Videoconferencing speech patents available for licensing

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- AT&T today announced the availability of licenses for
its patents related to speech compression standards for
videoconferencing.

The AT&T Bell Laboratories patents cover algorithms selected by the
International Telecommunications Union's Study Group 15, which is
responsible for establishing standards for speech compression based on
controlled testing.

These standards are the G.728 Recommendation used for videoconferencing
over digital facilities such as ISDN, and the G.723 Recommendation used
over analog lines. These standards were selected by the ITU based on
controlled testing of technologies designed to meet a specific need.

"AT&T supports the use of its patented algorithms to bolster the growing
videoconferencing market," said Chester Anderson, director of AT&T's
Advanced Speech Products Marketing. "We continue to invest in basic
technologies that will advance the quality of person-to-person and
multi-person communications over the network."

Both the G.728 and G.723 licenses are essential for any company using these
recommendations. The royalties associated with either patent license
include a creditable up-front fee of $10,000, plus a $1.00 per channel per
device fee for G.728, and a $.50 per channel per device fee for G.723.

The G.728 Recommendation was ratified by the ITU in 1992 for floating point
implementations and in 1994 for fixed point implementations. It was
selected for inclusion in the H.320 video conferencing specification in
1992.

G.728 provides toll quality telephone bandwidth speech compression at 16
kbps. It is also used in other communications applications such as
combining multiple voice channels over a single digital line.

G.723 for analog transmission is a low bit rate speech compression
technology that can operate at either 5.3 or 6.3 kbps. This recommendation
is up for ratification by the ITU this November.

Companies interested in such licenses may contact David S. Nelson, AT&T
Intellectual Property Manager 10 Independence Blvd., Warren, N.J. O7059;
fax, 908-580-6355; email, dsnelson@attmail.com.
 
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