TECHNIQUES FOR SYNCHRONIZING TIMING OF WIRELESS STREAMING TRANSMISSIONS TO MULTIPLE SINK DEVICES

• US 20160165558A1
• Filed: 12/04/2015
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: KAFLE, Padam Lal, Subramaniam, Vijay Naicker, Shaukat, Fawad
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,839 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes

Abstract

Methods, systems, apparatuses, and devices are described for synchronizing timing of wireless streaming transmissions to multiple sink devices. A source device may identify timing information associated with a common timing source, e.g., a media timing source at Multimedia layer or a Wi-Fi timing source, and send the timing information to the sink devices. The sink devices may receive the timing information and determine a composite timing delay, e.g., a wireless transmission link delay, an internal interface link delay, or combinations thereof. The source device may stream the content to the sink devices which may use a locally adjusted timing signal to synchronize the presentation of the content.

Claims

1. A method for streaming content in a wireless communication system, comprising:

identifying a composite timing delay associated with a common timing source;

adjusting a sink device timing based at least in part on the identified composite timing delay; and

using the adjusted sink device timing to synchronize presentation of a content streamed from a source device to a plurality of sink devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified composite timing delay comprises at least one of a first timing source delay, a second timing source delay, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first timing source delay is associated with a multimedia layer and the second timing source delay is associated with a wireless communication layer.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying a transmission link delay associated with wireless communications via the wireless communication layer;

identifying an internal interface timing delay associated with each layer used to stream the content, the identified composite timing delay based at least in part on the transmission link delay and the internal interface timing delay; and

adjusting a timing of the multimedia layer of a sink device based at least in part on the composite timing delay.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the transmission link delay comprises:

performing at least two rounds of exchanging timing measurement and acknowledgement frames with the source device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the internal interface timing delay is associated with a delay for communications between the multimedia layer and the wireless communication layer in part for accessing the timing information.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the first timing source delay is associated with a wireless communication layer and the second timing source delay is associated with a multimedia layer.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying a timing instance from the wireless communication layer;

identifying an internal interface timing delay associated with each layer used to stream the content;

adjusting a timing of the multimedia layer to correspond to the timing instance from the wireless communication layer based at least in part on the internal interface timing delay; and

determining a presentation time of a multimedia layer timing source by translating a presentation timestamp received with the streamed content based at least in part on the adjusted timing of the multimedia layer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the common timing source is associated with a generalized precision time protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sink devices communicate with the source device via either peer-to-peer networks, an infrastructure network, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the source device, timing information associated with the common timing source, the common timing source used for streaming content to the plurality of sink devices.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is at least one of a multimedia content, an audio content, a video content, or combinations thereof.

13. An apparatus for streaming content in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions being stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to;

identify a composite timing delay associated with a common timing source;

adjust a sink device timing based at least in part on the identified composite timing delay; and

use the adjusted sink device timing to synchronize presentation of a content streamed from a source device to a plurality of sink devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the identified composite timing delay comprises at least one of a first timing source delay, a second timing source delay, or a combination thereof.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first timing source delay is associated with a multimedia layer and the second timing source delay is associated with a wireless communication layer.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising instructions executable by the processor to:

identify a transmission link delay associated with wireless communications via the wireless communication layer;

identify an internal interface timing delay associated with each layer used to stream the content, the identified composite timing delay based at least in part on the transmission link delay and the internal interface timing delay; and

adjust a timing of the multimedia layer of a sink device based at least in part on the composite timing delay.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions to identify the transmission link delay are further executable by the processor to:

perform at least two rounds of exchanging timing measurement and acknowledgement frames with the source device.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the internal interface timing delay is associated with a delay for communications between the multimedia layer and the wireless communication layer in part for accessing the timing information.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first timing source delay is associated with a wireless communication layer and the second timing source delay is associated with a multimedia layer.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising instructions executable by the processor to:

identify a timing instance from the wireless communication layer;

identify an internal interface timing delay associated with each layer used to stream the content;

adjust a timing of the multimedia layer to correspond to the timing instance from the wireless communication layer based at least in part on the internal interface timing delay; and

determine a presentation time of a multimedia layer timing source by translating a presentation timestamp received with the streamed content based at least in part on the adjusted timing of the multimedia layer.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the content is at least one of a multimedia content, an audio content, a video content, or combinations thereof.

22. A method for streaming content in a wireless communication system, comprising:

identifying timing information associated with a common timing source associated with a source device, the common timing source used for streaming content to a plurality of sink devices;

sending the timing information to at least one of the plurality of sink devices; and

streaming the content to the plurality of sink devices, wherein presentation of the content is synchronized with the plurality of sink devices based at least in part on the timing information.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein identifying the timing information comprises:

capturing, by a multimedia layer, a timing instance from a wireless communication layer;

determining a departure time and an arrival time corresponding to the common timing source of the multimedia layer for each wireless transmission and reception of timing measurement frames to at least one of the plurality of sink devices; and

sending an adjusted departure time and an arrival time to at least one of the plurality of sink devices.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

performing at least two rounds of exchanging the timing measurement frames with at least one of the plurality of sink devices.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein determining the departure time and the arrival time further comprises:

determining an internal interface timing delay associated with communications between the multimedia layer and the wireless communication layer; and

adjusting the departure time and the arrival time based at least in part on the internal interface timing delay.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

identifying a timing instance from a wireless communication layer;

identifying an internal interface timing delay associated with each layer used to stream the content;

adjusting a timing of a multimedia layer to correspond to the timing instance from the wireless communication layer based at least in part on the internal interface timing delay; and

deriving a presentation timestamp for a content payload corresponding to the adjusted timing of the multimedia layer.

27. An apparatus for streaming content in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions being stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to;

identify timing information associated with a common timing source associated with a source device, the common timing source used for streaming content to a plurality of sink devices;

send the timing information to at least one of the plurality of sink devices; and

stream the content to the plurality of sink devices, wherein presentation of the content is synchronized with the plurality of sink devices based at least in part on the timing information.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions to identify the timing information are further executable by the processor to:

capture, by a multimedia layer, a timing instance from a wireless communication layer;

determine a departure time and an arrival time corresponding to the common timing source of the multimedia layer for each wireless transmission and reception of timing measurement frames to at least one of the plurality of sink devices; and

send an adjusted departure time and arrival time to at least one of the plurality of sink devices.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising instructions executable by the processor to:

perform at least two rounds of exchanging the timing measurement frames with the at least one of the plurality of sink devices.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the instructions to determine the departure time and the arrival time further are further executable by the processor to:

determine an internal interface timing delay associated with communications between the multimedia layer and the wireless communication layer; and

adjust the departure time and the arrival time based at least in part on the internal interface timing delay.