Multi-Device Audio Recording With Timestamp Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audio recording systems for events, such as meetings, struggle with capturing clear audio from multiple speakers and integrating auxiliary data, often requiring complex setup and limiting the number of participants, while also failing to provide clear attribution of speakers and context.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilizes mobile devices to register participants and combine their audio recordings with auxiliary data, such as notes and timestamps, to create a multiple-channel audio recording, allowing for real-time synchronization and interactive visualization of who is speaking and contributing what information at specific times.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If multiple mobile devices are used to record audio from multiple speakers, then the coverage and number of participants are improved, but the device complexity and synchronization difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that receives audio data from multiple mobile devices, performs centralized synchronization based on timestamps, and manages the mixing process. This mediator handles the complexity of coordinating multiple devices, allowing participants to increase without proportionally increasing synchronization difficulty.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual synchronization mechanisms with automated timestamp-based synchronization. Each mobile device automatically inserts timestamps into audio streams, and the server uses these timestamps to align audio from multiple devices, eliminating the need for complex manual coordination mechanisms.
2Area of stationary object
If audio is recorded from distant speakers, then the coverage area is improved, but the audio quality and clarity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines audio streams from multiple mobile devices positioned at different locations. Audio from distant speakers that is captured weakly by one device can be supplemented or replaced by stronger signals from other devices, merging multiple audio perspectives to achieve both wide coverage and high quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows any mobile device to function as an audio recording point, regardless of its position in the event space. This multi-functional approach enables the system to adapt to various speaker positions and distances, maintaining audio quality across the entire coverage area by utilizing multiple recording positions.
3Loss of information
If multiple audio streams are mixed in real-time, then the information completeness is improved, but the processing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex real-time audio mixing operations with simpler timestamp-based alignment and sequential processing. Audio streams are synchronized using timestamps and then mixed with minimal real-time processing, reducing complexity while maintaining information completeness from all speakers.
4Area of stationary object
If speakers are far from recording devices, then the coverage is improved, but the audio clarity and speaker attribution deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges audio signals from multiple mobile devices to improve speaker attribution. By combining signals from different positions, the system can better identify and attribute speech to specific speakers even when they are distant from any single device, maintaining both coverage and attribution accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
Simultaneous audio recording of the same event (e. g., a concert performance, a business meeting, ...) by multiple, independent, mobile devices; the devices register on a server for the event (this may be done manually; based on calendar applications running in the individual devices in combination with the detected location; or through the detection of a particular image taken viewed in the device's camera, such as a bar-code). The audio recording is streamed to the server and combined into one single multi-track recording which also permits annotations. DETAILS: Bluetooth, RFID, scan-bar-code.