Synchronization of Media Rendering in Heterogeneous Networking Environments

A method for synchronizing media rendering among terminals, comprising, at a first terminal:

• transmitting a communication to another terminal initializing a synchronized rendering session, the communication containing indicators correlating a network time to a first portion of a media item to be rendered and a playback rate,
• retrieving content of the media item from a network location,
• identifying, from the correlation of network time to the first portion and the playback rate, a second portion of the media item to be rendered and a time at which the second portion is to be rendered, and
• rendering the second portion of the media item at the time at which the second portion is to be rendered.

A terminal, comprising:

• a transceiver connected to a network,
• a media sink device,
• a processing system to execute program instructions that causes:
• the transceiver to download from a network resource a media item to be rendered,
• the transceiver to receive indicators from another terminal correlating a first network time to a first portion of the media item,
• the media sink device to render, at a current network time, a second portion of the media item correlated to the current network time as determined by the correlated first network time and the first portion and by a playback rate.

A terminal, comprising:

• a transceiver connected to a network,
• a media sink device,
• a processing system to execute program instructions that causes:
• the transceiver to download from a network resource a media item to be rendered,
• at a current network time, identify, from a correlation of a network time to a first portion of the media item and a playback rate for rendering, a second portion of the media item to be rendered, and
• the media sink device to render the second portion of the media item correlated to the current network time.

Computer readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processing device, causes the processing device to:

• responsive to communication received from another device of a synchronized rendering session, correlate a network time to a first portion of a media item to be rendered,
• retrieve content of the media item from a network location,
• identify, from the correlation of network time to the first portion and from a playback rate received in communication from the other terminal, a second portion of the media item to be rendered and a time at which the second portion is to be rendered, and
• render the second portion of the media item at the time for rendering the second portion.

Computer readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processing device, causes the processing device to:

• transmit a communication to another device initializing a synchronized rendering session, the communication containing indicators correlating a network time to a first portion of a media item to be rendered and a playback rate,
• retrieve content of the media item from a network location,
• identify, from the correlation of network time to the first portion and the playback rate, a second portion of the media item to be rendered and a time at which the second portion is to be rendered, and
• render the second portion of the media item at the time for rendering the second portion.