SYNCHRONIZED PLAYBACK OF STREAMED AUDIO CONTENT BY MULTIPLE INTERNET-CAPABLE PORTABLE DEVICES

摘要

Playback of an audio stream is synchronized on multiple connected digital devices by using synchronization fingerprints. Playback actions may furthermore be synchronized on all devices, such as skips and pauses. Furthermore, synchronization may be maintained even in the presence of variations in decoding speed, playback interruptions, and network disconnections. Synchronized playback of streamed audio content on multiple devices is achieved by devices compensating for time drifting induced by network instability and variable playback speed across master and guest devices to reduce the formation of echoes during playback.