Correlating timeline information between media streams

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10694264-B2
Application number	US-201415022863-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2014
Priority date	Sep 20, 2013
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

A system is provided for enabling correlating timeline information between a first media stream and a second media stream which are both associated with a common play-out timeline. The system comprises at least two stream monitors arranged for providing identification information for a media stream by obtaining a persistent identification of one or more media samples of the media stream, determining a timestamp value associated with the persistent identification, and providing the timestamp value and the persistent identification as the identification information. Furthermore, a correlation subsystem is provided for combining the identification information to enable correlating timeline information of the first media stream to timeline information of the second media stream by matching a first persistent identification of the first media stream to a second persistent identification of the second media stream and thereby matching a first timestamp value of the first media stream to a second timestamp value of the second media stream. The system enables media synchronization to be provided for a plurality of devices in a segment of a media distribution network with less computational complexity and/or bandwidth.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for enabling correlating timeline information between a first media stream and a second media stream, the first media stream and the second media stream being both associated with a common play-out timeline and the first media stream and the second media stream comprising different timeline information comprising different timestamps, the system comprising:
at least two stream monitor devices, each of said stream monitor devices being arranged for providing identification information for a media stream by:
i) obtaining a persistent identification of one or more media samples of the media stream, the persistent identification being reproducible based on the one or more media samples,
ii) obtaining a timestamp value associated with the persistent identification from timeline information comprised in the media stream, and
iii) providing the timestamp value and the persistent identification of the one or more media samples as the identification information;
wherein the at least two stream monitor devices comprise a first stream monitor device for providing first identification information for the first media stream and a second stream monitor device for providing second identification information for the second media stream; and
a correlation subsystem for combining the first identification information with the second identification information to enable correlating timeline information of the first media stream to timeline information of the second media stream by matching a first persistent identification of the first media stream to a second persistent identification of the second media stream and, by matching the first persistent identification to the second persistent identification, matching a first timestamp value comprised in the first media stream to a second timestamp value comprised in the second media stream correlating the timeline information between the first media stream and the second media stream, and providing timing information for enabling a synchronization subsystem for performing a synchronization action with respect to the second media stream based on the timeline information of the first media stream.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the second media stream is a modified version of the first media stream, said modified version comprising timeline information which differs from the timeline information of the first media stream.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the first media stream is distributed via a media distribution network, wherein the media distribution network comprises a stream modifier for generating the modified version of the first media stream, and wherein the first stream monitor device is comprised in the media distribution network upstream of the stream modifier and the second stream monitor device is comprised in the media distribution network downstream of the stream modifier.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the correlation subsystem is arranged for matching the first persistent identification to the second persistent identification based on third identification information linking the first persistent identification and the second persistent identification to the common play-out timeline.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the first media stream and the second media stream are part of a composite of media streams comprising common timeline information, and wherein the system further comprises a third stream monitor device for providing said third identification information for the composite of media streams.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the second media stream is distributed via a media distribution network, wherein the media distribution network further comprises the synchronization subsystem.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the synchronization action is one of the group of:
a media stream buffering or skipping ahead to enable synchronized playback of the first media stream and/or the second media stream on a plurality of receivers,
a media stream buffering or skipping ahead to enable synchronized playback of the first media stream with the second media stream on a receiver, and
a triggering of an application on a receiver in synchronization with a media stream play-out on the receiver.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the synchronization subsystem comprises a synchronization server and a plurality of synchronization clients, wherein the plurality of synchronization clients is comprised in a segment of the media distribution network which is arranged for distributing the second media stream, and wherein the second stream monitor device is comprised in the segment amongst the plurality of synchronization clients.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the correlation subsystem is arranged for providing the timing information to the plurality of synchronization clients in the segment for enabling said synchronization clients to perform the synchronization action with respect to the second media stream based on a monitoring of the second media stream by the second stream monitor device.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the persistent identification is one of the group of: a fingerprint, a watermark and a marker, of the one or more media samples.

11. Media distribution network comprising the system according to claim 1 .

12. Method for enabling correlating timeline information between a first media stream and a second media stream, the first media stream and the second media stream being both associated with a common play-out timeline and the first media stream and the second media stream comprising different timeline information comprising different timestamps, said correlating being based on identification information obtained from at least two stream monitor devices, each of said stream monitor devices being arranged for providing identification information for a media stream by:
i) obtaining a persistent identification of one or more media samples of the media stream, the persistent identification being the persistent identification being reproducible based on the one or more media samples,
ii) obtaining a timestamp value associated with the persistent identification from timeline information comprised in the media stream, and
iii) providing the timestamp value and the persistent identification of the one or more media samples as the identification information;
and the method comprising:
obtaining first identification information for the first media stream from a first stream monitor device of the at least two stream monitor devices;
obtaining second identification information for the second media stream from a second stream monitor device of the at least two stream monitor devices;
combining the first identification information with the second identification information to enable correlating timeline information of the first media stream to timeline information of the second media stream by matching a first persistent identification of the first media stream to a second persistent identification of the second media stream and, by matching the first persistent identification to the second persistent identification, matching a first timestamp value comprised in the first media stream to a second timestamp value comprised in the second media stream, correlating the timeline information between the first media stream and the second media stream, and providing timing information for enabling a synchronization subsystem for performing a synchronization action with respect to the second media stream based on the timeline information of the first media stream.

13. A non-transito

Assignees

• Koninklijke Kpn Nv
• TNO
• Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Toegpast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek Tno

Inventors

• Van Deventer Mattijs Oskar
• Stokking Hans Maarten
• Van Brandenburg Ray

Classifications

• H04N21/43079

  of additional data with content streams on multiple devices · CPC title

• H04N21/43072 Primary

  of multiple content streams on the same device · CPC title

• H04N21/8456

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title

• H04N21/8358

  involving watermark {(protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467)} · CPC title

• H04N21/4622

  Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859) · CPC title