Share Restriction for Media Items

Abstract

Embodiments are described herein that allow for applying a share restriction on a plurality of media items that is part of a playback queue. In one aspect, a method is provided that involves a first computing device (a) receiving input data indicating an instruction to share a playback queue, where the playback queue includes at least a plurality of media items, (b) determining one or more characteristics of the plurality of media items, where at least one of the one or more characteristics indicates a source of the plurality of media items, (c) based on the determined one or more characteristics of the plurality of media items, assigning to the plurality of media items a share restriction that limits access to the plurality of media items, and (d) transmitting to a second computing device an indication of the share restriction assigned to the plurality of media items.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving by a first computing device input data indicating an instruction to share a playback queue, wherein the playback queue comprises a plurality of media items;   determining one or more characteristics of the plurality of media items, wherein at least one of the one or more characteristics indicates a source of the plurality of media items;   based on the determined one or more characteristics of the plurality of media items, assigning to the plurality of media items a share restriction that limits access to the plurality of media items; and   transmitting to a second computing device an indication of the share restriction assigned to the plurality of media items.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more characteristics indicates that credentials associated with the source of the plurality of media items are required to access the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the source of the plurality of media items comprises one of a media service provider or a curator of the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more characteristics comprises a restriction setting. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the share restriction comprises a display restriction to limit display of the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the share restriction comprises a playback restriction to prevent playback of the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 after assigning to the plurality of media items the share restriction, transmitting to the second computing device an indication of the playback queue.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 after assigning to the plurality of media items the share restriction, receiving by the first computing device input data indicating a modification to the plurality of media items; and   based at least on the modification to the plurality of media items, removing the share restriction from the plurality of media items.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the modification of the plurality of media items comprises at least one of removing one or more of the plurality of media items, adding one or more additional media items, or reordering one or more of the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , the method further comprising:
 determining that the plurality of media items has been modified beyond a predetermined modification threshold; and   based on at least the determination that the plurality of media items has been modified beyond the predetermined modification threshold, removing the share restriction from the plurality of media items.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the predetermined modification threshold comprises at least one of a predetermined number of media items removed, a predetermined number of media items added, or a predetermined degree of reordering of media items. 
     
     
         12 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a first computing device to cause the first computing device to perform functions, the functions comprising:
 receiving input data indicating an instruction to share a playback queue, wherein the playback queue comprises a plurality of media items;   determining one or more characteristics of the plurality of media items, wherein at least one of the one or more characteristics indicates a source of the plurality of media items;   based on the determined one or more characteristics of the plurality of media items, assigning to the plurality of media items a share restriction that limits access to the plurality of media items; and   transmitting to a second computing device an indication of the share restriction assigned to the plurality of media items.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , the functions further comprising:
 after assigning to the plurality of media items the share restriction, receiving input data indicating a modification to the plurality of media items; and   based at least on the modification to the plurality of media items, removing the share restriction from the plurality of media items.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the modification of the plurality of media items comprises at least one of removing one or more of the plurality of media items, adding one or more additional media items, or reordering one or more of the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , the functions further comprising:
 determining that the plurality of media items has been modified beyond a predetermined modification threshold; and   based on at least the determination that the plurality of media items has been modified beyond the predetermined modification threshold, removing the share restriction from the plurality of media items.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the predetermined modification threshold comprises at least one of a predetermined number of media items removed, a predetermined number of media items added, or a predetermined degree of reordering of media items. 
     
     
         17 . A method comprising:
 receiving by a computing device (i) an indication of a shared playback queue, wherein the indication of the shared playback queue includes at least an indication of a plurality of media items and an indication of one or more additional media items, and (ii) an indication of a share restriction assigned to the plurality of media items;   based on the share restriction, determining that the computing device does not have access to a source of the plurality of media items; and   based at least on the determination that the computing device does not have access to the source of the plurality of media items, playing the shared playback queue in accordance with the share restriction.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the share restriction comprises a playback restriction to prevent playback of the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein playing the shared playback queue comprises playing the one or more additional media items and not playing the plurality of media items. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the share restriction comprises a playback restriction to limit playback of the plurality of media items.