MPEG Surround is the latest audio technology to be standardized by the Moving Pictures Experts Group. The standard describes a highly efficient method of transmitting surround sound through bandwidth-limited channels. The technology supports multiple playback modes for home theater or even headphone-based rendering of surround sound, while maintaining compatibility with stereo-only playback devices. MPEG Surround operates independently of the underlying audio codec and can be used with, for example, AAC, HE AAC, Layer-2, or even PCM.
Additional information about MPEG Surround is available at www.mpegsurround.com. A copy of the standard (ISO/IEC 23003-1) can be obtained from the at ISO online store http://www.iso.org/iso/prods-services/ISOstore/store.html (search for “23003-1”).
Via Licensing has been selected by a group of the primary contributors to MPEG Surround to establish and administer an MPEG Surround Joint Patent Licensing Program. This patent call is issued for the purpose of identifying the owners of patents that are determined to be essential to the practice of the MPEG Surround standard. A patent is essential if it contains at least one independent claim that is necessarily infringed by the practice of the standard. Any entity with a patent or patent application found to be essential is invited to join a group of essential patent holders that will convene in order to discuss the commercial terms of a joint patent license to be offered under reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.
Any entity that believes it has patents or pending patent applications that are essential to the normative portions of ISO/IEC 23003-1 is invited to contact Via Licensing in order to receive information about how to submit patents for essentiality review.
For complete submission information, please e-mail submissions@vialicensing.com, specifying your interest in submitting a patent or patent application for consideration of essentiality to the MPEG Surround Joint Patent Licensing Program.