Patent ID: 9654545
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. In a media playback system comprising a plurality of playback devices that are interconnected in a spanning tree configuration, a method comprising: detecting, via a device, a modification to a group of playback devices, wherein modifying the group comprises one of: (a) adding a playback device to the group, or (b) removing a playback device from the group, and wherein the group of playback devices is configured to play back media from a media device; performing, via the device, an evaluation of one or more parameters associated with one or more of the plurality of playback devices including at least the modified group of playback devices, wherein performing the evaluation of one or more parameters comprises determining respective root path costs along the spanning tree configuration from the media device to the playback devices; identifying, via the device, a given playback device of the group to be group coordinator for the group based on the relative root path cost of the given playback device to the determined root path costs, wherein the group coordinator provides, to other playback devices of the group, audio content data and audio content playback timing information to synchronize playback by the group of playback devices; and causing, by the device, the given playback device to become the group coordinator of the group.