Apple Inc.

Adam A Sonnanstine

Thomas M Alsina

Jonathan Anderson Bennett

Deepak R Iyer

Astrid Yi

Gregory R Chapman

Johannes P Schmidt

Edward T Schmidt

David P Saracino

Elena Leyfman

Aparna S Akella

Shreyas Nandagudi Sreesha

Patrick L Coffman

Taylor Gerard Carrigan

Craig Michael Federighi

Brian D Pietsch

Cesar De Camargo Barscevicius

Jahshan A Bhatti

John L Blatz

Joseph E Meyer

Joao Pedro Lacerda

Alexander D Palmer

In some implementations a system can be configured to reduce the burden of pairing user devices with playback devices. For example, all users (or user devices) who commonly operate within a particular environment (e.g., a home) can be configured as authorized users of playback devices within the particular environment. When one of the authorized users pairs a user device with a playback device, all of the user devices for all authorized users can be automatically paired with the playback device as a result of the single pairing. Thus, only a single authorized user is burdened with the pairing process in order to pair all authorized users with the playback device.

Pairing devices by proxy

In some implementations, a user device can predictively route media content to a remote playback device based on playback context information obtained by the user device. The playback context can include local playback context information related to the state and/or context of the user device. The playback context can include remote playback context information related to the state and/or context of available remote playback devices. Based on the playback context information obtained by the user device, the user device can generate a predictive score for each available playback device that indicates or predicts the likelihood that the user will want to send media content to the corresponding playback device. The user device can generate and present a graphical user interface that can identify the playback devices having predictive scores over a threshold score. In some instances, the user device can automatically route selected media content to a predicted playback device.

Predictive media routing

In some implementations, a system can be configured to allow remote control devices to quietly obtain status information related to various audio/video playback devices. For example, a streaming device (e.g., a user device, phone, etc.) can establish a streaming connection to a playback device. The playback device can be configured to only accept a single streaming connection (i.e., master connection). A remote control device (e.g., a user device, phone, etc.) can quietly connect (i.e., control connection) to the playback device without interrupting the master connection to obtain status information related to the playback device and or the media being streamed to the playback device. The remote control device can provide commands through the control connection to adjust the playback of the streamed media at the playback device.

Remotely controlling playback devices

Predictive media routing based on interrupt criteria

Techniques are disclosed for predictive media streaming using microlocation. Microlocations of a mobile device can be determined by measuring one or more sensor values at one or more times, the one or more sensor values are determined from one or more signals emitted by a corresponding one or more signal sources. Streaming events can be stored at the mobile device. Each streaming event may include a destination device for playing media and a cluster location, the cluster location corresponding to sensor values that are spatially near each other. A selection of a media item is detected and one or more current sensor values are measured. A current cluster location can be identified using the one or more current sensor value. The current cluster location and the streaming events can identify a particular destination device for playing the selected media item.

Predictive routing based on microlocation

In some implementations, a system can be configured to manage groups of playback devices. For example, playback devices can be dynamically grouped in a variety of ways. Each playback device can store attributes that define the group to which the playback device belongs. Each playback device can send its group attributes to remote control devices and the remote control devices can determine groups of playback devices based on the group attributes. The remote control devices can then configure and present graphical user interfaces that represent the various groups of playback devices. In some implementations, a group of playback devices can be configured as a persistent group. For example, a pair of playback devices (e.g., wireless speakers) can store and send attribute data indicating that the pair of playback devices is a persistent group so that remote control devices can present and control the persistent group as a single device.

Managing playback groups

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Adam A Sonnanstine