The AVS Standard Review Meeting was held at the Beijing Jade Palace Hotel and the AVS standard passed the review successfully. This review meeting was organized and convened by the China National Information Technology Standardization Committee in accordance with the national standard formulation and revision plan of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in 2004. The review committee reviewed the Information Technology – Advanced Coding of Audio and Video – Part 2: Video (draft for review) and the Information Technology –Advanced Coding of Audio and Video – Part 1: System (draft for review) submitted by the AVS Workgroup. The review committee unanimously agreed that the workgroup had completed the standard solicitation, subjective and objective testing, and intellectual property evaluation and identification, and formed complete drafts for review, and agreed to submit them for approval. The review committee believed that this standard was a very important basic standard in digital audio and video coding, and was of great significance to the development of the industry. The workgroup has done a lot of meticulous work in promoting the coordinated development of technology, patents, standards and industries, and has explored an open, independent and fruitful way to formulate major information technology standards; the review committee unanimously agreed that AVS has outstanding innovations in technology, patents and standards. AVS software and chips have been developed, and the AVS standard is a basic standard related to the development and major interests of the national digital audio and video industry. They suggested that the relevant national authorities should adopt this independent standard in major audio and video application fields such as broadcasting and TV broadcasting satellite, high-definition digital TV to increase support and investment, promote the industrialization of independent AVS high-definition software, chips, products and systems, and promote the formation of a digital audio and video industry group with core competitiveness.

The first preparatory meeting of AVS Industry Alliance was held in Beijing Tianhong Keyuan Hotel. The meeting was jointly convened by the Haidian Park Management Committee of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park and United Source Digital Audio and Video Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. A total of 28 representatives including senior managers, technical leaders or intellectual property experts from 17 well-known domestic enterprises and institutions attended the meeting. The main topic of the meeting was to prepare for the establishment of the AVS Industry Alliance. Professor Gao Wen, Leader of the AVS Workgroup, first expounded the goal and positioning of the AVS Industry Alliance in the context of China's audio and video industry as a whole, and called on enterprises to form a complete industrial chain in AVS with limited funds through division of labor and cooperation, so that China's audio and video industry is less restricted. Dr. Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General of the Workgroup, analyzed the characteristics and advantages of AVS in more detail from the aspects of technology, patents and industry, explained the reasons for using the AVS standard, and conveyed positive messages from the government, international standards organizations and internationally renowned enterprises to the participants. The representatives of Haidian Park Management Committee made a clear statement at the meeting: AVS is a direction. The Haidian District Government and Management Committee are very clear about the industrialization of AVS. Now it is the initial support. In the later stage, with the continuous introduction of the results, the support will be stronger. Afterwards, the participants had a full discussion on relevant issues and reached preliminary consensus: the intention to participate in the AVS Industry Alliance was clarified, and the approximate timetable for the follow-up preparatory meeting and the founding meeting of the alliance was determined. At the same time, the business representatives also put forward expectations and requirements for the alliance. The industrialization of AVS has entered a new period.

The AVS Standard and Patent Seminar was held as scheduled in the 301 Lecture Hall of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The seminar attracted a total of 55 domestic and foreign experts in technology and intellectual property. The participating institutions covered enterprises, universities, research institutes and other institutions with a wide range of representative significance. At the seminar, Professor Gao Wen, Leader of the AVS Workgroup, first made a general introduction, and then Dr. Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General, made a report on the industrialization of AVS. Dr. Cliff Reader, intellectual property expert of the AVS Workgroup, made a report on the patent system to the experts; Mr. EARL NIED, Project Director of the Industry Organization and Standards Division of Intel's Legal Department, expounded Intel's views on patents and introduced Intel's experience in dealing with patent issues; Mr. Stefan Geyersberger, intellectual property expert of FRAUNHOFER, explained the licensing policy of his company for patents in audio field. Finally, Mr. PETER SCHIRLING, Interim Leader of the IP Group of the AVS Workgroup, made a summary of the work of the IP Group in 2004. The one-day meeting allowed experts from home and abroad to exchange experiences and views, and deepen their understanding on AVS' intellectual property policy. The participants reported that they have gained a lot and hoped that AVS would continue to hold or advocate similar activities in the future, and make positive contributions to the development of domestic standards and patents.

The 11th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held in Beijing. The leaders of each group respectively summarized the preliminary work of their groups and the main points discussed in this meeting. In the critical period of the standard announcement, and the competition in the domestic digital media field was intensifying, so the time was very tight, and higher requirements were put forward for the work efficiency and quality of each group. Therefore, the leaders of each group arranged members to focus on this issue and made clear arrangements for the next stage of work. On the afternoon of the 11th and the whole day of the 12th, the Workgroup also organized a demonstration of the AVS 1.0 version. The TV series "The Grand Mansion Gate" was first decoded from MPEG-2 by Shanghai Radio and Television (Group) Co., Ltd., and then encoded with AVS. As a result, when the actual compression ratio was only a quarter of that of MPEG-2 (video: 812kbps, audio: 128kbps), there was basically no difference in the look and feel of the two comparison demonstrations. This was an exciting result, which showed the availability of AVS on Internet TV (IPTV). In addition, the audio group also demonstrated the phased results, and organized experts to audition, which was well received by everyone. This proved the advancement of AVS. Professor Gao Wen, Leader of the Workgroup, made a concluding speech and a comprehensive review of the work in the previous stage of AVS. He put forward the time points for a number of key tasks, urging each group to seize the time, concentrate their forces, and strive to produce more visible results in 2005.

The AVS Workgroup and YOCSEF (Young Computer Scientists & Engineers Forum) held a special forum at Tianhong Keyuan Hotel in Beijing: The Future of Chinese Standards. The forum invited the leaders and experts from the technical, legal and intellectual property circles as special speakers and guests, and attracted more than 50 people from all walks of life, including enterprises, scientific research institutes, and universities. A total of three special speakers were invited to the meeting: Dr. Huang Tiejun, Secretary-General of AVS Workgroup, Zhang Ping, Associate Professor of Peking University Law School, School of Intellectual Property and Mr. Wang Junxiu, Executive Director of ChinaLabs, made the following reports respectively: AVS: On the Road of Standards, Industrial Development Strategy Combining Standards and Intellectual Property Strategy, and New Globalism: A Research Report on China's High-Tech Standards Strategy. These reports described and analyzed the status quo of Chinese standards from the perspectives of standard practitioner, legal expert and industry observer, and looked forward to the future. The second half of the meeting was a discussion and Q&A session. Fang Qing, Vice President of the China National Institute of Standardization and Ni Guangnan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, first gave their views as guests. Afterwards, experts, scholars, students and enthusiasts from all walks of life had full exchanges and discussions, among which there were some fierce debates and exchanges, which proved that this was a problem of common concern. This meeting expanded its influence, exchanged views, put forward suggestions, and made constructive work for the future of Chinese standards, especially AVS.

The first meeting of ChinaDRM Forum hosted by China Central Television and Tsinghua University was held in Beijing. Professor Gao Wen, Leader of the AVS Workgroup, attended the meeting and delivered a speech as a special guest. ChinaDRM Forum is a developmental technical organization composed of representative domestic and foreign well-known institutions and enterprises in media, scientific research and manufacturers. Its purpose is to arouse the awareness of digital copyright protection in the whole society, and promote the establishment and improvement of laws, regulations and patent protection mechanisms for digital copyright protection; research and develop DRM, especially the DRM technology applied to digital broadcasting, film and television, and provide technical basis for DRM technical standards of digital broadcasting, film and television in China. The main content of its work is to define user requirements and try to establish a leading test environment in China. By participating in this organization, AVS has tried a new mode of union with users instead of the traditional practice of being responsible for standards and defining requirements in the past, which would be more conducive to both parties to play each other's advantages, and more clearly and accurately describe and match user requirements.

The AVS Patent Pool Management Committee Establishment Meeting was held in the gathering hall of Beijing Jade Palace Hotel. In the morning, a document revision meeting and a preparatory meeting were held first. The Director of the Management Committee was elected at the preparatory meeting, and Xu Shuncheng was elected by unanimous vote. The formal meeting started at 13:30 pm. 9 members (Xu Shuncheng, Wu Yingjian, Gao Wen, Zhang Yijun, Guo Qingcun, Sun Yuning, Huang Shangxian, Akita Nobuyuki, and Glen Johnson) should be present at the meeting, and 9 were actually present (Sun Yuning appointed Shi Zhihong, and Glen Johnson appointed Wu Haitao to attend the meeting). Under the leadership of the Director of the Committee, the committee members reviewed the Committee's charter, budget plan, guiding principles for patent pool management and authorization, patent pool management organization structure, management organization work schedule, management organization administration and other items, and finally made the Resolution of the First Meeting of the First AVS Patent Pool Management Committee: the director of the AVS Patent Pool Management Committee was elected through the patent pool management structure. By the vote of nine members, member Xu Shuncheng was elected as the first director of the Management Committee; the Management Committee Charter (trial draft); Management Committee Budget Plan; Guidelines for Patent Pool Management and Licensing; Patent Pool Management Organization Timeline; Patent Pool Management Organization Administration were adopted.

The 10th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held in Suzhou Industrial Park International Building. A total of 170 experts and representatives from 78 institutions attended the meeting. This was the meeting with the largest number of attendees. As of the beginning of the meeting, AVS had had 110 members. Significant progress was made in the workgroup charter, video and audio coding technology, AVS intellectual property management and digital copyright protection at the meeting. Voting on the amendments to the charter and intellectual property policy: A total of 75 institutions participated in the voting. In the end, there were 58 votes in favor, 8 votes against, 1 abstention and 8 votes not returned. The amendments to the charter and intellectual property policy were approved by a majority (2/3) of participates. In the meeting, Intel Shanghai made a video demonstration of AVS1.0, which showed that AVS 1.0 can technically play three HD programs simultaneously on a personal computer. It is an inspiring AVS implementation system, which indicates that a product with strong market competitiveness can be launched based on the AVS standard. At the plenary meeting on the afternoon of the 12th, Professor Gao Wen, Leader of AVS Workgroup, briefed and summarized the recent progress of AVS, and emphasized that we should work together to speed up the pace and promote the industrialization process of AVS, so as to occupy a place in the competition for standards as soon as possible. He called on everyone to unite and focus on fighting a tough battle in recent months, striving to come up with a more complete and marketable version within the year.

At the 9th AVS Meeting, the number of members of the AVS Workgroup reached 100, and 8 experts were hired as technical consultants of AVS in "Learning to Swim while Swimming": Cliff Reader, Peter Schirling, Sun Huifang, Chen Xuemin, Chen Wenxiong, Zhang Yaqin, Li Weiping, and Leonardo Chiariglione.

The ninth Meeting of AVS Workgroup was successfully held in Beijing. 158 experts from 74 institutions, including Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Philips, SVA, LG, SONY, Amoi Electronics, ST, Sharp, and Motorola, attended the meeting. By the time of the ninth meeting, the AVS Workgroup had been established for two years, and the number of members of the Workgroup had just reached 100 during the meeting. In the past two years, in addition to standard output and technological progress, a great achievement of "learning to swim while swimming" is that we became familiar with the method of international standard-setting, attracted a group of international experts and enterprises to participate in the formulation of Chinese standards, and cultivated a group of talents. At the plenary meeting, the general group announced that 8 experts would be hired as technical consultants of AVS for a period of 3 years: Cliff Reader, Peter Schirling, Sun Huifang, Chen Xuemin, Chen Wenxiong, Zhang Yaqin, Li Weiping, and Leonardo Chiariglione. The Video Group, Audio Group, System Group, Implementation Group, and Requirement & Testing Group respectively reviewed their technical proposals and technical reports, and reported on the latest progress of their work and the arrangement for the next step at the plenary meeting. The meeting decided that the Requirement & Testing Group set up an Ad Hoc group of direct broadcast satellite application. This meeting was a milestone for the intellectual property group, and basically completed the drafts of the charter, bylaws, membership agreement, intellectual property management rules and other legal documents of the Workgroup. A vote on the newly revised Workgroup charter would be conducted within one week of the meeting, and a vote on bylaws and membership agreement (including intellectual property) would be carried out within four weeks after one week of the meeting. The completion of these documents would lay the foundation for the industrialization and internationalization of the AVS standard.

The 8th Meeting of AVS Workgroup was held in Shenzhen Minghua International Conference Center. Representatives from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University, SVA, TCL, Sony, Hisense and other domestic and overseas members attended the meeting. A total of 136 representatives from 68 members attended the meeting as delegates. The meeting informed the members of the review of the draft video and system standards completed at the seventh meeting, and the draft standards revised with a small amount of text were submitted as national standards. Professor Gao Wen, Leader of the Workgroup, emphasized that we should always keep in mind the purpose of AVS, continuously improve the status of AVS in the industry, and carefully consider costs in addition to the academic and industrial goals; listen to the voice of users, combine scientific research, technology and reality to enhance the stability of standards, and seize the time to produce more new results as soon as possible. Each task force reviewed their technical proposals and technical reports, and reported on the progress and the recent work plan at the plenary session. The conference decided that the Video Group began to formulate the video coding standard for the new generation of mobile communications; the Audio Group should complete the FCD in Aug.; the next work of the System Group would focus on the system of mobile media communication, and strengthen the cooperation with the digital media management group; set up a mobile media task force under the requirements group; the Intellectual Property Group has proposed a series of legal documents related to intellectual property management, which are expected to be submitted to the General Assembly for deliberation in early May. At present, the Workgroup has 88 members.

The 3G-Oriented AVS Video Coding Technology and Industry Development Seminar, sponsored by the AVS Workgroup, and jointly organized by the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huawei, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Cyberport Wireless Development Center and other institutions, was held in Shenzhen. Academician Ni Guangnan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Academician Zhang Naitong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director Wang Xueqing of the Market and Price Research Office of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Director Wang Lijian of the China Electronics Standardization Institute attended the meeting and delivered important speeches; the written speech of Li Wuqiang, Deputy Director of the High-tech and Industrial Development Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, was read out at the meeting. The conference attracted nearly 150 representatives including experts and industry leaders in related fields at home and abroad. In-depth and lively discussions were carried out on the technology, standards, chips, operating systems, software development platforms, complete machines, and operations of the video coding technology standards and systems in the third-generation mobile communications and the challenging issues existing in at various levels. The seminar was divided into four topics: "3G-oriented AVS Video Coding Technology and Industry", "3G Mobile Media Chip", "3G Mobile Media Information Service Business Platform and Operation", "3G Mobile Media Application and Terminal". The speakers of the four topics were: Gao Wen, Dr. Oscar Au, Zheng Xiaojun; Li Feng, Zhang Guoming, Cao Jianwu, Wang Hao, Wang Haixiong; Gong Li, Eno Tsin, Stephen Lam, Yu Li; Dai Jin, Zhu Xiaogang, and Ouyang He. Together, they answered questions of concern to the media and delegates. Gao Wen, Wang Lijian, Huang Tiejun, Zheng Xiaojun, and Oscar Au jointly summed up the meeting.