AVS in the Picture as Global Standard
Zhang Xiaoqiang, bureau chief assistant of the Shanghai Division of Institute of Computing Technology (SHICT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is adamant about the benefits of China's development and industrialization of its homegrown audio video coding and decoding standard, AVS (Audio Video coding Standard). For him, throwing off the shackles of having to pay huge royalties for using foreign-developed standards is a huge shot in the arm for any technology sector.
The audio video coding and decoding standard is used in all audio video applications such as mobile TV, digital terrestrial TV and video surveillance. The video signal, before being transmitted, is coded or compressed at the source so that it can be transmitted at a fast speed. When the signal reaches the receiver, it needs to be decoded by a player program so that the user can see the video.
"In the past, standards developed by foreign countries, such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.264, monopolized the market. China had to pay very high royalties for audio video coding and decoding technologies used in DVD players, digital TV equipment and even the delivery of digital TV programs," Zhang said.
"The royalty for each DVD player is as high as $20, even though the gross profit is maybe only $24. Foreign patent owners normally do not claim the royalties until the market reaches a certain scale. They then will claim royalties, including the royalties that are incurred in the past," Zhang said.
China's audio video industry is expected to reach a scale of RMB 150 billion ($21.4 billion) in 2010, and the industry needs homegrown a audio video coding and encoding standard for faster growth, Zhang said.
AVS the key to unlocking industry's potential
The SHICT is a non-profit organization founded by the Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Pudong New Area government in Shanghai. It promotes the development and industrialization of homegrown technologies and fosters start-up enterprises in the Pudong New Area.
THe SHICT has been actively involved in the development and industrialization of AVS. It is a founding member of the AVS Industry Alliance, an organization that promotes the industrialization of AVS. It owns two patents related to AVS technologies and the copyright for six pieces of AVS-related software. In September of last year, the SHICT launched the world's first Internet Protocol (IP) camera based on AVS and put it into mass production in December. The camera is branded Longcam.
In 2002, the decision to develop a homegrown audio video coding and decoding standard was made at the Xiangshan Science Conference. Afterwards, three organizations were established to promote the development and industrialization of AVS, namely the AVS Workgroup, the AVS Patent Pool Executive Council and the AVS Industry Alliance.
China owns 90 percent of intellectual property rights in AVS, and the Institute of Computing Technology owns approximately 50 percent of that portion. There are now more than 170 members in the AVS Workgroup. Members of the AVS Workgroup pay only a royalty of RMB 1 ($0.14) for each device that uses the AVS standard. China's Ministry of Public Security has named AVS an industrial standard for security video surveillance.
Industrialization of AVS
"AVS is mainly used in six types of applications, namely IPTV, digital terrestrial TV, mobile multimedia applications, direct-to-home broadcasting, high-definition video storage and video surveillance," Zhang said. AVS-based products include chips, software and devices such as set-top boxes, audio video coders and servers, he said.
In September 2005, the SHICT founded the Mobile Video & Audio Industry Alliance in Shanghai to promote the industrialization of AVS in mobile multimedia applications. It successfully developed an AVS-M coder in 2005 and an AVS-M decoder intellectual property core in 2006. AVS-M is the AVS video coding standard targeting mobile multimedia applications.
Shanghai Longjing Microelectronics Co. Ltd., Spreadtrum, Broadcom and ST have all launched AVS-based audio video decoder chips. Beijing-based USC, SVA and Envivio are providers of AVS-based audio video coders. More than 10 manufacturers, including Changhong, Hisense, ZTE, UTStarcom, SVA, Huawei and TCL, provide terminals that support AVS.
"MPEG-2 is already widely used in China's broadcasting industry and the country has to pay large amounts of royalties for products that use the MPEG-2 standard. SVA has developed an MPEG-2 to AVS signal converter that can help to avoid royalties," Zhang said.
Last year, digital terrestrial TV trials using AVS as the audio video coding and decoding standard and DMB-TH as the transmission standard were launched in Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai and Baoding in Hebei Province. DMB-TH, also known as GB20600-2006, is China's national digital terrestrial TV standard. In April of this year, the country's first IPTV services utilizing AVS were put into commercial use in Dalian.
Going global
In September 2006, the AVS Workgroup established a relationship with the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), which marks that AVS is on the way of becoming an internationally accepted audio video coding and decoding standard, Zhang said.
"AVS, the ITU H.264 and Microsoft's VC-1 are now the three major audio video coding and decoding standards in the world." Zhang said.
In February 2006, the video portion of AVS was approved as China's national video coding and decoding standard. In December of last year, the audio portion of AVS was published and submitted to the former Ministry of Information Industry.
"AVS will soon become a national audio coding and decoding standard," Zhang said.
The Longcam's longview
In November of last year, the SHICT's Longcam was presented the 2007 China Audio Video Industry Innovative Application award at the Third China Audio Video Industry Technology and Application Forum.
"The IP cameras on the market are normally priced at over RMB 3,000 ($428.6), while ours is RMB 1,000 ($142.9) to RMB 2000 ($285.7). We will try to lower the price to approximately RMB 500 ($71.4) to RMB 600 ($85.7) so that general consumers can afford them. Now it is possible to lower the price of IP cameras thanks to the low royalties of AVS," Zhang said.
"Once the price is reduced, IP cameras can not only be used in public security surveillance, but also by general consumers. For example, people can monitor their babies or pets on the camera. China Telecom already has a service that allows parents to watch their babies. It is our vision that people will be able to monitor their homes on their mobile phones using our solution in the future," Zhang said.
On the other hand, the government is actively promoting homegrown technologies and AVS will eventually replace H.264 and MPEG-4 in China, he said.
"The potential of the AVS standard market is huge. China's Ministry of Public Security has named AVS an industrial standard for security video surveillance. It has requested that all video surveillance records in Internet cafes must be in the AVS format," Zhang said.
The SHICT recently received contracts to supply approximately 30 Longcam IP cameras to the SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) Business Center in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Zone and about 10 cameras for a science education project organized by the Pudong New Area Science Association.
The institute is also in talks to supply the Longcam to China Netcom's subsidiary in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for use in video monitoring services.
"We are developing a human face recognition application of the camera together with Shanghai-based Isvision Technologies. Such a solution can be used in intelligent surveillance at the site of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo," Zhang said.
The SHICT is currently looking for funding from venture capital firms to commercialize its Longcam product.
"Only when we establish a company can we commercialize this product. The company will be jointly owned by the SHICT, the team members and the venture capital firms," he said.
Source: Interfax China
