Granted Patent B2

US 12,730,554 · App. 18/746,000 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Inventors: Matthew Thomas Darby (San Francisco, CA); Clifford Curry (San Francisco, CA); Bryce Gibson Reid (San Francisco, CA); Andrey Doronichev (San Francisco, CA); Andrew Janich (Mountain View, CA); Alan Joyce (Mountain View, CA); Taeho Ko (San Francisco, CA); Justin Lewis (Marina Del Rey, CA); Kevin Greene (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: Google LLC

G06F3/04847G06F3/0482G06F3/04842G06F3/04845G06Q30/0277H04L65/60

Abstract

Claims (56)

1 . A method comprising:

presenting a media player associated with a first mobile application, the media player playing a media item in a first portion of a user interface (UI) on a touch screen of a user device, wherein the UI is provided by the first mobile application;

receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, a first user touch input indicating a user request to reduce a size and change a location of the media player;

responsive to receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, the first user touch input indicating the user request to reduce the size and change the location of the media player, reducing the size and changing the location of the media player playing the media item on the touch screen of the user device to allow a user to open a second mobile application on the touch screen of the user device;

causing playback of the media item to be continued in the media player associated with the first mobile application while the media player floats on top of content associated with the second mobile application being presented to the user on the touch screen of the user device, wherein the user is allowed to interact with the content associated with the second mobile application via the touch screen while the media player of the reduced size continues to float on top of the content associated with the second mobile application and continues to play the media item;

receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, a second user touch input indicating a user request to restore the size of the media player; and

responsive to receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, the second user touch input indicating the user request to restore the size of the media player, restoring the size of the media player while the media player continues to play the media item on the touch screen of the user device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to a third user input, switching controls of the media player from a hidden state to a displayed state.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to a fourth user input, further changing the size of the media player while the media player is playing the media item.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to a fifth user input, discontinuing presentation of the media player on the screen of the user device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein changing the location of the media player further comprises:

relocating the media player to a second portion of the UI provided by the first mobile application while continuing to provide playback of the first media item by the relocated media player in the UI provided by the first mobile application, wherein the second portion is a predetermined portion of the UI provided by the first mobile application.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a user gesture to scroll through a plurality of media items provided by the first mobile application on the screen of the user device, the plurality of media items comprising the first media item and a second media item, the user gesture to scroll through the plurality of media items being received while the media player continues to provide playback of the first media item in the UI provided by the first mobile application; and

upon receiving the user gesture to scroll through the plurality of media items, allowing the user to view the second media item while continuing to provide playback of the first media item by the relocated media player in the UI provided by the first mobile application.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mobile application is any one of a social network application or a content sharing application, and the second application is any one of a messaging application, an email application, a calendar application or a map navigation application.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the media player of the reduced size snaps into a docking position on the touch screen, the docking position persisting regardless of the content associated with the second application being presented on the touch screen, and wherein the media player of the reduced size is presented semi-transparently, and wherein user interaction with the touch screen is passed through to the content below the media player.

9 . A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, coupled to the memory, to perform operations comprising:

presenting a media player associated with a first mobile application, the media player playing a media item in a first portion of a user interface (UI) on a touch screen of a user device, wherein the UI is provided by the first mobile application;

receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, a first user touch input indicating a user request to reduce a size and change a location of the media player;

responsive to receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, the first user touch input indicating the user request to reduce the size and change the location of the media player, reducing the size and changing the location of the media player playing the media item on the touch screen of the user device to allow a user to open a second mobile application on the touch screen of the user device;

causing playback of the media item to be continued in the media player associated with the first mobile application while the media player floats on top of content associated with the second mobile application being presented to the user on the touch screen of the user device, wherein the user is allowed to interact with the content associated with the second mobile application via the touch screen while the media player of the reduced size continues to float on top of the content associated with the second mobile application and continues to play the media item;

receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, a second user touch input indicating a user request to restore the size of the media player; and

responsive to receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, the second user touch input indicating the user request to restore the size of the media player, restoring the size of the media player while the media player continues to play the media item on the touch screen of the user device.

10 . The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a third user input, switching controls of the media player from a hidden state to a displayed state.

11 . The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a fourth user input, further changing the size of the media player while the media player is playing the media item.

12 . The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a fifth user input, discontinuing presentation of the media player on the screen of the user device.

13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein changing the location of the media player further comprises:

relocating the media player to a second portion of the UI provided by the first mobile application while continuing to provide playback of the first media item by the relocated media player in the UI provided by the first mobile application, wherein the second portion is a predetermined portion of the UI provided by the first mobile application.

14 . The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:

receiving a user gesture to scroll through a plurality of media items provided by the first mobile application on the screen of the user device, the plurality of media items comprising the first media item and a second media item, the user gesture to scroll through the plurality of media items being received while the media player continues to provide playback of the first media item in the UI provided by the first mobile application; and

upon receiving the user gesture to scroll through the plurality of media items, allowing the user to view the second media item while continuing to provide playback of the first media item by the relocated media player in the UI provided by the first mobile application.

15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the media player of the reduced size snaps into a docking position on the touch screen, the docking position persisting regardless of the content associated with the second application being presented on the touch screen, and wherein the media player of the reduced size is presented semi-transparently, and wherein user interaction with the touch screen is passed through to the content below the media player.

16 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operation comprising:

presenting a media player associated with a first mobile application, the media player playing a media item in a first portion of a user interface (UI) on a touch screen of a user device, wherein the UI is provided by the first mobile application;

receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, a first user touch input indicating a user request to reduce a size and change a location of the media player;

responsive to receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, the first user touch input indicating the user request to reduce the size and change the location of the media player, reducing the size and changing the location of the media player playing the media item on the touch screen of the user device to allow a user to open a second mobile application on the touch screen of the user device;

causing playback of the media item to be continued in the media player associated with the first mobile application while the media player floats on top of content associated with the second mobile application being presented to the user on the touch screen of the user device, wherein the user is allowed to interact with the content associated with the second mobile application via the touch screen while the media player of the reduced size continues to float on top of the content associated with the second mobile application and continues to play the media item;

receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, a second user touch input indicating a user request to restore the size of the media player; and

responsive to receiving, via the touch screen of the user device, the second user touch input indicating the user request to restore the size of the media player, restoring the size of the media player while the media player continues to play the media item on the touch screen of the user device.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a third user input, switching controls of the media player from a hidden state to a displayed state.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a fourth user input, further changing the size of the media player while the media player is playing the media item.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a fifth user input, discontinuing presentation of the media player on the screen of the user device.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein changing the location of the media player further comprises:

relocating the media player to a second portion of the UI provided by the first mobile application while continuing to provide playback of the first media item by the relocated media player in the UI provided by the first mobile application, wherein the second portion is a predetermined portion of the UI provided by the first mobile application.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (6)

References Cited (119)