Composite Media Streaming for Synchronized Multi-User Playback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audio and video streaming technologies struggle to synchronize playback across diverse groups of viewers due to hardware, operating system, and network variability, limiting interactive experiences and overwhelming server resources during viral events, while also requiring robust security measures to protect copyright.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for synchronized media playback involving a host server, publisher, and distributor groups, with a mixer composing composite media streams, and implementing a master-and-slave architecture to manage playback control signals, along with encryption for copyright protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If synchronized video streaming is implemented across diverse viewers, then interactive experience quality is improved, but server resource overload occurs during viral events
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments users into publishing groups and distribution groups, separating content creation functions from content consumption functions. This segmentation allows the system to scale efficiently by distributing content through multiple publishers who then share with their respective distribution groups, reducing the burden on central servers during viral events.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a multi-dimensional architecture with publishing groups and distribution groups operating at different levels. Instead of a single centralized distribution model, content flows through multiple dimensions (publishers → distribution groups → end users), enabling scalable resource management while maintaining synchronized interactive experiences.
2Reliability
If strong security measures are implemented to protect copyright, then copyright protection is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements preliminary security measures by establishing encrypted communication channels and authentication mechanisms before content distribution begins. Digital rights management protocols are pre-configured in the publishing and distribution system, ensuring copyright protection is built-in from the outset rather than added as a complex afterthought.
3Manufacturing precision
If playback synchronization is achieved across diverse hardware and networks, then viewing experience consistency is improved, but technical difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediary components including a synchronization server and timing protocols that mediate between diverse user devices and the content source. These intermediaries handle the complexity of synchronization by providing standardized timing signals and buffer management, allowing diverse hardware to achieve synchronized playback without requiring complex device-to-device coordination.
4Adaptability or versatility
If user connection management is implemented for large groups, then interaction capability is improved, but system overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the user base into publishing groups and distribution groups, organizing connections in a hierarchical structure. This segmentation reduces system overhead by limiting direct connections within groups while maintaining interaction capabilities through the group structure, allowing scalable user management without requiring all users to connect directly to all other users.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are systems for providing a digital interactive experience. This includes a host server, a publisher receiving an application stream and a plurality of media streams corresponding to a first plurality of users in a publishing group, each of the media streams comprising at least one selected from the group of an audio stream and a video stream, the publisher sending the plurality of media streams to a subscriber, and the subscriber composing the application stream and at least two of the plurality of media streams into a composite stream and sending the composite stream to the first plurality of users in the publishing group, wherein the composite stream is sent simultaneously as the plurality of media streams is received.