COMMONTARY Receives Patent For New Alternate Audio Syncing Technology

    SANTA MONICA, CA, October 24, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- MyTeamCalls LLC dba COMMONTARY announced today the issuance by the US Patent & Trademark Office of a patent covering a new alternate audio syncing technology for video.

"Systems and Methods For Customized Live-Streaming Commentary", U.S. Patent No. 10,433,026, protects the capability of allowing multiple alternative information streams to be synchronized, either in realtime or during playback, with an original broadcast stream without needing special access to the broadcast stream itself.

"Our technology allows the connection of alternate audio related to a live or recorded broadcast while protecting the rights of the original broadcast," said Colin Sibley, Co-Founder and CEO of COMMONTARY. "With today's consumer-centric media landscape, people have the ability to share their thoughts with the world, show their photos or videos - - this opens the door for users to have their voices heard and synched with an associated piece of video content," he said. "Aside from consumer use, the technology also allows media outlets to supplement their video offerings with alternate audio or to narrate 3rd party content," he added.

This patent, developed by Head of Research, Dr. Andy Novobilski, covers the technology in which an algorithm identifies, within an original broadcast, a set of fingerprints that are unique within the stream itself and used to provide timestamps to synchronize the alternative media. These fingerprints do not rely upon special information being inserted into the broadcast stream in order to identify synchronization points. Rather, the algorithm autonomously identifies small segments of the broadcast that present a unique signal, i.e. a fingerprint, that will only occur at that time in that broadcast. Operating in this manner, the mechanism allows users to join the broadcast at a random time and have the alternative audio stream synchronize with the original broadcast regardless of the user starting point.

The patent comes just as COMMONTARY approaches the completion of an application demo, ultimately built to deliver the technology and put it into the hands of consumers.

"Developing a methodology for identifying unique points in time within a streaming broadcast opens up the possibility of connecting people and offering alternative points of view, regardless of the language or content being offered," said Dr. Novobilski. "Though our demo, and hence the app, are designed for consumer use, the algorithm itself is flexible and can be dropped into different platforms with multiple potential uses from media, to education, to defense," he said.

The self-funded start-up looks to enter the tech and media space in 2020, and create an environment in which video viewers are empowered to consume their media with different audio options, either in addition to or in lieu of, the original source audio.

For more information on COMMONTARY or to inquire about a demo, visit www.commontary.com or email [email protected].

COMMONTARY was born out of MyTeamCalls LLC, which was established in 2014 with the goal of providing team-focused, professional-quality alternative commentary for sports broadcasts. During our Beta, broadcasting teams called each game of the 2014 season for the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, as well as select games of the 2014 World Series.

In order to deliver a completely seamless content experience that didn't require users to sync our audio with their game video via a DVR, we began to develop a technology to automatically sync our audio with a user's video. We wanted this technology to listen to a video feed and accompanying alternate audio source, listen to an end user's video feed, and then sync the alternate audio with their video. Since it was for live sports broadcasts, we wanted the technology to deliver our audio in real-time, and to constantly be listening and syncing so as to allow for repeated rewinding and pausing.

The end result is COMMONTARY, a new alternate audio and video syncing technology with uses that stretch from live TV broadcasts to recorded entertainment, social media, education, language translation, business-to-business communication, and more. Rather than create our own content, we are focused on getting our technology into the hands of media outlets, back-end video streaming engines, and media talent who are interested in engaging with audiences in new and dynamic ways.

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