Video Coordinator for Virtual Meeting Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual meeting architectures often experience substandard video quality during desktop sharing due to screen capture and sampling techniques, leading to lag and low fidelity in shared video playback.
Innovation Solution
A media player coordinator is implemented to capture raw video data from the sharing device and synchronize media players on other devices, ensuring they mimic the original player's behavior and appear as part of the shared desktop, while encoding video data into standardized formats like RGB and H.264 for seamless playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If screen capture and sampling techniques are used for video sharing during desktop sharing, then the system can provide virtual meeting services, but the video quality becomes substandard with lag and low fidelity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the video data stream from the desktop sharing process by implementing a video coordinator that captures raw video data separately from the screen capture workflow. This allows video to be processed and transmitted through a dedicated channel rather than being constrained by general screen sampling techniques, thereby improving video quality without significantly increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The video coordinator acts as an intermediary component between the media player and the desktop sharing system. It receives video coordination data including position information and video data from the media player, then distributes this data to remote devices. This intermediary layer enables optimized video transmission while maintaining integration with the existing desktop sharing architecture.
2Reliability
If video data is shared during desktop sharing, then remote users can see video playback, but the video playback experiences lag and low fidelity
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having the media player send video coordination data including position and timing information to the video coordinator before actual video playback occurs. This allows remote devices to prepare for synchronized video display, reducing playback delay and improving fidelity by pre-establishing the video transmission channel and synchronizing timing.
Solution Approach 2:
The video coordinator maintains continuous transmission of video coordination data and video frames to remote devices throughout the playback duration. This continuous action ensures smooth video streaming without interruptions or buffering delays, maintaining high fidelity playback experience for remote users.
3Ease of operation
If media players are launched on remote devices to play video data, then video can be displayed locally, but the media players may not synchronize with the original player's behavior and positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The media player sends video coordination data including position information and playback state to the video coordinator, which then uses this feedback to control the behavior and positioning of launched media players on remote devices. This feedback mechanism ensures synchronized video playback across all devices while maintaining the original player's behavior, achieved through automated coordination rather than complex manual configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided in one particular example that includes identifying an attempt by a first communications device to play video data within a virtual meeting session using a first media player. The first communications device can be sharing at least a portion of a desktop presented on the first communications device with one or more other remote communications devices participating in the virtual meeting session. The method can also include identifying a copy of the video data, and launching one or more media players to present at least a portion of the copy of the video data on the one or more other remote communications devices. The one or more media players are launched to correspond to a location of the first media player on the shared portion of the desktop.