Audio-Based Ancillary Data Alignment Across Broken Metadata Chains
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for synchronizing ancillary data with content are often unidirectional and require explicit data connections, relying on metadata that may not be present throughout the signal chain, limiting the ability to ensure timely and accurate alignment of ancillary data with content.
Innovation Solution
A dynamic system combining audio metadata fingerprinting and explicit metadata to trigger actions in the content pipeline, enabling dual-path ancillary data synchronization, which bypasses data roadblocks and allows for indirect connectivity, and includes local fingerprinting to compare live events with stored data for feedback and updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If explicit data connection is used for synchronization, then synchronization accuracy is improved, but system complexity and connectivity requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces audio fingerprinting as an intermediary mechanism that enables synchronization without requiring explicit data connections. The fingerprinting system acts as a mediator that can identify and synchronize ancillary data with content through audio signal analysis, bypassing the need for direct metadata connections while maintaining synchronization accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/data connection system with an acoustic field-based system. Instead of relying on metadata transmission through data connections, the system uses audio fingerprinting technology that analyzes acoustic signals to achieve synchronization, substituting the data connection mechanism with acoustic signal processing
2Device complexity
If metadata is used for synchronization, then system simplicity is improved, but reliability worsens due to metadata absence in signal chain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the audio content to synchronize ancillary data independently without relying on external metadata. The audio fingerprinting system extracts synchronization information directly from the audio signal itself, allowing the content to self-service its own synchronization needs and eliminating dependence on metadata that may be absent from the signal chain
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary audio fingerprinting and analysis to create a reference framework before ancillary data delivery. By pre-processing the audio signal to establish fingerprint markers and synchronization points, the system ensures reliable synchronization even when metadata is unavailable, as the fingerprinting infrastructure is already in place
3Device complexity
If unidirectional synchronization is used, then system complexity is reduced, but adaptability worsens due to lack of feedback path
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the audio fingerprinting system continuously monitors and adjusts synchronization status. The system compares expected fingerprint patterns with actual audio signals, detects desynchronization, and triggers corrective actions, creating an adaptive closed-loop system that can respond to changing conditions in real-time
Data Source
AI summary
Synchronizing ancillary data to content including audio includes obtaining a representation of the content's audio and ancillary data pegged to instants in the representation of the content's audio, and aligning the representation of the content's audio to the content's audio to synchronize the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the representation of the content's audio to the content.