Precision timing for broadcast network

A system for synchronizing audio/video (AV) data in a media distribution network, the system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor configured to implement instructions stored on the memory so as to provide:
• a media transmission controller configured to control transmission of a plurality of data streams having packetized AV data across a plurality of network paths to at least one receiving node with the packetized AV data comprising one or more timestamps;
• a network delay determiner configured to determine a network delay of at least one of the plurality of network paths based on a delay calculation generated by the at least one receiving node based on the one or more timestamps for the respective data stream transmitted across the at least one network path;
• and
• a media stream synchronizer configured to synchronize the plurality of data streams processed by the at least one receiving node by generating a buffer allocation control based on the determined network delay and transmitting the buffer allocation control to the at least one receiving node from the plurality of data streams, such that the at one receiving node reserves sufficient space in at least one media buffer based on the buffer allocation control to prevent overflow during synchronized media playout of the packetized AV data based on the one or more timestamps.

A media distribution system for synchronizing audio/video (AV) data for media playout, the system comprising:

• a data encoder configured to encode AV data of a plurality of data streams to each have timestamps indexed to a precision time protocol (PTP) configured as a time reference for a media distribution network;
• a memory;
• and
• a processor configured to implement instructions stored on the memory so as to provide:
• a media transmission controller configured to control transmission of the plurality of data streams having the AV data across a plurality of network paths in the media distribution network to at least one receiving node;
• a network delay determiner configured to determine a network delay of the plurality of data streams with the AV data transmitted across the plurality of network paths in the media distribution network to the at least one receiving node;
• a network delay calculator configured to calculate a system offset value for the media distribution network by comparing the determined network delay of each of the plurality of network paths to determine the system offset value based on a worst network path of the plurality of network paths that experiences a longest network delay for receiving the respective data stream;
• a media stream synchronizer configured to prevent overflow during media playout of the AV data by generating a system offset value calculated from the determined network delay and transmitting the system offset value to the at least one receiving node from the plurality of data streams, such that the at least one receiving node sets sufficient space in at least one media buffer based on the generated and transmitted system offset value to delay synchronizing the plurality of data streams processed by the at least one receiving node;
• and
• wherein the network delay determiner is configured to determine the network delay of each of the plurality of network paths based on the PTP indexed to the timestamps in the AV data of the plurality of data streams.