InterDigital Shortlisted for Three CSI Awards Recognizing Exceptional Video Innovation and Impact

InterDigital is proud to be shortlisted for three CSI Awards, organized by the Cable and Satellite International (CSI) Magazine, recognizing our excellence in video processing, innovation in immersive video experiences and solutions to mitigate the energy impact of video rich content. The following blog introduces the InterDigital technologies and innovation impact being recognized for the CSI Awards.

Among the most prestigious and competitive technology awards in the industry, the CSI awards recognise innovation and excellence in the cable, satellite, broadcast, IPTV, telco, broadband/OTT video, mobile TV and associated sectors. The CSI Awards are presented annually at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam and will be announced on September 13, 2024.

Short List: Best Immersive Video

Standards innovation and video codecs remain a pivotal steppingstone to enjoying immersive content. Empowering new ways to deliver sensory, haptic, and volumetric-enhanced video, InterDigital's video innovation and long-time contributions to MPEG immersive standards like Scene Description, Visual Volumetric Video-based codecs (V3C), and newer MPEG-I Haptics codecs, play a significant role in ensuring interoperability across immersive experiences, maintaining data rates that are sustainable, and innovating solutions to deliver immersive experiences at scale.

MPEG V3C Standard

Volumetric video adds the sensation of depth and parallax to immersive content by creating a dynamic sequence of frames, where each frame is a 3D representation of a real-world object or scene captured from a moment in time. Capturing, delivering, and displaying video that conveys this level of immersivity requires magnitudes more bandwidth than standard 2D video, so compression codecs are crucial to achieve data rates for volumetric content that are sustainable and economically viable for the industry.

The MPEG Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C) standard defines the general mechanism for coding and streaming volumetric content through two main codecs: Video-based Point Cloud Compression (V-PCC) and MPEG Immersive Video (MIV). InterDigital is a leading contributor to both codecs, which can be applied across a variety of immersive-enhanced experiences, from entertainment, to telelearning, and increasingly to the delivery of live sports and esports, with the peace of mind that this content can be enjoyed efficiently and seamlessly at scale across a variety of devices.

MPEG-I Haptics Standard

InterDigital is also a pioneer in the MPEG-I Haptics standard, contributing the innovation that empowers a new layer of sensory engagement to traditional video content. Haptics convey tactile, or touch, sensations that will engage viewers and audiences like never before and InterDigital is exploring how to translate and distribute large scale haptic-enhanced immersive video experiences to audiences with varying device capabilities and requirements. Specifically, InterDigital has integrated the MPEG Haptic standard within our V3C immersive platform to showcase haptic-enhanced immersive streaming experiences. We're proud to be at the forefront of MPEG Haptic standard development that will outline how to create, stream, and render haptic content at scale.

Short List: Best Sustainability Project or Initiative

Named one of LexisNexis' top 100 leaders in sustainable innovation, InterDigital is also empowering the future of video content and new media experiences by providing solutions that reduce energy consumption throughout every stage of the video value chain. From innovations that mitigate brightness while maintaining image quality on energy-hungry displays, to solutions that amplify efficiencies in video production, distribution, and broadcast to reduce energy demands, InterDigital's influence, innovation, and contributions to global standards empower energy efficiencies across global networks and billions of devices in the video ecosystem.

Pixel Value Reduction (PVR)

Reducing energy consumption at the device level is paramount to energy mitigation. InterDigital's Pixel Value Reduction (PVR)solution balances the ability to reduce the brightness of an image on a device, or amount of energy consumed, while optimizing the perceived visual quality to the viewer; InterDigital's AI-enhanced Deep PVR solution leverages the use of machine learning (ML) to achieve the optimal trade-off between image quality and energy savings, so users can maximize energy savings across their TV screens. The goal is to ensure the viewer can't perceive the small reductions in pixel brightness, which add up to colossal energy savings across billions of screens and a multitude of devices worldwide.

Subjective tests have found that InterDigital's PVR solutions reduce TV power consumption by up to 15% without any noticeable impact to the viewer. In a groundbreaking paper "How to make images less power-hungry: An objective benchmark study," InterDigital conducted an objective analysis of 11 state-of-the-art power reduction methods and found InterDigital's PVR and AI-enhanced Deep PVR solutions to be the second and first most impactful methods in reducing power, respectively. This paper was published as part of the 2024 proceedings of the Second International ACM Green Multimedia Systems Workshop.

VVC

On the encoding and rendering side of the video value chain, InterDigital is a committed contributor to the Versatile Video Codec (VVC) compression standard. When compared to its predecessor HEVC, VVC can reduce bandwidth on the rendering of streamed content by roughly half while upholding the original image quality. In fact, major media markets, like the broadcasters as part of the Brazilian Terrestrial Television System Forum (SBTVD), have selected VVC as their codec of choice to support the delivery of high quality UHD content over very low bitrates. The versatility and efficiency of the VVC codec empowers broadcasters to contain and manage their infrastructure needs while increasing the immersivity and quality of experience for audiences, driving real energy efficiency.

Advanced HDR

InterDigital is also deeply involved in Advanced HDR production, distribution and display solutions that leverage machine learning to maximize the image quality of any HDR format while driving energy savings through more efficient use of infrastructure. Alongside collaborators Philips and Technicolor, InterDigital's contributions to Advanced HDR by Technicolor foster solutions that enhance viewing experiences while mitigating the carbon footprint of high-dynamic range (HDR) and standard dynamic range (SDR) content.

On the display side, our Advanced HDR solutions feature display adaptation technology that ensures the delivery of premium HDR content aligns with the capabilities of receiving devices. Scientific publications have shown that Advanced HDR solutions, coupled with Energy Aware Metadata, can reduce TV power consumption by up to 10%, while maintaining the creative intent and the quality of experience for end user audiences. On the delivery side, InterDigital's contributions support the energy-efficient single stream distribution of SDR and HDR content. The inclusion of energy-aware metadata and InterDigital's deep-PVR innovations can be applied to a variety of new and legacy TVs to minimize energy consumption without sacrificing quality on the display.

In addition to innovating new technologies and solutions, InterDigital continues to raise awareness of the video industry's energy consumption impact and actionable solutions in standards. InterDigital's energy-aware advocacy has been acknowledged in global standards bodies such as ITU-R, MPEG, DVB, ATSC, SBTVD, and SMPTE, and InterDigital engineers are often consulted for their expertise and understanding of sustainability considerations.

Short List: Best Video Processing Technology

A collaboration between InterDigital, Philips, and Technicolor, Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a suite of high dynamic range (HDR) production, distribution and display solutions that leverage machine learning to maximize the image quality of any HDR format. Our Advanced HDR solutions optimize HDR technology for OTT streaming by providing a superior viewing experience without increasing processing and bandwidth requirements. Advanced HDR by Technicolor uses machine learning to enable dynamic conversion, ensuring a single stream with dynamic metadata is delivered to end-user devices.

Ensuring legacy SDR content meets modern HDR standards, InterDigital contributes to Advanced HDR capabilities that empower seamless integration of SDR and HDR content into a single workflow, while reducing costs through automatic conversion. These new capabilities are already being deployed in the U.S. market - in fact, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced in March 2024 that it will transmit programing from America's Public Television Stations (APTS) using Advanced HDR by Technicolor to enhance the viewing experience, allowing viewers with NEXTGEN TVs that support this advanced picture format to access the content.

InterDigital is a global research and development company innovating wireless, video, and AI-related technologies that empower connected, immersive experiences through a broad range of communications, content, and services. Our engineers pioneer research into energy-aware media solutions like PVR and state-of-the art compression codecs like VVC, contribute to state of the art Advanced HDR content solutions, and innovate new technologies to deliver immersive content and experiences. InterDigital's innovation provides an important framework for the industry to integrate solutions that balance the desire to mitigate energy consumption throughout the value chain, while enabling increasingly high quality and immersive video experiences. We're honored to have our innovative technologies considered for these awards.

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