Media Playback Synchronization via Reference Clock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals often cannot experience audio-visual media socially due to geographical constraints, as existing technologies lack the ability to synchronize and control media playback across multiple devices in real-time, preventing a unified viewing experience for remote participants.
Innovation Solution
A method for synchronizing the playback timeline of a media asset across multiple playback devices using a reference clock, allowing any participant to control playback, such as pausing or fast-forwarding, ensuring all devices play the media in sync, even when participants are remotely located.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If media playback is performed on multiple independent devices without synchronization, then each device can operate independently and access media assets freely, but the playback experiences across different devices become unsynchronized, preventing a unified social viewing experience
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple independent playback devices into a synchronized group by establishing a reference clock and shared playback timeline. Devices that were previously operating independently are now coordinated through common timing signals, allowing them to play back media assets in unison despite being physically separated, thus creating a unified social viewing experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where playback devices continuously monitor and report their playback status and timing information to the group. This feedback loop enables the reference clock to adjust and maintain synchronization across all devices, ensuring that playback remains coordinated even when devices experience slight timing variations or playback alterations.
2Adaptability or versatility
If playback timelines are synchronized across multiple devices using a reference clock, then all devices can play media in unison enabling social viewing, but the system complexity increases due to the need for clock synchronization and coordinated control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a reference clock as an intermediary component that mediates between multiple playback devices. Rather than requiring complex direct peer-to-peer synchronization between all device pairs, the reference clock serves as a central coordinator that simplifies the synchronization process, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining precise timing coordination across all devices.
3Ease of operation
If one device sends playback-alteration commands to synchronize playback changes across all devices, then all participants can control playback simultaneously, but network communication delays may cause timing variations in playback alterations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-synchronizing the reference clock across all devices before playback alterations occur. This preliminary synchronization establishes a common timing baseline, allowing playback-alteration commands to be executed more efficiently with reduced timing variations, as devices are already coordinated on the same time reference.
Solution Approach 2:
When playback-alteration commands are sent across the network, the system uses feedback mechanisms to monitor and compensate for timing variations caused by network delays. Devices report their actual playback status back to the group, allowing the reference clock to adjust and maintain synchronization, ensuring that control operations remain coordinated despite communication delays.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of synchronizing playback of a media asset between a first playback device and one or more other playback devices includes synchronizing an initial playback timeline of a media asset with a reference clock, and then playing the media asset with the initial playback timeline on each of the two or more playback devices. In response to a playback-alteration command, an updated playback timeline of the media asset is synchronized with the reference clock, and the media asset is then played with the updated playback timeline on each of the two or more playback devices.