Watermarked Media Timestamp Sync for Delay-Accurate Client Actions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Media clients face challenges in accurately synchronizing server time with client time due to transmission delays, leading to incorrect or missed actions in media content processing.
Innovation Solution
Utilize steganographically-encoded timestamps in the media stream to determine the transmission delay and compute a time offset, allowing media clients to adjust action times based on client time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the client uses server time to determine action time points, then the action timing is accurate from the server perspective, but the timing becomes inaccurate from the client perspective due to transmission delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embeds timestamps in the media stream content itself in advance, allowing the client to determine action time points based on local receipt time rather than relying on server time synchronization. This preliminary embedding of timing information resolves the contradiction by making the timing reference available locally at the moment of reception, eliminating the impact of transmission delays on timing accuracy.
2Productivity
If the client waits for server directives with action time points, then content revision can be coordinated centrally, but the client cannot take timely action due to synchronization delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent copies the server's timing reference (timestamp) directly into the media stream content that the client receives. Instead of relying on separate server directives that may be delayed or desynchronized, the client extracts the timestamp from the received content itself, enabling immediate and reliable action execution without waiting for additional synchronization communication.
3Ease of operation
If the client extracts timestamps from watermarks in the media stream, then the timing information is readily available, but the timestamp extraction adds processing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a watermark as an intermediary carrier that embeds the timestamp information within the media stream content. The watermark serves as a mediator that transports the timing reference through the content delivery system without requiring separate communication channels or complex synchronization protocols, making timestamp extraction straightforward while maintaining system simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for using steganographically-encoded time information as a basis to control when a client carries out a content-related action. The client processes for presentation one or more linear media streams, each defining a respective time sequence of frames of media content, and at least one of the streams being steganographically encoded with at least one watermark at a respective time-point within the linear media stream, the watermark encoding a timestamp of the respective time-point within the linear media stream according to a server clock. The client extracts the timestamp from the watermark and computes a time offset based on a difference between the extracted timestamp and a current time according to a client clock. And the client uses the computed time offset as a basis to determine when to carry out a content-related action in a given one of the one or more linear media streams.