Various embodiments are described herein for systems and methods that can be used to operate a media transmission network. In at least one embodiment, the media transmission network comprises a plurality of media processing devices configured to receive and process media streams based on control data. The media transmission network also comprises a controller coupled to the plurality of media processing devices and configured to generate a control signal for some or all of the media processing devices in the network. The controller is configured to determine the timing at which to transmit the control signal to a respective media processing device in order for the instructions in the control signal to be executed at the same time as the media data is received. The controller determines the transmission timing of each control signal by determining the latencies and delays of the network and the devices, such as, for example, network latency, processing delay, and/or control delay.

The present invention provides a method of transmitting broadcast signals. The method includes, formatting input streams into Data Pipe (DP) data, Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) encoding the DP data according to a code rate, bit interleaving the LDPC encoded DP data, mapping the hit interleaved DP data onto constellations, building at least one signal frame including the mapped DP data, and modulating data in the built signal frame by an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) method and transmitting the broadcast signals having the modulated data, wherein the input streams include Audio/Video (A/V) data and service guide data, and wherein the Audio/Video (A/V) data and service guide data are included in first ISO base media file format (ISOBMFF) files.

A method is provided for synchronizing playback of audio an/or video by a plurality of separate devices in a computer network. Each separate device generates a virtual clock in response to a timing of the audio codec of a received audio stream. Either the virtual clock is generated directly in response to the tick counter of the audio codec, or by a periodic measurement of the timing of the audio codec interpolated by a monotonic clock. A sample rate converter may be used to slightly adjust the frequency of the virtual clock.

[Problem] To provide: a decoding device that decodes and replays, in a suitable order, sequentially transmitted information; a reception device; a transmission/reception system; a decoding method; and a storage medium having the decoding program stored therein. [Solution] A decoding unit 21 that decodes packets sent from a transmission device 10. A decoding order determination unit 22 determines the order of packets to be decoded by the decoding unit 21, on the basis of adjustment information that is included in the packet and corresponds to a time adjustment for making Coordinated Universal Time approach Universal Time. The packets include order information indicating the order in the same IP data flow. The decoding order determination unit 22 determines, on the basis of the order information, the order of packets to be decoded by the decoding unit 21, if the adjustment information indicates that a time adjustment will occur.

In one aspect, a method includes: (i) determining a baseline input-to-output delay, which represents a time period between when content is input into a first input buffer and output by an output buffer; (ii) establishing a synchronous lock between (a) first fingerprint data representing content in the first input buffer and (b) second fingerprint data representing content in the output buffer; (iii) determining an instruction time-point at which a content-presentation device is instructed to switch from using content in the first input buffer to populate the output buffer, to using content in the second input buffer to populate the output buffer; (iv) determining a loss of synchronous lock time-point; (v) using the determined baseline input-to-output delay, the determined instruction time-point, and the determined loss of synchronous lock time-point to determine an input-buffer switching delay; and (vi) using the determined input-buffer switching delay to facilitate performing a content-modification operation.

Systems and methods for identifying, assembling, and transmitting content are described in the illustrative context of electronic program guides and program channels. A first system causes an interactive interstitial to be presented on a remote first device of a user in conjunction with a scheduled program. The first system determines if a second device of the user is available to receive an interstitial interaction request. At least partly in response to determining that the second device is available to receive an interstitial interaction request, the interstitial interaction request is presented via a client hosted on the second device. At least partly in response to determining that the user has provided an interaction via the second device, the interaction is stored in memory. Optionally, an interstitial is composed based at least in part on the user interaction. The composed interstitial is optionally displayed via the first device of the user in conjunction with a scheduled program.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a transmission method for enabling transmission of content using a broadcast and a communication channel includes: transmitting playback control information and service information using at least the broadcast wave, the service information being information for playing back content transmission using the broadcast and content transmission using the communication channel when the content is transmitted using the broadcast and the communication channel. The service information includes attribute information indicating that the first content data and the second content data constitute the content and location information that indicates a location for acquiring meta-information on playback control of the second content. The playback control information includes indexes of a relationship between the first content data and the second content data.

A computer implemented method is provided for streaming media from a media server to a client web application running in a client web engine. The method involves, by the client web application, initiating a programmable network proxy in the client web engine. The method further comprises, by the programmable network proxy, intercepting a request from the client web application to retrieve the streaming media from the media server and/or intercepting a response comprising the streaming media from the media server. The method further includes, by the programmable network proxy, performing at least one of: i) injecting metadata into the intercepted request; ii) extracting metadata from the intercepted request; iii) injecting metadata into the intercepted response; and iv) extracting metadata from the intercepted response; and respectively forwarding the intercepted request to the media server and/or forwarding the intercepted response to the client web application.

Methods and apparatuses for detecting timestamp discontinuities and video resolution discontinuities within a packet stream and marking locations of the detected discontinuities within the packet stream are described. Prior to transmission of the packet stream, an electronic device may perform timestamp discontinuity detection by acquiring a sequence of packets to be transmitted, identifying a first timestamp associated with an earliest packet within the sequence of packets, identifying a second timestamp associated with a latest packet within the sequence of packets, determining a timestamp time difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp, determining a maximum chunk time difference based on a data rate at which the sequence of packets were encoded and a data size of the encoded packets, and detecting that a timestamp discontinuity exists within the sequence of packets if the timestamp time difference is greater than the maximum chunk time difference.

Methods and system for providing content are disclosed. One method can comprise receiving a request for data at a first time, wherein the data comprises a first time duration, determining a buffer size based upon the first time duration, and determining a playback window based upon the determined buffer size and the first time. The method can also comprise synchronizing presentation of content on a plurality of devices.