Terms of reference for the “Joint Video Exploration Team” (JVET)

between ITU-T Study Group 16 Question 6/16 (VQEG) and ISO/IEC JTC1 SC29 WG11 (MPEG)

ITU-T VCEG (Q6/16) and ISO/IEC MPEG (JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11) are both studying the potential need for standardization of future video coding technology with a compression capability that significantly exceeds that of the current HEVC standard (including its current extensions and near-term extensions for screen content coding and high dynamic-range coding). Such future standardization action could either take the form of additional extension(s) of HEVC or an entirely new standard. While the consideration of future work in this area involves both the study of application requirements and an assessment of the current state of technology R&D to meet the requirements, both groups intend to create an Exploration Team to jointly evaluate compression technology designs proposed by their experts in this area. The plan is for the Exploration Team to begin meeting together during 19-21 October 2015. Each organization will nominate a representative who is responsible to organize the work according to the guidelines below, together with the representative of the other organization.

To avoid duplication of efforts, the following collaboration principles are suggested to be applied for this early stage of technology exploration activity (to the maximum extent feasible):

• Relevant technical contributions/input documents related to the work of the exploration team will be uploaded to a new document repository specific of the exploration activity. The documents posted on this repository will be publicly available. Such contributions should include an informal statement that expresses a willingness to license necessary patents on the proposed technology on a RAND basis in the event the proposed technology is included in a resulting standard of ITU-T or ISO/IEC.
• Discussion and consideration of technical contributions relevant to experimental technology evaluation will be open to members of both organizations and scheduled to accommodate such participation.
• Those qualified to participate in either parent body may participate in the Exploration Team. This includes experts invited to participate in the parent bodies as permitted by ITU-T or ISO/IEC policies.
• Common test conditions and video test sequences used for conducting and evaluating the results of such tests will be considered and established by common agreement and made available to both organizations. The conditions should match relevant application targets, and be suitable to investigate the limits of compression technology.
• Any group-adopted simulation software or associated software tool library intended for collaborative study and development will be made publicly available. Such software will use the header statement that has been commonly used in reference software that has been developed jointly by the two organizations in recent video coding work.
• Exploration Experiments will be planned and possibly executed jointly and reports of the results will be provided to both organizations.
• To obtain knowledge about compression technology that may exist outside the collaborative exploratory work, other mechanisms such as issuing a Call for Evidence may be employed by one or both organizations, with results to be shared and considered as part of the exploration.
• When the exploration has reached a sufficient maturity one or more documents describing the convergence of ideas will be drafted and maintained by a team that will include experts from both groups.
• The scope of technology consideration for the exploration work will include a broad variety of video source content, e.g. camera-view content, screen content, and high dynamic-range video for such applications as broadcast (with live or pre-authored content), real-time video conferencing and video chat, on-demand viewing, storage-based media replay, consumer generated content, and surveillance with fixed or moving cameras.
• If and when there is evidence that a new common standardization activity would be justified, a joint collaborative team (per ITU-T A.23 Annex A | ISO/IEC Standing Document 3) would be established to further progress the work, as done in the past for AVC and HEVC.

Some discussions of requirements and potential project planning will be conducted with the format currently used in joint MPEG-VCEG meetings, each group retaining its own decision-making authority for establishing its requirements and project plans until agreed otherwise. Given sufficient convergence of requirements and evidence of feasibility, a Call for Proposals is likely to be issued by one or both organizations prior to starting formal standardization work. Prior to finalizing the plans for such a call, joint discussions will be held by the two organizations to consider whether it is appropriate for a Call to be issued jointly and to consider allocating the subsequent technical standard development work to a joint collaborative team for developing the text of the resulting standard.

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