Disclosed herein are computing devices, including playback devices, that are configured to communicate data, such as audio data, to any number of target devices by dynamically taking into account the relevant context relating to the data to be communicated, the capabilities of the target devices, the states of communication links, and other contextual information.

The present disclosure is directed to methods and systems for searching for media content across multiple sources. A multi-source content system can connect various media content sources (e.g., internet streaming platforms, local or cloud storage, OTA networks, cable network, satellite network, public library databases, etc.) to a gateway. When a user searches for media content, the gateway can detect the search and perform a query across the various media content sources to locate the media content. The multi-source content system can prioritize the search results according to free content, local storage devices, gateway content services or bandwidth management metrics, and present the search results to the user. The multi-source content system can aggregate multiple media content sources and devices connected to a gateway to retrieve media content.

Systems, apparatuses, components, methods, and techniques for location-based tagging and retrieving of media content are provided. Some embodiments include a media-playback device. The media-playback device includes a location-determining device that determines a geographical location of the media-playback device, a media-output device that plays media content items, at least one computer readable data storage device. The media-playback device operates to receive a selection of a location-based media playlist, the location-based media playlist including playlist data that identifies a set of media content items and defines a route. A geographic location of the media-playback device is determined using the location-determining device. A media content item of the location-based playlist is identified based on the determined geographic location and the route. The media-playback device plays the media content item.

In some embodiments, methods and systems for pushing audiovisual playlists based on a text-attentional convolutional neural network include a local voice interactive terminal, a dialog system server and a playlist recommendation engine, where the dialog system server and the playlist recommendation engine are respectively connected to the local voice interactive terminal. In some embodiments, the local voice interactive terminal includes a microphone array, a host computer connected to the microphone array, and a voice synthesis chip board connected to the microphone array. In some embodiments, the playlist recommendation engine obtains rating data based on a rating predictor constructed by the neural network; the host computer parses the data into recommended playlist information; and the voice terminal synthesizes the results and pushes them to a user in the form of voice.

A method for multicasting multimedia content to receivers, the method comprising: receiving, by a multicast middleware (MCMF) from a server (BMS), manifest files to access contents according to different adaptive bitrate streaming communication protocols, one of the manifest files being consistent with the MPEG-DASH protocol and describing media segments of a content, another of the manifest files being a master playlist consistent with the HLS protocol and defining locations where media playlists to access the media segments of the content are available; receiving, by the middleware from the server, the media segments of the content, transmitted in a multicast session, receiving, by the middleware from the server, the playlists, the received playlists referencing the media segments transmitted in the multicast session, and currently received by the middleware; and storing by the middleware the manifest files, the media segments and the playlists, to make them available to receivers (UD, UD1, UD2).

A computer-implemented method for generating media manifests may include (i) identifying media files that include different versions of a media item, (ii) identifying manifest standards, where each manifest standard in the manifest standards specifies a format for manifests that list media files that meet predetermined requirements described in the manifest standard, (iii) receiving, from a client, a request for a manifest for the media item in a particular manifest standard, (iv) identifying a subset of the media files that meet the predetermined requirements described in the particular manifest standard, (v) generating a manifest for the media item that lists media files in the subset and does not list media files in the media files that are not in the subset, and (vi) transmitting, to the client, the manifest for the media item in the particular manifest standard. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

A first device includes one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include instructions for receiving, from a second device, audio mix information for a first audio item and receiving, from the second device, an indication that the first audio item is to be mixed with a second audio item distinct from the first audio item. In response to the indication, the one or more programs include instructions for transmitting to the second device an audio stream including the first audio item and the second audio item mixed in accordance with the audio mix information.

A method for providing media content by a server, the media content comprising media components, each media component comprising initialization data and media data, the method being carried out by the server for a preselection of a plurality of media components, obtaining an indication of which initialization data of the plurality of media components should be used by a client to process media data of the media components of the preselection; and describing the preselection in a media presentation description, the description of the preselection comprising references to each media component of the plurality of media components and the obtained indication.

A network device is configured to (i) play back a media item indicated by a remote playback queue provided by a cloud-based computing system, (ii) receive an indication that a playback device is available for playback, (iii) display a now playing screen including (a) information identifying the media item, and (b) an icon that indicates that the network device is not in a connected state with any other network device, (iv) receive a first input selecting the icon, (v) in response to the first input, display a list of one or more available network devices including the playback device, (vi) receive a second input selecting the playback device from the list (vii) after receiving the second input, update the list to indicate that the playback device is selected for playback of the remote playback queue, and (viii) transfer playback of the remote playback queue from the network device to the playback device.

A system for collecting data from different sources is described. In one example embodiment, the system obtains content-related data from a plurality of source computer systems, automatically identifies, based on the content-related data, content items having respective popularity values greater than a predetermined threshold value as popular content items, and automatically generates a list of popular content items based on the popular content items.