Patent · US Active

Synchronization and automation in an ITV environment

US8010986B2 · kind B2 · utility

10Cited by
9References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 4, 2005
Grant dateAug 30, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 30, 2028

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/8547
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A synchronization mechanism embeds synchronization triggers into a television signal or stream at regular intervals. The triggers include an accurate representation of the time in which the triggers were embedded. A receiving device decodes the triggers and synchronizes its internal timer based on the triggers. In this regard, the receiving device obtains a reference time from the internal timer and computes an offset between the reference time and the trigger time. The computed offset is then applied to the reference time. With the receipt of each new trigger, the application compares the trigger time to a new reference time with the most recently computed offset value applied. If there is any variance between these two values, the application creates a new smoothed offset.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.