Sensor Data Stream Synchronization via Timestamp Queues
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing inventory management systems face challenges in synchronizing data streams from independent sensors, such as cameras, which can lead to misalignment and inefficiencies in creating accurate 3D models of environments for tracking items and users within facilities.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of timestamp queues and a synchronization application that aligns data streams from multiple sensors by applying accurate timestamps, using a hardware-based or software-based trigger unit to generate pulses and invoke an interrupt service for timestamp generation, ensuring that each frame is timestamped contemporaneously across sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If data streams from multiple independent sensors are processed without synchronization, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to misalignment between data streams
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by assigning unique identifiers to each data stream before processing begins. This pre-identification mechanism enables subsequent precise synchronization without requiring complex real-time coordination, thereby improving measurement precision while limiting the increase in system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary synchronization mechanism that mediates between multiple independent sensor data streams. This intermediary layer coordinates the timing and alignment of data from different sensors without requiring direct complex interactions between them, resolving the contradiction by adding controlled complexity at the synchronization layer
2Measurement precision
If timestamp queues are implemented for each data stream, then measurement precision is improved through accurate timing, but device complexity increases due to additional data structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by creating separate timestamp queues for each data stream rather than using a single complex synchronization structure. This segmentation allows each queue to be independently managed with simple FIFO operations, improving timestamp accuracy while keeping individual queue structures simple and manageable
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal timestamp queue structure that serves multiple functions: timing recording, stream identification, and synchronization coordination. This multi-functional design reduces the need for separate complex structures for each function, thereby improving measurement precision without proportionally increasing device complexity
3Productivity
If hardware-based trigger units are used for synchronization, then productivity is improved through real-time alignment, but device complexity increases due to additional hardware components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies mechanics substitution by replacing complex hardware-based trigger units with software-based timestamp queue mechanisms. This substitution maintains real-time synchronization capability and productivity while reducing hardware complexity, as the timestamp queue system can achieve similar synchronization effects through software coordination rather than requiring additional physical trigger components
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure describes techniques for synchronizing data streams. In some instances, a computing device couples to multiple sensors, such as cameras, and applies accurate timestamp information to the individual frames of sensor data from the independent sensors. After aligning these data streams by applying these accurate timestamps, the computing device may, in some instances, encode and transmit these timestamped data streams to one or more entities for further processing. In one example, a first camera (e.g., a depth camera configured to generate a depth map) may capture images of an environment, as may a second camera (e.g., an Red-Green-Blue (RGB) camera configured to generate color images). The resulting images may be temporally aligned with one another via the timestamping, and the resulting aligned images from both the depth sensor and the RGB camera may be used to create a three-dimensional (3D) model of the environment.