InterDigital, Philips collaboration
October 21, 2022
InterDigital has announced a collaboration with Royal Philips to jointly develop MPEG Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C) immersive codecs to the benefit of telepresence and XR-driven experiences. The MPEG V3C standard defines the general mechanism for coding and streaming volumetric content. The first two main codecs associated with MPEG V3C standard are Video-based Point Cloud Compression (V-PCC) for point clouds data transmission and MPEG Immersive Video (MIV) for multi-views with depth content. Volumetric video is a critical component to create and enjoy increasingly immersive experiences made popular through XR applications. Unlike traditional video, volumetric video is comprised of a sequence of frames, where each frame is a 3D representation of a real-world object or scene capture from a moment in time. Volumetric content requires significant bandwidth, and compression is crucial to achieve data rates that are sustainable and economically viable for the industry. Standards like MPEG V3C play a critical role in reaching this reality and ensuring interoperability for new and emerging experiences.
The collaboration will leverage each partner’s research expertise – InterDigital will contribute expertise on immersive codecs, including V3C Systems and V-PCC and MIV extensions. In addition to its contribution to MIV and V3C systems standards, Philips will contribute critical six degrees of freedom (6DoF) immersive codec technologies in the areas of image reconstruction and rendering. Together, the partners will integrate their technologies to enhance the benefit to emerging immersive experiences.
“We take pride in our unique research expertise at InterDigital, and our industry impact is only amplified through the application of collaborative research with esteemed partners like Philips,” said Rajesh Pankaj, EVP and Chief Technology Officer, InterDigital. “Our technology contributions ensure greater efficiency and sharper outcomes when processing volumetric content and make the desire for increasingly immersive experiences a reality.”
“Implementing real-time volumetric video will enable a much more realistic immersive experience, fostering remote collaboration, training and support in various sectors,” said Jako Eleveld, Head of IP Licensing, Philips. “By adopting an open innovation approach, we can use our technology and intellectual property to bring innovations to the market through Philips propositions, and those of partners. Our collaboration with InterDigital will help to demonstrate the benefits of the MPEG V3C standard and its V-PCC and MIV extensions to accelerate its adoption across industries.”