Event Data Alignment Using Distributed Beacon Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing recording devices capture events from different viewpoints, making it difficult to align and synchronize the recorded data accurately, especially as the number of devices increases, leading to inefficiencies in data analysis and presentation.
Innovation Solution
Recording devices transmit and receive alignment beacons that include unique alignment data, allowing each device to maintain its own time and relate recorded event data to a common time frame, enabling synchronization without relying on a master clock or timestamps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If timestamp transmission is used to align event data from multiple recording devices, then alignment accuracy is improved, but system complexity and overhead increase significantly as the number of devices increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the time reference function from the complex timestamp transmission system and embeds it within a simplified beacon structure. Each device broadcasts beacons containing only essential alignment data (device ID, sequence number, and local time reference) without requiring full timestamp synchronization protocols, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining alignment capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces beacons as an intermediary mechanism that mediates between multiple recording devices with independent clocks. These beacons carry alignment data that allows devices to correlate their event data without direct timestamp exchange or master clock dependency, simplifying the synchronization process while preserving alignment accuracy
2Stability of the object's composition
If a master clock is implemented to synchronize multiple recording devices, then time synchronization is improved, but the system becomes more complex and less scalable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized time synchronization function into distributed autonomous time references at each device. Instead of one master clock controlling all devices, each device maintains its own time reference and broadcasts it via beacons, allowing the system to scale independently at each node without increasing central coordination complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Each recording device independently maintains and broadcasts its own time reference through beacons, serving its own synchronization needs and those of other devices without requiring external time server intervention. This self-service approach enables the system to scale dynamically as devices are added or removed from the event scene
3Measurement precision
If alignment data is transmitted between all pairs of recording devices, then alignment precision is improved, but the communication overhead and data transmission burden increase exponentially
Solution Approach 1:
The beacon structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides device identification, sequence numbering for event correlation, local time reference for synchronization, and alignment data for playback synchronization. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate timestamp transmission channels between device pairs, reducing overall data transmission volume while maintaining alignment precision
Data Source
AI summary
System and methods for aligning event data recorded by recording devices. Recording devices create, transmit, and store alignment data. Alignment data created by a recording device is stored in the memory of the recording device with a time that is maintained by the recording device and that is relative to the time of event data recorded by the recording device that creates the alignment data. Recording devices further receive and store transmitted alignment data. Alignment data received by a recording device is stored in the memory of the recording device with a time that is maintained by the receiving recording device and that is relative to the time of event data recorded by the recording device that creates alignment data.