Riding the media bits Leonardo Chiariglione, International Conference on Standardization & Innovation, Geneva – 2014/11/13

My answers to the conference questions How standardization relates to innovation? Fully – standardising what exists is for notary publics The "traditional view" is that standards and innovation are at odds with each other. But is this true? No – standardisation is an integral part of the innovation process We believe that this is a misperception which may have significant negative implications on innovation management and innovation policy Yes – the process is: idea-IPR-standardisation-exploitation 2

Definitions of “standard” Webster’s A conspicuous object (as a banner) formerly carried at the top of a pole and used to mark a rallying point especially in battle or to serve as an emblem Something that is established by authority, custom or general consent as a model or example to be followed Encyclopaedia Britannica Something that is established to permit large production runs of component parts that are readily fitted to other parts without adjustment 09/ 08/ 23 Digital representation of audio, video and related data 3

My definition of “standard” Codified agreement between parties who recognise the advantage of all doing certain things in an certain way NB: The actual “process” (de jure or de facto) is irrelevant, provided it is Fair to all parties concerned and Carried out to match the needs of users 09/ 08/ 23 Digital representation of audio, video and related data 4

Standards and interfaces If interfaces X, Y and Z are “exposed” they must conform to the referenced standard If interface Y is not “exposed”, it may be anything 09/ 08/ 23 Digital representation of audio, video and related data 5 System ASystem BSystem C System D X YZ

MPEG – a case in point The 20 th century experience: planned lack of media interoperability Audio: radio OK, vinyl OK, compact cassette and compact disc almost OK Video: different television standards The 20 th century belief: digital is the future Digital is too costly (~10 times the bandwidth) We need compression → investment in research Research delivers exploitable technology 6

AD 1987 Companies were individually exploiting research If there are international standards We achieve global interoperability We can create global markets Standards should be industry agnostics No ITU or IEC because they represented i ncumbents All players to be called Customers: manufacturers and service providers Work force: researchers (from customers & independent) 7

Before standards: IPR Going back to the source of wisdom... As I know that many have written on this point, I expect I shall be considered presumptuous in mentioning it again, especially as in discussing it I shall depart from the methods of other people. But, it being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of a matter than the imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and principalities which in fact have never been known or seen… 8

Dealing with IPR Effective digital media standards have to deal with patents Thousands of them in 1987, many more today Develop standards seeking best performance Cost of IP in a standard is independent of # of patents Too many patents from different holders are hard to manage Patent pools expedite definition of licensing terms Hope rights holders have an open mind Reluctance to consider new business models 9

The MPEG process 1. Idea of a standard 2. Requirements 3. Call for evidence 4. Call for proposals 5. Testing criteria 6. Tests 7. Reference model 8. Reference software 9. Core experiments 10. Approval process 11. Verification tests 12. Amendment 13. Maintenance 10

Many ways to skin IPR 1 st MPEG standard approved 22 years ago 2 nd MPEG standards approved 20 years ago Can we develop "good enough" Type 1 standards? Some companies develop standards claimed royalty-free Pool buys rights from IPR holders for industry to use (inverse patent pool) More to come... 11

Current challenges When is it time to develop a new standard where one (or more) already exist? MPEG has already developed 5 generations of video coding standards The life cycle of standards may be long MPEG-2 (2 nd generation) is still mainstream after 20 years Hardware legacy, support of multiple formats, traditional services and business models Different mobile paradigm (handset life time 18 mo) Time to call back researchers to work? 12

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