Audio Waveform Synchronization for Ancillary Data Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for synchronizing ancillary data with audio content are limited by requiring explicit data connections and often rely on metadata that may not be present throughout the signal chain, leading to unidirectional communication and potential data loss.
Innovation Solution
A dual-path synchronization method using audio metadata fingerprinting and explicit metadata to trigger actions, allowing indirect connectivity and feedback, enabling time-aligned storage and retrieval of ancillary data for quality preservation and audience measurement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If explicit data connection is used for synchronization, then data reliability is improved, but system complexity and unidirectional limitation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces audio metadata fingerprinting as an intermediary mechanism that enables indirect connectivity between content and ancillary data. Instead of requiring explicit data connections, the system uses fingerprinting to match audio content with corresponding ancillary data, providing bidirectional synchronization while reducing connection complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where ancillary data is synchronized bidirectionally with audio content. The fingerprinting system provides feedback loops that allow the system to verify synchronization accuracy and make adjustments, transforming the unidirectional limitation into a reliable bidirectional process
2Device complexity
If metadata is used for synchronization, then system complexity is reduced, but data availability worsens due to metadata absence in signal chain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional metadata-based mechanical system with an audio fingerprinting-based system. Instead of relying on metadata tags that may be lost, the system extracts and analyzes actual audio characteristics to create fingerprints, ensuring data availability throughout the entire signal chain without requiring metadata presence
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service synchronization by automatically extracting audio fingerprints directly from the content signal itself. This eliminates the need for external metadata sources, as the audio content provides its own identification and synchronization information through inherent acoustic features
3Loss of information
If audio fingerprinting is implemented, then data accessibility is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by breaking down audio processing into distinct stages: fingerprint extraction, fingerprint matching, and synchronization execution. This modular approach manages processing complexity by handling each function separately rather than simultaneously, making the overall system more manageable despite the increased processing requirements
Data Source
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AI summary
Synchronizing ancillary data (7) to content (1) including audio (5) advantageously encoded as Dolby AC-4, AC-3 or E-AC-3 or MPEG-H includes obtaining a representation of the content's audio (9) in the form of an audio waveform signature and ancillary data (7) pegged to instants in the representation of the content's audio (9), and aligning the representation of the content's audio (9) to the content's audio (5) to synchronize the ancillary data (7) pegged to the instants in the representation of the content's audio (9) to the content (1).