General

In the 1970s and early 1980s leaders in the digital imaging field performed extensive work. Applications included reconnaissance imaging, medical imaging, earth resources management and videoconferencing. This work anticipated much of the work being used in contemporary consumer digital video systems, but was largely forgotten because there was no low-cost implementation. The work was reinvented in the late ‘80s and ‘90s when VLSI technology matured.

I have first-hand, in-depth experience of when key pieces of technology were first developed and published. In most cases this easily predates the commercial use of the technology in the 1990s.

Display Systems

In the late ‘70s I conducted an exhaustive study of image display technology and products. The results are summarized in an SPIE paper [1]. I have an archive comprising product literature from all the display companies of this time. These products were the earliest examples of real-time display with zoom, color mapping, etc.

In the early ‘80s I implemented pipeline processor and feedback loop designs for real-time image filtering, scaling and warping [2][3]. The image processing and display systems of this period were forerunners of digital effects boxes and more recently LCD display scaling chips.

In recent years I have conducted an extensive survey of prior art and contemporary technology in noise reduction, scaling and deinterlacing for progressive scan display (480p & 1080p). I compiled an archive of technical papers in this area.

Over the years I have repeatedly been asked to provide prior art and evidence in patent infringement cases for display technology.

Video Compression Algorithms

In the early ‘70s I performed my graduate research in video compression. At that time I conducted a thorough literature search and was completely familiar with the state of the art.

I was one of the first to perform adaptive block transform coding and the first to apply block transform coding to video. This is described in my thesis [4] and summarized in an SPIE paper [5]. These techniques underlie MPEG and virtually all other video compression schemes today.

Much of the work from this period was forgotten for many years because there was no commercially feasible implementation at that time. Now, in many cases this work has been reinvented and even patented as sub-micron technology has allowed practical use.

I have a comprehensive archive of technical papers extending from the earliest work in the ‘50s through the ‘80s. The archive is extensively referenced in a history of video compression that I am in the process of writing.

MPEG1 and MPEG2 Standards – Video, Audio and Systems

I began monitoring the MPEG standardization effort in 1989, and started attending MPEG in 1990. I took a proactive stance, both in technical contribution and in management of the MPEG process.

I was one of only a few people who understood all three parts of the standard in detail as it was being developed.

I was Head of Delegation (HoD) for the United States in 1991-1992, and Editor in Chief of the MPEG1 standard. I personally reviewed and edited all three parts of the standard in detail, and wrote much of the informative annex for the MPEG1 standard.

I have a virtually complete archive of MPEG contributions from inception in 1988 through to 1994.

In 1992-1993 I was hired by CableLabs to be the technical expert for establishing the MPEG Patent Pool (Now MPEGLA). In the course of creating a list of essential IP to practice the standard, I reviewed approximately 10,000 abstracts and 1,000 patents. This is summarized in a chapter of the MPEG book by Mitchell et al [6].

In the last two years I was a testifying witness and a supporting witness in two major patent cases involving MPEG Systems and Video technology. Both cases were settled favorably to the party for whom I appeared.

CCIR DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) Standard

I chaired the implementation subcommittee that analyzed MPEG1 Audio (aka MUSICAM), Dolby AC3 and other proposed algorithms for cost of implementation.

MPEG4

I was a co-founder of the MPEG4 standard and chaired the subcommittee from inception for 2-1/2 years.

I led the small group that established many of the fundamental principals of the standard, including object-based coding, software-based implementation, and development of the bitstream as a syntactic language [7].

I was instrumental in establishing the work on Advanced Audio Coding (AAC).

I initiated the work in Synthetic-Natural Hybrid Coding (SNHC), and personally contributed to the work on compression of 3D graphics in the area of error resilient coding.

I have a nearly complete archive of all MPEG4 contributions from 1993-1994.

References

[1] Hubble L., Reader C., “State of the art in image display systems”, SPIE Vol. 199, pp. 2-8, 1979.
[2] Reader C, Flanagan W.D., Design Considerations for Real-Time Image Processing, SPIE Vol. 180, 1979.
[3] J Adams, C Patton, C Reader, D Zamora, "Hardware for Geometric Warping", Electronic Imaging, April, 1984.
[4] Reader C., “Orthogonal Transform Coding of Still and Moving Pictures”, U. Sussex,, England, 1973.
[5] Reader C., “Intraframe and Interframe Adaptive Transform Coding”, SPIE Vol. 66, 1975.
[6] “MPEG Video Compression Standard”, Edited by J. L. Mitchell et al, Chapter 16, “MPEG Patents”, pp.357-362.
[7] Reader C, "MPEG4: Coding for Content, Interactivity, and Universal Accessibility", Optical Engineering, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 104-108, Jan 1996.