Motivation

Since the first set of Recommendations for audiovisual communication systems for N-ISDN environments (H.320) were established in 1990, additional audiovisual communications systems have been developed including the H.324-series of Recommendations for audiovisual communications over the fixed and mobile (wireless) telephone networks and the H.310-series of Recommendations for point-to-point and multipoint on B-ISDN networks. For data sharing in point to-point and multipoint environments, the T.120-series of Recommendations has been developed. Following this, several enhancements with respect to multipoint communication, use of new audio and video coding, security features, call setup acceleration and use of data conferencing and control continue to be developed in the form of new Recommendations or revision of existing Recommendations. To respond to the market needs, these enhancements (with particular attention to the support of advanced coding technologies, interworking with other terminals accommodated in different networks and enhancements to cover other services) may need to be included in existing audiovisual communications systems Recommendations to assure these existing systems remain competitive in the market place. The use of technology developed in this Question, typically audio, video and data conferencing systems, improves communication quality and efficiency and contributes to a reduction of greenhouse gas emission when used as an alternative to travel.

This Question deals with extension and maintenance of this large body of multimedia conferencing systems.

Study items

Study items to be considered include, but are not limited to:

• Improvements in quality aspects; audio quality, picture quality, delay, and performance objectives, taking account of the studies in relevant study groups. (NOTE – The scope of this Question does not include studies of performance measurement.)
• Enhancements of security by use of enhanced algorithms, key management, authentication, etc
• Enhancements to existing Recommendations by the addition of advanced audio and visual coding (e.g. H.264 extensions and beyond)
• Enhancements to interoperability of H.300-series terminals by using common procedures for control, indication, capability exchange mechanisms, etc (e.g. H.239 and H.241)
• Continued enhancements relating to error resilience in error-prone environments such as mobile networks
• Specifications of multimedia system characteristics to support non-conversational services, such as retrieval, messaging, or distribution services
• Enhancement of existing H-series Recommendations with respect to accessibility
• Specifications necessary to allow the use of existing terminals and achieve interoperability with NGN
• Considerations on how to help measure and mitigate climate change

Tasks

Tasks include, but are not limited to:

• Development of new Recommendations pertaining to the study items above as needed
• Enhancement and maintenance of H.100, H.110, H.130, H.140, H.221, H.222.0, H.222.1, H.223, H.224, H.226, H.230, H.231, H.233, H.234, H.239, H.241, H.242, H.243, H.244, H.247, H.281, H.282, H.283, H.310, H.320, H.321, H.322, H.324, H.331, T.120 through T.128, T.134, T.135, T.136, T.137, T.140 and H-series Supplement 1

An up-to-date status of work under this Question is found in the SG 16 work programme (http://itu.int/ITU-T/workprog/wp_search.aspx?isn_sg=554).

Relationships

Recommendations:

• G.700-series, H.260-series, H.245, H.246

Questions:

• 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 26/16

Study Groups:

• ITU-T SG 2 for service aspects and human factors
• ITU-T SG 12 for quality aspects
• ITU-T SG 13 for future networks aspects, and NGN in particular
• ITU-R SG 5 for IMT

Other Bodies:

• ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 for MPEG aspects
• IMTC for interoperability aspects and enhancements to existing Recommendations