Media Stream Synchronization via Embedded Frame Identifiers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for synchronizing media streams, such as video and audio, face challenges in ensuring synchronization across multiple displays or devices, particularly with real-time high-definition streams, as existing methods are either too slow or require frame identifiers that may not be universally available in encoded streams.
Innovation Solution
A system that inserts frame identifiers and metadata into compressed video streams to synchronize them using a synchronization signal, allowing for synchronization across multiple media nodes without the need to encode or decode the video stream, and enables quick rendering of HD video streams on multiple screens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If frame identifiers are inserted into compressed video streams to enable synchronization across multiple displays, then synchronization capability is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for metadata insertion and management systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces frame identifiers and metadata as intermediary elements that are inserted into compressed video streams. These identifiers act as mediators that enable synchronization across multiple displays without requiring direct communication or complex coordination between display devices. The metadata contains timing and identification information that facilitates reliable synchronization while keeping the overall system architecture relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the video stream by inserting discrete frame identifiers and metadata packets at specific intervals within the compressed stream. This segmentation allows individual frames or groups of frames to be independently tracked and synchronized across multiple displays, improving synchronization reliability without requiring complete reprocessing of entire video sequences.
2Speed
If real-time high-definition video streams are processed for synchronization, then synchronization speed is improved, but processing time increases due to the time required to encode and analyze video frames
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by inserting frame identifiers and metadata into the compressed video stream during the encoding phase, before the video needs to be synchronized across displays. This preliminary tagging of frames with identification and timing information eliminates the need for time-consuming frame analysis and encoding operations at synchronization time, enabling rapid real-time synchronization of HD video streams.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the synchronization-critical information (frame identifiers, timing metadata) from the video processing workflow and handles it separately from the main video encoding and rendering processes. By extracting these synchronization elements, the system can process video frames for synchronization independently and in parallel, significantly reducing the time required to synchronize real-time HD streams across multiple displays.
3Adaptability or versatility
If frame identifiers are universally inserted into all encoded streams, then synchronization compatibility is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases as encoding processes become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by inserting frame identifiers and metadata only where needed for synchronization purposes, rather than completely reencoding entire video streams. The metadata is added as supplementary information in standardized formats that can be inserted into existing compressed streams without requiring full reencoding, thus achieving universal synchronization compatibility while minimizing increases in encoding complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal synchronization framework using standardized frame identifiers and metadata formats that can be applied across different video encoding formats and display systems. This universal approach allows the same metadata insertion mechanism to work with various encoded streams (H.264, H.265, MPEG) and different display configurations, improving synchronization compatibility without requiring separate encoding processes for each scenario.
Data Source
AI summary
A system synchronizes one or more media streams, such as video stream or audio streams, by embedding frame identifiers in each compressed media stream, and then by using synchronizing signals to render each frame simultaneously by referencing the embedded frame identifier. Since the frame identifier is embedded in between encoded frames of the compressed media stream without altering any of the compressed, encoded data, the frame identifier information could be rapidly embedded without creating lag associated with manipulating existing data. This technique could be used, for example, to synchronize a single HD video on a plurality of display devices (e.g. a football game on a wall of video monitors), or to synchronize a plurality of HD video streams on a single display device (e.g. a plurality of live video feeds on a single computer monitor).