of example embodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, one of ordinary skilled in the art will appreciate that a playback device is not limited to the examples described herein or to SONOS product offerings. In some embodiments, for example, one ormore playback devices110 comprises wired or wireless headphones (e.g., over-the-ear headphones, on-ear headphones, in-ear earphones). In other embodiments, one or more of theplayback devices110 comprise a docking station and/or an interface configured to interact with a docking station for personal mobile media playback devices. In certain embodiments, a playback device may be integral to another device or component such as a television, a lighting fixture, or some other device for indoor or outdoor use. In some embodiments, a playback device omits a user interface and/or one or more transducers. For example,FIG. 1D is a block diagram of aplayback device110pcomprising the input/output111 andelectronics112 without theuser interface113 ortransducers114.
• FIG. 1E is a block diagram of a bonded playback device110qcomprising theplayback device110a(FIG. 1C) sonically bonded with theplayback device110i(e.g., a subwoofer) (Figure IA). In the illustrated embodiment, theplayback devices110aand110iare separate ones of theplayback devices110 housed in separate enclosures. In some embodiments, however, the bonded playback device110qcomprises a single enclosure housing both theplayback devices110aand110i. The bonded playback device110qcan be configured to process and reproduce sound differently than an unbonded playback device (e.g., theplayback device110aofFIG. 1C) and/or paired or bonded playback devices (e.g., theplayback devices110land110mofFIG. 1B). In some embodiments, for example, theplayback device110ais full-range playback device configured to render low frequency, mid-range frequency, and high frequency audio content, and theplayback device110iis a subwoofer configured to render low frequency audio content. In some aspects, theplayback device110a, when bonded with the first playback device, is configured to render only the mid-range and high frequency components of a particular audio content, while theplayback device110irenders the low frequency component of the particular audio content. In some embodiments, the bonded playback device110qincludes additional playback devices and/or another bonded playback device.
• c. Suitable Network Microphone Devices (NMDs)
• FIG. 1F is a block diagram of theNMD120a(FIGS. 1A and 1B). TheNMD120aincludes one or more voice processing components124 (hereinafter “thevoice components124”) and several components described with respect to theplayback device110a(FIG. 1C) including theprocessors112a, thememory112b, and themicrophones115. TheNMD120aoptionally comprises other components also included in theplayback device110a(FIG. 1C), such as theuser interface113 and/or thetransducers114. In some embodiments, theNMD120ais configured as a media playback device (e.g., one or more of the playback devices110), and further includes, for example, one or more of theaudio components112g(FIG. 1C), theamplifiers114, and/or other playback device components. In certain embodiments, theNMD120acomprises an Internet of Things (IoT) device such as, for example, a thermostat, alarm panel, fire and/or smoke detector, etc. In some embodiments, theNMD120acomprises themicrophones115, thevoice processing124, and only a portion of the components of theelectronics112 described above with respect toFIG. 1B. In some aspects, for example, theNMD120aincludes theprocessor112aand thememory112b(FIG. 1B), while omitting one or more other components of theelectronics112. In some embodiments, theNMD120aincludes additional components (e.g., one or more sensors, cameras, thermometers, barometers, hygrometers).
• In some embodiments, an NMD can be integrated into a playback device.FIG. 1G is a block diagram of aplayback device110rcomprising anNMD120d. Theplayback device110rcan comprise many or all of the components of theplayback device110aand further include themicrophones115 and voice processing124 (FIG. 1F). Theplayback device110roptionally includes anintegrated control device130c. Thecontrol device130ccan comprise, for example, a user interface (e.g., theuser interface113 ofFIG. 1B) configured to receive user input (e.g., touch input, voice input) without a separate control device. In other embodiments, however, theplayback device110rreceives commands from another control device (e.g., thecontrol device130aofFIG. 1B).
• Referring again toFIG. 1F, themicrophones115 are configured to acquire, capture, and/or receive sound from an environment (e.g., theenvironment101 ofFIG. 1A) and/or a room in which theNMD120ais positioned. The received sound can include, for example, vocal utterances, audio played back by theNMD120aand/or another playback device, background voices, ambient sounds, etc. Themicrophones115 convert the received sound into electrical signals to produce microphone data. Thevoice processing124 receives and analyzes the microphone data to determine whether a voice input is present in the microphone data. The voice input can comprise, for example, an activation word followed by an utterance including a user request. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, an activation word is a word or other audio cue that signifying a user voice input. For instance, in querying the AMAZON® VAS, a user might speak the activation word “Alexa.” Other examples include “Ok, Google” for invoking the GOOGLE® VAS and “Hey, Siri” for invoking the APPLE® VAS.
• After detecting the activation word,voice processing124 monitors the microphone data for an accompanying user request in the voice input. The user request may include, for example, a command to control a third-party device, such as a thermostat (e.g., NEST® thermostat), an illumination device (e.g., a PHILIPS HUE® lighting device), or a media playback device (e.g., a Sonos® playback device). For example, a user might speak the activation word “Alexa” followed by the utterance “set the thermostat to 68 degrees” to set a temperature in a home (e.g., theenvironment101 ofFIG. 1A). The user might speak the same activation word followed by the utterance “turn on the living room” to turn on illumination devices in a living room area of the home. The user may similarly speak an activation word followed by a request to play a particular song, an album, or a playlist of music on a playback device in the home.
• d. Suitable Control Devices
• FIG. 1H is a partially schematic diagram of thecontrol device130a(FIGS. 1A and 1B). As used herein, the term “control device” can be used interchangeably with “controller” or “control system.” Among other features, thecontrol device130ais configured to receive user input related to themedia playback system100 and, in response, cause one or more devices in themedia playback system100 to perform an action(s) or operation(s) corresponding to the user input. In the illustrated embodiment, thecontrol device130acomprises a smartphone (e.g., an iPhone™, an Android phone) on which media playback system controller application software is installed. In some embodiments, thecontrol device130acomprises, for example, a tablet (e.g., an iPad™), a computer (e.g., a laptop computer, a desktop computer), and/or another suitable device (e.g., a television, an automobile audio head unit, an IoT device). In certain embodiments, thecontrol device130acomprises a dedicated controller for themedia playback system100. In other embodiments, as described above with respect toFIG. 1G, thecontrol device130ais integrated into another device in the media playback system100 (e.g., one more of theplayback devices110, NMDs120, and/or other suitable devices configured to communicate over a network).
• Thecontrol device130aincludeselectronics132, auser interface133, one ormore speakers134, and one ormore microphones135. Theelectronics132 comprise one ormore processors132a(referred to hereinafter as “theprocessors132a”), amemory132b,software components132c, and anetwork interface132d. Theprocessor132acan be configured to perform functions relevant to facilitating user access, control, and configuration of themedia playback system100. Thememory132bcan comprise data storage that can be loaded with one or more of the software components executable by the processor302 to perform those functions. Thesoftware components132ccan comprise applications and/or other executable software configured to facilitate control of themedia playback system100. Thememory112bcan be configured to store, for example, thesoftware components132c, media playback system controller application software, and/or other data associated with themedia playback system100 and the user.
• Thenetwork interface132dis configured to facilitate network communications between thecontrol device130aand one or more other devices in themedia playback system100, and/or one or more remote devices. In some embodiments, thenetwork interface132 is configured to operate according to one or more suitable communication industry standards (e.g., infrared, radio, wired standards including IEEE 802.3, wireless standards including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.15, 4G, LTE). Thenetwork interface132dcan be configured, for example, to transmit data to and/or receive data from theplayback devices110, the NMDs120, other ones of the control devices130, one of thecomputing devices106 ofFIG. 1B, devices comprising one or more other media playback systems, etc. The transmitted and/or received data can include, for example, playback device control commands, state variables, playback zone and/or zone group configurations. For instance, based on user input received at theuser interface133, thenetwork interface132dcan transmit a playback device control command (e.g., volume control, audio playback control, audio content selection) from the control device304 to one or more of theplayback devices100. Thenetwork interface132dcan also transmit and/or receive configuration changes such as, for example, adding/removing one ormore playback devices100 to/from a zone, adding/removing one or more zones to/from a zone group, forming a bonded or consolidated player, separating one or more playback devices from a bonded or consolidated player, among others.
• Theuser interface133 is configured to receive user input and can facilitate ‘control of themedia playback system100. Theuser interface133 includesmedia content art133a(e.g., album art, lyrics, videos), aplayback status indicator133b(e.g., an elapsed and/or remaining time indicator), mediacontent information region133c, aplayback control region133d, and azone indicator133e. The mediacontent information region133ccan include a display of relevant information (e.g., title, artist, album, genre, release year) about media content currently playing and/or media content in a queue or playlist. Theplayback control region133dcan include selectable (e.g., via touch input and/or via a cursor or another suitable selector) icons to cause one or more playback devices in a selected playback zone or zone group to perform playback actions such as, for example, play or pause, fast forward, rewind, skip to next, skip to previous, enter/exit shuffle mode, enter/exit repeat mode, enter/exit cross fade mode, etc. Theplayback control region133dmay also include selectable icons to modify equalization settings, playback volume, and/or other suitable playback actions. In the illustrated embodiment, theuser interface133 comprises a display presented on a touch screen interface of a smartphone (e.g., an iPhone™, an Android phone). In some embodiments, however, user interfaces of varying formats, styles, and interactive sequences may alternatively be implemented on one or more network devices to provide comparable control access to a media playback system.
• The one or more speakers134 (e.g., one or more transducers) can be configured to output sound to the user of thecontrol device130a. In some embodiments, the one or more speakers comprise individual transducers configured to correspondingly output low frequencies, mid-range frequencies, and/or high frequencies. In some aspects, for example, thecontrol device130ais configured as a playback device (e.g., one of the playback devices110). Similarly, in some embodiments thecontrol device130ais configured as an NMD (e.g., one of the NMDs120), receiving voice commands and other sounds via the one ormore microphones135.
• The one ormore microphones135 can comprise, for example, one or more condenser microphones, electret condenser microphones, dynamic microphones, and/or other suitable types of microphones or transducers. In some embodiments, two or more of themicrophones135 are arranged to capture location information of an audio source (e.g., voice, audible sound) and/or configured to facilitate filtering of background noise. Moreover, in certain embodiments, thecontrol device130ais configured to operate as playback device and an NMD. In other embodiments, however, thecontrol device130aomits the one ormore speakers134 and/or the one ormore microphones135. For instance, thecontrol device130amay comprise a device (e.g., a thermostat, an IoT device, a network device) comprising a portion of theelectronics132 and the user interface133 (e.g., a touch screen) without any speakers or microphones.
• e. Suitable Playback Device Configurations
• FIGS. 1I through 1M show example configurations of playback devices in zones and zone groups. Referring first toFIG. 1M, in one example, a single playback device may belong to a zone. For example, theplayback device110gin thesecond bedroom101c(FIG. 1A) may belong to Zone C. In some implementations described below, multiple playback devices may be “bonded” to form a “bonded pair” which together form a single zone. For example, the playback device110l(e.g., a left playback device) can be bonded to theplayback device110m(e.g., a right playback device) to form Zone B. Bonded playback devices may have different playback responsibilities (e.g., channel responsibilities). In another implementation described below, multiple playback devices may be merged to form a single zone. For example, theplayback device110h(e.g., a front playback device) may be merged with theplayback device110i(e.g., a subwoofer), and theplayback devices110jand110k(e.g., left and right surround speakers, respectively) to form a single Zone D. In another example, theplayback devices110gand110hcan be merged to form a merged group or a zone group108b. Themerged playback devices110gand110hmay not be specifically assigned different playback responsibilities. That is, themerged playback devices110hand110imay, aside from playing audio content in synchrony, each play audio content as they would if they were not merged.
• Each zone in themedia playback system100 may be provided for control as a single user interface (UI) entity. For example, Zone A may be provided as a single entity named Master Bathroom. Zone B may be provided as a single entity named Master Bedroom. Zone C may be provided as a single entity named Second Bedroom.
• Playback devices that are bonded may have different playback responsibilities, such as responsibilities for certain audio channels. For example, as shown inFIG. 1-I, theplayback devices110land110mmay be bonded so as to produce or enhance a stereo effect of audio content. In this example, the playback device110lmay be configured to play a left channel audio component, while theplayback device110kmay be configured to play a right channel audio component. In some implementations, such stereo bonding may be referred to as “pairing.”
• Additionally, bonded playback devices may have additional and/or different respective speaker drivers. As shown inFIG. 1J, theplayback device110hnamed Front may be bonded with theplayback device110inamed SUB. TheFront device110hcan be configured to render a range of mid to high frequencies and theSUB device110ican be configured render low frequencies. When unbonded, however, theFront device110hcan be configured render a full range of frequencies. As another example,FIG. 1K shows the Front andSUB devices110hand110ifurther bonded with Left andRight playback devices110jand110k, respectively. In some implementations, the Right andLeft devices110jand102kcan be configured to form surround or “satellite” channels of a home theater system. The bondedplayback devices110h,110i,110j, and110kmay form a single Zone D (FIG. 1M).
• Playback devices that are merged may not have assigned playback responsibilities, and may each render the full range of audio content the respective playback device is capable of. Nevertheless, merged devices may be represented as a single UI entity (i.e., a zone, as discussed above). For instance, theplayback devices110aand110nin the master bathroom have the single UI entity of Zone A. In one embodiment, theplayback devices110aand110nmay each output the full range of audio content eachrespective playback devices110aand110nare capable of, in synchrony.
• In some embodiments, an NMD is bonded or merged with another device so as to form a zone. For example, theNMD120bmay be bonded with theplayback device110e, which together form Zone F, named Living Room. In other embodiments, a stand-alone network microphone device may be in a zone by itself. In other embodiments, however, a stand-alone network microphone device may not be associated with a zone. Additional details regarding associating network microphone devices and playback devices as designated or default devices may be found, for example, in previously referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/438,749.
• Zones of individual, bonded, and/or merged devices may be grouped to form a zone group. For example, referring toFIG. 1M, Zone A may be grouped with Zone B to form azone group108athat includes the two zones. Similarly, Zone G may be grouped with Zone H to form the zone group108b. As another example, Zone A may be grouped with one or more other Zones C-I. The Zones A-I may be grouped and ungrouped in numerous ways. For example, three, four, five, or more (e.g., all) of the Zones A-I may be grouped. When grouped, the zones of individual and/or bonded playback devices may play back audio in synchrony with one another, as described in previously referenced U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395. Playback devices may be dynamically grouped and ungrouped to form new or different groups that synchronously play back audio content.
• In various implementations, the zones in an environment may be the default name of a zone within the group or a combination of the names of the zones within a zone group. For example, Zone Group108bcan have be assigned a name such as “Dining+Kitchen”, as shown inFIG. 1M. In some embodiments, a zone group may be given a unique name selected by a user.
• Certain data may be stored in a memory of a playback device (e.g., thememory112cofFIG. 1C) as one or more state variables that are periodically updated and used to describe the state of a playback zone, the playback device(s), and/or a zone group associated therewith. The memory may also include the data associated with the state of the other devices of the media system, and shared from time to time among the devices so that one or more of the devices have the most recent data associated with the system.
• In some embodiments, the memory may store instances of various variable types associated with the states. Variables instances may be stored with identifiers (e.g., tags) corresponding to type. For example, certain identifiers may be a first type “a1” to identify playback device(s) of a zone, a second type “b1” to identify playback device(s) that may be bonded in the zone, and a third type “c1” to identify a zone group to which the zone may belong. As a related example, identifiers associated with thesecond bedroom101cmay indicate that the playback device is the only playback device of the Zone C and not in a zone group. Identifiers associated with the Den may indicate that the Den is not grouped with other zones but includes bondedplayback devices110h-110k. Identifiers associated with the Dining Room may indicate that the Dining Room is part of the Dining+Kitchen zone group108band thatdevices110band110dare grouped (FIG. 1L). Identifiers associated with the Kitchen may indicate the same or similar information by virtue of the Kitchen being part of the Dining+Kitchen zone group108b. Other example zone variables and identifiers are described below.
• In yet another example, themedia playback system100 may variables or identifiers representing other associations of zones and zone groups, such as identifiers associated with Areas, as shown inFIG. 1M. An area may involve a cluster of zone groups and/or zones not within a zone group. For instance,FIG. 1M shows anUpper Area109aincluding Zones A-D, and aLower Area109bincluding Zones E-I. In one aspect, an Area may be used to invoke a cluster of zone groups and/or zones that share one or more zones and/or zone groups of another cluster. In another aspect, this differs from a zone group, which does not share a zone with another zone group. Further examples of techniques for implementing Areas may be found, for example, in U.S. application Ser. No. 15/682,506 filed Aug. 21, 2017 and titled “Room Association Based on Name,” and U.S. Pat. No. 8,483,853 filed Sep. 11, 2007, and titled “Controlling and manipulating groupings in a multi-zone media system.” Each of these applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In some embodiments, themedia playback system100 may not implement Areas, in which case the system may not store variables associated with Areas.
III. Methods and Devices for Dynamic Selection of Playback Devices
• According to examples, saved groups of playback devices may be created for use with the playback system.FIGS. 2A and 2B show a schematic view of acontrol device130acomprising a display for a user interface for the creation of a saved group of playback devices, such as a saved group ofplayback devices110 ofFIGS. 1A-1M described above.
• FIG. 2A shows a savedgroup creation screen200athrough which a user may create a group ofplayback devices110 of amedia playback system100. The savedgroup creation screen200acomprises a plurality of portions, areas orregions210,220,230, for displaying information regarding themedia playback system100 to allow a saved group to be created.
• Afirst portion210 of the display comprises an input area for a user to enter a group name or other identifier. The group name or identifier can be entered by the user in thefirst portion210, for example by using a software keyboard which appears when the user selects thefirst portion210. Alternatively, other input devices may be used such as a hardware keyboard, mouse, touch screen, or stylus, for example.
• Asecond portion220 is provided to display a representation of each playback device which will form part of the saved group. When first creating a new group thesecond portion220 of the savedgroup creation screen200amay contain no representations of playback devices. As shown inFIG. 2A,second portion220 may include an indication or instruction for prompting a user to select one ormore playback devices110 which form part of themedia playback system100, to add to the group.
• Athird portion230 contains one or more representations oruser interface elements240a,240b,240ceach representative of one ormore playback devices110 of the media playback system. Data of the available playback devices may be obtained or retrieved from storage. For example, the playback devices may be retrieved from memory of the controller device or alternatively they may be retrieved from an external source, such as an internet connected device or server, one or more of theplayback devices110 of themedia playback system100, or another controller device of themedia playback system100. In some examples, data of the available playback devices may also include a name of the playback device to assist identification of particular playback devices by the user.
• Therepresentations240a,240b,240cmay represent asingle playback device110, or a plurality ofplayback devices110 which are bonded. For example, the “Bathroom”representation240a, may be indicative of asingle playback device110ain thebathroom101a, as shown inFIG. 1A. In another example, the “Bedroom”representation240bis indicative of two or more playback devices, such as110land110m, whereby theplayback devices110l,110mare bonded together such that they play the same, or different channels of a single audio stream as described above in relation toFIG. 1I. Alternatively or additionally, the representation may be indicative of previously grouped speakers, such as110band110das described above in relation toFIG. 1L.
• To assign playback devices to a saved group,representations240a,240b,240cin thethird portion230, are selected to add the respective playback devices to the new group. For example, input may be received indicative of a selection, such as a tap in theregions240a,240bor240c. As theuser interface elements240a,240b,240care selected the representation of the playback device is added to thesecond portion220 and removed from thethird portion230.
• FIG. 2B, shows a savedgroup creation screen200bat a later stage, once input has been received. A group has been allocated the name “Downstairs” in thefirst area210 and has three representations of playback devices in thesecond portion220. In this example, the “Dining Room”240c, “Kitchen” and “Living Room” playback devices have been added to the “Downstairs” group. Therepresentations240aand240b, which have not been added to the current group, remain in the third portion. In some examples, input of a selection of a representation in the second portion, such as a tap on the “Dining Room”representation240c, in thesecond portion220 removes it from the group. In such, a case the representation is removed from thesecond portion220 and added to thethird portion230.
• AlthoughFIGS. 2A and 2B show textual representations of playback devices, graphical representations can also be used. Such graphical representations include images or icons of device appearance, environment, primary user (for example the member of the household whose bedroom it is) or any other suitable image. For example, rather than “Dining Room”240c, a table and chairs icon may be used. In other examples combinations of text and graphical representations are used.
• WhilstFIG. 2B has been described above in relation to the creation of a new group, the same user interface may be used to edit or otherwise alter and/or delete existing groups within themedia playback system100. For example, theinterface200bmay be used to change the name of a pre-existing group. Alternatively, or additionally, theinterface200bmay also be used to change theplayback devices110 which make up the group.
• Once playback devices have been selected, the group can be saved. The group may be stored locally in a memory of thecontroller device130aor in a memory of another device, such as another device of themedia playback system100 or a remote server, such as a cloud server. The group may also be stored in association with user account information representative of the user of the control device. Additional details regarding the synchronization and sharing of properties relating to a media playback system across devices can be found, for example in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/030,461 filed Jul. 9, 2018, entitled “Distributed Provisioning of Properties of Operational Settings of a Media Playback System”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
• Once one or more groups have been saved, they can be used to make subsequent selection of the playback devices more efficient.FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagram of acontrol device130awith a display showing auser interface300a,300bfor the selection ofplayback devices110 of amedia playback system100. The user interface can be used for indicating individual playback devices and groups of playback devices for selection. For example, it may allow efficient selection ofplayback devices110 to output one or more audio streams to.
• FIG. 3A depicts auser interface300awhich allows the selection ofindividual playback devices110 and/or bonded playback devices. Each playback device or bonded playback device represents a room in this example. For example, the first110aand second110nplayback devices in thebathroom101a, of themedia playback system100 shown inFIG. 1A form a bonded playback device represented as “Bathroom”.
• Theuser interface300aincludes a now playingportion310 for indicating the audio stream to be outputted to the selected playback device(s). The now playingportion310 may comprise an indication of the song name, source, album artwork and other meta data associated with the audio being outputted to the playback device(s)110 of themedia playback system100.
• Theuser interface300aof thecontrol device130amay also comprise a playbackdevice selection area320 comprising one or more representations of one ormore playback devices110 available in themedia playback system100. The representations, such as the “Bathroom”representation330 may be representative of asingle playback device110, or alternatively may be representative of multiple playback devices that are bonded together. As mentioned above with reference toFIG. 2B, the representations may be graphical, textual or a combination of both.
• Upon selection of a representation, such as the “Bathroom”representation330, the selected status may be indicated by a variable in themedia playback system100. For example, the variable may be a binary true/false variable or may be a data structure including data indicative of a playback device in conjunction with data of the selected status. The variables associated with each playback device may be set to be deselected when theuser interface300ais first displayed. In other representations, the selected status may be determined before the display of the representations in theuser interface300a, for example by querying a state variable for current selected status of the playback device. A “selected” status can be indicated in any suitable manner, inFIG. 3A, a selected status is shown by a tick, which a “deselected” status is shown by a blank circle.
• One or more of the representations, such as the “Bathroom”representation330, may be selected to instruct themedia playback system100 to output the audio stream to the playback devices of the selected representation. In some examples, it may be desired to change the playback device(s) that an audio stream is being output to. As such, the user may select or deselect representations accordingly to output the audio stream to the desired playback devices.
• FIG. 3B shows auser interface300brunning on acontrol device130a, for use when a plurality of groups have been configured, for example as discussed above with reference toFIGS. 2A and 2B. Theuser interface300bcomprises a now playingportion310 for indicating the audio stream to be outputted to the selected playback device. Theuser interface300bofFIG. 3B also comprises a playbackdevice selection area320 which provides a list of representations allavailable playback devices110 in the media playback system. The representations, such asrepresentation330 may be textual and/or graphical representations as discussed above, and may be indicative of asingle playback device110, or alternatively, multiple bonded playback devices.
• Each representation of a playback device may comprise additional information, for example, giving status information of the playback device. The status information may include anindication360 that the playback device is currently outputting an audio stream. Status information can be determined from a state variable or data structure representative of the playback system configuration and status which may be requested or received by the control device. Status information can also be determined by requesting information from the playback devices themselves.
• Theuser interface300balso comprises agroup selection portion340, containing one or more representations of different groups ofplayback devices110 of themedia playback system100 which have been previously saved. For example, as described above in relation toFIG. 2B, a “Downstairs”group350a, may comprise the playback devices represented as “Dining Room”, “Kitchen” and “Living Room”.
• Thegroup selection portion340 may comprise representations of groups for different purposes. For example, some groups may be representative of a physical layout or physical location, such as the “Downstairs”group350a. Other groups may be illustrative of a particular scenario or use case, such as “Morning”350b, which represents playback devices typically used in the morning, such as thebedroom101bandkitchen101h. It will be appreciated that other combinations of playback devices and use cases may be used.
• Thegroup selection portion340 also includes a group comprising all the playback devices of the playback system, indicated by “Everywhere”350cinFIG. 3A. This group comprising all playback devices can be automatically created in some examples. For example, the group may be created automatically when it is determined that theplayback system100 comprises at least three playback devices. This determination could take place when a new playback device is added to the system, for example. Bonded playback devices may be considered to be a single device when configuring the system. In some examples, selection of the group “Everywhere” may group all available playback devices.
• A representation of a playback device in the playbackdevice selection area320 may be selected to output an audio stream to the playback device(s). When it is required to output the audio stream to more than one playback device, more than one of the representations in the playbackdevice selection area320 can be selected. Multiple playback devices can also be selected using thegroup selection portion340, as will be described in more detail below. Selections (and deselections) in thegroup selection portion340 are also indicated in the playbackdevice selection area320. Likewise, selections (and deselections) in the playbackdevice selection area320 are also indicated in thegroup selection portion340.
• For example, upon selection of one ormore groups350a,350b,350cin thegroup selection portion340, the representations of the playback devices which make up the selectedgroup350aare also indicated as selected in theplayback device portion320. As shown inFIG. 3B, theDownstairs group350ais selected in thegroup selection portion340, and the playback devices which make up theDownstairs group350ain the playbackdevice selection area320, are also indicated as selected. Selected groups may be indicated in a different way from selected playback devices. For example, as shown inFIG. 3B, selected groups are indicated by changing a text and background color, while selected playback devices are indicated by an indication (a tick inFIG. 3A) adjacent the representation of the playback device. This different indication of selected status may provide further efficiency of interaction because the distinction between groups and playback devices is clear.
• To give some more detail, upon selection of the “Downstairs”group350a, the playback devices which make up the “Downstairs” group are also shown selected. As shown inFIG. 3B the “Dining Room”, “Kitchen”, and “Living Room”. This dual representation can allow simple adjustment of earlier saved groups to fit current circumstances, without requiring the creation of further saved groups. For example, it may be required to select devices downstairs apart from the kitchen. This can be achieved by selecting the “Downstairs”group350ain thegroup selection area340 and then deselecting the “Kitchen” playback devices in the playbackdevice selection area320. This can allow simpler, quicker control—there is no requirement to review a list of all playback devices and identify which are downstairs but not the kitchen. Similarly, groups can be expanded easily. For example, it may be required to select all devices downstairs and the Bedroom playback device. This can be achieved by selecting the “Downstairs”group350ain thegroup selection area340 and then selecting the “Bedroom” playback device in the playbackdevice selection area320.
• Within thegroup selection portion340 and the playbackdevice selection portion320, the representations comprise text in this example, and the representations are arranged alphabetically. This can assist locating a particular group or playback device. When purely graphical representations are used, they may be arranged alphabetically according to an associated name or text data which is not displayed. In another example, representations may be displayed in a user defined order, or in an order based on other data, such based on the frequency of selection or based on the total time used for playback.
• Whilst not shown inFIG. 3B, the selection of a group in thegroup selection area340 may result in a change in the positioning of the representations listed in the playbackdevice selection area320. For example, if no playback devices in a selected group are visible in the playbackdevice selection area320, the list displayed in the playbackdevice selection area320 may be scrolled such that at least one representation of a playback device in the selected group is visible in the playback device selection area. Alternatively, the representations of the playback devices may be rearranged so that the devices in the selected group are at the top of the list. This allows the effect of selecting or deselecting groups to be seen in the playback device selection area and assist understanding that selection of playback devices has also changed. Playback devices corresponding to the group can be identified more easily.
• Thecontrol device130amay comprise a smartphone (e.g., an iPhone™, an Android phone) or a tablet computer on which media playback system controller application software is installed. A screen of such a device may have a diagonal dimension which is less than or equal to about 18 cm, less than or equal to about 17 cm, less than or equal to about 16 cm, or less than or equal to about 15 cm. Theuser interface300ballows such a small screen to be used efficiently and ensure that playbacks devices can be selected with relatively few steps. For example, in the case ofFIG. 3B, by indicating on the display the playback device(s) which make up theDownstairs group350a, the user is made aware that the audio stream will be provided to the playback devices in the Living Room, Kitchen, and Dining Room, this reduces the amount of interaction a user is required to undertake with the control device. For example, by scrolling to, or rearranging, the selected playback device representations, such as330, means the user is not required to manually scroll to clarify which playback device(s) make up the selected group.
• Thegroup selection portion340 and playbackdevice selection portion320 may be of a fixed size or be user resizable and do not overlap. In some examples, the size of thegroup selection portion330 may be set to a size sufficient to show all the saved groups in the system, with the playbackdevice selection portion320 displaying a scrollable list of representations of playback devices if this does not leave enough space to display all the representations of playback devices simultaneously. By displaying all the groups, interaction may be more efficient because a group may be a more effective starting block for the desired devices.
• As mentioned above, the user may manually select a plurality of the representations in the playbackdevice selection area320. If a user selects representations in the playbackdevice selection area320 which include all the playback devices of one of the previously defined groups, the selection of those playback device representations also results in the selection of the corresponding group being indicated. For example, the “Dining Room”, “Kitchen”, and “Living Room” representations are selected in the playbackdevice selection area320, then the “Downstairs”group350awould be indicated as selected. If a user were to then deselect one or more of these representations, theDownstairs group350awould no longer be indicated as selected in thegroup selection portion340, as the selected playback devices in the playbackdevice selection area320 are no longer include all the devices of that group.
• A user may, in some examples, select a combination of playback device representations in the playbackdevice selection area320 which includes the playback devices of more than one group. In this case, all groups which are indicative of the selected playback device representations indicated as selected in thegroup selection portion340. For example, a single playback device may be included in more than group. In another example, rather than indicating as selected all possible groups which includes the selected playback devices, a group which is indicative of a majority of the selected playback device representations may be indicated as selected. For example, if all the playback devices are selected, only the “Everywhere”group350cwill be indicated as selected. Therefore, as a user selects or deselects playback device representations, the selected/highlighted group is also updated so as to reflect the most relevant groups represented by the selected representations in the playbackdevice selection portion320.
• Once the selection is complete, the selection can be confirmed by an input, such as a tap or click on the “Done”element370. This may cause the selected playback devices to immediately begin reproduction of the selected media or may store a selected status of the playback devices so that they will begin reproduction when a further command is input to the control device.
• FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of acontrol device130ashowing aplayback screen400 for indicating the output of a media stream to plurality of selected playback devices. Theplayback screen400 comprises a plurality ofuser interface elements410,420 for indicating a current state of the media playback system, such as themedia playback system100 ofFIG. 1A. Some user interface elements represent audio streams that are currently being played by one or more groups and/or playback devices in the media playback system. Other user interface elements represent one or more groups and/or playback devices in the media playback system that are inactive, along with information of the audio stream last reproduced by those devices. For example, as shown inFIG. 4, there may be one audio stream currently being played by some of the playback devices the media playback system as indicated byuser interface element410. Similarly, as indicated byuser interface element420, one ormore playback devices110, or groups of themedia playback system100 may be inactive. For example, they may have been previously playing a second audio stream, which has since stopped or been paused. This second audio stream is displayed inuser interface element420. Theuser interface element420 may enable restarting the second audio stream to cause it to be reproduced by the playback devices indicated in theuser interface element420. Although two different audio streams and corresponding playback devices are depicted inFIG. 4, there may be more than or less than two audio streams with corresponding playback devices of the media playback system with a corresponding number of user interface elements.
• InFIG. 4, a firstuser interface element410 indicates a first audio stream being output by the selected playback device, in this case an audio stream from a streaming media service, such as Spotify®. The firstuser interface element410 comprises a number of icons and other elements relating to meta data of the audio stream, such as the song name, the artist and the source. Theuser interface element410 also comprises an area for indicating the groups and/or playback devices which are currently outputting the audio stream. The indication may be based on the group comprising a majority of the selected playback devices in thegroup selection portion340, along with the names of the other playback devices which are not members of that group, for example as discussed above in relation toFIG. 3B.
• As shown inFIG. 4 the firstuser interface element410 indicates to the user that the audio stream is being output to the “Bedroom” playback device and the “Downstairs” group. In this case the “Bedroom” representation may be indicative of the bondedplayback devices110land110min theBedroom101bofFIG. 1A. The “Downstairs” group may be representative of theplayback devices110b,110d,110ein thekitchen101h,dining room101g, andliving room101fofFIG. 1A. In this way the user can be informed of selected playback devices in a more compact way than simply listing all the devices, allowing better use of the available display space.
• In some examples, the selected playback devices may not include all the devices of a group, however they may only differ by a small by number of playback devices, such as one playback device or two playback devices. In such embodiments, the display name may indicate the group and those differing devices that are not selected. For example, this could be indicated by preceding the playback device representations which are not in the group with a “-” sign, with “except”, with “not”, or by placing the unselected playback devices in parentheses, and so on. For example, if “Dining Room” and “Kitchen” were selected in the playbackdevice selection area320 ofFIG. 3B, the display name may be ‘Downstairs−Living Room’, “Downstairs except Living Room”, “Downstairs not Living Room”, or ‘Downstairs (Living Room)’.
• Alternatively, where only a single playback device representation, or multiple playback device representations which do not form a group have been selected, as shown in the seconduser interface element420, the indication provided to the user may be that of the representation names only.
• FIGS. 5A and 5B show a flow diagram illustrating amethod500 of selecting and deselecting media playback devices and groups within a media playback system. Atitem502, data of the media playback system configuration is loaded into a memory of a controller device, such ascontroller device130adescribed above. The playback system configuration includes information of playback devices in the playback system and groups of playback devices previously set up for the playback system. The data of the playback system configuration may be retrieved from the memory of the controller itself. Alternatively, the data of the playback system configuration may be retrieved or obtained from another memory, such as a memory of the media playback system, a remote server, or another device within the media playback system. Additional details regarding the synchronization and sharing of properties relating to a media playback system across devices can be found, for example in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/030,461 filed Jul. 9, 2018, entitled “Distributed Provisioning of Properties of Operational Settings of a Media Playback System”, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Next, representations of the playback devices are displayed on a first portion of a display of a controller device and the groups are displayed on a second portion of a display of a controller device, for example as described above forFIG. 3B. If any playback devices and/or groups have a status of “selected” this is reflected in the representations on the display. Status may be determined by reading a state variable, for example.
• Atitem504, an input indicative of a selection of a playback device or a group is received. For example, on a controller device with a touch screen, a selection may be indicated by touching an icon or other user interface element representative of the desired playback device or group.
• Atitem506, the status of the playback device or group associated with the selection is determined, if it is determined that the associated playback device or group is already selected, themethod500 proceeds toitem520, if not themethod500 proceeds toitem508.
• Atitem508, it is determined whether the input is indicative of a playback device or a group. If the input is indicative of a playback device, the method proceeds toitem510. If the input is indicative of a group, the method proceeds toitem516.
• Atitem510, the status of the associated playback device is updated to “selected” and the selection is indicated on the representation of the playback device on the display. As mentioned above, this may involve highlighting the user interface element, repositioning the user interface element or otherwise indicating to the user that the user interface element has been selected. The status may be updated by changing a state variable, for example.
• Themethod500 then progresses toitem512 where it is determined whether the selected playback device is a member of a previously defined group. For example, it may be checked whether the playback device is associated with any saved groups. The status of all playback devices is determined, such as from a state variable, and compared to previously defined groups. If it is determined that the selected playback device is a member of at least one group, themethod500 progresses toitem514, if not themethod500 progresses toitem532.
• Atitem514, the status of each of the groups including the selected playback device is checked and updated if necessary. This involves checking the status of all the other playback devices in each group including the selected playback device. If all the playback devices in a group have the status of “selected”, then the status of the group is updated to “selected” and the representation of the group is updated to indicate the selection.
• Returning toitem508, when it is determined that a group has been selected, themethod500 progresses toitem516 where the status of the group is updated to “selected” and indicated on the representation of the group. Next, atitem518, the playback devices associated with the group are determined and the status of all those playback devices is set to “selected”. The representation of those playback devices are then updated to show them as selected if they were not already indicated as selected. Themethod500 then progresses toitem532.
• Returning toitem506, when it is determined that a playback device or group indicated by the selection has a “selected” status, the method progresses toitem520, where it is determined whether the input is representative of a previously defined group or of a playback device. If the input is representative of a previously defined group, themethod500 progresses toitem528, otherwise if it is representative of a playback device, then themethod500 progresses toitem522.
• Atitem522, the status of the playback device is updated to “deselected” and the corresponding representation on the display is also updated. Then, atitem524, it is determined whether the deselected playback device was a member of any groups. For example, inFIG. 3B if “Kitchen” was deselected, it would be identified as a member of the “Downstairs” group.
• Atitem526, any group(s) identified atitem524 have their status updated to deselected, and the representation of those group(s) on the display is updated accordingly. For example, if “Kitchen” was deselected, the “Downstairs”group350awould also be represented as deselected, for example by updating its status to “deselected”. Once the representations and statuses have been updated, themethod500 then progresses toitem532.
• Returning toitem520, when it is determined that the input is representative of a previously defined group, the method progresses toitem528, where the status of the group is updated to “deselected” and the corresponding representation on the display is also updated. Atitem530, the status of the devices which belong to the deselected group are also updated to be “deselected”, and the corresponding representation on the display is also updated. For example, with reference toFIG. 3B, if a user were to deselect the “Downstairs”group350b, then the “Kitchen”, “Living Room”, and “Dining Room” playback devices would have their status set to “deselected” and their representation on the display updated correspondingly. There then follows a further stage of updating, in which any other groups containing the deselected playback devices also have their status set to “deselected” and their representation on the display is updated.
• Atitem532, based on the groups and devices whose status is “selected”, a display name is determined. As described above with reference toFIG. 4, the display name may be representative of a name of the group which contains a majority of the selected playback device representations, along with the name of any other representations which do not form part of that group. For example, referring back toFIG. 3B, if a user selects “Bedroom”, “Kitchen”, “Dining Room”, and “Living Room”, in some embodiments, the display name may include the group “Downstairs” and “Bedroom”, such as “Downstairs+Bedroom”, or “Downstairs and Bedroom”. There is no group containing all four selected playback devices, however there is a group, Downstairs which contains a majority, in this case three, of the playback devices, so this group is displayed along with an indication of any changes from that group.
IV. Conclusion
• The above discussions relating to playback devices, controller devices, playback zone configurations, and media content sources provide only some examples of operating environments within which functions and methods described below may be implemented. Other operating environments and configurations of media playback systems, playback devices, and network devices not explicitly described herein may also be applicable and suitable for implementation of the functions and methods.
• As discussed above, various methods and apparatus to select playback devices for discussed, for example to allow playback devices to be selected more efficiently. A display includes two portions, one displaying representations of groups of playback devices, and one displaying representations of playback devices. Inputs representative of selections of the groups or playback devices are received, and both portions are updated responsive to the input. In this way selections may be made with fewer inputs or may be made more intuitively. For example, an input selecting or deselecting a particular group is reflected in the representations of the playback devices which make it up. For example, an input selecting or deselecting a particular playback device is reflected in the representations of the groups including the playback device. Following the selection, the selected playback devices may be caused to reproduce media, thereby allowing media to reproduced from multiple playback devices with a small number of inputs, even when the desired playback devices do not correspond to a previously saved group.
• The description above discloses, among other things, various example systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture including, among other components, firmware and/or software executed on hardware. It is understood that such examples are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of the firmware, hardware, and/or software aspects or components can be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or in any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Accordingly, the examples provided are not the only ways) to implement such systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles of manufacture.
• Additionally, references herein to “embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one example embodiment of an invention. The appearances of this phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. As such, the embodiments described herein, explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art, can be combined with other embodiments.
• The specification is presented largely in terms of illustrative environments, systems, procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble the operations of data processing devices coupled to networks. These process descriptions and representations are typically used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it is understood to those skilled in the art that certain embodiments of the present disclosure can be practiced without certain, specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuitry have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description of embodiments.
• When any of the appended claims are read to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of the elements in at least one example is hereby expressly defined to include a tangible, non-transitory medium such as a memory, DVD, CD, Blu-ray, and so on, storing the software and/or firmware.

Claims (20)

1. A method comprising, at a controller device:

retrieving data indicative of a plurality of playback devices;

causing a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device;

retrieving data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices;

causing a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display; and

responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups:

adjusting a selected status of the particular group;

determining playback devices of the plurality of playback devices which are associated with the particular group;

adjusting a selected status of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group;

changing the second representation of the particular group on the second portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the particular group; and

changing the first representation of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group on the first portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the playback devices.

2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

determining that none of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group have a first representation visible on the first portion of the display; and

wherein the changing a representation of the playback devices comprises causing at least one first representation of a playback device associated with the particular group to be visible on the first portion of the display.

3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: after the adjusting a selected status of playback devices associated with the particular group, adjusting a selected status of a further group of playback devices based on the adjusted status of the playback devices.

4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular playback device:

adjusting a selected status of the particular playback device;

changing the first representation of the particular playback device on the first portion of the display based on the selected status of the particular playback device;

determining at least one of the one or more groups which is associated the particular playback device;

adjusting a selected status of the determined at least one of the one or more groups, based on the selected status of the particular playback device; and

changing the second representation of the at least one of the one or more groups on the second portion of the display based on the selected status.

5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: causing reproduction of media according to the selected status of playback devices.

6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the data indicative of the one or more groups is retrieved from a storage of the controller device.

7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the data indicative of the one or more groups is retrieved from another device, separate from the controller.

8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the data indicative of the one or more groups is associated with a user account.

9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising storing a group based on user-selected playback devices before the step of retrieving data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices.

10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising determining a display name based on the selected status of the plurality of playback devices and the one or more groups.

11. A controller for a media playback system comprising a plurality of playback devices, the controller comprising:

a display;

a human interface device configured to allow user input to be received;

storage comprising non-transitory computer readable instructions for execution by the processor; and

a processor;

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

retrieve data indicative of a plurality of playback devices;

cause a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device;

retrieve data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices;

cause a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display; and

responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups:

adjust a selected status of the particular group;

determine playback devices of the plurality of playback devices which are associated with the particular group;

adjust a selected status of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group;

change the second representation of the particular group on the second portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the particular group; and

change the first representation of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group on the first portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the playback devices.

12. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

determine that none of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group have a first representation visible on the first portion of the display; and

wherein the changing a representation of the playback devices comprises causing at least one first representation of a playback device associated with the particular group to be visible on the first portion of the display.

13. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to: after the adjusting a selected status of playback devices associated with the particular group, adjust a selected status of a further group of playback devices based on the adjusted status of the playback devices.

14. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular playback device:

adjust a selected status of the particular playback device;

change the first representation of the particular playback device on the first portion of the display based on the selected status of the particular playback device;

determine at least one of the one or more groups which is associated the particular playback device;

adjust a selected status of the determined at least one of the one or more groups, based on the selected status of the particular playback device; and

change the second representation of the at least one of the one or more groups on the second portion of the display based on the selected status.

15. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

cause the reproduction of media according to the selected status of playback devices.

16. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

retrieve the data indicative of the one or more groups from the storage.

17. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

retrieve the data indicative of the one or more groups from another device, separate from the controller.

18. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to:

determine a display name based on the selected status of the plurality of playback devices and the one or more groups.

19. The controller ofclaim 11, wherein the display has a diagonal dimension which is less than or equal to about 18 cm.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer program instructions embodied thereon, wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by a processor of a controller, instruct the controller to:

retrieve data indicative of a plurality of playback devices;

cause a plurality of first representations of at least some of the plurality of playback devices to be displayed on a first portion of a display of the controller device;

retrieve data indicative of one or more groups of playback devices, each group having at least two associated playback devices of the plurality of playback devices;

cause a plurality of second representations of at least some of the one or more groups to be displayed on a second portion of the display;

responsive to receipt of an input indicative of a particular group of the one or more groups:

adjust a selected status of the particular group;

determine playback devices of the plurality of playback devices which are associated with the particular group;

adjust a selected status of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group;

change the second representation of the particular group on the second portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the particular group; and

change the first representation of the playback devices that are determined to be associated with the particular group on the first portion of the display based on the adjusted selected status of the playback devices; and

cause reproduction of media according to the selected status of playback devices.

Images