Multi-device Casting Synchronization for Large Screen Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies face challenges in displaying high-resolution content, such as 4K-8K video, on large screens without significant compute and graphics hardware, often requiring image scaling or reduced frame rates to maintain acceptable framerates.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that allows multiple casting devices, like smartphones and tablets, to synchronize and combine their content over a local wireless communication link, forming a video output signal for a large display, reducing the framerate requirement on individual devices and enhancing overall image quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a single device generates high-resolution content for a large screen, then image quality is improved, but compute and graphics hardware requirements become excessively high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the content generation task across multiple casting devices, where each device generates a portion of the frame (e.g., different quadrants or regions). This segmentation reduces the computational burden on each individual device while collectively achieving high-resolution output suitable for large screens.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the output from multiple casting devices at the receiver device to form a complete high-resolution frame. The controller merges the separate content portions from each casting device into a unified video output signal, achieving high image quality without requiring a single device to have excessive computational power.
2Power
If multiple devices cast content simultaneously, then compute power is distributed across devices, but synchronization and combining complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a receiver device with a controller that acts as an intermediary to manage the content from multiple casting devices. This intermediary handles the synchronization and combining operations centrally, reducing the complexity burden on individual casting devices and providing a coordinated solution for multi-device content generation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a frame buffer to temporarily store and synchronize content portions from multiple casting devices before combining them. This preliminary buffering action allows each device to generate content independently at its own pace while the receiver coordinates the final assembly, reducing real-time synchronization complexity.
3Power
If image scaling is used to achieve high resolution on large screens, then hardware requirements are reduced, but image quality and sharpness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of scaling a single lower-resolution image, the patent segments the high-resolution frame into multiple portions, each generated at native high resolution by individual casting devices. This approach maintains image quality and sharpness while distributing the hardware requirements across multiple devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method is disclosed that allows multiple casting devices to work together to populate a large display screen according to the subject matter disclosed herein. The system includes a receiving device that includes two or more screen-cast receivers and a controller. Each screen-cast receiver receives from a corresponding casting device at least a portion of a frame of original content of the corresponding casting device generated in a native resolution of the corresponding casting device. The controller synchronizes each received portion of the frame of the original content of the corresponding casting device to form a video output signal that comprises a combination of each received portion, in addition to any internally generated content derived by the receiving display. A casting device may be a smartphone, a tablet, or a computing device, such as a laptop computer.