MPEGIF closes, HEVC standard patent call comes to light

After 12 years of promoting the MPEG video standard, the MPEG Interoperability Forum has closed just as a call for patents goes out for the next generation technology.Established in June 2000, the MPEGIF was established to settle a great fragmentation in the video industry. With advances in silicon being made, MPEG-2 started to emerge in many forms. The forum's task was to educate and disseminate an emerging standards based solution that eventually became known as MPEG-4 Part 10, aka AVC aka H.264. The group held master classes on the technology and ran interoperability sessions to ensure equipment, particularly in the broadcast market, would work together. By the end of June the intellectual property from the MPEGIF will move over to the Open IPTV Forum.

The next generation video standard, H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), is now starting to emerge. Recently, the MPEG Licensing Authority issued a call for patents for the technology (also called MPEG-H part 2). HEVC is expected to deliver next generation higher resolution HDTV video displays for 4K and 8K Ultra High Definition TV with final approval for the standard expected in January 2013.

Nick Flaherty
??EETimes Europe