Media Playback Progress Synchronization Across Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital media playback systems fail to seamlessly resume content across multiple devices, leading to inconvenient experiences where users often have to restart from the beginning or pick up from incorrect locations, disrupting the continuity of their media consumption.
Innovation Solution
A method where a second device obtains progress information from a first device, creates its own progress information, and fetches media content to play it correctly, ensuring continuity by updating and validating the progress information to maintain the correct playback location across devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a user plays media content on multiple devices independently, then each device can play content autonomously, but the playback position is not synchronized across devices causing user inconvenience
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by continuously tracking and updating playback progress information across devices. When a user plays content on one device, the playback position is recorded and communicated to other devices in the group, enabling them to resume from the correct position without manual intervention
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (playback progress tracking system) that mediates between multiple devices. This intermediary collects playback status from each device and distributes the correct resume position to other devices, eliminating the need for users to manually track playback across devices
2Ease of operation
If a device resumes content from the last known position, then playback continuity is maintained for single device, but incorrect position is shown when multiple devices are used simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback to continuously update playback position information. Each device reports its current playback status to the tracking system, which then provides accurate resume positions to all devices, ensuring that the displayed position matches the actual content location
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and preparing the correct playback position before the user actually resumes content. The system anticipates the resume action by maintaining up-to-date playback progress information, so when the user initiates playback, the correct position is already ready and validated
3Ease of operation
If playback progress is tracked across devices, then continuity is improved, but system complexity increases due to progress information management
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by automatically tracking, updating, and managing playback progress information without requiring user intervention. The devices and tracking system handle progress synchronization autonomously, eliminating the need for complex manual progress management while maintaining continuity
Data Source
AI summary
In a playing of media content among multiple devices, a first device creates a first progress information associated with a media content and the first device. The first progress information includes a current progress in a playing of the media content by the first device. When a second device receives an instruction to play the media content, the second device obtains the first progress information from the first device, creates a second progress information associated with the media content and the second device based on the first progress information, fetches the media content based on the second progress information, and plays the media content using the second progress information. In this manner, a progress in playing the media content is tied to the device playing the media content, and this progress may be shared with another device in the playing of the media content on the other device.