Hub Server Selection for Low-Latency Collaborative Audio Streaming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Internet latency between users of an online networking/collaboration platform causes noticeable delays in audio data packets, making real-time collaborative music playing challenging and inconsistent user experiences due to varying internet routing distances and infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a web application server, hub servers, and audio streaming devices that determine latency between devices and servers, store latency data in a table, and select a hub server to host audio streaming sessions based on latency and location data to ensure compatible and high-quality user experiences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If audio streaming sessions are conducted over the internet without latency optimization, then platform simplicity is maintained, but real-time collaboration quality deteriorates due to noticeable latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces hub servers as intermediary components between audio streaming devices. These hub servers actively manage latency by selecting optimal routing paths and coordinating audio transmission timing. The hub server receives audio from multiple devices, processes timing information, and redistributes audio to maintain synchronized playback across all participants despite varying internet latencies.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary latency measurement and hub server selection before actual audio streaming begins. Audio streaming devices first ping hub servers to determine latency values, which are then stored in a latency table. Based on this pre-measured data, the web application server selects the optimal hub server for each device, ensuring low-latency connections are established before music playback starts.
2Reliability
If hub server selection is performed dynamically based on real-time latency, then audio streaming compatibility is improved, but system processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs latency measurements and hub server selections in advance before actual audio streaming occurs. Audio streaming devices send ping requests to multiple hub servers beforehand, and the web application server stores these latency values in a latency table. When a user requests to start a session, the pre-computed latency data is immediately queried to determine compatibility and select the optimal hub server, eliminating the need for real-time processing during audio transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically updates the latency table with current latency measurements between audio streaming devices and hub servers. This allows the system to adapt to changing network conditions by periodically refreshing latency data while maintaining efficient query processing. The dynamic nature of the latency table ensures that hub server selections remain optimal even as network conditions evolve over time.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a web application server, a plurality of hub servers, and a first audio streaming device. The first audio streaming device is configured to ping each hub server of the plurality of hub servers to determine a respective latency between the first audio streaming device and each hub server to provide a first plurality of latencies. The first audio streaming device is configured to transmit the first plurality of latencies to the web application server. The web application server is configured to store the first plurality of latencies in a latency table comprising a respective second plurality of latencies for a second audio streaming device. The web application server is configured to determine a compatibility for audio streaming between the first audio streaming device and the second audio streaming device based on the latency table.