Synchronizing OTT Video Streams via Feedback Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Synchronizing internet video streams for simultaneous playback across multiple client media player applications is challenging, especially with modern online video services using HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and MPEG-DASH, as existing solutions like RTP and multicast/broadcast systems face issues with accuracy and user experience, particularly in maintaining synchronized playback and handling buffering.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution enhances existing HLS and DASH media delivery systems with a coordination mechanism that allows multiple video player clients to synchronize playback, enabling shared controls and iterative improvement of synchronization quality, using a shared playback session manager and auxiliary manifest files to provide timely metadata for customized functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If RTP and RTSP protocols are used for video streaming synchronization, then real-time playback synchronization can be achieved, but system complexity and infrastructure requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a coordination mechanism that acts as an intermediary between multiple client media player applications and the video streaming server. This coordinator receives playback status information from clients, calculates timing adjustments, and distributes correction instructions to synchronize playback without requiring complex RTP/RTSP infrastructure. The coordinator serves as a lightweight mediator that enables synchronization using standard HTTP-based streaming protocols.
2Productivity
If multicast/broadcast systems are deployed for simultaneous video delivery, then bandwidth efficiency improves, but infrastructure cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs individual video stream copies delivered to each client via standard HTTP protocols rather than implementing multicast/broadcast infrastructure. Each client receives its own copy of the video segments through independent HTTP connections, eliminating the need for specialized multicast servers, protocol support, and network infrastructure while maintaining the ability to deliver simultaneous video content to multiple users.
3Adaptability or versatility
If clients fetch video segments independently using HLS or DASH, then streaming flexibility and adaptability improve, but playback synchronization becomes difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where client media player applications continuously report their playback status information (including current playback position, buffer status, and timing data) to the coordination mechanism. The coordinator processes this feedback, calculates the timing adjustments needed for each client, and sends correction instructions back to maintain synchronization. This closed-loop feedback system enables synchronized playback while preserving the flexibility of independent segment fetching.
Solution Approach 2:
The coordination mechanism dynamically adjusts playback timing for each client based on real-time conditions. Rather than using fixed synchronization schedules, the system continuously adapts timing corrections according to each client's buffer status, network conditions, and playback position, allowing flexible independent segment fetching while maintaining synchronization accuracy.
4Reliability
If video buffering is implemented for seamless playback, then playback continuity improves, but synchronization drift occurs between multiple clients
Solution Approach 1:
The coordination mechanism receives feedback from each client including buffer status and current playback position, and uses this information to calculate timing adjustments that account for buffering differences. The system dynamically corrects for drift caused by varying buffer fill rates and playback continuity, ensuring synchronized playback even when clients experience different buffering conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for synchronizing internet (“over the top”) video streams for simultaneous playback. In particular, techniques are described to improve the performance and accuracy of stream synchronization among participant media player applications playing a same video content item, for example, as part of a “watch party.” The techniques can be further augmented to allow interaction between the users watching the presentation, e.g., by sending messages to other users or by annotating the video presentation with comments, and can be further used to enable “cross device control,” a feature that enables multiple users, or a single user with multiple devices, to control a shared video playback session on another device. For example, two users watching a streaming video on a set-top box connected to a TV in their living room could each use an app on their respective smart phones to pause/play/seek the playback session, providing a more collaborative experience.