MultimediaStandardsLicensingFeeIntroductionThisdocumentoutlineslicensingcostsandcontactinformationformajormultimediastandardsandtechnologyinuseandinfutureusethatisofinteresttocompaniesbuildingnextgenerationmultimediaproducts.Mostlicensingfactsarereferringtopatentpools.Additionalcostswouldbehighqualityencoderandpotentiallydecoderimplementations.Mostmultimediastandardsalgorithmsareasymmetrical.Inotherwords,theencodersrequiremuchmoreprocessingpowerandaremuchmorecomplexbothalgorithmicallyaswellascomputationally.Thisisduetotheconceptthatencoderwouldbeusedonservers,inprofessionalbroadcastsysteminprofessionalmoviestudioauthoringtools;applicationswherethecostsofencodingdidnotimpactthedeliverymechanismorcosttoconsumers.Finally,inmoststandards,exceptforAC-3,theencoderisnotnormative.Inotherwords,companiesandindividualsareallowedtodesigntheworseencodingtechnologypossibleaslongasthealgorithmgeneratesacompliantbitstream.ThehighestqualityencoderdesignsareoftencreatedbytheverycompanieswithpatentsinthevariousMPEGstandards.Themainpointofthisdiscussionistonotethehighvarianceinencodertechnologyqualityandtoalsobeawarethatindividualimplementationsofcoders,shouldtheybedeemednecessaryforthisproductwillhaveadditionallicensingandfeecosts.StandardsEachStandardisgivenabriefdescription,applicationswhereitisinuse,licensingtermsandcontactinformation.GnuPublicLicenseoranysortofalgorithmorapplicationthatdoesnotrequirepaymentisnotaddressedinthisdocument.AlsonotdiscussedareRealNetworksformatsorotherlesser“player”technologiesintheInternetMediaspace.AUDIOA.MPEG1/2,LayerIII(MP3)http://www.mp3licensing.com1.TypeMPEG1/2,layerIIIisaspectrumaudiolossycompressionalgorithm.Asymmetricencodeanddecodewithacomputationalcomplexityratioof15:1.CompressionRatio12:1.128kb/sstereofor44.1or48kHzsamplingrateisatypicalbitrateinthistechnology.2.DescriptionUbiquitous,MP3is“TheInternetstandard”aswellasportableplayerstandard.Cons:verypoorperformanceonspeechsignals,qualityvariesgreatlydependinguponimplementation.MPEG1,LayerIIIperformspoorlyintandeming.MPEG1layerIIIisantiquatedtechnologythatisover10yearsoldinthefieldofaudiocompressionresearch.ManydifferentMPEG1-layerIIIencodersandcompressiontoolsareavailableviatheInternet,thusqualityvariesfromextremelygoodqualitytoencodersthatwillnotevenproduceaproperbitstream.3.ContentIllegalcopyingofcontentlaunchedMP3andtodayonecanfindalmostanythingavailableinfreedownloadusingpeer-to-peersoftwareKazaainMP3format.NOMediaservicethatdoesnotsupportMP3couldbelocatedinQ3/03.0.75USDdecode/unit2.50-5.00USDencode/unitB.MP3Prohttp://www.mp3licensing.com1.TypeMP3ProinarchitectureconsistsofmodificationstotheMPEG1-LayerIIIalgorithmthataddoneadditionalDSPmodule.Thismodule,calledSBR,reconstructshighfrequencyspectrumafterdecoding.ThispieceofinformationimpliesthatonecanutilizeanexistingMPEG1LayerIIIcodebaseandpotentiallyaddanadditiontotheexistingcodetoreducecodestoragerequirements.Asymmetricencodeanddecodeincomputationalcomplexity.Compressionratiois14:1.96kb/sstereofor44.1or48kHzsamplingrateisatypicalbitrateinthistechnology.Thompsonadvertises“half”thebitrateofMP3,yetinvestigationyieldsthisbitrateasatypicalsetting.2.DescriptionMP3Progivesverypoorperformanceonspeechsignalsyettherearefewimplementationversions,soqualityismoreconsistent.MP3Prodoesnottandem.TheSpectralBandReplicatechnology,whichSBRplusMP3makesupM...
