The 15th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held in Qingdao. The conference was hosted by the Management Committee of Qingdao High-tech Development Zone, and a total of 168 representatives from 65 members attended the meeting.

The technical appraisal meeting of Digital Video Broadcasting Coding Broadcasting and Receiving System Based on AVS Standard was held in Shangdi, Beijing. This appraisal meeting was hosted by the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Information Industry. After evaluation, the Digital Video Broadcasting Coding Broadcasting and Receiving System Based on AVS Standard passed the appraisal successfully, which marked that AVS has completed the construction of a complete digital video broadcasting system, including the production, broadcast and reception of programs, and was ready for practical application. The system also included a major achievement - real-time encoder AE100, marking that the completeness and achievability of the AVS standard had been verified, and was a key step for AVS to move from theory to application. This project was led by United Source Digital Audio and Video Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and was completed in cooperation with the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Central Research Institute of Shanghai Radio and Television (Group) Co., Ltd., and Beijing Compunicate Technologies Inc. During the research and development, the project had received strong support from the state and local governments.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as the AVS Workgroup and the AVS Industry Alliance jointly held a demonstration and technical seminar on AVS-M running on the Hong Kong 3G network in Hong Kong. At the seminar, Prof. Qian Dakang, Vice-President for Research and Development of HKUST, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of HKUST. Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, and Xiao Hua, Deputy Director of the Electronic Products Department, delivered speeches at the seminar respectively.

The Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Information Industry organized the Work Report on Digital Audio and Video Coding Technology Standard, and the AVS Workgroup reported the work progress so far. Leaders and experts from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Radio and Television Administration, the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the Standardization Administration of China, the Radio and Television Standards Technical Committee, the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Audio, Video and Media Systems and Equipment, and the National Information Technology Standardization Technical Committee attended the meeting. The leaders of the Planning Department and the Product Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China also attended the meeting, listened to the report and discussed the work together.

The 7th Shenzhen Hi-Tech Fair was held. The AVS Workgroup and the AVS Industry Alliance were invited to jointly hold a "Strategic Cooperation and Achievement Exhibition" at this high-tech fair, which was eye-catching for its basic impact on the digital video and audio industry, ground-breaking scientific research achievements and industry support. The leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the relevant leaders of Shenzhen City, and many industry elites gathered together to express their high attention to AVS, a video and audio standard with independent intellectual property rights in China, as well as the importance and the development for the development of the AVS industry; Taiwan Huaju Industry Common Standard Promotion Foundation (Taiwan Huaju Foundation) also led its subsidiaries ASUS, HannStar, Altek, and Elan Microelectronics to join the AVS Industry Alliance, and attended the meeting to support this "Chinese standard" of AVS. At the "AVS Strategic Cooperation and Achievement Exhibition", several major Chinese standards organizations such as IGRS, EVD and DMB-T formed a strategic alliance with AVS. For the industry, this is a far-reaching joint debut of "Chinese standards", which will have a fundamental or even subversive impact on the status quo of China's video and audio market. It will bring people to rethink and understand the huge economic significance and market value of independent intellectual property rights to the future of China's AV industry from the perspective of "Chinese standards" in a clear manner.

The selection results of the 8th Zhongguancun Computer Festival "Public Survey Series" were announced: "AVS101 HD Decoding Chip" won the title of "Zhongguancun Top Ten Technology Innovation Products"! The "Public Survey Series" grows with the Zhongguancun Computer Festival. It has been held for seven times so far, and has become one of the most popular activities in the computer festivals. The survey results have also become an important reference for guiding mass consumption, and are valued by the majority of manufacturers at the same time. "AVS101 HD Decoding Chip" is the first high-definition decoding chip completely based on the AVS1.0 standard, and is the most complete physical interpretation of the AVS1.0 standard so far. On March 2, 2005, "AVS101 HD Decoding Chip" successfully passed the appraisal of Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission. AVS is China's first digital audio and video coding technology standard with independent intellectual property rights. The birth of the AVS101 HD Decoding Chip marks that China is at the forefront of the world in terms of high-definition coding standards and chip implementation. It is a result jointly developed by the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with the United Source Digital Audio and Video Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Celestial Semiconductor (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and the Central Research Institute of Shanghai Radio and Television (Group) Co., Ltd.

The 14th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held in Shanghai. 175 representatives from 57 members attended the meeting, which was the meeting with the largest number of participants, indicating that the enthusiasm for participating in AVS was growing. The Central Research Institute of Shanghai Radio and Television (Group) Co., Ltd., as the host, provided conference services for this conference. Mr. Hou Gang, Deputy Chief Engineer of Shanghai Radio and Television (Group) Co., Ltd. and Executive Vice President of the Central Research Institute, delivered a speech at the opening, wishing the meeting a success. The Administrative Measures for the Annual Management of AVS Membership Dues was also passed at the meeting. According to the provisions on membership dues in the original charter of the workgroup, members paid membership dues on an annual basis from the date of membership. The payment date of each member was not uniform, which was quite inconvenient for the secretariat and members. Therefore, after discussion and promulgation of this method, the dues were paid and managed according to the calendar year. A new member joins the workgroup in the first half of the year shall pay the membership due of the whole year; if the joining time is in the second half of the year, the half-year membership due can be paid in that year. This method made the management of contributions more convenient and reasonable, and was a measure of the workgroup to optimize the work process.

The National Radio and Television Administration completed the AVS video standard test with the conclusion of excellent performance. After five months of preparation and implementation, the test for the AVS video standard hosted by the Academy of Broadcasting Planning of the National Radio and Television Administration was announced, and the overall conclusion of the test was "excellent performance". From April 2005, the Academy of Broadcasting Planning of the National Radio and Television Administration and the AVS Workgroup determined the details of the test after several rounds of discussions, and the former independently organized the test. The Academy of Broadcasting Planning of the National Radio and Television Administration organized experts to conduct a subjective evaluation of the standard definition and high-definition videos encoded and decoded by the AVS reference software. The quality damage to the source image was evaluated, and the test report on the Subjective Evaluation of AVS Video Compression Quality was completed on this basis. This test was based on the Subjective Evaluation Method of Digital TV Image Quality (GY/T 134-1998) and the corresponding ITU standards. Given that the MPEG-2 standard is currently used to implement high-definition TV broadcasting, a bit rate of 20Mbps is generally used. When standard definition TV broadcasting is implemented with the MPEG-2 standard, a bit rate of 5-6 Mbps is generally used. According to the test results, it can be seen that AVS coding quality is excellent both in standard definition and high definition when the bit rate of AVS is half of the current MPEG-2 standard. Even if the bit rate is less than one-third of the current MPEG-2 standard, the quality is still good or excellent.

The 31st meeting of the DVD Forum Steering Committee was held. The meeting voted on China's HD-DVD proposal, with 2 votes against, 2 abstentions, and 15 votes in favor. In this proposal, AVS was listed as a mandatory option for the encoding standard of HD DVD. The HD-DVD proposal of China was jointly submitted by the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC) of Tsinghua University and the Third Institute of the Ministry of Electronics. The DVD Forum Steering Committee has made a clear resolution on the proposal: agree to the proposal in the Chinese proposal that HD DVD be the only DVD format in China. The Steering Committee issued two instructions: (1) TCG should submit a special proposal to study the technical feasibility of the China’s proposal; (2) to set up a subcommittee under the Steering Committee to find a way to work with China to develop the next-generation DVD. The proposal was finally reported to the Steering Committee in terms of the nature, technical characteristics and advantages of AVS, as well as the progress of the standard, and was finally approved by the overwhelming majority of the committee members and passed by a vote. It laid a solid foundation for the international promotion and application of AVS, and also prepared for AVS to officially become a national standard.

Led by Yu Jun, Chief of Haidian District, more than 50 people from Haidian District People's Congress came to Yingchuang Power Building to visit the AVS Digital Audio and Video Standard R&D Base. Professor Gao Wen, leader of AVS Workgroup, delivered a speech at the beginning, and Dr. Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General of AVS Workgroup, reported the progress of AVS standards to the participants. District Chief Yu supplemented the report and made an important instruction: Haidian Park used to provide support for enterprises and their products. The next step is to take it to a higher level (the standard level) and thus establish an industrial cluster. It is not limited to forming competitive industries in Zhongguancun and Haidian Park, and it is hoped that a group of representative companies with worldwide influence will be born in this process. This will greatly benefit our country and nation, and it is also the ultimate goal of Haidian District to establish a high-tech industrial park and support the development of high-tech industries.

The AVS Patent Pool Management Committee held the second working meeting of the first session in Beijing. Several resolutions and regulations were adopted at the meeting, marking that the operation of the AVS patent pool has entered a substantive stage. A total of 35 representatives of all directors and ten candidates for directors attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Xu Shuncheng, Director of the AVS Patent Pool Management Committee. One of the topics of the meeting was to select new Board Institutions. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Intel Corporation, Samsung, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University were elected. All Board Institutions also reviewed the "AVS Patent Pool Independent Evaluation Expert Selection Procedure", "AVS Patent Pool Schedule", "Relationship Between AVS Workgroup and AVS Patent Pool Management Agency", "Management Regulations of AVS Patent Pool Management Center" and other documents, and finally passed the resolution and made an announcement.

The AVS Patent Pool Management Committee held the second working meeting of the first session in Beijing. Several resolutions and regulations were adopted at the meeting, marking that the operation of the AVS patent pool has entered a substantive stage. A total of 35 representatives of all directors and ten candidates for directors attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Xu Shuncheng, Director of the AVS Patent Pool Management Committee. One of the topics of the meeting was to select new Board Institutions. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Intel Corporation, Samsung, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University were elected. All Board Institutions also reviewed the "AVS Patent Pool Independent Evaluation Expert Selection Procedure", "AVS Patent Pool Schedule", "Relationship Between AVS Workgroup and AVS Patent Pool Management Agency", "Management Regulations of AVS Patent Pool Management Center" and other documents, and finally passed the resolution and made an announcement.

China Digital TV Industry Summit Forum 2005 was held in Beijing. Professor Gao Wen, leader of the AVS Workgroup, was invited to give a speech at the meeting. The Forum is divided into eight sub-forums, including Technology and Intellectual Property, Digital Content and Value-added Services, Digital Terrestrial TV, High-Definition Production and Terminal Display, Urban Cable TV Network, IPTV, Digital Satellite Live Broadcast, and Industrial Investment and Financing. Mr. Gao, as the first guest of the first sub-forum, gave a speech on the topic of "Progress of the Second-generation Digital Audio and Video Source Standard". On the eve of the large-scale development of China's digital audio and video industry, it is a rare opportunity for the upgrading of international source coding standards. China has the ambition and ability to formulate a completely independent and high-level second-generation source coding standard, which will play a non-negligible role in promoting the development of the digital audio and video industry in China and the world. Mr. Gao analyzed the development trend of digital audio and video industry from the historical evolution, historical background, as well as the current international and domestic technology trends, and made a scientific judgment on the selection of the second-generation source coding technology standards through a comprehensive investigation of history (vertical combing) and reality (horizontal comparison).

The Cross-Strait Information Industry Technology Standards Forum was held in Beijing Hotel. This forum was approved by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, hosted by the Ministry of Information Industry, and jointly organized by Taiwan Huaju Foundation, China Communications Standards Association and China Electronics Standardization Association. This forum was the first dialogue between the information industry circles of Taiwan and mainland on technical standards. It mainly discussed the technical standards in the fields of AVS, TD-SCDMA, mobile storage and flat panel display, which was a rare gathering of information technology circles on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. The AVS Forum and TD-SCDMA Forum were held first on the 5th. The AVS Forum was co-chaired by Professor Gao Wen, leader of the AVS Workgroup, and Professor Chen Hongming, Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University. The participants had a lively discussion, and finally reached five consensuses: 1. Businesses and institutions on both sides of the Taiwan Straits recognize the importance of the AVS standard, and jointly promote the industrialization and application of the AVS standard on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, and work together to promote the early promulgation and industrialization of the standard. 2. As a contact window in Taiwan, Taiwan Huaju Foundation assists and promotes Taiwanese manufacturers to pay attention to and participate in the development of the AVS industry. Taiwan Huaju Foundation was willing to join the AVS Industry Alliance. 3. The IC design and system manufacturers in Taiwan are willing to actively participate in the research and development of the related chips and products of AVS. 4. Communicate on a regular basis. On the basis of the Cross-Strait Information Industry Technology Standards Forum, the two sides will strengthen communication and regular exchanges to promote information communication and discovery of business opportunities. 5. Taiwan Huaju Foundation is willing to assist in promoting the cross-strait industrial cooperation in AVS at the capital level, and to invest in the design, development and application of AVS' core products. More than 100 leaders from the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Information Industry, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Radio and Television Administration, representatives from well-known domestic enterprises and research institutions, senior officials of Taiwan Huaju Fund and representatives of well-known enterprises attended the meeting. A warm and friendly atmosphere had been maintained from beginning to end, and a number of substantive cooperation intentions were reached with remarkable results. Two forums on mobile storage and high-definition flat-panel display technology will also be held on the 6th.

The ITU-T held the Video and Image Coding and Applications Workshop (VICA workshop) in Geneva, Switzerland, where it is headquartered. The workshop invited experts in the field of video and image coding from ITU-T and ISO, and well-known international experts in this field. Invited by the ITU-T, Professor Gao Wen, the leader of the AVS Workgroup, gave a report entitled "AVS - a project towards to an open and cost-efficient Chinese national standard" at the workshop, explaining how AVS handles patent issues and the characteristics and performance of AVS. The delegates at the meeting had a lively discussion on the handling of AVS' intellectual property policy, and it was generally believed that this was a successful attempt to deal with the patent issue in the standard, which could provide a reference for the formulation of international standards. Some influential experts in the field have even suggested that H.265 might be considered for further work on AVS.

The 7th General Assembly (GA07) of the Digital Media Project (DMP) was held at the IIS Institute of the Fraunhofer Society in Germany. Dr. Huang Tiejun, as a representative of DMP's founding member, and on behalf of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, attended the meeting and discussed issues such as the combination of AVS DRM (Digital Rights Management) and DMP. The ideal of DMP is to establish an interoperable digital rights management infrastructure that supports the future digital media era, in which "interoperability" is the central idea and also extremely challenging. "Interoperability" is also an important goal pursued by AVS DRM. In this regard, DMP and AVS DRM have the basis of "intercommunication". At present, DMP has taken a big step towards the ideal, and hopes to get the support of AVS, and the next step of AVS DRM can be considered as a key point. The Digital Media Project (DMP) is an international non-profit organization founded in 2003 with a mission to promote the continued success of the development, deployment and use of digital media. Initiated by Leonardo Chiariglione, Chairman of the MPEG conference, the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of the first sponsors of the DMP.

SINOCES 2005 officially kicked off in Qingdao International Convention and Exhibition Center. In this world-renowned brand exhibition, the AVS Workgroup was invited by the organizing committee to hold a special forum on July 2. The theme of this forum was "AVS - A Historical Opportunity for China's Audio and Video Development". The forum began with speeches by Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General of AVS Workgroup, and Zhang Weimin, Secretary-General of AVS Industry Alliance. Subsequently, the leaders of the HDTV group, IPTV group, satellite TV group, and mobile multimedia group of the AVS Industry Alliance made reports respectively. The reports explained the industrialization of AVS from multiple aspects and dimensions, which enabled the participants to have an overall understanding of the industrialization of AVS, generated interest in further understanding, and played a positive role in expanding the influence of AVS.

The 13th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. A total of 155 representatives from 64 members attended the meeting. In addition, Dave Singer, Chairman of ISMA, also attended the meeting as a special guest. A total of 54 proposals were received at this meeting, 18 were accepted, and 2 were conditionally accepted. The award ceremony of AVS Awards 2004 was held at this meeting. Mr. Sun Huifang, Technical Consultant of the AVS Workgroup, announced the rules and procedures of the awards, and announced the list of winners. There were four winners of the AVS Awards 2004: Ma Siwei (Institute of Computing, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Winner of the AVS Technology Award 2004; Yi Feng (Zhejiang University), Winner of AVS Proposal Award 2004; and Jin Xin (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and Zhao Haiwu (Shanghai Radio and Television Group), winners of the AVS Contribution Award 2004. The delegates applauded warmly to the winners. Some recent major work progress was reported at the meeting: The publicity of the second part of the AVS video was completed on April 30, 2005. The AVS Workgroup expressed its gratitude to the China Electronics Standardization Association, the organizer of this work, and recommended that the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Information Industry coordinate and complete the follow-up procedures required for the second part of the AVS video to become a national standard as soon as possible to meet the urgent needs of product development in the industry and cooperation with relevant international standardization organizations; the AVS Industry Alliance was announced the establishment at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 25; in addition, the workgroup would actively participate in the application of AVS in satellite live broadcast, mobile communication, and IPTV. The relevant work was being carried out and representatives were being collected.

The Internet TV Standard and Industry Forum and AVS&ISMA Joint Conference 2005 was held in the Grand Ballroom of Beijing Jade Palace Hotel. Nearly 150 experts from home and abroad, as well as representatives of enterprises, media, universities and research institutes attended the meeting. The conference was co-hosted by the AVS Workgroup and ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance), and the main topic of the conference was the recently popular Internet TV-related technologies. Fan Jianping, deputy director of the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Mr. Dave Singer, Chairman of ISMA, delivered speeches at the conference. Experts who made reports at the meeting included: Mr. Chen Wenxiong, Chief Scientist of Cisco, Mr. Dave Singer, Chairman of ISMA, Professor Gao Wen, Leader of AVS Worgroup, Professor Yu Lu, Leader of Video Subgroup of AVS Workgroup, and Mr. Nikolaus F?rber, Technical Director of ISMA. In addition, Professor Hu Ruimin, Dr. Xiong Lianhuan, Dr. Li Weiping, and Dr. Wang Yekui from the AVS Workgroup, and Mr. Harald Fuchs, Mr. Dave Singer, Mr. Michael Wise, and Mr. Yuval Fisher from ISMA delivered keynote speeches, which sparked heated discussions. The audience commented that this was a high-level and unique event. For domestic audiences, it was a rare opportunity for direct dialogue with the top domestic and foreign experts. It was hoped that AVS would continue to hold similar activities in the future to promote the exchange and collision of technologies, and the further development of Internet TV.

The 13th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. A total of 155 representatives from 64 members attended the meeting. Dave Singer, Chairman of ISMA, also attended the meeting as a special guest. The award ceremony of AVS 2004 was held at the meeting. A total of four people received the awards of AVS 2004: Ma Siwei (Institute of Computing, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Winner of the AVS Technology Award 2004; Yi Feng (Zhejiang University), Winner of AVS Proposal Award 2004; and Jin Xin (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and Zhao Haiwu (Shanghai Radio and Television Group), winners of the AVS Contribution Award 2004.

The founding conference of AVS Industry Alliance was held in the Great Hall of the People. The conference was hosted by the Ministry of Information Industry of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and co-organized by the Haidian Park Management Committee of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the AVS Industry Alliance. Cao Jianlin, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiao Hua, Deputy Director of the Electronic Products Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, Zhou Liangluo, Chief of Haidian District and Director of the Haidian Park Management Committee of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, Wu Yingjian, Torch High Technology Industry Development Center, Ministry of Science & Technology, and Xu Shuncheng, Chairman of the AVS Industry Alliance and Director of the National Audio and Video Standards Committee, were invited to attend the meeting and delivered important speeches, expressing sincere congratulations on the establishment of the AVS Industry Alliance, and putting forward encouragement and ardent hope for the AVS Industry Alliance. The leaders at the ministry and department levels who attended the meeting included Ma Kang, Director of the Science and Technology Committee of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Yu Jun, Deputy Head of Haidian District, Beijing, and Deputy Director of the Haidian Park Management Committee. The organizer of the meeting also invited Gao Wen, Leader of the AVS Workgroup, Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General of the AVS Workgroup, and other technical experts, as well as 12 directors of the AVS Industry Alliance to attend the meeting. The inauguration ceremony of the AVS Industry Alliance was held at the meeting, which heralded the opening of the prelude to the industrialization of AVS, and the industrialization of AVS in China entered a new stage of development. The AVS Industry Alliance is the first audio and video industry alliance established in China, and the world's first organization that promotes a new industry in large scale. TCL, Beijing Haier Guangke Co., Ltd., Skyworth Group, Huawei, Hisense, Inspur Group, United Source Digital Audio and Video Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Pudong Mobile Media Technology Association, Changhong, the Central Research Institute of Shanghai Radio and Television (Group) Co., Ltd., ZTE, and Zhongguancun High-tech Industry Association initiated the establishment of the AVS Industry Alliance. With the help of AVS to promote industrial development, it can be said that the establishment of the AVS Industry Alliance is well-received, and it will surely lead China's audio and video industry to open up a new era in the wave of global industrialization. In addition, Mr. Lin Kunming, CEO of Huaju Foundation, and Mr. Pang Jianguo, Consultant of Huaju Foundation, attended the inaugural meeting of the AVS Industry Alliance on behalf of the Foundation and Mr. Jiang Bingkun, Chairman of the Foundation, and said that both sides of the Taiwan Straits should jointly promote the AVS standard and develop the AVS industry. They also expressed that they will actively promote Taiwan's enterprises to join the AVS Industry Alliance

Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Haidian Park hosted the acceptance meeting of Product Development of the AVS Industrialization Demonstration Project (Phase I). The acceptance committee listened to the acceptance report of Beijing Compunicate Technologies Inc. and other institutions, watched the demonstration, and reviewed the written acceptance report. In the end, the two subjects successfully passed the acceptance with some indicators beyond the requirements of the mission statement; four subjects met the requirements and passed the acceptance; four subjects basically completed the tasks and passed the acceptance and need to be further supplemented and improved; three subjects were still ongoing, and two subjects with unfinished tasks failed to pass the acceptance. The acceptance committee will make recommendations for the next step according to the current acceptance.

The IPTV China Summit was held at the Presidential Beijing Hotel. Dr. Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General of the AVS Workgroup, delivered a speech at the meeting. The meeting was hosted by China Video Industry Association, Computerworld, China Digital TV, and the Organizing Committee of China Digital TV Industry Summit Forum (CDTF). The theme of the meeting was "Witness the progress of IPTV in China and welcome the bright future of digital TV". The two-day conference was divided into the main forum and four sub-forums: the cooperation and innovation of content and operation, IPTV technology and its successful application, IPTV terminal equipment and consumer electronics, and value-added services and investment opportunities. Mr. Huang Tiejun gave the first speech of the sub-forum "Cooperation and Innovation of Content and Operation" on April 21 with the title of "AVS and ISMA: Building an IPTV Standard Platform".

The 72nd MPEG conference was held in Busan, South Korea. This was another working conference following the 71st MPEG conference held in Hong Kong, China in Jan. this year. About 350 delegates from nearly 20 countries around the world attended the meeting. The representatives of the Chinese delegation participating in this meeting included: Gao Wen (Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), Lou Dongsheng (fourth Institute of the Ministry of Information Industry), He Yun (Tsinghua University), Yu Lu (Zhejiang University), Xiong Lianhuan (Huawei), Xu Jizheng (Microsoft Research Asia), and Xiong Ruiqin (Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), etc. Huawei, Zhejiang University, Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions from China submitted the proposals respectively. One feature of the conference was that the work of the JVT continued to be the focus of attention of most delegates. Following the successful work on MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, the JVT (Join Video Team), which was joined by ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC29/WG11 MPEG and ITU-U SG16 VCEG, continued to work together on drafting proposals including SVC (Scalable Video Coding), 3DAV (3D Audio and Video Coding) and other new standard parts as well as revisions and extensions to previous standards. This will also be one of the most important tasks of MPEG in the next two years, which deserves the attention of domestic experts.

The 12th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was successfully held in Chengdu, Sichuan. 145 experts from more than 60 institutions attended the meeting. Several major events were announced at this meeting: the Workgroup formed partnership with ISMA; the decision to set up AVS-N special group; report the progress of the industry alliance. Mr. Lou Dongsheng of China National Institute of Standardization, as a special guest of the conference, introduced the approval situation of AVS standard that everyone cared about. After group discussions and several joint meetings, the Workgroup held a summary meeting on the afternoon of the 11th. At the meeting, Professor Gao Wen, Leader of the Workgroup, made a comprehensive review of the work in the previous stage of AVS, announced the progress of AVS' strategic alliance and key applications, as well as the establishment of the Patent Pool Management Center, and made important instructions on the next work.

The AVS101 High-definition Decoding Chip Scientific and Technological Achievements Appraisal Meeting was held in Beijing. The meeting was chaired by the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission. After listening to the relevant reports, the appraisal committee announced that the AVS101 high-definition decoding chip successfully passed the appraisal after careful deliberation, marking that China has been at the forefront of the world in terms of high-definition coding standards and chip implementation. The appraisal committee consisted of 15 experts including 9 academicians. The appraisal committee unanimously agreed that the research achievement has a high starting point and advanced technology, breaking through the core technology of digital audio and video decoding chips, reaching the international advanced level in general, and having originality in several key algorithms and their implementation. The completed demonstration system had complete functions and stable work, and met the requirements of large-scale production, which provided important technical support for China's international competition in the fields of computer, communication and consumer electronics. The appraisal committee unanimously agreed to pass the appraisal, and suggested to speed up the formulation of the AVS digital audio and video coding standard which was of great significance to China's information industry, and to further strengthen the promotion efforts in major industrialization including high-definition laser video disk system, digital TV, and Internet TV as soon as possible. The realization of the AVS101 high-definition decoding chip is an important milestone in the industrialization of AVS, which is of fundamental significance to the development of China's digital TV and digital audio and video industries.

The 71st ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 Plenary Session and MPEG Conference was held in Hong Kong. Professor Gao Wen, as the head of the Chinese delegation of the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 (MPEG) International Standardization Committee, led a Chinese delegation of more than 30 people to participate in the meeting. This conference was hosted by the MPEG Chinese Delegation under the National Information Technology Standardization Committee of China and organized by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This was the third time that China had hosted the ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC29/WG11 conference after Beijing and Shanghai. After the MPEG conference, on Jan. 22, the organizer specially held a one-day workshop for the two Standards Workgroups of MPEG and AVS. The main topics of the conference were the cutting-edge trends of the current international moving image research and the latest achievements of the AVS standard. The topics in the morning focus on MPEG and the topics in the afternoon focus on AVS. The most important outcome of this conference was the significant enhancement of communication between AVS and MPEG, which was an important symbol of the full recognition of AVS by international peers and the internationalization of AVS.