MPEG issues Genomic Information Compression and Storage joint Call for Proposals in conjunction with ISO/TC 276/WG 5
Geneva, Switzerland – The 115th MPEG meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 30 May – 3 June 2016
MPEG issues Genomic Information Compression and Storage joint Call for Proposals in conjunction with ISO/TC 276/WG 5
While routine deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing in the doctor's office is still many years away, some large medical centers have begun to use sequencing to identify cancer and other diseases. The introduction of high-throughput DNA sequencing has led to the generation of large quantities of genomic data and related information that have to be stored, transferred, and analyzed. To handle these massive amounts of genomic data, technologies are developed for their compression. These methods and underlying data formats need to be consistently standardized for their effective application to ensure interoperability between computer systems and databases. At its 115th meeting, MPEG issued a Call for Proposals (CfP) for Genomic Information Compression and Storage in conjunction with the working group for standardization of data processing and integration of the ISO Technical Committee for biotechnology standards (ISO/TC 276/WG5). The call seeks submissions of technologies that can provide efficient compression of genomic data and metadata for storage and processing applications.
Companies and organizations are invited to submit proposals in response to this call. Responses are expected to be submitted by the 12th October, and will be evaluated during the weekend prior to the 116th MPEG meeting (17–21 October 2016). Detailed information, including how to respond to the CfP, is available as document N16320 at the 115th MPEG meeting Web site (http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/meetings/115). For any questions about the call, test conditions, required software, or test sequences please contact: Joern Ostermann, MPEG Requirements Group Chair (ostermann@tnt.uni-hannover.de) or Martin Golebiewski, Convenor ISO/TC 276/WG 5 (martin.golebiewski@h-its.org).
Plug-in free decoding of 3D objects within Web browsers
In order to enable efficient representation, download and use of 3D graphics in the browser, MPEG extended its suite of 3D graphics standards. Printing material and 3D graphics coding for browsers also referred to as Web3DCoding (ISO/IEC 14496-16:2011/Amd. 3) has reached the final milestone of Final Draft Amendment (FDAM) at this MPEG meeting and will be soon published as an International Standard. Web3DCoding extends the usage of the already existing MPEG 3D mesh codecs to the world of Web browsers. 3D objects are compressed by this codec and encapsulated in a 3D scene described using the GL Transmission Format (glTF).
The Web3DCoding tools are implemented in JavaScript and the data representation uses well supported formats, they are natively understood by most Web browsers and, thus, making the decoding of 3D objects possible without any additional plug-in or tool. Tests were performed successfully on large objects with different types of attributes such as normals, color-per-vertex, and texture.
MPEG-H 3D Audio AMD 3 reaches FDAM status
At the 115th MPEG meeting, MPEG-H 3D Audio Amendment 3 progressed to Final Draft Amendment status. This text will progress to Amendment at the October MPEG meeting and be published late in 2016. MPEG expects that a Second Edition of MPEG-H 3D Audio, incorporating the base text and Amendment 3, will be available late in 2016.
MPEG-H 3D Audio supports a highly immersive audio experience for loudspeakers placed in a 3-dimensional configuration (e.g., high, mid, and low for front, side, and surround), and supports content in multiple formats: channels (C), channels and objects (C+O), and scene-based Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA).
Key functionalities are a compact and bit-efficient representation of immersive, multi-channel audio programs, and the ability to flexibly render audio content to an arbitrary number of loudspeakers with an arbitrary configuration, as well as providing a binaural experience over headphones. Extensive support for meta-data in the bit stream and the user interface provides for a rich, interactive control of the presentation of the audio program.
MPEG-H 3D Audio Amendment 3 adds technology that increases coding efficiency and also adds features that will be of great use to the broadcast industry and defines the Low Complexity Profile for using that technology. Key compression technologies focus on intermediate bit rates of 128 kb/s to 256 kb/s for immersive signals. Key features include advanced loudness control, layered coding for HOA-based content, and the ability to interoperate with ITU-R standardized BW64 (Broadcast WAV 64) and ADM (Audio Definition Model) metadata.
Common Media Application Format for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming Applications
At its 115th meeting, MPEG has reached the first milestone for the Common Media Application Format (CMAF). The CMAF standard will set a clear standard for a format optimized for large scale delivery of a single encrypted, adaptable multimedia presentation to a wide range of devices. The format is compatible with a variety of adaptive streaming, broadcast, download, and storage delivery methods including MPEG-DASH and MMT.
The segmented media format, which has been widely adopted for Internet content delivery using MPEG-DASH, Web browsers, and commercial services such as Netflix and YouTube, is derived from the ISO Base Media File Format, using MPEG codecs, Common Encryption, etc. The same components have already been widely adopted and specified by many other standards developing organizations and industry consortia, but the absence of a common media format, or minor differences in practice, means that slightly different media files must often be prepared for the same content. The industry will greatly benefit from a common format, embodied in an MPEG standard, to improve interoperability and distribution efficiency.
CMAF will define a standard for encoding and decoding of segmented media. While CMAF defines only the media format, CMAF segments can be used in environments that support adaptive bitrate streaming using HTTP(S) and any presentation description, such as the MPEG-DASH MPD, the Smooth Streaming manifest, and the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) manifest (m3u8). MPEG’s CMAF specification is addressing the most common use cases and defining a few CMAF profiles that would help industry and consortia to reference this specification and avoid fragmentation of media formats.
Some of the major use cases for CMAF include over-the-top (OTT) adaptive bitrate streaming, broadcast/multicast streaming, hybrid network streaming of live content, download of streaming files for local playback, and server-side and client-side ad insertion.
4th edition of AVC/HEVC file format
MPEG is pleased to announce completion of its work to support layered and tiled HEVC coding in files based on the ISO base media file format, including MP4, in an expected 4th edition of ISO/IEC 14496-15. This flexible support enables layered and tiled coding for content that is transmitted or stored in this format. In particular, experts believe that the tiling support may become increasingly important as video gets larger and more immersive, and by enabling the selection of the desired visual area of a larger video both the decoding complexity and data transfer rates can be managed.
On the ISO base media file format ISO/IEC 14496-12, we note a milestone with pleasure: the progenitor of ISO base media file format was first documented in 1991, and as such, the format is celebrating 25 years of vigorous life in active use and development, with the most recent 18 years as an MPEG international standard.
How to contact MPEG, learn more, and find other MPEG facts
To learn about MPEG basics, discover how to participate in the committee, or find out more about the array of technologies developed or currently under development by MPEG, visit MPEG’s home page at http://mpeg.chiariglione.org. There you will find information publicly available from MPEG experts past and present including tutorials, white papers, vision documents, and requirements under consideration for new standards efforts. You can also find useful information in many public documents by using the search window].
Examples of tutorials that can be found on the MPEG homepage include tutorials for: High Efficiency Video Coding, Advanced Audio Coding, Universal Speech and Audio Coding, and DASH to name a few. A rich repository of white papers can also be found and continues to grow. You can find these papers and tutorials for many of MPEG’s standards freely available. Press releases from previous MPEG meetings are also available. Journalists that wish to receive MPEG Press Releases by email should contact Dr. Christian Timmerer at christian.timmerer@itec.uni-klu.ac.at or christian.timmerer@bitmovin.com.
Further Information
Future MPEG meetings are planned as follows:
No. 116, Chengdu, CN, 17 – 21 October 2016
No. 117, Geneva, CH, 16 – 20 January, 2017
No. 118, Hobart, AU, 03 – 07 April, 2017
No. 119, Torino, IT, 17 – 21 July, 2017
No. 120, Macau, 23 – 27 October 2017
For further information about MPEG, please contact:
Dr. Leonardo Chiariglione (Convenor of MPEG, Italy)
Via Borgionera, 103
10040 Villar Dora (TO), Italy
Tel: +39 011 935 04 61
or
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Christian Timmerer
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt | Bitmovin Inc.
9020 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria, Europe
Tel: +43 463 2700 3621
The 115th MPEG Meeting will take place from 30 May to 3 June 2016 at
Centre International de Conférences de Genève (CICG)
rue de Varembé 17
CH - 1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
Please note the following
- Registration at http://itu.int/reg/tmisc/3000854
- Badge pick-up and on-site registration: although the meeting venue during 16-20/02/2014 is the CICG, badges will not be distributed there. Delegates must pick their badges at the Montbrillant building entrance of ITU (Rue de Varembé 2, about 100 metres from CICG). For a Google street view, see http://tinyurl.com/itu-badges or here.
- The main meeting (30/05-03/06/2015) will be preceded by ad hoc group meetings
- The meetings of the JCT-VC and JCT-3V will be held under the auspices of the ITU
- Members will not need to pay facilities fees
- There will be no badge delivery over the week end, but pre-registered delegates can get into the building if they have pre-registered on the ITU registration page and provide their passport to the security officer. Entrance during the weekend is only through the ITU Tower. (For a Google street view, see http://tinyurl.com/itu-tower or here). Alternatively, delegates can get their badges on Friday 27 May 2016 afternoon, should they already be in Geneva.
Logistic Information
Location
The 115th MPEG meeting will take place in the CICG and ITU buildings all close to
17 rue de Varembé
CH - 1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
Ad hoc meetings on the weekend 28-29 May 2016:
- ITU buildings (see details below)
Host
The host for this meeting will be the International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). The ITU Headquarters are adjacent to the CICG and the IEC building, and have four entrances:
- Montbrillant building (also used for badge collection and on-site registration)
Rue de Varembé 2 (click here for a Google street view) - Varembé building entrance (unmanned door only for badge holders)
- ITU Tower entrance (the only one open during the weekend)
- Av. Giuseppe Motta (click here for a Google street view)
Contact persons (from the host)
ITU-T Study Group 16 Secretariat
Tel : +41-22 730-5445
Fax : +41-22 730-5853
Email: tsbsg16@itu.int
Registration and meeting information
The pre-registration for the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11 meeting is online.
Badges will be available for the delegates who pre-registered at the reception of the Montbrillant building, Mon-Fri 0830-1200, 14:00-1700 hours. Updated meeting schedules will be displayed in the monitors found in the ITU and CICG premises, as well as online (RSS feed available).
Visa information
ITU as a host can, at the official request of the administration or entity you represent, approach the competent Swiss authorities in order to facilitate delivery of the visa but only within the period mentioned of six weeks before the date of beginning of the meeting. Any such request must specify the name and functions, date of birth, number, dates of issue and expiry of passport of the individual(s) for whom the visa(s) is/are requested (see example) and be accompanied by a copy of the notification of confirmation of registration approved for the ITU-T meeting in question, and must be sent to TSB by fax (+41 22 730 5853) or e-mail (tsbreg@itu.int) bearing the words "Visa request (MPEG meeting)".
Hotel information
Delegates attending meetings hosted by ITU may benefit from special terms in a number of hotels in Geneva. There you will find a self-explanatory procedure to be followed for the reservation of hotels. A hotel confirmation form is available for download.
ITU is not responsible for reservation confirmations, cancelled or charged reservations or no-shows. Please contact the hotel directly for all reservation matters, including for any changes to be made. Please make your own reservation by filling out the hotel registration form,
How to reach CICG and ITU
For all relevant information with regard to ITU and Geneva, please see this ITU web page
http://itu.int/SG-CP/info/togeneva.html#transport
There is a single airport in Geneva, which serves for both domestic and international flights and is close to ITU and Geneva downtown.
Public transport in urban Geneva is quite good, so renting a car for those staying downtown may not be necessary. Hotels normally offer bus passes valid for the period of stay (without additional cost to their guests).
Weather
The temperature in May-June normally ranges from 20 to 25 ºC.
Electricity
The standard power supply is 220 Volts, 50Hz. Power plugs normally found are Swiss SEV 1011 and CEE 7/16. Adapters are found for sale in electronics stores, supermarkets and at the airport.
Emergencies
Police: 117
Medical Emergencies: 144
Business Hours
Most government offices are open between 0830 – 1200 and 1330 – 1700 hours from Monday to Friday. Most stores are usually open from 0800 to 1845 hours. Saturdays, from 0800 to 1700 hours. General commerce is closed on Sundays. Shops at the airport are open until 2000 hours, inclusive on weekends and holidays. Convenience stores open all days, hours vary.
Automated Teller Machines (ATM)
Travellers who carry internationally recognized credit cards (such as VISA and MasterCard) can get a cash advance in Geneva at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) installed at banks, airports, major hotels, department stores, subway stations and tourist attractions.
Computer Networking
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11a/g/n) facilities are available for use by delegates in the CICG conference rooms. Wired and wireless network access is available in the ITU Montbrillant building. Desktop computers and printers are available in the cybercafé area in the ITU Tower 2nd basement floor as well as in the Delegate Space of the ground floor in the Montbrillant building. Detailed information is available on the ITU-T website (http://itu.int/ITU-T/edh/faqs-support.html).