In-Flight Entertainment Data Network Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
In-flight entertainment systems face challenges in maintaining synchronous playback of high-resolution audio and video data due to latency and jitter issues, which affect playback quality and user experience, especially with the inflexibility of point-to-point connections and the increased latency in network-based systems.
Innovation Solution
A data network architecture that transmits audio and video data separately, allowing for deterministic processing and synchronization by predicting data runtime and adjusting delays accordingly, thereby reducing latency and eliminating the need for complex synchronization methods, ensuring synchronous playback with minimal latency below the human perception threshold.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If network-based systems are used to transmit audio and video data, then flexibility of data paths is improved, but latency and runtime variations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the data transmission process by creating separate dedicated network paths for audio data and video data. This segmentation allows each data type to be transmitted independently with optimized handling, reducing the latency and runtime variations that would occur in a shared network environment while maintaining the flexibility of network-based systems.
2Reliability
If data processing operations are performed to ensure copyright protection and synchronization, then reliability of playback is improved, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by determining the runtime of audio data processing operations in advance, before the actual playback occurs. This pre-determined runtime information is used to calculate the appropriate delay for audio data, allowing synchronization to be achieved without adding excessive latency during the actual playback process.
3Loss of time
If point-to-point connections are used to reduce latency, then latency is reduced, but flexibility of data paths is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dedicated network paths as intermediaries between the data source and playback devices. These dedicated paths act as mediators that provide point-to-point-like performance characteristics with low latency while still operating within the flexible network infrastructure, thus maintaining both low latency and path flexibility.
4Reliability
If audio data is delayed to synchronize with video data, then synchronization is improved, but response time to user input deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the delay parameter for audio data based on the determined runtime. Rather than using a fixed or excessive delay, the system calculates the precise delay needed to synchronize audio with video, minimizing the impact on response time while achieving reliable synchronization.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
Data network in an in-flight entertainment system for playing back audio and video data (1b, 1a), which data network comprises a playback device (21) for reading audio and video data (1b, 1a) from a data carrier (1), a decoder (22) and an amplifier (24), wherein the audio data (1b) which is read in the playback device (21) can be transmitted to the amplifier (24), and read video data (la) can be transmitted in an encrypted form to the decoder (22), wherein the data network is configured to playback the video data (1a), which is embodied in a high resolution, essentially in synchronism with the audio data (1b), and to transmit both the video data (1a) and the audio data (1b) to the decoder (22) or the amplifier (24) separately from one another.