MPEG-2 Systems Patents Review
ISO/IEC 13818
Rob Glidden, December 2011
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Disclaimer
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Information provided to facilitate consideration
of Type-1 / royalty-free MPEG standardization*

Not to be used as legal advice

Not represented as comprehensive
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Only public sources considered

Corrections, additions & comments welcome
* See N12204, Call for Proposals (CfP) for Internet Video Coding Technologies,
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11, July 2011, Torino, Italy
http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/working_documents/explorations/ivc/ivc-cfp.zip
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Motivation
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MPEG Systems IPR provides an informative process
template for video coding IPR review



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Commonalities to any RF video coding proposal
Patents claimed on both MPEG LA video & systems
(inc. US 5291486, 5796743, 5289276, 5268846, 4970590)
Pool list updated regularly since 1996
A royalty-free codec like MPEG IVC will likely need the
availability of a royalty-free systems layer
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Systems Patents in Context*


17% (23) of MPEG-2 patents
29% (10) of unexpired patents
after July 2013
Systems
patents
* See “MPEG-2 Patent List”, December, 2011
“MPEG-2 Patents”, December, 2011
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Review Methodology
IPR
Unexpired
Patents
Expired
Patents
Type-1 (RF)
Licensed
Patents
Unpatented
Prior Art
Mapping
Capabilities
Area Capability
PACKETIZATION MODEL
Multiplexing
Multiple Programs
SYNTAX MODEL
Packet Header
Repetition
Adaptation Fields
Packet Alignment Flag
ltw_offset
SECTION MODEL
PAT, PMT
PSI Table
TIMING MODEL
Clock Synchronization
ERROR HANDLING
Error Flagging
BUFFER MODEL
Bit Rate Control
CAS MODEL
CAT-EMM-ECM
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Capability
Expired Unexpired
31-Jul-13 31-Jul-13
MPEG LA Essentiality
Claims Description
PACKETIZATION MODEL
Multiplexing
Multiple Programs
SYNTAX MODEL
Packet Header
Repetition
Adaptation Fields
Packet Alignment Flag
4,970,590
5,268,846
1
1
9
Multiplexing elementary and systems layer streams
Program_stream_directory
Demultiplexing elementary streams based on PID's
5,483,287
1
5,365,272*
5,289,276*
6,792,001*
5,867,501
1
1
1
5
5,784,110
5,796,743
6,181,712*
1
1
1
Transport packet format with PID, continuity_counter, transport_priority,
payload_unit_start_indicator, transport_scrambling_control & adaptation_ field_control
Transport packet format with PID, continuity_counter & adaptation_field_control
Transport stream carrying repeat sequence headers
Transport packet format with adaptation_field_control
Transport stream, transport packet format with adaptation_field_control, continuity_counter,
discontinuity_indicator
PES header alignment in Transport packet
PES header alignment in Transport packet
Transport stream with ltw_offset
5,459,789
ltw_offset
SECTION MODEL
PAT, PMT
5,418,782
1,4
PMT, PAT
PSI Table
5,333,135
10
PSI table format
TIMING MODEL
Clock Synchronization 5,486,864*
7
PTS, PCR, OPCR
5,565,923*
1
PCR and OPCR
5,381,181
1
Transport stream carrying PCR's and PTS's in packets
ERROR HANDLING
Error Flagging
5,457,701
1,4
Transport error indicator
7,334,248
1
Transport stream with PIDs, continuity_counter, transport_error_indicator
BUFFER MODEL
Bit Rate Control
5,608,697*
1
VBV delay / PTS/DTS decoding delay
5,844,867*
1,19,29 VBV delay / PTS/DTS decoding delay
5,291,486
12
Halting input of data when decoder buffer fills
5,606,539* 1,18,23,29 VBV delay / PTS/DTS decoding delay
CAS MODEL
CAT-EMM-ECM
5,420,866
1,4,8,9 CAT, EMM's, ECM's.
* Common parents: 07/901045: 5289276;5365272. 08/537701: 6181712;6792001. 08/060924: 5486864;5565923. 07/711186: 5608697; 5844867; 5606539.
Conclusion
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

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10 systems patents will remain unexpired as
of July 31, 2013
Several seem clearly feature-specific
A royalty-free codec like MPEG IVC will likely
need the availability of a royalty-free systems
layer
MPEG should consider specifying a royaltyfree systems profile
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Thank You!
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